ADVANCE LOOK: WizKids 15th Anniversary Marvel HeroClix What If? Booster Brick

Can you believe it’s been FIFTEEN years since HeroClix debuted with Marvel’s Infinity Challenge?  The game has come a very long way from those early days of R-E-V figures with simple, long dials to the modern age of high quality figures with effective dials full of unique special powers and traits.  So too has HeroClix gone through several rules revisions, adding and tweaking as it’s gone on, and it’s appropriate that this year will mark the introduction of a new rules set promising to streamline the game and make it even more accessible to new players.  To celebrate the momentous anniversary WizKids is unleashing not one but TWO special expansion sets this summer that offer alternate versions of some of your favorite characters… as well as some downright weird ones.

First up is the Marvel HeroClix What If? set coming June 7^th, focusing on those great fantasy tales of what could have been!  This expansion celebrates the comic series by that name which started way back in 1977, giving readers glimpses into alternate worlds where major events happened differently, characters chose different paths, and more.  Now those and more are coming to HeroClix with the What If? set featuring lots of versions of Punisher, Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Daredevil, Spider-Man, and more.  And you’re in luck because today we’re going to share with you our unboxing of a brick of 10 boosters!

If you didn’t know that this year is the 15^th anniversary of HeroClix, you sure will once you see the What If? boosters.  On the front panel of the boxes is a huge anniversary logo, placed prominently above two different box art images of alternate mystical heroes: Punisher of the Strange and Dr. Stark.  As usual, side panels offer tantalizing glimpses at some of the set’s sub-themes with 3D renders of classic Marvel heroes (Thor, Iron Man, Daredevil, Spider-Man, Punisher), TV heroes (Spider-Man, Daredevil), Marvel Knights who joined S.H.I.E.L.D. (Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Punisher), and Runaways who became Young Avengers (Chase Stein, Iron Lad, Karolina Dean, Molly Hayes, Nico Minoru, Gertrude Yorkes and Old Lace).  The shared back panel advertises this summer’s Colossal Organizes Play program with an image of Dormammu along with information about the features of the WizKids Info Network.

Alright, here’s the full unboxing video of a What If? brick of boosters.  At the beginning I show off the packaging then skip the tedious stuff (opening boosters, etc.) to give you clear, up close looks at the figures.  Remember to keep scrolling down this page for info on what we pulled and photography of all figures.

Here’s the breakdown of the figures in this brick (your results will vary of course):

COMMONS (including duplicates)

• 001 Spider-Man
• 002 Iron Man
• 003 Punisher
• 004 Daredevil
• 005 Thor
• 006 Iron Lad (What If?  The Runaways Became the Young Avengers – 2008)
• 007 Oni Hulk (What If?  The Gamma Bomb Spawned a Thousand Hulks – 1995)
• 008 Punisher Squad (What If?  The Punisher Became an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. – 1994)
• 009 Dr. Stark (What If?  Iron Man Became Sorcerer Supreme – 1998)
• 010 Iron Rick (What If?  The Avengers Had Never Been – 1977)
• 011 Molly Hayes (What If?  The Runaways Became the Young Avengers – 2008)
• 012 Chase Stein (What If?  The Runaways Became the Young Avengers – 2008)
• 013 Jessica Jones (What If?  Jessica Jones Had Joined the Avengers – 2005)

UNCOMMONS (including duplicates)

• 014 Spider-Man (What If? Spider-Man Had Married the Black Cat – 1991)
• 015 Iron Man (What If?  Iron Man Lost the Armor Wars – 1989)
• 016 Punisher (What If?  The Punisher Had Killed Daredevil – 1991)
• 017 Daredevil (What If?  The Kingpin Adopted Daredevil – 1995)
• 018 Thor (What If?  Loki Had Found the Hammer of Thor – 1984)
• 020 Oni Leader (What If? The Gamma Bomb Spawned a Thousand Hulks – 1995)
• 021 Punisher of S.H.I.E.L.D. (What If?  The Punisher Became an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. – 1994)
• 022 Dr. Stark (What If?  Iron Man Became Sorcerer Supreme – 1998)023 Iron Pun
• isher (What If?  Captain America Had Formed the Avengers – 1991)
• 024 Karolina Dean (What If?  The Runaways Became the Young Avengers – 2008)
• 025 TV’s Spider-Man (What If?  Spider-Man Had Never Become a Crimefighter – 1980)

