Great Fast Forces for beginners

At some point, we all want to introduce our friends to this game we love. One of the easiest ways to do that is through Fast Forces. The characters are usually designed to work well together, and they usually contain something of strong value you'll end up using many times. I'm still using my presidential Lex Luthor from World's Finest anytime I have a non-themed team that needs a strong leader, especially if it uses a lot of characters, and that H.E.N.R.Y. is a fine point-filler if I just want a little damage buff. That said, not all of them are winners, so I want to talk about some of the more useful sets to get your friends into the game. In addition, I'll go over a few pieces that should be easily available and fill in potential weaknesses these teams have.

To start, I'll highly recommend anything that's an actual starter set from Mighty Thor onward. Maps, objects, and markers are all very useful things to have, and an up-to-date rule book is essential (Mighty Thor did have a few changes, but not so much that I think it really damages the value it can offer a new player). The only one that's iffy in that regard is Earth X, but even that is alright for a Spider-Man fan.

Batman: the Animated Series
This is probably the best introduction you can give to anyone who doesn't passionately hate DC. Generally current rules, amazing maps, and solid figures. Batman and Robin have some very solid damage potential for their costs on the right map, and of course Gotham City Downtown is exactly the right map for it. The weakest figure here is probably the Joker, but honestly, he's the trickster fighter of the bunch. Harley Quinn has a very strong Perplex for anyone but the capes, but she needs to stay on the back line to be most effective. Honestly, there's a real strength just how fluidly most of these pieces play with each other. As long as you're not putting Batman or Robin with Joker, you can manage a reasonably balanced, themed team.
Filling plotholes:One main issue with this starter set is you can only make themed teams at 200 points or less. This game is designed around 300, and while you can certainly make good teams with what's here, you'll definitely want more. Fortunately, there's absolutely no shortage of great figures within this set to help you, and since Batman's been a prevailing theme for the last couple years, it's very easy to round out whatever you need. For the sake of brevity, I'll simply list some of the better options without really examining much.
Heroes: 019 Alfred, 016 Batman Beyond, 033 Talia Al Ghul, jw028 Vicki Vale
Villains: Dee Dee, 017 The Riddler, 027 The Penguin (and a lot of Suited Henchmen if you can get them), jw030 Two-Face

TMNT Unplugged, Shredder's ReturnNot linking the Bebop & Rocksteady, because those are just along for the ride. Honestly, either of these sets for TMNT will do great things for a new player. The animated ones excel when they stay together, and they already have fine values as it is. I still back the TMNT3 Donatello as my favorite version of him overall. The pixelated pieces are going to be very hard to KO with all those spare quarters you bring to the table, and even some extra mobility with Donatello able to carry the gang around. The sculpts are definitely not a true representation of their arcade counterparts, but once you get down to playing them, you'll find yourself really starting to feel it. Of course, let's not neglect Shredder, the most durable version made that will really feel like a boss character. The bystander figures you get from Unplugged will be fine point-fillers in any team as well, especially Mud Man (aka Cement Man).
Filling plotholes:This Splinter can handle melee engagement just fine, especially for his 25 point cost. The other Splinters might have more continuous means of helping his sons, but this one doesn't feel like he needs as much protection. You'll need to protect him from getting shot, but he'll gladly get in a fistfight.You really can't ask for much more out of April. Keep her in the back line for a great defense buff and an Outwit through your front line.One severe weakness of the TMNT is they have a hard time getting around. Fugitoid serves as a poor man's Turtle Van, getting you around 9 squares with Phasing/Teleport. Maybe you can even get some Outwit out of him if you push him.Yes, Irma has a 60 point dial to represent Kraang Subprime, but if we can pretend she's just good old normal Irma, there's nothing wrong with filling out 25 points with a little more Perplex.

Avengers: InfinityThis set is not 100% great, but it's got enough fine elements that it should satisfy someone who's a fan of the Avengers. Iron Man makes the headline. Hawkeye & Vision have been pretty solid members of the crew for a while. Black Panther's gotten more spotlight lately, so he's cool. Sadly the Black Widow is very disappointing, but she's at least usable enough for what she does. Of course, nobody really knows Giant-Girl, but do you need to know her? You get a giant figure! While there's nobody here with Telekinesis, you've got a couple flying figures and giant figure for plenty of carrying possibilities. Black Widow will probably be the most technical piece in that her multi-target Incapacitate will make for some very tactical plays. This set does kind of scream "come at me bro," which then also demands Giant Girl comes rampaging across the map to retaliate. I think Vision & Giant Girl will disappoint at the higher point values, but they're both fine at 50. I think the real strengths to this set are the giant figure and at least ok representations of Avengers outside of the Big 4. This works for the people more familiar with Avengers that are tired of the basic Thor/Hulk/Iron/Cap.
Filling plotholes:Less for the ability to work with this particular team, but Giant Girl gives you a taste of what a big figure is like. Give them the big buffet of the colossal Hulk! There have been plenty of Hulk figures, many of them great, but this is probably going to be their favorite for a while. Just be a nice guy with this thing, ok? It's the lowest rarity of colossals in that set, just let them have this one.Sure, this gives you a nice assortment of B class Avengers, but there's nothing wrong with wanting a taste of the founders. In this assortment of 50-point pieces, this Captain America takes a very fine role as a leader. He doesn't even have to see them as long as he's within range, so put him behind a wall. Put him behind Giant-Girl!

