Welcome to another set review! DC had some huge success with Batman: The Animated Series two years ago, and now we’re getting more animated goodness with Justice League Unlimited. How do these figures stack up against the recent power surge from Marvel? Read more to find out!

I’m incredibly thrilled to drop another set review for you all – I love doing these and although they do eat up a lot of time, I was able to find a compromise and I think this is something I can probably work with for sets moving forward (knock on wood). However, there are some changes that you need to know about.

First, sealed reviews are out. While it was fun to gauge these, there are two reasons why I eliminated them; the crew at HCRealms do a fantastic job with their sealed primers (seriously, the Cap & the Avengers set was a grand slam), and reviewing each figure twice is a big reason why these got out of hand.

Second, team-up cards aren’t going to be reviewed. At the time of this writing, only a handful of these cards have been shown and WizKids somewhere around a dozen team-up cards for individual figures. It’s a lot of cross-checking to see how a figure will fair with different team-up options, so instead I’ll strictly be reviewing those figures on their dial alone as if their team-up trait wasn’t there. In my mind, this is a good way to go about doing things as there’s no telling what the secondary market will be on these cards, how rare they will be, and I have no clue how many of you are looking to complete close to the entire set to make total use of them.

Now, regarding this set. There’s some big shoes to fill as the Cap set did a number on power creep and showed us that what we thought was a good dial within the last few years is bloated and overcosted now. 50 points buys you a LOT these days, not to mention the higher amounts as well, so it will be interesting to see how this set fairs overall. I’m a little sad that I didn’t have the chance to review the Cap set to compare the numbers to.

Remember that these reviews are based on my personal opinions, and nothing that I say is set in stone, nor should it dissuade you from picking up a figure I don’t like. It’s okay to disagree, so don’t be too upset if I rate a figure lower or higher than you would expect. Recall that my ratings are on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being a poor figure, 3 being average, and 5 being a must-have.

COMMONS

001 Superman – Not the greatest brick, even for a common. 100 points is a lot when he has no Willpower and his stats drop as hard as they do. His top click does have the potential to hit for 6-damage on his own, but a single shot of penetrating damage or even Precision Strike will make him heavily overcosted. Score: 2/5

002 Green Lantern – This guy feels like a throwback to the old Cosmic Justice John Steward with his ability to carry up to 8 people, even if they fly. He also negates that nasty penalty for carrying, assuming you’re running characters with the JLA team ability (same for carrying flyers). He’s a little expensive for a taxi, but if you’re planning on playing the JLA, he seems like a must-have. And please push him. Score: 4/5

003 Flash – A speedster with Outwit for 30 points that can hand out action tokens for free? Seems good. Sure, Lex might not have the best stats around, but he’s going to be a highly-annoying figure to deal with and he’ll do a great job at KO’ing support figures or retaliators with low defense values like Carnage. Score: 4/5

004 Doctor Fate – That’s a LOT of action economy for any team that Dr. Fate can squeeze into. 75 points for +1 actions and 105 points for +2 actions is very good, though I sense diminishing returns as your chunking a lot of your team into a slow and not-too-strong ranged figure. You do get a lot of TK and Enhancement though, and while it might reveal the real Fate, pushing into Prob is great. I would imagine the sweet spot will be running 2 of this guy on top of a Leadership figure for 5 actions in a 300 point game, which is astoundingly good. Score: 5/5

005a Batman – Not a bad outing for the caped crusader. That 12-attack up front feels really strong for his weight class giving him the freedom to use his Perplex either defensively, thrown into damage for big hits, or just saving it for his allies. I love his ability to reduce roll-outs making this an excellent figure to rush into battle and stay there. My only complaint is that he doesn’t move through hindering terrain, which is so NOT Batman. Score: 4/5

005b Batman – Absolutely incredible. Batman has the potential be game-breaking in the right setting, and just overpowered in the wrong setting. With his massive 12-attack and ability to target all characters he can see, his Incapacitate and Mind Control can completely turn a game in a single action. Mastermind and Shape Change make him perfectly happy with turning off his team ability as well, and a total pain to deal with. Once he takes some damage, those Pen/Psy clicks are going to be horrifying as he doesn’t divide the damage dealt; he’ll deal his damage value to each target, just like Hammer did back in DXF. And he has Prob on those clicks? Stop it. Score: 5/5

006 Cadmus Labs Scientist – Empower, Poison, and giving out Battle Fury to counteract Shape Change seems like a pretty good support piece for only 15 points. The keywords are the worst part of this dial, but thankfully Scientist is good. Vulture will love having this guy for company. Score: 3/5

007 S.T.A.R. Labs Scientist – Decent support for just 15 points. While these scientists can’t necessarily be counted on for any specific powers, they can quickly get out of hand and the right luck can make them game-changing. A squad of these guys rolling Outwit, Perplex, or Probability Control gives you tons of support for a incredibly small cost, however, the lower rolls can be harsh. Score: 3/5

