Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, has always had a giant ego to match his genius intellect. In a fit of hubris, he created the powerful robotic intelligence “Ultron.” Ultron secretly upgraded itself again and again until it overcame Ant-Man and broke free. Ultron eventually built massive legions of robotic soldiers, threatening the world repeatedly and upgrading into a stronger form each time.

Isolated, Ultron built himself a robotic bride named Jocasta, forcing Ant-Man to adapt a variant of Wasp’s brainwaves into the robot. Jocasta later broke free, becoming an Avenger in her own right with her powerful intellect and electromagnetic energies.

The Empowered keyword represents Heroes and Villains who draw power from ambient energy, technology, or superpowers around them.

Some Heroes say things like “You get Empowered by .” This means “You get +1 for each card in the HQ.”

.” This means “You get +1 for each card in the HQ.” Likewise, some Villains and Masterminds say things like “Empowered by ”. This means “This gets +1 for each card in the HQ.”

As cards enter and leave the HQ, an Empowered card can get stronger or weaker. You only check the bonus at the moment you play your Empowered Hero or at the moment you fight the Empowered enemy.

One clever move is to recruit a Hero from the HQ at the right time, changing the colors in the HQ to weaken an Empowered enemy or try to strengthen an Empowered Hero in your hand.

Some cards are even “Double Empowered” or “Triple Empowered” meaning that they get +2 or +3 for each appropriate card in the HQ.

(A multicolored or divided card from other sets counts if either half is the correct color. For example, an “Empowered by and ” ability can get +1 from a card or from a card. However, a “ ” card in the HQ would only give +1 , not +2 .)

This Mastermind’s abilities put Heroes into a “Threat Analysis” pile. He says “Ultron is Empowered by each color in his Threat Analysis pile.” This means he gets +1 for each card in the HQ that matches any color among all the cards in his pile. It doesn’t matter whether he has one card or three cards in his pile – either way he gets +1 for each card in the HQ.

Join us next time for another reality-bending adventure.

Legendary® Ant-Man releases November 7th. Contact your local gaming store to preorder your copy today.