RARES

• 026 Spider-Man (What If?  Spider-Man’s Clone Had Lived – 1981)
• 028 Punisher (What If?  The Punisher Had Killed Spider-Man – 1994)
• 029 Daredevil (What If?  Daredevil: 2013! – 1983)
• 032 Victorious (What If?  The Runaways Became the Young Avengers – 2008)
• 033 Spider-Ma’am (What If?  Hulk Had Become a Barbarian, Backup Story – 1980)
• 034 TV’s Daredevil (What If?  Spider-Man Had Never Become a Crimefighter – 1980)

SUPER RARES

• 039 Peter the Hunter (What If?  Grim Hunt: Spider-Man Killed Kraven the Hunter – 2010)
• 040 Goblin King (What If?  Dark Reign: The Green Goblin Stole the Infinity Gauntlet – 2015)
• 042 Punisher of the Strange (What If?  Wolverine Was Lord of the Vampires – 1991)

CHASE

• 048 Venom Hulk (What If?  The Alien Costume Had Possessed Spider-Man – 1989)

So let’s break all of this down a bit, shall we?  Starting at the top, we’ve pulled at least one of all thirteen commons, eleven uncommons (out of twelve), six rares, three super rares, and a chase!  Of course, we’re dealing with a slightly smaller than usual expansion and it’s quite a good start toward collecting the set.  From the known sub-themes going on we’ve got the five “classic” (normal version) heroes Spider-Man, Iron Man, Punisher, Daredevil, and Thor, two “TV” characters with Spider-Man and Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Punisher of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Runaways/Young Avengers Iron Lad, Molly Hayes, Chase Stein, and Karolina Dean plus their arch-enemy Victorious!  Looking at some thematic collections you can see the Oni Hulk and Oni Leader from What If? The Gamma Bomb Spawned a Thousand Hulks, and our super lucky chase turned out to be the gamma AND symbiote powered Venom Hulk.  Other characters that feature prominently in this set include Punisher (we pulled six distinct versions including the super rare Punisher of the Strange), Iron Man (four versions of Tony Stark plus related Iron Rick and Iron Punisher), Spider-Man (four versions including the freaky Peter the Hunter plus a Ben Reilly Spider-Man and the wacky Spider-Ma’am), and Daredevil (four versions).  There were also two Thors (and we know there’s at least one more along with Thordis in the set), and the big shocker of the titanic Goblin King from Dark Reign.

Looking through my photos, you’ll undoubtedly notice that there’s a fair amount of sculpt reuse in this set.  This is due in large part to the fact that several figures represent different versions of the same characters, often only slightly different based on diverging histories and choices taken.  But let’s be honest, the Punisher of the standard 616 universe is not THAT different from the one from the timeline in which he killed Daredevil.  With all of that out of the way, let’s check out some of the cool and unique sculpts you can find in the What If? set.  Spider-Man shows up here in multiple versions sharing the same look, a fun pose in classic costume and colors with detailed webbing and even the iconic underarm web wings.  Frank Castle’s standard Punisher figure is a big, bold combatant with a huge knife while his shared sculpt with the Punisher Squad has great uniform details.  Daredevil lunges into action as he launches his cane, and Thor unleashes his Asgardian might with his classic costume, Mjolnir held high, and a dynamic cape billowing behind him.  Figures like the robotic Iron Lad, positively enthusiastic Chase Stein brandishing his Fistigons, well-dressed TV’s Spider-Man, and the hovering menace of Victorious show off great personality and texture details.  The super rares and beyond we pulled all look great with the incredibly complex throne of Peter the Hunter, Goblin King’s hulking spiky body and massive sword, Punisher of the Strange flying forward with mystical sub-machine gun and flapping cape, and of course the massive leaping Venom Hulk complete with tongue hanging out of his mouth!