008 Lex Luthor – On a Justice/Injustice League team, this is a fantastic little support figure that brings either Leadership or Perplex, so he’s always pulling his weight. Adding 10 points for a replacement KO effect that drops a speedster is a welcome addition and gives him more playability from your collection if you’re willing to pickup both. Score: 3/5

009 Wonder Woman – Not a lot of raw damage without an object, but terrifying to play against for her cost. It’s amazing how much better she is than the common Superman. Sure, she dips from reducers to Combat Reflexes, but she’s more durable to start, is more agile thanks to Hypersonic, has Indomitable, and usually will only take 1 damage from ranged attacks. Who cares if she needs to get up in your grill after the first click; she’s better there anyway. Score: 4/5

010 The Joker – Interesting take shifting Loki’s dial over to The Joker. I loved that mechanic on the trickster god, so I love it here as well. I like how Joker ups the ante and punishes his opponent for taking out his clones, too. Poison on multiple characters is also really good, not to mention that you’re getting +3 to your theme team for 70 points. You’ll need a few of them, but I like this dial a lot. Score: 5/5

011 Amanda Waller – 11 Pen/Psy with Stealth and Mastermind is a lot better than it seems, even if only for 2-damage. On a 35-point click, that’s some serious hurt you can put out for a highly discounted cost. My problem with Amanda is that she’s very slow. It’ll take her 3 turns to setup and take a shot without any help, and aside from this use, she’s only good if she rolls a 6 on Leadership. Not my cup of tea, but not bad either. Score: 3/5

012 Amazo – At the time of this writing, this is my #1 want from the set, and in multiples. Amazo begs to be paired up with some absolutely stupid allies, and his cost and values are both stunningly good. Against tentpole teams, Amazo will most likely best them by reducing all of their damage to pin-pricks. With the right allies, Amazo can easily sky-rocket in value and can quickly adapt based on what you need. This is an absurd common, and I can’t wait to abuse him. Score: 5/5

013 Jonah Hex – If you like Blades, this is a must-have figure for you! Personally, I’m never lucky with Blades so this figure looks overcosted to me, but if you enjoy the randomness and potential 5/6-damage from the power, this is an amazingly efficient figure. Pick your poison. For that reason, he gets a middle-of-the-road score. Score: 3/5

014 Shazam! – Another common that’s shockingly better than Superman. For 5 less points, you get an incredibly strong and mobile brick that has the capability of penetrating aoe damage outside of his Hypersonic Speed. At 45 points, Shazam! is a killer anti-swarm figure who’s still insanely durable. The only downside to this dial is the double 9-attack values at the end. Score: 5/5

015 Vixen – This is a clever dial, but I can’t help but notice how much better the recent Taskmaster is for less points. Vixen suffers from sub-par values across the entirety of her dial, and she’ll take a horrible beating if you go for offense and whiff on the attacks. Score: 2/5

016 The Cheetah – Excellent budget melee figure. Three clicks of 11-attack, Blades the entire dial, double Super Senses rolls (or triple if you play on Wakanda), and decently mobile. Run this figure and don’t ever be afraid to push her. Score: 5/5

017 Copperhead – This isn’t a bad dial, until you realize that The Joker is only 10 points more and adds Stealth, Shape Change, and the ability to pop out clones of himself. Sorry but when you have that direct of a comparison in the same rarity slot in the same set, it’s tough to come back from that. Score: 2/5

UNCOMMONS

018 Superman – Let’s not mess around; this is some stupid damage on the initial strike for 95 points. Assuming Supes has a heavy object, he’s going to rush in for 6 damage, knock his target back, then activate his Lobotomize trait and hit them for 4 penetrating damage, which he’ll then trigger Justice Lords to see if another 1 damage will KO them. At an uncommon level, that’s VERY good. His dial ages poorly however, so you’ll want to use Superman as an all-in figure that deals as much damage as possible before he goes down. At 10 points, this guy is a terribly efficient taxi that can deal an absurd amount of damage if someone comes close. I don’t like the character, but I can’t deny how good this dial is. Score: 5/5

019 Sinestro – A great uncommon figure with a deep dial for the top clicks he’s packing. Very pushable thanks to his double 11-attacks with Running Shot and Pulse Wave. Once Sinestro gets into the fight, his negative Perplex, which is a relic of the past from Yellow lanterns, will be a great asset to either cripple his target of Pulse Wave or make it harder for the opposition to hit him back. His dial ages very well with some serious damage near the end of his dial with his worst clicks deadset in the middle. Score: 4/5

020 The Flash – This is a very fast Flash when you take his placement and potential 15-speed into consideration. He can cover more ground than most speedsters in the game. His power is a little confusing at first, but very strong if you play him correctly. My only complaint here is that his stats dip pretty hard, but at 65 points and with this mobility, that’s okay. Score: 4/5

