REVIEW: WizKids Games DC HeroClix Batman Team-Up

It’s been a little while, but we’re really excited to be heading back into the wild world of one of our most favorite games, HeroClix! And it’s a pretty special time since we’re checking out a new DC Comics set; those only come out a couple times per year. Just released is an expansion that brings with it some unique crossover material and a really fun range of characters in WizKids Games DC HeroClix Batman Team-Up! Following up on 2018’s Batman: The Animated Series and 2020’s Justice League Unlimited expansions, this set brings cartoons to life with a particular focus on the heroes and villains of Teen Titans GO and Scooby-Doo’s Mystery Inc. There are also other fun sub-themes like the Justice League’s Trinity, Doom Patrol, Lanterns, and more, and a huge range of Lantern Construct special objects. As a fan of a lot of those properties and teams I was really excited to check out this booster set, as well as the accompanying Batman Team-Up Play at Home Kit, Miniatures Game, and Dice & Token Pack.

First off, we’re going to look at the new starter, or at least the thing that’s replaced that old format. The DC Comics HeroClix Batman Team-Up Miniatures Game is a big box of cool stuff designed to get a new player (or new players) into the game of HeroClix with as little fuss as possible. As I’ve noted over the last couple years, I love these “miniatures games.” They do everything the old starters did but better with more figures, heavier duty maps, and a lot more stuff in general! And of course, the big new box looks cool, in this case featuring a rainbow of colors with animated characters in different boxes across the front panel alongside the big window through which you can see the figures themselves. The back of the box outlines all the components and basics of the game with more art and images of the figures and game materials.

While there’s nothing that could stop these two teams combined, the Teen Titans and Mystery Inc. are going head-to-head in this boxed set! In one corner you’ve got Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Velma, and Daphne, and in the other Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg. With their specific animated series styles, they don’t exactly look like they belong in the same universe, but half the fun of HeroClix is combining different worlds and properties anyway. The Mystery Inc. characters have mostly normal proportions with cartoony colors and faces, while the Titans have exaggerated chibi-style bodies, huge heads and eyes, and the like. They’re all in fun poses with bright colors, and will really stand out in your HeroClix games. All of these figures share sculpts with figures in the main booster set, with unique dials. Perfect for learning the game, each one has two separate sections on its dial that correspond to different cards; each character has a straightforward 25 point dial and a more complex 40 point dial. You’ll find team abilities on the beginner figures but nothing more advanced, while the veterans have two special powers each.

As I’ve talked about previously, I’m a big fan of this format for teaching new HeroClix players; they’ve got the short, “easy” dials to start with and then they can see the evolution of stats and powers moving to the longer dials when they’re comfortable with all the core rules. And of course, these provide veteran players with all-new, low cost options for fitting these characters onto their teams. Designed to work as teams, these figures have complementary powers and abilities, maximizing their use together.

Beyond the Titans and Mystery Inc., there’s a small mountain of other materials in this box, and more than enough for new players to learn the game. As always there’s a brand-new version of the Core Rule Book and two copies of the Powers and Abilities Card (PAC), which covers all of the rules and standard powers you’ll see in colored blocks on dials. Note that these are available to download for free on the HeroClix website, but if you pick up this set you can have the specially-themed physical copies which is pretty cool. Stacks of cardboard sheets give you action tokens, terrain markers, standard objects, and more, and there’s a pair of Batman-themed dice in swanky black and pink. All of that would surely be enough, but there’s even more in the form of Scenario Cards that take new players (or veterans looking for an alternate way of playing) through specific games and story lines with build rules, win conditions, and more. Last but not least are two Mystery Cards, a whole new game mechanic that adds a level of “investigation” (fulfilling specific scenarios) to gain clues that you can then spend for bonuses and special effects.

Of course, you can’t play HeroClix without maps, and the miniatures games bring you two via six double-sided heavy duty cardboard tiles. There are location codes printed right on them so assembly is quick and easy, and could be used to play remotely with a friend. One side is the indoor Game Show battlefield, complete with elevated audience tiers, a green room backstage, and lots of fun little details. Flip it over and it’s time for fun in the sun on the Haunted Pier outdoor map, a very dangerous place with large, open areas on the beach as well as more difficult terrain on the pier itself.