Looking at colors and paint applications across the set, it’s no surprise that along with the repeated characters we see a lot of the same color schemes whether that’s the red and blue of Spider-Men, black and white of Punishers, or the stark red of Daredevils.  That makes the more unique and colorful figures stand out even more with visual pops like the Runaways characters.  As usual metallic paint is used to good effect on armor and weapons, and figures like Iron Man, Iron Lad, Iron Rick, and Iron Punisher combine metal looks with their own distinctive color palettes.  Some of the paint standouts for me include the Thors with their bright, classic paint scheme, Punisher Squad and Punisher of S.H.I.E.L.D. who have really well done logos on their uniforms, the splash of pink and white that is Molly Hayes, Karolina Dean’s rainbow translucent hair, Victorious looking vicious in black and white with a smashed silver robotic eye exposed and translucent energy effects, and the weird mash up of Punisher of the Strange who manages to combine a black and white uniform, red cape with gold trim, and a translucent pink gun into a cohesive look.  I will say I was slightly disappointed with the Spider-Men and Spider-Ma’am; as with the recent Spider-Man set some of these figures seem to have suffered particularly heavy washes that blots out the great sculpted detail.

As always we’ll wrap things up with a few dial reveals, and we’ve got some really cool ones this time around courtesy of WizKids and the What If? set.  You could definitely say that Frank Castle has his very own sub-theme in this expansions, so let’s take a look at the uncommon 016 Punisher who comes from the chilling What If? The Punisher Had Killed Daredevil story in 1991.  In it the vigilante accidentally kills the Man without Fear, setting off a full-fledged superhero civil war in New York leading to the deaths of several more characters.  Sharing a sculpt with the “classic” common (and others) this version of the anti-hero wields a huge combat blade and as you’d expect has a dial focused on melee combat.  He’s a lean 50 points with Indomitable and no printed range.  However, he starts the game with two clicks of a special power giving him Precision Strike and a range of 8 so he can begin with a couple sniper shots.  The power also gives him a +2 boost to Frank’s attack value when he shoots at a figure with the Marvel Knights or Spider-Man Family keywords so make sure to field him against that opponent who always plays those themes.  Punisher also starts with Toughness and picks up a run of Sidestep on his second click.  On click #3 he trades in his special power for regular Precision Strike without the range option and keeps it for the remainder, while on the back half of his dial he switches to Combat Reflexes and Close Combat Expert.  Punisher’s stats are decent for his cost and stellar when you factor in the potential boosts from his special power and CCE later on.  And while he’s designed not to play well with other heroes he has the Martial Artist and Soldier keywords for team building.

The god of thunder is no stranger to the pages of What If?, and the …Loki Had Found the Hammer of Thor story closed out the original run of the comic in 1984.  While Donald Blake is killed before he can transform into Thor, Odin nevertheless finds his son in Hel and the god returns to life along with Mjolnir.  The Asgardian hero from this tale is 018 Thor in the set and features the classic look and sculpt seen on the common version.  He is 100 points with Indomitable and a trait that lets you choose to have his attacks generate knock back that can’t be ignored by Charge or Combat Reflexes (though notably he has no range or Flight).  Instead this Thor is a close-combat beast who starts with a big 12 movement Charge, a special attack power granting Precision Strike AND Quake, Invincible, and Battle Fury on top of 4 damage.  Next up is a pair of clicks with Impervious, and mid-dial Thor changes modes to Sidestep and Invulnerable with a short run of Close Combat Expert.  Pair the resurrected god with fellow figures with the Asgardian, Deity, Mystical, or Warrior keywords.

