Just something I wanted to clarify.

Let's say I've got the LE Sinister Venom next to the GSX Armor, and he gets clicked onto one his Combat Reflexes clicks. Armor can use Defend to give him 18 defense, right? It says she can provide her unmodified defense value. However, after the fact, can Venom use his own CR to bump his close up defense to 20?

Just wanted to make sure this was legal.

It is.

"1) THE RULE OF REPLACE THEN MODIFY
Whenever a combat value needs to be calculated for any game effect, the controller of the character whose value needs to be calculated starts with the printed value, applies all replacement values in any order, then applies the sum of all modifiers to arrive at a final result. Remember that a locked replacement value will override any other replacement values and modifiers."
(from the rulebook)

legal
not subject to rule of three since defend replaces your defense and combat reflexes modifies it, so 20 defense in close, here you come

or what this guy said

Just to note, the Rule of 3 still applies to the modifiers. It just doesn't apply to the replacements. It isn't a "get out of the Rule of 3" clause. You still can't benefit (much) from piling perplexes on top of the combat reflexes.

Yeah, so you could have a 7 defense Lian Harper get a 21 Defense from range if she was in Hindering terrain, adjacent to Armor with 18 Defend and John Stewart or Invisible Woman granting Energy Shield to her.

That would be a +14 boost to defense value! +15 if she was adjacent to Jakeem Thunder with 19 Defend.

That might be the absolute highest any value can be bumped in the game, with the exception of Double Time, maybe.

Those were the good old days back when I could Thuderbolt IC LE Ant-Man to JSA and carry him around with The Flash (Jay Garrick) HSS, 20D, & Defend OH HELL YEAH. Or their was that one time I got to run the 140 point Shazam with IC LE Ant-Man (we had to build 200 point teams)

You could Sidekick her to Antman...

So a 23 defense! (with the Energy Shield and hindering at range)

From 7 to 23, a +16 boost to defense. That's a lot.

Hypertime Flash Unique can Double Time his 20 speed to 40.

I would say that has to be the highest total boost that I can think of, a +20 to any single combat value.

Hmmmm, how about this. Mercenerary a 0 attack character to Batman Enemy, then share a strong Batman Enemy attack value (like a 12), and then Perplex that up by +3.

So a zero attack figure could get a 15 attack for a +15 boost!

I can top your +20.
Fun fact--this power says he possess that character's "range value"--not "unmodified range value"
Recipe--One Gideon, one Colossal figure with a 16 range, 6 character with perplex.
Use 3 of the perplexers to modify Galactus/Dr. Manhattan/Spectre up to a 19 range. Then have Gideon copy one of their powers and range value. He replaces his 0 with 19, which can then be modified further. Perplex Gideon 3 times to increase his range to 22. Laugh maniacally.

Seriously? Does it have to say "unmodified? Doesn't "replace then modify" imply that you replace with the unmodified value?

No, Out of curiosity why would you think it does? This game is based on doing what the rules say. Very seldom, if ever, is anything left to being implied. If it doesn't say it, then it doesn't happen.

Oh, how about V Lockjaw with Double-Time on his first click rolling two sixes on two Kinetic Accelerators? 14->52 = +38

Why limit yourself to one Gideon?

Quebbster wins. The correct answer with enough Gideons and perplexes is infinity. (Or more likely, the answer is dependent upon how many figures you can fit on a map.)