021 Red Tornado – For me, it’s going to be nearly impossible for any Red Tornado to stand up to the Superman/Wonder Woman figure. This one is pretty good though with double TK on a fairly buff click. The ability to neutralize protection from Knockback is fantastic and will be a great tool to punish melee tentpoles that are equipped with the typical Charge or Combat Reflexes. The values are quite low for 75 points, but the utility is great. Score: 3/5

022 Batman – Probably the most boring Batman dial we’ve seen in a while. His stats aren’t anything to write home about, and aside from his Justice Lords trait, there’s nothing on this dial that pushes you to play this version of Bats over any other. It’s not a bad dial. Score: 2/5

023 Dr. Emil Hamilton – I like that the protection from penetrating damage doesn’t require line of fire allowing Emil to hide behind walls, but I’m not a fan that it’s not a guarantee, or that you only have a 50% chance of it happening. Aside from that, you’re just getting an Empower piece which isn’t enough for me. Score: 2/5

024 Dr. Tracy Simmons – Don’t be picky; this is a Sidestep Perplex figure for just 20 points, and she pushes into Outwit. The anti-flight power might seem very situational, but that’s not what you’re playing her for. She’s no Big Tony, but she’s good for Scientist teams. Score: 4/5

025 Lex Luthor – That top click is brutal for 50 points and gives Lex some excellent initiating damage as well as a cannon when his targets are still in range while also buffing his fellow marksman. His glass jaw is a little scary, but his value in firepower easily outweighs that, and the fact that he keeps that potential the entire dial is great. Score: 5/5

026 Green Arrow – An amazing archer when he’s alone. Green Arrow is as durable as a wet napkin, but as most archers in clix, he can deal a shockingly high amount of damage if unchecked. My problem with his dial design is that he has Willpower the whole way through meaning if he takes a hit, chances are he’s going to be hurt badly, but you can’t access this strength until he hits his second click and onward, which punishes him with attack value. It makes him very frustrating to run as you have to pick your poison. Score: 3/5

027 Static – Very mediocre dial for Static. Low clicks, average stats, and a special power that’s rarely every going to trigger. There’s simply no excuse for a four click character with two clicks of 9-attack for 50 points. Even for Uncanny X-Men standards, this is a bad dial. Score: 1/5

028 Supergirl – Okay, yes, Hypersonic and Flurry don’t work together. But Kara isn’t about run-and-gun. She’s about flying head-first into the enemy team for 4-damage, staying there, and following up with 8-damage on the second attack. This figure screams aggressive and reckless play style, and she’ll do very well at that task. Score: 4/5

029 Aquaman – There’s nothing exciting in particular about this dial, except for how long it is for only 60 points. If Orin has some water terrain to call home, you’re going to get a lot of value for his cost. Not on the level of The Captain from the last set as he was unbalanced, this is the type of dial you would expect to be an extreme value. Who would have thought we’d get a dial this long and efficient on Aquaman? Score: 5/5

030 Black Canary – Pretty neat anti-swarm dial on a discount. At first glance, you might pass on this dial thanks to that 17-Willpower top click, but most characters aren’t hitting for 5-damage, and if so, they aren’t targeting a 45-point piece. That means that Black Canary is going to get hit into some great Close Combat Expert clicks. Give her a try before you toss her. You might be surprised. Score: 4/5

031a Question – Man, this guy is going to be so freakin’ hard to KO. Auto-Stealth anywhere on the map, Outwit, Combat Reflexes, and d6 re-rolling for attacks, all for the cheap price of 40-points. He’s no Q, and certainly no Q Prime – heck, he isn’t even Trelane. But this guy is just an uncommon, and he’s cheaper than all those cats. This is an excellent addition to a long-running line of great Question figures. Score: 5/5

031b Crimson Avenger – I’m not gonna lie, this dial seems exceptionally good for just 30 points. Perplex, near constant Stealth, Poison, 19-defense for close attacks, penalties for Smoke Cloud, and the best part, handing out action tokens to your opponents for FREE. This is one hell of a dial, and absolutely something I look at and go “yeah, that’s Prime-worthy”. I have a feeling Crimson Avenger will be a must-have on Justice League teams. Score: 5/5

032 Captain Atom – Not a bad ranged attacker for an uncommon. 100 points is a good tag for an 8-click dial with a big top click, although it bugs me that he immediately goes into Charge after just 1 click. That’s harder to accomplish thanks to Invincible, but not impossible. Captain Atom can also be a detriment to your team as you don’t want to keep your allies close once he’s taken some damage, but this is a double-edge sword as he’ll gas an entire team multiple times by throwing himself into battle. In the right hands, this will be a great dial. Score: 4/5

033 Huntress – Similar to the Uncommon Batman from The Animated Series, Huntress requires an awful lot on the board to go right for her to dish some damage. On her ranged clicks, she’s mostly only going to use Energy Explosion, and her melee clicks similarly are going to use Quake but with lower attack values. Thankfully she’s very pushable since the different combat experts will offset the different stat swings. However, for only 40 points, there’s a good chance she’ll become a bigger nuisance that your opponent won’t want to spend the time to deal with. Score: 3/5

