Next up is the often-overlooked carny/mercenary/hero Jacques Duquesne, also known as the Swordsman! He's had a total of 6 forms in Heroclix, all of which have had some interesting, yet somewhat similar designs that have laid the groundwork for this dial design:

#010 Prime Jacques Duquesne
Real Name: Jacques Duquesne
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 3
Points: 47
Keywords: Martial Artist, Mercenary, Thief

8 10 17 2

8 9 16 2

7 9 16 2

7 8 16 2

7 8 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Upgraded Bladed Weaponry: When Jacques Duquesne makes a close or ranged attack, pick one option: a) Damage dealt is penetrating b) Attack generates Knockback c) Increase Attack Value by +3 d) Target is given an Action Token. You may choose to give Jacques Duquesne a Double Action to select two of these options.

As you can see, this dial keeps the Swordsman in his wheelhouse as an up-close combatant, with some flourishes to make him viable in certain scenarios. I was especially proud of his last-click Special Power, although I guess it could have been used at the beginning of his dial. I decided to put it at the end because it seemed more fitting to me that he use his special gadgets after his more standard tactics didn't work earlier in the fight.

Along with his potential Team Abilities (Avengers, Lethal Legion, Circus of Crime, Mandarin's Minions), I've considered the possibility of what a "Martial Artist" resource dial could look like, allowing for characters who have that Keyword to access certain traits that are common among those kinds of characters, such as Swordsman's "Riposte" and "Parry" traits, as well as the "Block" traits from some of the SF2 characters or the "Lunge", "Takedown", and "Maneuver" feats.

The next candidate for this experiment is the founder and often leader/organizer of the New Warriors: Dwayne Taylor, aka Night Thrasher! Drawing from his 4 representations in Heroclix, (all from the main 616 universe) here is what I came up with:

#011 Prime Dwayne Taylor
Real Name: Dwayne Taylor
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 3
Points: 62
Keywords: Martial Artist, Tactician, Utility Belt

8 10 17 2

8 10 17 2

7 9 16 2

7 8 16 2

7 8 15 1

6 8 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Focused Hand-to-Hand Skill: Dwayne Taylor can use Charge and Willpower. Damage dealt from his attacks deal a minimum of 1 damage.

As you can see, Dwayne is pretty low-key in terms of his stats and powers, so I designed him more towards the direction of being able to crack or bypass damage reducers throughout his dial. You'll notice, though, that I added/invented the "Utility Belt" keyword. Similar to my musings about making a Resource Dial for characters with the "Martial Artist" keyword, I think that making one for characters who use variable gadgets and equipment would be appropriate and could steer the overall gameplay towards a form of balance and source-material accuracy. If you were to take Dwayne as an example, the player fielding him could potentially choose to equip him with a resource that enhances/showcases his Martial Artist status or his use of inventions and weapons (via the Utility Belt) that he regularly has while fighting crime.

I've been trying to develop similar ideas that could go with other kinds of characters ("Armory" for characters who regularly use lots of guns, "Mage" for spellcasters, "Tactician" for planners/strategists, etc.). My thinking is that these could give appropriate texture to certain figures, but also be limited in their use in order to promote unique combinations and uses without unintentionally breaking the game. For instance, I could see Night Thrasher on a team of New Warriors as the sole Martial Artist and using that Resource Dial on his own, but I could also see the potential sharing that dial with other Martial Artists as long as they shared a Team Ability and were adjacent to each other. By contrast, the Utility Belt Resource wouldn't be shareable, but maybe it would be cool to have someone be able to pick it up or use it if he was KO'd. Just some ideas, though. His Team Ability would naturally by the New Warriors, but I could conceive of a form that would have the Hellfire Club TA as well.

I know a lot of people have had love/hate relationships with Resources, and I personally think that limiting their overall use/abuse in certain ways is a good thing, but giving options to turn certain characters into more viable in-game threats is both accurate and beneficial. Just think: Juggernaut is a good example of what could be a classic one-man force, regularly taking on entire teams of heroes. In the Heroclix game, this isn't as readily apparent as it could be. Consider, however, if there was the option of a generic "Brute" Resource Dial or a special "Avatar of Cyttorak" dial that could make him a one-man army that actually stood a chance against a team of X-Men or Avengers? Considering that, this could have a big impact on the meta because players would not only need to adjust for what the figures could do alone, but for the relatively unpredictable factors that are introduced by potential resources for various characters.

