As a new player to Marvel Heroes, determining the best Heroes in Marvel Heroes is difficult, especially when you consider a variety of factors: fun, skills, depth, visual effects, group utility and much more. I’ve spent a great deal of time over the last few weeks researching the Heroes and their skills and speaking to the community to see which ones stack up and which ones need a little love. Seemingly, what the strength in a Hero it often boils down to is time to kill: how fast can those enemies go down when you’re fighting them. I personally don't like that emphasis and instead have based this simple list on the above factors and whether or not I had fun playing the Hero.
Regardless of where your favourite Hero ranks on this list, I’d always stress that you should play a Hero you enjoy the most, as almost all of them are viable in some way. Playing any Hero in Marvel Heroes 2015 is a lot of fun and inevitably, this list is always going to be subjective. Please also note that the bullet points below are intended as informational as well as positive and negative aspects. Further, this isn't a static list and doesn't just boil down to who deals the most damage but instead takes into consideration enjoyment of play, the depth on offer, skill variety and if the Hero is entertaining. I expect many will disagree. Untested Heroes include Ice Man, Star Lord, Rogue, Rocket Racoon and Nova.
If you're seeking an incredibly in-depth breakdown of every Hero in the game, I'd recommend you check out this spreadsheet by Mjoll. It's pretty amazing, though you'll likely be reading it all day!
This guide will continue to be updated as I play the game more and based on community feedback.
Doctor Strange
Very high damage
Has considerable depth of play
Difficult to master
Lengthy cooldowns
Silver Surfer
A very versatile Hero
Lots of damage
Poor damage mitigation
He really looks awesome
Iron Man
Amazing set of costumes
Fun to play and excellent visuals
Requires a good PC to make the most of the visual effects
VENOM
Similarly to Spiderman, he’s lots of fun
Great visual effects on his skills
Not particularly challenging to play, nor does he have much depth
Considered very strong by the community
LOKI
Great damage and entertaining play style
Viable in melee
Has suffered some ‘nerfs’ but he's still a powerful Hero
Storm
Easy to play
Available as a starting Hero
Her voice is annoying
Her visual effects on skills aren't as good as others
Human Torch
Awesome damage and a starter Hero (I really enjoy playing him)
Great visual effects
Too much visual effects can slow poor machines
His voice can be irritating
Ms. Marvel
Super easy to play
Great for beginners
Not really a ranged character
CYCLOPS
Reasonable fun in a party as he’s easy to play
Feels quite poor compared to many Heros - I really disliked his slow and static play
Still looks great
Black Panther
Good damage and mobility
A fun variety of skills
Poor damage mitigation and quite squishy
HULK
Looks amazing with some brilliant skins
Amazing leaps and smash skills
Some great costumes in the store
Currently considered one of the most powerful Heroes
Scarlet Witch
Amazing at controlling a battlefield
Hard to actually bring down
Some state she’s too easy
Some of her skills provide random effects
Ghost Rider
A unique hero (it's a biker with a skull for a head!)
Looks awesome and has a bike
Quite a niche playstyle
Like some other Heroes, his voice can annoy
GAMBIT
Very versatile
Amazing visual effects
Similarly to some Heroes, his voice can annoy
Who doesn't like Gambit?
TASKMASTER
A good variety in skills
Quite tanky
Really not an exciting Hero to play or look at
CAPTAIN AMERICA
Great costumes available in the store
Fun skills and excellent in parties
His mitigation has been much improved
Moon Knight
Some great voices
Can survive for long periods
Poor mobility
He doesn’t look particularly great
Spiderman
Lots of fun and fast paced skills
Great visual effects
He’s super squishy
Magneto
Huge fun to play
Some excellent purchasable costumes
Incredible visual effects
Good time to kill speed
Nightcrawler
Incredible mobility
So much fun to level with
As a melee Hero it’s incredibly squishy
Wolverine
Probably one of the best melee Hero in the game
Poor mobility
Has AOE potential but it's lower than some Heroes
X-23
Incredible combat mobility
Compared to some melee Heroes, she has good survivability - always welcome!
Invisible Woman
Good for parties
A well balanced Hero
I felt she was a distinctly average Hero that wasn't particularly exciting
Hawkeye
My personal favourite: great in groups
Fast kill times and lots of AOE
Very poor stamina
Mr. Fantastic
A melee character with some range (stretchy arms!)
Some good burst skills
Some of the skills are a little tricky to use
Colossus
A very strong tank
Great in a party
His size makes him feel slow
Juggernaut
Looks absolutely brilliant
Lots of excellent charge and area of effect attacks
Works excellent in a party
Lacks range power
Black Widow
Good voice and a variety of costumes
Brilliant burst potential
Feels quite weak after the burst
Not as mobile as other melee Heroes
Deadpool
Very enjoyable to play
Some funny dialogue
Quite slow attack animations on some skills
Jean Grey
Phoenix form is amazing
Good control
Relatively boring
Not much depth to play
DareDevil
Enjoyable skill combo system
Very mobile
Very squishy when you run out of Stamina
One of my favourite Marvel characters
Cable
A great Hero for beginners
Very easy to pickup and have fun with
Relies more on damage over time skills instead of raw burst power
Winter Soldier
Similarly to Cable, he’s great for beginners but has a high skill ceiling
Very strong in melee range
Default skin isn’t great - pickup the
Thor
Viable for most parties
Excellent costumes and voice
Not enough use of the Hammer for my liking
Luke Cage
Fun to play
Starter Hero
Lacks fluid play
Repetitive
Punisher
A very hardy Hero
Lots of durability
Very repetitive to play
Thing
Reasonable damage considering his amount of health
Loads of health points
Doesn’t look particularly great and he's relatively repetitive
Psylocke
Telepathy skill tree is great fun to usepsy
Stealth doesn't work particularly well
A fair amount of bugs with skills
EMMA FROST
Considered to have a high skill ceiling
Excels in a group environment
Pets classes aren’t for everyone
Many players agree she's in need of some love at the moment
Disagree with the list? Want to recommend a change of places? Have something to say about a particular Hero? Let us know below.