034 Shining Knight – This dial looks like it’s about 3 years late to the party from Uncanny X-Men. Five clicks for 50 points with low attack values and very simple design/playability. Not a terrible figure but bloated in today’s game. Score: 2/5

RARES

035 Superman – The Supermen in this set just keep upping the ante! Kal-El brings some serious pain with this click, and for the first time in a while for a beat stick, you actually want him to take some damage so he can peel into those huge attack and damage values. With 4 clicks of un-Outwitable Invincible and a whopping 3 STOP clicks with auto-healing, this guy is going to take a ton of work to KO, all the while downing the enemy team with massive hits. 7-potential damage on click four is absurd. Score: 5/5

036 Green Lantern – A decent cannon figure that is a tough figure to deal with from range. He’ll be a great team player thanks to his GL team ability and Enhancement, but I really don’t like the drop to melee-focus on his last two clicks. He still has the 7 range so he can still take shots, but he’ll be very clunky. 5 clicks for 75 points is also not a good bargain by today’s standard. If he’s playing against equipped characters, he’s much stronger. Score: 3/5

037 The Flash – Not a bad disposable attacker with some great threat range and high defenses. I’m reminded of the common Captain Marvel from ABPI, but this guy has Hypersonic on all of his clicks and a fancy STOP click to make sure he doesn’t go down in a single hit. However, he is a rare and she’s a common. Score: 3/5

038 Wonder Woman – 120 points buys you a lot today, and sadly this dial just doesn’t live up to that. A fantastic top click takes back seat to how hard her attack and defenses drop for this cost. There’s a lot of odd choices on this dial, like why she has a 4-damage with Blades on click four, why there isn’t a second starting line of click four, and why she picks up Invincible again midway through her dial. At least those second and third clicks do have the potential for some big damage, as long as her targets don’t just run away from her. Score: 2/5

039 Blight – If you like Poison figures, Blight should make you incredibly happy. This is a lot of hurt this guy pumps out, all for free. His attack values might be low for his cost, but that’s fine because attacking isn’t how he wants to use his actions – he wants to keep following the enemy team and destroying their defenses while continually pushing damage onto them. Shape Change, Stealth, and Invulnerability is just enough on his kit to make him a pain to deal with and offset his values. Score: 4/5

040 Amanda Waller – If Future theme teams are your thing, Amanda is one hell of a support figure. She can cheat a multitude of Batman Family characters onto your force and make them much better while providing Leadership, Perplex, and Outwit with a great kit of Stealth and Mastermind to keep her safe. Even if you aren’t playing theme, she still makes a character automatically better for 35 points, and provides you two improved combat values. End of the day, it boils down to what theme you’re playing and if that makes her, or someone like Everett K. Ross, better. Score: 4/5

041a Amazo – A brutal character, especially for just a rare. Protection from Outwit for most characters in the game is great and will make those 5 clicks of Invincible that much better. Sure, his damage is only 4 for 290 points, but his Perplex will most likely be pumped into that value to make him punch 5-click holes. However, most people won’t play Amazo at 290 points, and thankfully his 150 point dial is pretty strong. He’s quick, has good stats, and some great powers along the dial, though it’s a bit short at only 6 clicks deep. Thankfully, Amazo has an entity-like power picking trait that makes sure he’s constantly adapting even after taking damage. Picking up defense modifier powers like ES/D or Combat Reflexes will make him tough to deal with, but not impossible. Score: 4/5

041b Parasite – I honestly don’t know how Parasite will play since he relies on his opponents to become more powerful. Against vanilla dials, he’s going to take a long time to heal up to those godly clicks, but against the more common power-riddled characters, he should be able to become quite the nuisance rather quickly. The problem with Parasite is that like so many vampire dials before him, he’s just not that good for his points and it takes a good amount of healing to get into great value territory. Score: 3/5

042 Green Arrow – An interesting twist on the typical archer dial with high attack values. Oliver gets so much better while the rest of his team drops off. This makes him a 60-point ranged figure that really needs to be KO’d, lest he have a chance to drop an enemy team by himself. He’s already a pretty solid click for just 60 points with some great ranged options but giving him mechanics that make him so much better if you ignore him and down the rest of his team makes him an incredible growing threat. He only gets dinged because he’s easily dropped by a melee attacker. I want a Hawkeye dial like this. Score: 4/5

043 Static – Static has a surprisingly high damage potential only 100 points, though he does risk himself to do so. Gaining +1 to combat values by debris markers is fantastic, though this is easier to counterplay as barrier markers do not drop debris and opponents can either Force Blast him or TK him outside of his 3-square radius. But if you manage to stay there, you have killer values and if opponents swarm him, he’s going to be hitting like a truck. A single push on Static turns him into a great speedster, and the mid-dial Running Shot + Pulse Wave that triggers with everything else in his kit can make him a bomb. Situational, but very good. Score: 4/5

