From Panel to Play: Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly

In today’s From Panel to Play we will be meeting one Peter Parker, a.k.a. Spider-Man–wait–is that Peter? No! That’s a clone! It’s the Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly!

Following the death of Gwen Stacy, Ben Reilly was created by the scientist Miles Warren as a perfect clone of Peter Parker down to the arachnoid abilities and memories. At first, he battled Peter thinking he was the original, but eventually came to terms with his identity as a clone. He exiled himself for a while and took the name Ben Reilly in honor of Uncle Ben and Aunt May (Reilly) before finally returning to New York. Ben eventually began working with Peter Parker to fight crime in New York with his own unique costume and took on fighting the villains they encountered. He soon earned the name Scarlet Spider thanks to the Daily Bugle and now he debuts in Marvel: Crisis Protocol!

As the Scarlet Spider is a clone of Peter Parker, he has many similarities with him while maintaining a few subtle differences that let him stand out. He clocks in at a Threat Value of 4 with a moderate Stamina pool of 6 on his Healthy side and 5 on his Injured side along with a defensive stat line of 4/3/3. Unlike his quick moving predecessor, Ben’s limited to a Medium Speed stat, but like many of his Web Warrior allies, he’s more mobile than this indicates.

Scarlet Spider’s first attack is Scarlet Strike. This 5-dice attack builds Power equal to the Damage dealt and has the Elusive rule. Elusive is triggered when the attack roll contains a Hit and Wild, and it grants Ben a Short advance after the attack is resolved. His second attack is the classic Impact Webbing. This attack was first found on Spider-Man and has a solid Range of 4 and generates 1 Power every time it is used. Additionally, the slugs of webbing have a chance to Push enemies a Short distance Away to give Ben’s team some breathing room.

Whatever a Spider Can is his final attack. This 5-Power cost attack has a solid Strength of 8 and two special rules that perfectly capture the feeling of web-slinging. The first special rule guarantees a Medium advance. The second, the Catch! rule, gives him a chance to destroy a piece of terrain with a Size 2 or smaller within Range 3 of him and force the target of the attack to deal with a collision as if the terrain had been thrown into them! These two rules trigger after the attack is resolved so they can be used in the order of the attacking player’s preference. To top it off, Catch! can be used regardless of how far the target is from Scarlet Spider allowing him to both escape retribution and potentially finish the target off with a well-aimed car or mailbox!

Going along with these attacks are two Active superpowers. The first one, Web Whip, highlights the Web Warriors ability to push around their opponents with well-placed applications of webs and physics! This superpower costs 2 Power and can be used once per turn to Push a nearby enemy character towards Scarlet Spider. After the Push Scarlet Spider is Placed within Range 1 of that enemy character.

Scarlet Spider’s second Active superpower is Proportionate Strength of a Spider. This superpower costs 3 Power and lets Scarlet Spider Throw enemies of Size 3 or less within Range 3 of him Short.

Scarlet Spider’s final two superpowers are Innate superpowers found on many of the Web Warriors. The first is Spider-Sense which allows him to reroll up to two dice in his defense roll when attacked with Physical and Energy attacks. His second Innate superpower is the classic Wall Crawler, one of the best battlefield mobility superpowers out there and ubiquitous to the Web Warriors.

Now that we’ve sorted out who the real Spider-Man is from the clone, it’s time to swing away! Be sure to check back later for yet another installment of From Panel to Play, the series where we give you your first look at how your favorite characters transition to the tabletop in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. Pre-order your copy of Scarlet Spider at your local game store or through the webstore today!