The next subject of my imagined Heroclix designs is the illustrious arch villain and ruler of (most often, at least) Latveria: Victor Von Doom, the nefarious Dr. Doom! Across the Clix game, there have been at least 14 prospective versions (2 of which could be debatable) from 4 different realities, all bringing similar, yet distinctive flavors to the one of the most popular and entertaining personalities in the Marvel canon.

Here's what I have for the straightforward omniversal representation of Doom:

#012a Prime Victor Von Doom
Real Name: Victor Von Doom, Victor Van Damme
Team: Minions of Doom
Range: 7
Points: 172
Keywords: Politician, Powered Armor, Ruler, Scientist, Sorcerer, Tactician

9 11 17 3

8 10 17 3

9 10 16 3

8 10 16 3

7 9 16 2

7 9 16 2

7 9 15 3

6 9 14 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Doom's Plans Shall Not Be Thwarted!: When an attack made by Victor Von Doom's is unsuccessful or he took damage from an attack, he may use Willpower until the end of your next turn.
None Shall Touch Doom!: When Victor Von Doom makes a Ranged Attack during which none of his Combat Values was not modified, he may use Barrier after the attack resolves. Barrier markers must be placed adjacent to the hit targets and no more than 4 total Barrier markers may be placed in this way.

As you might guess, I needed to use some of my imagination because some of the powers you might expect to see on a Dr. Doom representation, especially as it comes to his Defense powers. With the way that I construct these dials, sometimes I find that there are more powers represented than can ordinarily fit on a dial. To do that, though, I need to free up space to fit all of them. In this example, Doom actually warrants at least half a dial's worth (four clicks) of Willpower, one less click of Impervious, one more click of Invulnerability, and a click of Super Senses. To fit those in, I compromised a little with the design by combining the Invulnerability and Super Senses to invent another click of Impervious (I know it's not the same, but I was trying to capture the essence of the combined powers) and gave the trait that grants him Willpower under some relatively broad circumstances.

By contrast, here is the weighted interpretation for your consideration:

#012b Prime Victor Von Doom
Real Name: Victor Von Doom, Victor Van Damme
Team: Minions of Doom,Mystics
Range: 8
Points: 173
Keywords: Powered Armor, Ruler, Scientist, Sorcerer, Tactician

9 11 17 4

9 11 17 4

9 11 17 4

8 10 16 3

8 10 16 3

7 9 16 3

7 9 15 3

6 9 14 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Fortified Armor: Victor Von Doom may use Impervious if he has no Action Tokens. He may use Invulnerability if he has one Action Token. He may use Toughness if he has two Action Tokens.
You Shall Pay For Your Hubris!: Whenever one of Victor Von Doom's Powers or Abilities is countered or ignored by an opponent, reduce that opposing character's Defense Value by -1 until the end of your next turn.

This is what I think of as a "conquering" Doom: He shows up with an air of imperious invincibility (Click 1), he blasts his opponents with his armored gauntlets and magicks while frustrating counterattack efforts through mystical and technological means (Clicks 2-4). When the going gets a little rough, he changes up his approach by bringing the fight in close to turn the fight to his advantage (Click 5), then possibly activates his contingencies to stay in the fight or hide, plan, and (if needed) escape to recover (Clicks 6-8). Combine that with the fact that he will ALWAYS be able to reduce damage and (if it works the way that I intended to word it) penalizes enemies who use not only Outwit, but additionally Precision Strike, Psychic Blast, Exploit Weakness, and the dreaded Pulse Wave. True to the majority of source material, this Doom is most dangerous when he is relatively slow and methodical in dealing with his enemies, since he can be conservatively played to always be alternating between Impervious and Invulnerability. If he is rushed, though, he'll have less defensive strength overall, which I think is pretty fitting.

As far as Team Abilities, I think a revised Minions of Doom ability would be something that grants Mastermind to pairs of friendly characters and additionally grants Doom with Leadership. I actually think that many of the "Minions of [insert villain name here]" could be handled in a similar way, which would reduce a lot of the necessity for "Minion"-related special powers and traits. Additionally, giving Doom the aforementioned "Team-Up" TA would work, and he could also have forms that would potentially have the Cabal, Fantastic Four, Future Foundation, or Intelligencia TAs. For some texture, I think a "Rookie" rank Doom could have the "Utility Belt" keyword instead of "Powered Armor" keyword since his armor has not always been as sophisticated as it is now, but of course, that would be subjective. For a mutate-version of Doom (like the Ultimate or Zombie versions) would have the "Monster" keyword with or without the other ones that are listed.