044 Supergirl – This is an excellent dial when everything goes right, and a horrible dial when everything goes wrong. At top dial, she has a great chance of never getting an action token, but that declines as she takes damage. If this mechanic was on a 50-point dial, I’d like her a little more since this gamble wouldn’t be a fourth of your team build, although 6 damage up front is a hell of deal for that cost. Just make sure you’ve got Perplex and/or Probability Control to keep tokens off of her. Score: 3/5

045 Hawkgirl – 12-attack for 60 points, or 11 for 30 points is a lot more like what we’re seeing today and gives Hawkgirl some great value. Large threat range with Flurry attached means she’s going to deal some hefty damage for a small cost, and equipment will make her so much better. Score: 4/5

046 Martian Manhunter – I’ve been waiting for a good, decently costed Martian Manhunter dial since I started playing again as J’onn is one of the few DC characters I like, and boy does this dial deliver. INSANE roll-out capabilities and some excellent tanky stats make him a total pain in the butt to try and KO without a mountain of Outwit or Pulse Wave. J’onn might be slow, but he’s got some great stats to offset that. I cannot wait to try out his 50-point dial. Three roll-outs with 11-attack, 3-damage, and 6-range?! That’s just ace. Score: 5/5

047 Speedy – This dial looks like the old-school archer design that we used to see back in 2014 through 2016, especially with that power setup on clicks three and four. I like the Pulse Wave power once per game, and you can easily abuse that since his allies won’t have there powers negated around him giving you access to Prob and Perplex by those right next to him (or close to him). Score: 3/5

048 Vigilante – A good dial with some fancy tricks that gets a whole lot better when you realize he’s only 40 points. This has 50 points written all over it, so to get this much potential damage and board control for a 10 point discount is really good. My only complaint is that his special damage power is on his last three clicks, but he’d be bonkers if he had them on his top click. Score: 5/5

049 Shade – I can’t help but scratch my head at how dependent Shade is on your opponent’s force. He’s a taxi, but can only taxi if your opponent decides to use a decent chunk of actions. Prob and 18-Super Senses along with Stealth give him some great protection, but I just don’t like that you don’t really have complete control over his dial. Score: 2/5

050 Solomon Grundy – Absolutely a great outing for Cyrus. This is a beefy dial with either huge defenses with some great lockdown, or some nasty offense with tons of healing. There’s healing either way, but those Flurry + Steal Energy clicks are scary. He’s cheap enough that won’t feel like a bomb on your team, but is a total pain to deal with that your opponent will probably wonder why he’s only 75 points. Another strong click for this guy. Score: 5/5

SUPER RARES

051 Batman Beyond – Terry gets another strong dial, great to see! While his stats aren’t that fantastic for 125 points thanks to his 3-damage and some big drops after just 1 click of damage, his protections and versatility make him worth those points as he’ll always come prepared with something to deal with the enemy team you’re facing. Stealth plus completely stopping lines of fire, and possible Shape Change make Terry one tough nut to crack. With some support, he’ll be a deadly primary attacker, though not competitive. Score: 4/5

052 Big Barda – Barda has a brutal dial full of lots of pain and protections against token effects and opposing Perplex (unless Outwitted), and unlike most bruisers, she has a great way to get deep into the game fast. Barda’s true strength is her 50-point line though as you get staggeringly good stats with Charge, Flurry, 11-attack, 4-damage, 18-Invincible, and she’s Indomitable. That’s some terrific value and chances are she’s going to dish out WAY more pain than the 50 points your opponent will have to work at to score. She’s a great melee heavyweight that has a low enough cost that you can play a little reckless with her. Score: 5/5

053 Booster Gold – Booster seems very easy to use and has a wealth of defensive powers to help him with double Perplex for anything but damage, free Barrier, and Probability Control. I like how effective and brutal he can be for his cost, while leaving little room for counterplay thanks to the wall construct he’s brought along. My issue with Booster is how low his attack and damage are without his Perplexing, and how quickly he falls into sub-par territory. He’s amazing on his top click, but you’ll be hating life once he does take that first big hit. Play him very carefully. Score: 4/5

054 S.T.R.I.P.E. – This guy feels like Booster with a little better stats and powers down the line, but much more situational. Without succeeding on Leadership, this is honestly a very average dial, especially for a super rare. A STOP click with Defend and Invulnerability is neat, and it makes his 35-point line okay, but this guy just doesn’t have enough to make him special. Score: 2/5

055 Stargirl – There’s some great potential with Stargirl to pull some excellent board control and throwing an opposing character to the wolves that is your team. Her 10-attack isn’t helping her accomplish this without some support to help her out, but if she can land that Ranged Combat Expert on someone, she’s not only going to hit like at truck, she’ll also be able to pretty much set someone up for a double-tap. She’s a bit squishy, but there’s plenty of playability here for her cost at either point line. Score: 4/5