If you’re interested in getting into HeroClix and want a product that will give you everything you need, or if you’re already a player who likes Teen Titans GO and Scooby-Doo (and lots of fun), then I highly recommend this miniatures game for you. It’s the latest thing so you’ll have the most current printed rules, and the figures and maps are fabulous.

With the starter product out of the way, it’s time to dive into a full brick of Batman Team-Up boosters! As always, a brick provides you with ten boosters, each containing five game pieces and their respective cards. There’s the usual rarity system so every pack will contain a number of commons and uncommons along with a rare, super rare, or chase. Usually that means five figures, though this set does something a bit unique in that every single box has four figures and one special object! The booster boxes themselves are themed much more around the Dark Knight than the miniatures game, with the dynamic duo in front of neon colors over a black background.

The sides of the boosters show off some of the set’s themes with the Green Lantern Corps and Teen Titans GO, while the back panel has info on HeroClix and online resources along with a shot of Mystery Inc.

Booster 1

• Common 010 Daphne
• Uncommon 017 Bumblebee
• Uncommon 028 The Penguin
• Rare 042 Bane
• S014 Spotlight (Green)

Booster 2

• Common 004 Fred
• Common 009 Batgirl
• Uncommon 019 Red Raven
• Super Rare 051 Indigo-1
• S009 Catcher’s Mitt (Green)

Booster 3

• Common 003 Shaggy
• Common 015 Superman
• Uncommon 020 Blackfire
• Rare 038 The Brain
• S032 Fire Hydrant (Orange)

Booster 4

• Common 006 Starfire
• Common 010 Daphne
• Uncommon 023 Beast Boy
• Rare Prime 037b Scarecrow
• S048 Cowboy Boot (Violet)

Booster 5

• Common 001 Robin
• Common 005 Raven
• Uncommon 027 Elasti-Girl
• Rare 040 Killer Croc
• S025 Fire Hydrant (Red)

Booster 6

• Common 002 Scooby-Doo
• Uncommon 024 Jinx
• Uncommon 029 Catwoman
• Super Rare 056 Darkseid
• S037 Catcher’s Mitt (Blue)

Booster 7

• Common 007 Mas
• Common 009 Batgirl
• Uncommon 030 The Joker
• Super Rare 045 John Stewart
• S051 Catcher’s Mitt (Indigo)

Booster 8

• Common 006 Starfire
• Common 012 Velma
• Uncommon 021 Menos
• Rare 036 Martian Manhunter
• S027 Cowboy Boot (Red)

Booster 9

• Common 008 Harley Quinn
• Common 016 Wonder Woman
• Uncommon 018 Robotman
• Super Rare 055 Cyborg
• S056 Spotlight (Indigo)

Booster 10

• Common 013 Clayface
• Uncommon 024 Jinx
• Rare 044 Wonder Woman
• Super Rare 052 Fatality
• S021 Spotlight (Yellow)

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

COMMONS (including duplicates)

• 001 Robin
• 002 Scooby-Doo
• 003 Shaggy
• 004 Fred
• 005 Raven
• 006 Starfire
• 007 Mas
• 008 Harley Quinn
• 009 Batgirl
• 010 Daphne
• 012 Velma
• 013 Clayface
• 015 Superman
• 016 Wonder Woman

UNCOMMONS (including duplicates)

• 017 Bumblebee
• 018 Robotman
• 019 Red Raven
• 020 Blackfire
• 021 Menos
• 023 Beast Boy
• 024 Jinx
• 027 Elasti-Girl
• 028 The Penguin
• 029 Catwoman
• 030 The Joker

RARES

• 036 Martian Manhunter
• 037b Scarecrow
• 038 The Brain
• 040 Killer Croc
• 042 Bane
• 044 Wonder Woman

SUPER RARES

• 045 John Stewart
• 051 Indigo-1
• 052 Fatality
• 055 Cyborg
• 056 Darkseid

SPECIAL OBJECTS

• S009 Catcher’s Mitt (Green)
• S014 Spotlight (Green)
• S021 Spotlight (Yellow)
• S025 Fire Hydrant (Red)
• S027 Cowboy Boot (Red)
• S032 Fire Hydrant (Orange)
• S037 Catcher’s Mitt (Blue)
• S048 Cowboy Boot (Violet)
• S051 Catcher’s Mitt (Indigo)
• S056 Spotlight (Indigo)