One of Spider-Man’s most famous and memorable storylines was the Clone Saga which introduced Peter Parker’s “brother” Ben Reilly.  In the final battle with the Jackal the clone is seemingly killed, but not in What If?  Spider-Man’s Clone Had Lived from 1981!  In that story Reilly survives the fight and he and Parker go on to a live separate lives while sharing the mantle of Spider-Man (and an apartment) as brothers.  And so, 026 Spider-Man is Ben Reilly, which is nice for that character’s fans as it gives them another option in the game.  The figure is 80 points with the Spider-Man Ally team ability, a 4 range, and a really helpful trait that lets him use Combat Reflexes when he doesn’t have two action tokens.  On the dial you’ll see a slightly unique take on the standard Spider-Man power set starting with a special movement power giving Reilly Charge, Improved Movement ignoring Elevated and Hindering terrain plus characters, AND essentially a full-move Charge ability!  Spider-Man has that power only on clicks #1 and #4, alternating with Leap/Climb between them and then Flurry afterwards.  On the attack track he has two short runs of Super Strength for big damage potential while the dial is evenly split with the first half protected by Super Senses and the back half protecting others with Defend and high defense values.  Average damage numbers are bolstered by some Perplex and a long late-dial run of Outwit.  As a clone of Peter it’s appropriate that this Ben has only the keywords Spider-Man Family and Reporter, and he shares the cool classic Spider-Man sculpt seen on a couple other Spideys in this set.

So far our looks at dials have featured heroes (maybe debatable in the case of Punisher), but no longer.  Among the super rares of the What If? set is a true monster called Goblin King.  A variant of the Green Goblin, this is of course Norman Osborn but empowered to an insane degree with the all-powerful Infinity Gauntlet.  As it turns out in a fun, Twilight Zone-like What If? take, while in control of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the world’s resources Norman discovered the Gauntlet and the means to acquire it and then went on a rampage remaking the world according to his desires.  Naturally it didn’t turn out well for most people, but I won’t spoil the ending for you if you haven’t read it.  So, what does insane Osborn with the Gauntlet look like in HeroClix?  He’s a whopping 275 points with the Power Cosmic team ability, 7 range, Flight, one trait that gives attack debuffing tokens to characters who miss while trying to hit him, and another trait that lets you choose TWO standard powers that he can use until you choose again!  That’s incredibly flexible, and paired with his high stats and even more powers on his dial this guy is going to be a tough contender.  Goblin King starts with Phasing/Teleport so he can move anywhere, and down the dial he alternates between that and Sidestep for even more free movement.  His attack track (starting with a 12!) is blank, while his defense lineup starts with Invincible and cycles through the standard Impervious-Invulnerability-Toughness.  Lastly he’s got a long run of Probability Control starting on click #2 and then some Perplex at the end of his dial.  In a high enough point game Goblin King can play with other Dark Avengers, Monsters, or Rulers for theme team bonuses, or you can play him at 175 or even 75 point starting lines.

June 7^th is when HeroClix players everywhere can get their hands on the What If? set, adding all sorts of unique and fun alternate versions of characters to their forces.  There’s a lot of fun here for any player, but especially fans of heroes like Spider-Man, Iron Man, Punisher, Daredevil, and of course the Runaways.  For even more What If? fun there will also be an accompanying Starter Set featuring “classic” versions of Thor, Iron Man, Punisher, Daredevil, Spider-Man, and Nico Minoru, and also a Dice & Token Pack with tokens featuring artwork of alternate universe versions of Dr. Stark, Captain Ironmerica, Captain America, Punisher of the Strange, Daredevil, and Spider-Man.  Have fun with all of the new figures, and as always good luck with your pulls!

Visit the brand new and improved HeroClix.com for even more info as well as downloads of rules and maps, and stay tuned to Figures.com as we continue our reviews of new HeroClix!

Review and photos by Scott Rubin

Review samples courtesy of WizKids Games

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