Earth-4444 Superhero Teams

Also:
Supervillains | Non-Player Character Templates

Want to create a brand new character?

One of the fun things about the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game is letting game masters play "What If" with their own fan-fiction hot takes on Marvel-based realities. My home games are largely set in Earth-4444, so named since the appearance of the Fantastic Four launched the "modern" superhero era there "approximately 10 to 15 years ago."

Instead of following the comic books, my home campaign takes inspiration more from Marvel movies released between 1994 to 2023. Obviously Kevin Feige's Marvel Cinematic Universe is dominant, but also Sony Pictures' various Spider-Verse movies, Matthew Vaughn's revised X-Men timeline (post-Days of Future Past), David S. Goyer's Blade trilogy, Tim Story's two Fantastic Four movies (but NOT Trank's film), and even Nicolas Cage's pair of Ghost Rider movies. Mix in the Netflix/Defenders TV series, Marvel's House of Shadows, and a few "must-have" suggestions from friends - plus visitors from alternate universes and future timelines - and you get a wide and familiar roster to pick from for new players.

As a rule of thumb, most superheroes my home campaign are Rank 4, which means boosting some and nerfing others from their "official" Earth-616 stats shown in the Core Rulebook. Exceptions are noted below.

The Avengers

Earth-4444's mightiest heroes. Based from both the former Stark Tower in Manhattan and a new compound just a few miles north of New York City. Ostensibly under the oversight of the World Security Council, their legal boundaries are vague. They are constantly looking to recruit and train new members.

Xavier's Network / Mutantkind

Children of the atom and their allies, many directly living at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters (the X-Mansion estate) in Salem Center, Westchester County, New York. Not all here are X-Men, but differences often give way to united solidarity when facing persecution from humanity.

The Spider-Verse

Those caught in a web of destiny, or at least touched by the connected canon events.

Guardians of the Galaxy / Interstellar Travelers

Heroes from across hundreds of planets in the domains of the Nova Corps, the Kree Empire, the Badoon Alliance, any of a dozen smaller powers, or in uncharted space.

Masters of the Mystic Arts

Sorcerers of the Kamar-Taj sanctuary in Nepal or its related sanctums and chantries around the world, united in defense of the planet against magical threats.

The Fantastic Four / Multiversal Expatriates

Maverick astronauts exposed to cosmic radiation more than a decade ago. Today they work as explorers of the multiverse from their laboratory atop the Baxter Building in Manhattan. They regularly help refugees fleeing doomed realities, collapsing dimensions, or alternate timelines.

Wakanda

Most think of this African nation as an isolated third-world country, but actions by their new King T'Challa suggest Wakandans may have access to a level of technology far beyond the rest of developed world.

The House of Shadows

Within this dilapidated New York building exists a living portal to the dimension of Limbo. The site has become the base of operations for several hunters of dark creatures that prey on mortal souls.

Supervillains

A motley crew of menacing figures with grandiose ambitions. Some just seek criminal empires, while others usher in global threats from rival universes full of exotic horrors: Wakandan vampire lords, genocidal Kree cybernauts, or a pantheon of alien gods.

Non-Player Character Templates

The templates below fill out the types of minor non-player characters commonly encountered in the campaign: downtime contacts, henchmen, bystanders, and the like.

Creating New Characters

• Variant character from another alternate timeline or parallel Earth realty?
• A change in reality or a past timeline causes slightly (or wildly) different personality or powers in a modern character?
• Perhaps a known hero turns to evil, or an infamous supervillain seeks redemption?
• The child or chosen successor to an older mentor is ready to take up the mantle of legacy?
• Perhaps a clone made by weird science is ready replace a slain hero?
• Someone totally new, largely unknown to the world, suddenly develops superpowers?

Once you have a character concept, follow a checklist for stat creation based on the power tier of the new character...

• Rank 1: Rookie (ordinary normals)
• Rank 2: Protector (elite normals, street-level heroes)
• Rank 3: Champion (minor "local" superheroes)
• Rank 4: Legend (moderate "national" superheroes)
• Rank 5: Mythic (major "planetary" superheroes)
• Rank 6: Cosmic ("godlike" superheroes)

And with that... let loose the gamma rays, radioactive spiders, and super serums...