056 Warhawk – Not a lot going on here that seems like he’s a necessary addition. His stats and abilities are very situational, and there’s nothing about his dial that warrants the Super Rare tag, except for one: his ability to give your allies Charge. But is that really worth running him? Maybe at 50 points, but if you do, you get a very sub-par dial which you could have just used for TK instead. He reminds me of the Sam Wilson Captain America’s – relatively strong, but a single Outwit topples them as all their goodness is tied to one defense power. Score: 2/5

057 Darkseid – Strange to see Darkseid without range and purely melee-focused, but good GOD is this dial incredible. As Jruffing said on the Realms, an awake player will never let Darkseid die as he has so many tools to keep himself alive. His Omega Beam seems confusing at first, but I guarantee this thing will be the bane of many players, especially since it’s a placement effect and not a character, meaning you can’t stop it from moving around the board and allowing Darkseid to take some free hits with monster stats. The argument whether Darkseid or Thanos get better dials continues to rage on. A killer showing for this guy. Score: 5/5

058 Ace – 60 points is a lot to pay for a dedicated support piece in my mind, but Ace is incredibly potent and taxes the best power in the game, unless you or your opponent are playing a Theme Team. A full dial of Perplex and Prob along with TK up front and a harsh penalty for KO’ing him no matter how it happens makes Ace quite a valuable figure. I expect him to do very well. Score: 5/5

059 Atom – Excellent support figure for Justice League or Scientist teams. Ray doesn’t do a lot for me for a super rare, but that doesn’t make him bad. He’s tough to deal with thanks to his size, 19-Super Senses, and Outwit/Perplex. Dealing with a 20-defense for only 40 points is a tall order, and while he might not hit for a lot of damage, his odds of pinging through with Precision Strike is high. Score: 4/5

059b Micron – Seems like a decent secondary attacker that helps anyone he’s next to while also presenting some threatening stats on his own. There are some issues with Micron though as a POWER action to place a colossal figure isn’t very good and will more than likely immediately put him in harms way. It seems like this was meant to be a retaliation power that you could tap into as a POWER action but it’s missing that crucial attack. My other problem with Micron is that you’re essentially burning your Prime slot for a 50-point +1 damage figure that can sneak some damage in himself. Compared to the awesome Punisher War Machine from the last set, this is a dud of a SRP. Score: 2/5

060 Mongul – I love characters that cheat Keywords, especially when you get to combine two into one! Mongul is incredibly hard to KO, assuming he doesn’t have his defense countered and he can keep his prey based, though that shouldn’t be too hard thanks to Plasticity. His stats do dip a bit hard for my liking, but he’s so tanky that he should serve his roll of damage sponge pretty well. I think this guy would be golden if you can get him Poison as you’ll easily be able to trigger his Black Mercy trait to give him ridiculous amounts of healing in a turn. Score: 4/5

061 Star Sapphire – Here’s my winner of the worst super rare in the set award. No willpower with average values, and nothing special aside from maybe getting +1 to attack (possibly +2) makes Star Sapphire look very bland compared to so many other figures in the set. Her 30-point line isn’t terrible, but I don’t think I would ever play her at 70 points. I would much rather just play a better ranged attacker with higher attack values for less points, like Rare Green Arrow. Score: 1/5

062 Ultra-Humanite – One heck of a Mind Control figure that can do some heavy lifting for such a small cost of 25 points, or 50 if you want a STOP click, though I don’t think I would run him at 50 points as that back half of his dial is very slow and clunky. But an 8-square Mind Control that goes through everything is very scary. TK will make him an amazing asset early in the game as well. This is a great figure. Score: 5/5

063 Hawkgirl – Don’t let her equipment neutralizing trait fool you; this is a mediocre dial all day long. Her top click is okay, but look how much her stats dip after just a single click. Hawkgirl is one of those characters that you look at and say “oh man, she’s going to destroy people!”, and then you play her and realize that the games her trait will make a difference in are going to be difficult to even pull off, less you leave her sitting right next to the enemy team. Best case scenario, she’s axing a Gauntlet or Cosmic Cube for 30 points while her own KO will give up 70. Hard pass. Score: 2/5

064 Martian Manhunter – Geez, for the massive lack of Manhunters we’ve had for a few years, we’re getting some stellar treatment for him now! Another excellent dial for the Martian with excellent powers and stats. He’s Indomitable, but I would seriously consider pushing him to those brutal snake clicks that give him Flurry, Blades, Giant Reach: 3, Stealth, free Phasing, Super Senses, Shape Change, and Regeneration. That’s a TON of abilities both offensively and defensively, that can pretty much all work together. Score: 5/5

065 Wonder Woman – An excellent melee dial that truly makes ranged characters work overtime to try and drop her before she does her damage. Diana is a little low on damage for my liking (4 would have made her just about perfect), but that’s nitpicking this dial. In today’s game, losing Keywords is much better than it seems. Score: 4/5

