Adepticon is quickly approaching, and for Marvel Crisis Protocol players, that means a slew of diverse events, the exciting “Path of the Worthy” painting competition, and the AMG prize wall full of unique goodies. Most exciting for some, however, is Friday evening’s Roadmap Presentation, in which AMG will present a look ahead at upcoming releases and changes for all of their games.
This marks the third year that AMG is hosting such a panel at Adepticon, which will be live-broadcast on Atomic Mass Games’ official Twitch page at 7:30 PM (CST) on Friday, March 28. From all-but-confirmed to likely wishful thinking, here are seven big predictions for what MCP players might get with this exciting look ahead.
Phoenix/Dark Phoenix and Brotherhood Card Reveals
Though there are exceptions, AMG typically reveals new future releases at two events during the year – Adepticon in March and Ministravaganza in late July or early August. At last year’s Ministravaganza, among several other announcements, AMG showed renders for the sculpts of two boxes – a Phoenix/Dark Phoenix two-pack and an Exodus, Lady Mastermind, and Avalanche Brotherhood three-pack. As of now, according to the roadmap that accompanied these reveals, these two boxes should be the next two reveals after Adepticon. As such, odds are high that we see most, if not all, of their character cards.
What can we expect from these powerful mutants? Well, it’s hard to say. Given that Jean Grey is already in the game at five Threat, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise if Phoenix is either the same or higher. Moreover, it seems possible that the two models (Phoenix and Dark Phoenix have separate sculpts) are one character with a Transform mechanic or alternate way to change between the two versions of Jean. One big clue that this may be the case is that AMG recently added the “Reserve” keyword to the game in their last rules update, which designates a character that can’t start in a Squad or be placed on the table unless a specific ability/card/rule says to do so. This keyword may just be to better explain transform characters, but the timing makes sense for Dark Phoenix to have it as well.
The Brotherhood characters, however, are more of an enigma. AMG has moved toward more four-pack releases (see Affiliation boxes and releases like the Spider-Foes pack with Sandman and company), but a box of new characters with three inclusions is new. However, outside the Foes four-pack, each one has come with at least one leader. As such, Brotherhood players may get a third leader for their Affiliation.
Fantastic Four Announced
At this point in the game’s lifecycle, the Fantastic Four (and related characters like Doom and Silver Surfer) are the most broadly iconic Marvel heroes and villains not in MCP. Between their popularity and the coming and going of MCP’s 4th anniversary (a popular theory as to when they’d drop), it seems likely that there are either rights issues with the characters or Marvel is intentionally asking them to wait for some reason.
If it’s the former, Marvel’s First Family may simply never come to MCP. However, if it’s the second, it may finally be their time to shine. With The Fantastic Four: First Steps releasing this year and finally bridging Sue, Reed, Johnny, and Ben to the MCU, Marvel may be intentionally having licensed products time releases for a big multi-medium push to promote the characters before the film drops. MCP hasn’t traditionally timed releases with MCU products, but they’re also, to at least some degree, at the beck and call of what Marvel will approve them to do with the license.
No Character Reworks Until Later This Year
In February, AMG shook up the Marvel Crisis Protocol competitive meta by dropping big nerfs for Thanos, Thor 2, Hellfire Club, and the Reality Gem. In March, the War of Kings character and Crisis pack drops, dramatically changing the set of available Crises for competitive play. However, many people expect a batch of more widespread character updates this year, but it’s unlikely to happen at Adepticon.
Though AMG hasn’t committed to a specific cadence for their large batches of character updates, they’ve been vaguely holding to an “every other year” pattern for updating Tactics Cards and characters. The last big character update was in 2023, and 2024 saw new TTC rotations and updates, so, if tradition holds, a large batch of characters will likely see buffs and nerfs soon.
However, the last two big balance passes were revealed at Ministravaganza, not Adepticon. The AMG Roadmap Presentation isn’t strictly for MCP – they cover all of their active games. AMG also likes to take some time to get into their rationale for changes during these passes. Given the time limit and not-MCP-exclusive audience, a deep dive into a dozen-ish updates doesn’t seem as good of a fit as an online stream just for this topic where only interested parties are watching during Ministravaganza. Nothing says updates can’t happen at Adepticon, but I’d bet on AMG wanting to focus on other things at Adepticon.