I always like to get a global look our pulls and their collation. In this booster we got 14 out of 16 commons, 11 out of the 14 uncommons, 6 rares out of 16 (including two Primes), 5 out of 14 super rares (including two Primes), and none of the 8 chases. While at first glance some of that seems odd, notably missing out on multiple commons and uncommons, you have to remember that with only four figures in each booster there is going to be a skew in pulls. And on the other side, we did get a rare Prime and five super rares in one brick, and every single booster had a cool unique construct! Taking into account the unique set design I’m happy with these pulls, especially with the super rare Lanterns. As always, your results will vary. Oh, and it is worth mentioning that in a set named for the Caped Crusader we didn’t pull a single Batman figure!

Diving in deeper, we’ll go through each rarity level and see how the figures we pulled fit into the expansion set’s themes. The main ones among the commons are obvious, and really highlight the true headliners of the set. Our Teen Titans GO lineup starts very strongly with Robin, Raven, Starfire, Mas, and Batgirl, while it’s interesting to note that you can get (one version of) the entire Mystery Inc. gang here as well with Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma. Besides all of those kids, we found Gotham City villains Harley Quinn and Clayface as well as Justice Leaguers Superman and Wonder Woman.

The uncommons may not see any of Scooby’s friends, but it continues a prominent collection of Teen Titans with core member Beast Boy and friends Bumblebee, Red Raven (repaint of Raven), Blackfire (repaint of Starfire), Menos (repaint of Mas), and Jinx. They’re joined by a couple members of the weirdest superhero team in DC Comics, the Doom Patrol, with Robotman and Elasti-Girl. The Penguin and the Joker are here to menace the good people of Gotham City, though Catwoman is here in Batman’s stead to offer some protection for the innocents.

With the rares we’ve finally left the kiddies behind, and we didn’t even find a single Titan here. Instead, the Justice League got reinforcements with a super cool new Martian Manhunter and another Wonder Woman (one of quite a few in this set). Opposing them, however, is classic DC Comics villain the Brain (though unfortunately we didn’t pull his pal Monsieur Mallah), and Gotham City baddies Scarecrow, Killer Croc, and Bane. This Jonathan Crane is noteworthy as the Prime, a Sinestro Corps version of the standard figure!

At the previous level we got a taste with Scarecrow, but here in the super rares we got a triple dose of Lanterns! I was super excited to discover these as I’m a big Green Lantern fan, and this brick didn’t disappoint with GL John Stewart, Indigo Lantern Indigo-1, and Star Sapphire Fatality. Did you notice that there was a core member of the Teen Titans GO missing from the commons? Well, we found him here with Cyborg, and opposing him is a terrifying DC Comics villain that showed up multiple times in the cartoon: Darkseid.

Special objects in HeroClix go back a long way, and every so often an expansion set will lean heavily into them. Batman Team-Up is one such set, with every single booster featuring one of these cool 3D game elements. Very interestingly, in every single one of our boosters here we pulled a Lantern Construct! Now, while they are super cool and welcome in my collection, in game terms they don’t do much without a Lantern Ring object; seven of those can be found in this set though we didn’t pull any of them. Our constructs are: Catcher’s Mitt (Green), Catcher’s Mitt (Blue), Catcher’s Mitt (Indigo), Spotlight (Green), Spotlight (Yellow), Spotlight (Indigo), Fire Hydrant (Red), Fire Hydrant (Orange), Cowboy Boot (Red), and Cowboy Boot (Violet).

Batman Team-Up is full of familiar and fun mechanics well-known to long-term players, along with some new treats. Multiple figures like Batgirl and Harley Quinn have traits that share additional team abilities with their friends (notably Batman Enemies and Teen Titans), there are bystander generators like Clayface and Negative Man, Rally dice allow some figures to hold a specific die roll to use at a key moment, Sideline traits provide swapping abilities to figures like Red Raven, Improved Movement and Targeting let characters move and shoot through various terrain types and characters, and you can even win the game in unique ways with Mission Points figures like Peacemaker and Darkseid. Something I was really excited to see is the return of activation clicks with Martian Manhunter who starts the game as Detective Jones and lets his player decide whether or not to deal him damage to turn into the alien hero.