CHASES

066 Lex Luthor – Kicking off the Legion of Doom is 40 Cakes Lex – Yes, 40 Cakes! That’s Terrible! This is an incredible 40-point dial that brings a ridiculous amount of support and pretty good damage for such a small cost. 11-Precision Strike with 3-Enhancement, even with only 4-range is great, and he passively gets so much better for your team without having to be in any particular spot. 10 point clicks on these guys are all absurd, but Lex might be the worst one (like the worst Ferrari at the dealership). Still incredible, but not nearly as brutal as Grodd or Brainiac (Black Manta had not been revealed as of this review). Score: 5/5

067 Gorilla Grodd – Let’s get one thing out of the way; this is a bonkers dial for 10 points and one hell of a filler for Ruler teams to win map roll. Grodd can potentially hand out action tokens for free and help your allies with damage, and brings some nice Mind Control/Quake/Super Strength to the table as well for his own threat. He’s very good at 40 points, but a downright gem at 10. Score: 5/5

068 Black Manta – Okay, Black Manta is the worst of the four Legion of Doom members, but still VERY good for how incredibly cheap he is. At 40 points, you get a great 5-click dial with some good stats and Perplex, his weakness trait is probably very rare to ever pop up, and his 10-point click still has solid stats and powers. The reason why he’s the worst of the bunch is that his 10-point line, while still VERY good for this cost, just doesn’t do a whole lot on his own like the others do. He has to make an attack with a fairly short range (or melee), and then he has the potential to cause some chaos. It’s still good though. Score: 5/5

069 Brainiac – An excellent figure at either point value. On the right map, Brainiac is going to be handing out a metric ton of action tokens every turn. At 10 points, this guy has triple-target Incap for free with an 11-attack and Outwit, a brutal combination that makes counterplay extremely difficult. At 40 points, Brainiac can easily coast in, triple-Incap, then follow up the following turn for 2 penetrating damage. If he takes a small hit, he’s got a chance of landing on that 12-attack which is insane for only 40 points and pretty much guarantees his lockdown potential. These Legion of Doom figures are just insanely good. Score: 5/5

070 Green Arrow – An excellent marksman dial with some incredibly high damage capabilities at either point value. 11-attack and 2-damage with Ranged Combat Expert and Precision Strike is terrific for 40 points, and only dropping attack is even better for 25 points. This is all well and good, but Oliver is counteracted by how awesomely powerful that bystander is for your opponents. However, think about this more carefully. Your opponent doesn’t get the option to choose to roll, which means that their own characters are subject to this as well. If you’re not playing any equipment, this doesn’t really affect you that much either. Plus, if you manage to KO him (easy to do with 16-Willpower), Green Arrow gets a massive surge in health and stats. It’s a tough call to make whether he’s worth it or not. That means he gets a middle of the road score: Score: 3/5

071 Wonder Twins – This is an amazing dial, but not when you first look at it because these powers, and even those they gain, on top of their brutal Occasional Weakness makes them seem like they’re straight trash. But you’re getting 6 freaking clicks for 25 points, or 3 clicks for just 10 points. 10 POINTS! If you somehow track a bunch of them down, you’re pretty much guaranteeing you win map roll. As-is, the twins are a great source of tie-up with Phasing/Plasticity, difficult to kill via Shape Change/Mastermind, and can deal some surprising melee damage via Close Combat Expert. Even if they go down in one hit, a) you only paid 10-25 points for them, and b) you burned your opponent’s action to do so. Efficiency is the name of the game here, and they’ve got it in spades. Score: 5/5

072 Black Vulcan – 6 clicks for 50 points is always a good deal, but Black Vulcan is very clunky. With no Willpower, you’re going to feel the sting of no Sidestep or move-and-attack powers. His Probability Control is VERY good, but you have extremely limited access to it on either starting point. The bet part of his kit is penetrating poison, and for 25 points, that’s enough to make him decent. I like him about the same as Samurai, though he’s not as versatile on your team. Score: 3/5

073 Samurai – A somewhat odd dial on either starting click as Samurai doesn’t really fill any gaps that someone else couldn’t do that isn’t a chase. I will say that his TK is pretty cool as it has a 50% chance of removing the token from your ally. He just doesn’t have the wow factor that many other Troubalert figures do. Points for his Samurai Tradition though – that’s wicked cool flavor. Score: 3/5

STARTER

101 Wonder Woman – Diana drops her stats a little hard for my liking, but her top clicks on either value are dynamite, and I would gladly play this figure. Interesting how they’re continually offsetting what seem like amazing dials with almost a full click of Sidestep after just one click of move-and-attack powers, just like Ultron. Score: 4/5

102 The Flash – Chances are good that The Flash will have that +2 Speed, which means he can deal an awful lot of penetrating damage to an opposing team. He’s extremely good at dealing with retaliators as well. However, I don’t know why you’d ever play him at 100 points since he starts with a 10-attack rather than the 11 for 60 points. Score: 4/5