Three New Web Warriors
One of the last things teased last year at Ministravaganza was a new Web Warriors four-pack. However, given it’s not scheduled for release until “Q3 2025,” details were scarce – all that was shown was a render of Spider-Man 2099’s sculpt. It’s too early to get full character card reveals, but odds are high that we get renders for the other three characters in the box.
Given the release is titled the “Spider-Verse Character Pack,” expect some alternate-universe Spider-People to fill things out. Excitingly, there is no shortage of multiversal Spider-People who could be great fits for MCP. Spider-Verse movie stars Spider-Noir, SP//dr, Spider-Punk, and Spider-Ham could all work great, as could new versions of Miles or Gwen. Of course, AMG loves their deep cuts, so even complete surprises like Web-Slinger (Cowboy Spider-Man) or Jackpot (superhero MJ) could make an appearance.
Of course, to many casual fans, Peter Parker is the one and only Spider-Man, and he’s likely to sell boxes. To make a prediction on top of the prediction, the Spider-Verse box could very well include a fourth Peter Parker along with a Spider-Verse Tactics Card that allows Web Warriors players to ignore the Alias/Alter Ego restriction when building Squads.
Spider-Foes Get Reinforcements
The Yang to Web Warriors’ Ying, we may have a Spider-Foes two-pack announced for release along with the Spider-Verse four-pack. The two affiliations are linked thematically but are also loosely connected by the release schedule. With very few exceptions, both affiliations have gotten releases within a month of the other (and sometimes on the exact same day):
- Green Goblin and Miles/Gwen
- Carnage/Mysterio, Kraven/Lizard, and Amazing Spider-Man/Black Cat
- Rhino and Spider-Woman/Agent Venom
- Foes four-pack and Gwenom/Scarlet Spider
Given the last release was four Foes and two Webs, 2025 might see them flip. There’s no saying which Foes could be next, but the most popular names still missing from the game include Scorpion, Prowler, Chameleon, Mr. Negative, and Hobgoblin. Alternatively, we could see a new version of iconic characters like Green Goblin, Venom, or Carnage. Five or six-threat symbiotes, anyone?
Gladiator Gets an Affiliation
Gladiator is dropping on March 14, but the official Affiliation Document has already been updated and confirms that Gladiator is unaffiliated. MCP has only ever had four other characters be unaffiiatied, and three of them were only labelled as such because their Affiliation wasn’t in the game yet: (Ock 1 and Spider-Man 1 joined Foes and Webs respectively, and Venom joined both – Punisher was eventually added to Defenders when Daredevil was given a leadership). Given MCP doesn’t really do unaffiliated models, it seems unlikely that Gladiator – a character who many people will own due to coming in the 2025 Crisis Pack – will stay solo.
He almost certainly won’t join an affiliation at Adepticon, but the odds are reasonable that AMG announces some future releases that could give him a home. One exciting option in particular stands out. Gladiator is the leader of the Imperial Guard, but they seem a bit too niche to be a whole affiliation. He’s also been a Guardian of the Galaxy, but they’re already in the game, and he’s not a member. However, Kallark was also an Annihilator, a group full of characters either already in the game or ripe for inclusion. In addition to Gladiator, here are some other notable Annihilators:
- Ronan (already in MCP)
- Beta Ray Bill (Already in MCP)
- Silver Surfer
- Cosmo
- Ikon
- Quasar
Not only would this give Gladiator a home, but MCP currently only has one cosmic hero team, and the game is due for a second.
How likely do you think these predictions are? What do you expect AMG to reveal at their Adepticon Roadmap Panel? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
Have any questions or feedback? Drop us a note in the comments below or email us at contact@goonhammer.com. Want articles like this linked in your inbox every Monday morning? Sign up for our newsletter. And don’t forget that you can support us on Patreon for backer rewards like early video content, Administratum access, an ad-free experience on our website and more.