Steven Rogers is the next subject of assessment, with a huge number of incarnations (63 and counting) drawn from at least 8 different continuities, most often as the legendary Captain America. Although he initially suffered from early-design fatigue, the numbers have turned in his favor over the years, giving me the ideas that I've described here. First, the unweighted version:

#013a Prime Steven Rogers
Real Name: Steven Rogers
Team: Avengers, Avengers Initiative
Range: 5
Points: 92
Keywords: Martial Artist, Pilot, Soldier, Tactician

8 11 17 3

8 10 17 3

7 10 16 2

7 10 16 2

7 10 16 2

6 9 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Shield Throw: Ranged Combat Expert. Steve Rogers may only modify his Damage Value by +1. If he uses it to modify only his Attack Value, he may use it as an Attack Action.
Patriotic Resolve: STOP. Steven Rogers can use Toughness.
Pressing the Attack: After Steven Rogers makes an Attack and is not adjacent to an Opposing Character, he may be given a Move action as a free action.

From this, you can perhaps see where Steve balances (or attempts to balance) the strengths of being a melee and ranged piece, with constant mobility and some support for his teammates. I would imagine this is very fitting for teams that could be built around some cheaper specialists with Steve to soften up or finish off other opponents. I intentionally nerfed his Attack Special Power because I don't think Steve should be dealing a potential 5 damage with his shield and because I thought it would be more accurate to bump his AV for the purpose of showing off his deflected/ricocheted shield skills.

The weighted version carries this trend forward, but adds a couple more tricks to make him more offensively dangerous, like so:

#013b Prime Steven Rogers
Real Name: Steven Rogers
Team: Avengers, SHIELD
Range: 5
Points: 93
Keywords: Martial Artist, Soldier, Tactician

8 11 17 3

8 10 17 3

8 10 16 3

7 10 16 3

7 10 16 2

7 10 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Stars and Stripes: When Steven Rogers makes a successful close attack, an adjacent friendly character may be given a move action as a free action and does not need to roll for Breakaway.
Unbreakable Shield: STOP. Invulnerability.
Legendary Leadership: Leadership. Succeeds on 4-6. If the result is a 6, modify adjacent friendly characters Attack Values by +1.

This version is definitely more offense/damage oriented, but gives some explicitly more "leading the charge"-type designs. To balance, you'll notice that he has less/different things in terms of keywords, targets, and TAs, but I thought it was a way to balance the one-point difference.

Beyond the Avengers-related TAs, I could see giving versions of Steve the Team-Up, SHIELD, Invaders, and Howling Commandos affiliations. Naturally, there would be room for various one-offs like HYDRA and the Defenders. For keywords, there are lots of other potentials (Monster, Powered Armor, Utility Belt, etc.) as well as the various strengths that could arise from particular codenames he's used over the years (The Captain, Nomad, Capwolf) and positions he's held, like Director of SHIELD or Leader of HYDRA.

Before I start sounding like a complete fanboy, I feel like I need to say this: Jean Grey is a character that I don't really felt got a fair shake in Heroclix. It seemed like her first incarnations were based on her portrayals in non-comics media appearances (chiefly the 90s animated series and first two X-Men movies) in that she was almost exclusively a niche figure for TK and the X-Men TA. In later forms, there were a few Phoenix-based forms (which could or could not represent Jean Grey, if you're familiar with her convoluted history) that ranged from very good to uber-powerful to poorly-designed/overcosted pieces of plastic. This trend continued to be a sort of unwillingness for designers to make a middle-of-the-road Jean Grey that wasn't the fragile flower niche character or high-cost destroyer-of-all-things. For these reasons, the Vet Ultimates Marvel Girl, the Danger Room Jean Grey, and the GF Jean Grey from the Wolverine & the X-Men set are my favorite representations of a non-Phoenix Jean Grey.

All that said, doing the aggregate stats for Jean Grey had to be one of the more difficult characters to compile since I needed to filter out the forms that were arguably NOT Jean Grey (even if they were based on her like clones or impersonations), but also not leave out the ones that most likely COULD be a representation of her. Essentially, this includes all of the regular "Phoenix" forms but none of the "Dark Phoenix" incarnations. This leads us to an approximate total of 21 versions spread across 4 continuities, bringing me to this first version of her aggregated cross-dimensional dial:

#014a Prime Jean Grey
Real Name: Jean Grey
Team: Ultimate X-Men,X-Men
Range: 6
Points: 103
Keywords: Blaster, Mutant, Psychic

8 10 16 2

8 9 16 2

7 9 15 2

7 8 15 2

6 8 15 2

7 8 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Targeting: Ignores Hindering, Blocking, and Elevated Terrain
Founder's Favorite Student: When friendly characters within Jean Grey's printed Range Value takes damage from an opposing character but is not KO'd, increase Jean Grey's Combat Values by +1. If a friendly character within Jean Grey's printed Range Value is KO'd, you may remove an Action Token from her.