103 Batman – I’m not a fan of Batman dials that have The Batwing for a snapshot of the game. It just doesn’t work mentally for me. Nonetheless, like the armored Batman a few years back, this is a great addition to his kit and gives Batman some great longevity and range. He doesn’t have much aggression for 100 points, but the 60-point dial seems pretty good. Not the best Batman we’ve seen though lately, especially considering we get about 10 every DC set. Score: 3/5

104 Green Lantern – A great 100-point vanilla dial. Running Shot + Pulse Wave is a bit more rare these days, and John has some great values to make this dial feel worthwhile. I really like the 4-damage with Enhancement making him your cannon while aiding your snipers to finish his target off. I don’t like that he immediately drops to 17 ESD though. Thankfully this is a pretty solid 40-point dial as well with some surprisingly high damage. Score: 4/5

105 Superman – The capabilities of this Supes is absurd. There’s so many easy ways to break his trait allowing him to make free attacks, and his stats are big enough at either starting line to throw around the toughest foes. I particularly like that 60-pont line as you can throw someone back, then position yourself for a big Close Combat Expert hit afterwards. Two STOP clicks with Invulnerability and Super Senses with a surge in values makes him a scary foe. Score: 5/5

106 Martian Manhunter – Welcome to the Avengers, J’onn! While his 75-point line isn’t very good, his 40-point dial is just fantastic as a support figure with some great durability and surprisingly good damage capabilities. J’onn is actually better than a TK figure as a) this doesn’t require any lines of fire or range, b) makes them move, which triggers powers/traits that rely on moving (TMT Hulk), and c) can move them farther than TK can if their fairly quick figures. If they have improved movement, they can also get through terrain that TK can’t. J’onn is a staple figure and the #1 reason to get this starter. Score: 5/5

This is a really good set, and certainly carries the flame of DC getting some real big love. But what do the numbers say? Do they back the feeling that this set feels really good? Let’s see how the scores came out:

Score of 1: 2 Figures | 1U, 1SR – 2.6% of the Set

Score of 2: 12 Figures | 3C, 3U, 2R, 4SR – 15.6% of the Set

Score of 3: 16 Figures | 5C, 3U, 5R, 3 Chases – 20.8% of the Set

Score of 4: 22 Figures | 4C, 6U, 6R, 6SR – 28.6% of the Set

Score of 5: 25 Figures | 6C, 5U, 4R, 5SR, 5 Chases – 32.5% of the Set

Starter figures not included in scores.

Yep, the math backs it; 61% of the set is graded with a score of 4 or better. Interestingly enough, there were barely any figures that are not good with I believe a record low for me of only 2 figures. There’s a decent chunk of 2’s, but still much smaller than average-or-higher scores.

An interesting way to look at these set reviews is the breakdown by rarity. The commons are incredibly powerful with just 4 figures below average and probably the best Common Prime we’ve seen since Red Leader. Uncommons only had 3 figures below average. Of course, the rarity that seems to be the gauge of a set and how valuable boosters are is oddly enough Rares. WizKids has been doing an excellent job making these figures really good and making each booster feel like you got something of value. This set did really well in that regard with only 2 rares scoring below average and a majority of them rated at 4, or above average.

The Super Rares are a different story, and I know I’ll get some flak here, but a good chunk of them just did not do anything for me and I can’t see why I would play them over someone’s desire to run a team or that character specifically. The only other score of 1 was in the Super Rares, and four of them scored a 2, and none of them earned an average spot. That means that when I open a booster and get a Super Rare, I’m either really pumped, or I’m bummed – no middle ground.

Thankfully, the Chases in this set are fantastic and will be competitive staples for the two years they’ll be in Modern, and most likely into golden age after that. The Legion of Doom are frankly quite heavily overpowered, and their 10-point dials beg for people to collect a bunch of them to guarantee they win map roll. All of them give you a potent click for virtually no points, and even someone like Black Manta is still an insane discount for what they can do, never mind Brainiac or Grodd. Even the new Troubalert figures are very good. I have a feeling these Chases will be tough to get, and we know they aren’t one per brick like Batman: The Animated Series.

I know what you’re waiting for; should I buy a brick/case? Yes. This set is absolutely worthy of getting full sealed product, and I would get a case if you can. The Chases are all very good and even pulling a Common Prime will still feel amazing because of how bonkers he is. Just one word of advice – PLEASE support your local store right now (and always). With current situation with the world due to COVID-19, our LGS’s are looking at incredibly grim times. Any help they can get is appreciated and if they go under, we no longer have places to gather and play for tournaments or just for fun. I urge you, please buy local if you can, and buy a decent chunk if you want a good amount from this set. I know money is right now for everyone, so do what you can.

Thanks for joining me for another set review. I’ll do these when I can and my goal is to keep them coming for you all as I know you like them a lot and I enjoy writing them. Until next time, please stay safe and do your best to stay away from others. Check out roll20 if you haven’t (that includes me) and figure out cool new ways to play the game. Your new Justice League peeps will be there when we can all gather again.

Until then, whenever it arrives, remember that the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!