Also like other recent sets, Batman Team-Up continues the trend of Legacy Cards. These are pretty rare, one random card coming with an entire brick of boosters, and breathe new life into classic and fan-favorite figures from years and sometimes decades past. The Legacy card we pulled here was for Icons Veteran Joker from way back in 2005! This new version cuts the price from a now-insane 107 to a slimmed down 60, and adds traits protecting him from certain attacks and abilities while also making him more deadly.

You can get a good look at all of the figures we pulled here in the full photo gallery at the end of this review, but I’d like to point out just a few of my favorites. This was a tough choice as the set looks really good overall, though I will admit that the Teen Titans GO style doesn’t hugely appeal to me. Even so, there’s no denying the fun poses and expressive paint jobs and faces on figures like Robin, Red Raven, Bumblebee, Cyborg, etc. Meanwhile the Mystery Inc. investigators look like perfect 3D representations of their cartoon forms and I absolutely love them!

Other things that really impressed me here include Clayface with a fantastic textured sculpt and wicked weapons, Robotman’s hip pose, Joker looking appropriately goofy and terrifying at the same time, Killer Croc’s leathery and scaly hide, Bane looking large and in charge, and Darkseid somehow frighteningly imposing and cartoony at once. I read a lot of DC Comics’ New 52 era, so I also enjoyed seeing throwbacks to that time with Superman, Wonder Woman, and Martian Manhunter. And I’ve mentioned it before, but as a huge Green Lantern fan I absolutely covet all Lantern figures and love the very cool ones I pulled here: Scarecrow, John Stewart, Fatality, and Indigo-1. Plus, the constructs are all really cool in their colorful translucent plastic.

Want more Batman Team-Up? WizKids has you covered! First up, spruce up your games with the Dice & Token Pack. Replace your tiny dice, cardboard bits, or whatever you’re using for action tokens and play with these heavy-duty poker chip-style tokens. They’re ringed in black and pink and feature really neat off-color artwork of Batman, Robin, Nightwing, Catwoman, the Joker, and the Penguin.

As is now usual, the reverse sides feature bystander tokens created by figures in the booster set, this time the Tentacle (Aquaman), Negative Spirit (Negative Man), and Clayface Duplicate (Clayface). My favorite thing is the dice, in matching black and pink with an awesome pink Batman symbol on the “6” side.

Last but not least is the Play At Home Kit, a format WizKids debuted during the pandemic and which I’m happy to see is continuing. It’s a very straightforward product, a non-random box containing a unique figure and a double-sided map. The maps bring back previously-released battlefields with fresh graphics and the addition of labeled squares so you can keep track of the action when playing with remote opponents. In this case it’s two outdoor maps: Robinson Park and Danny the Street.

Oh, and the figure? Well, it’s another version of Shaggy, but this time you might say he’s reached his final form. Technically from Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur from 2011, this figure is widely considered to be a HeroClix version of the “Ultra Instinct” Shaggy meme and has the stats to live up to it. For 150 points you get 10 clicks with a starting 9/12/19/4 statline featuring Hypersonic Speed, Super Strength, Invincible, and Close Combat Expert plus three targets and the Cosmic Energy team ability. Like, zoinks indeed.

So, there you have it, an overview of DC Comics HeroClix Batman Team-Up with a look at a brick of boosters, the miniatures game, Dice & Token pack, and Play At Home kit. All of these items can be found right now at your local comic book or game store, or online from WizKids. If you’re a DC Comics fan like me you probably already know that our HeroClix sets are fewer per year so you should definitely check them out when they arrive. Batman Team-Up has some really exciting features with its animated series-inspired figures, and of course the addition of Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang to the tabletop game. There are also loads more cool characters including (my favorite) Lanterns, and a whole slew of interesting special objects. Get started with the miniatures game, add to your experience with the Dice & Token pack and Play At Home Kit, and build your teams with reinforcements from boosters. Good luck with your pulls!

Visit 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! If you don’t have access to a local comic book or game store at this time you can also order your HeroClix directly from the WizKids website.

Review and photos by Scott Rubin.

Review samples courtesy of WizKids Games.

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BOOSTERS

DICE/ TOKEN

LEGACY

MINIATURES GAME

PLAY AT HOME