Xavier's School / X-Factor
Uncanny X-Men is certainly fine & useful, but everyone there lacks the actual X-Men keyword. That would end up getting very frustrating. This X-Factor set gives 4 X-Men you probably know well along with 2 more obscure X-Factor elements. You might end up playing the X-Factor pieces just because you can, but they still earn their place on a team just fine. Probably the only piece I don't see myself using much is Iceman, but pushing him to Barrier does provide a unique utility that players often underestimate. If you can't get a hold of the Super Rare Cyclops from this set, the Cyclops in here is a very fine substitution as your main source of damage. Beast makes a fine support piece with either Outwit or Perplex, though he does still want to get in there for some hits, too. Skids makes an awesome tie-up piece. Jean Grey's combination Sidestep/Telekinesis/Willpower makes her incredibly useful for positioning your team, but pushing her 50 point version into a ranged attacker with Probability Control is very strong. I don't think this team is very strong overall, but it's strong enough you can have some good games and still end up using some of these pieces on future X-Men teams for a while.
Filling plotholes:Beast is ok, he can be kind of squishy. Leave that to a much cheaper, dedicated control piece like Leech. Stealth + Outwit is always a great combo, and Leech has the potential to Outwit multiple things at once. Additionally, his Lockdown trait helps shut down the many pieces that get to choose standard powers, making them pick suboptimal choices.As long as we're addressing meta play, Darwin has found himself a valuable ally of the X-Men. Like Leech, he punishes pieces for choosing powers, but he's more destructive about it. They're just going to take damage every time. He can also choose any defense power you want every time he's attacked. However, the fact that he doesn't have Stealth means he can be attacked at range, unlike Leech, so rolls can still go against you. 2 STOP clicks with Regeneration means he's still pretty hard to kill, though.

Avengers/Defenders War (Marvel Knights)
For the Marvel fan who likes the more serious tone of the Marvel Knights, most of these pieces do a great job at representing the basic elements of what makes their characters great. I'd say the one disappointment here is Jessica Jones. She serves a fine purpose among this group as a flying piece to move people around, but she definitely does not earn her 75 points. Other than that, you've got a lot of stars here. My personal favorite is Iron Fist for being a close combat star (even though my opponents consistently roll high against him when I play). Luke Cage serves as a solid tank that never tires. Daredevil has found his way onto my teams numerous times for his Stealth/Outwit combo while still able to hold his own in a fight. All of these characters can heal in some way, and aside from Jessica, they all heal by playing them the way they should generally play, anyway. Daredevil should not be leading the fight, instead lurking in the shadows. Luke Cage & Iron Fist are very pushable. Punisher just wants to blow up large crowds of minions with that rocket launcher. Elektra actually brings an interesting choice in that maybe you don't want to heal. Maybe you want to stay on red powers vs. green powers. You might need to pick up a different kind of transporter for this team, but otherwise these pieces should be a lot of fun for MK fans.
Filling plotholes:The Man Without Fear, aka Black Panther, was designed to work with this crew, and he is totally welcome. Maybe a little bit harder to acquire as an LE, this piece still got heavily ignored when it was released. T'Challa has the most reliable healing of the whole crew, healing you as long as you end up in printed hindering terrain. If you keep him in a map with lots of green, this guy will definitely have some staying power. The only issue is that he's pretty exclusively a "flank" type of character. He doesn't damage especially hard, but he works just well enough he can probably score some finishing blows.What this lineup really needs is a transporter, and that's pretty rare for Marvel Knights. Fortunately, there's still a kind of recent piece in Cloak that will do the job well enough, and then you might as well bring Dagger along for the ride. Cloak is almost exclusively a transporter above all else, maybe kind of landing a penetrating hit if you really need it, and Dagger can bring along some supplemental healing. I'm more comfortable with Dagger as a tertiary attacker than Cloak, since she can target 3 characters for 1 penetrating damage each. If you need to, Cloak can just take a power action to pull her back. Your action economy might take a bit of a hit, though.

Actually obtaining a Fast Forces definitely gets harder as the set gets older, but if you can locate these sets, any of them would be great ways to get started on a budget without being overly complicated.