One of the first things you'll likely notice about this design is that Jean here seems both over-costed and relatively underpowered compared to some of the other entries I've done. Because of her somewhat bloated cost, I had to considered other options would could work with Jean's in-comics power set and style of play: a supportive mentalist who could easily be underestimated or overlooked until she hits opponents from an unexpected angle with either a telepathic or telekinetic attack. This gives support for her IT and Sharpshooter status, as well as her possession of the Flight symbol, which is missing in many of her forms. Without channeling her latent connection to the Phoenix Force (more on that later), her last-click resolve shows how her characteristic compassion for her teammates gets turned into some potential revenge when or if the battle starts to go bad for your team.

#014b Prime Jean Grey
Real Name: Jean Grey
Team: X-Men
Range: 7
Points: 103
Keywords: Mutant, Phoenix Force, Psychic

8 10 17 2

8 9 16 2

7 9 16 2

7 8 15 2

7 8 15 2

7 8 15 2

8 9 16 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Targeting: Ignores Hindering, Blocking, and Elevated Terrain.
Telekinetic Lift: Jean Grey may carry up to 4 adjacent friendly characters.
Reborn by Cosmic Fire: If she is the only character on your force, modify her Combat Values by +1. If there are more opposing characters than friendly characters on the map, modify her Combat Values by an additional +1. Jean Grey's attacks deal Penetrating Damage.
Host of the Phoenix: STOP. Jean Grey's Powers and Abilities cannot be countered. At the beginning of your turn, roll a D6. On a result of 4-6, remove all action tokens from Jean Grey.

This form of Jean shows a little more of her ability to tap into the cosmic Phoenix Force in moments of desperation by giving a last-click proxy of the Power Cosmic TA. I believe this is fitting to the character and gives her potency without being overpowering.

As for TAs, the X-Men and X-Factor Team Abilities would be most appropriate, although there could be others. As a telepath, I could imagine a Resource Dial that could be used by people with the "Psychic" keyword, but that's an idea for another day.

Next up is a great example of how certain characters have benefited from being introduced later in the game and have overcome the issues associated with the early-game stats and allocations of non-special powers. It's the "grave" criminal enforcer Lonnie Lincoln, aka Tombstone. Sporting two incarnations from the carded era, ol' Lonnie here has great stats at a reasonable cost in his aggregate form, as shown here:

#015 Prime Lonnie Lincoln
Real Name: Lonnie Lincoln
Team: Sinister Syndicate
Range: 6
Points: 79
Keywords: Assassin, Brute

9 10 18 3

8 10 18 3

8 9 17 2

8 9 17 2

7 9 17 2

7 9 16 3

7 9 16 3

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

At this level, I thought it was appropriate that Tombstone not have any Special Powers or Traits, especially since he sports almost a complete dial of damage reducers and enjoys fair mobility and can deal fair amounts of damage to opponents. Against his traditional-type sparring partners (Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Moon Knight), he is a formidable piece to overcome. Just a note: going strictly by the numbers, he could actually justify one more click of both Toughness or Combat Reflexes, but I figured keeping both and taking a click away would be fitting.

His keywords are pretty self-explanatory, but his potential TAs are what could probably make him more dangerous. I'm thinking of the Sinister Six, Sinister Syndicate, Mafia, the Hand, Team-Up, or a Minions of the Kingpin could be cool considerations.

Often considered the pinnacle figure in the organized crime syndicates in the MU, Wilson Fisk has been incarnated 10 times (from at least 2 different dimensions) since the beginning of game. While his earliest versions were saddled with the role of being a "Leadership" piece that didn't have too much offensive capabilities. As the game progressed and evolved, Wilson Fisk's skill set expanded and he became more than a "niche" figure, often granting bonuses to teammates/underlings and showing that he is capable of taking care of himself in combat. Rolling all of these aspects together, here's the unweighted version:

#016a Prime Wilson Fisk
Real Name: Wilson Fisk
Team: Sinister Syndicate
Range: 0
Points: 82
Keywords: Martial Artist, Politician, Tactician

6 9 17 3

6 9 16 2

6 9 15 2

6 9 16 2

5 8 15 2

5 7 14 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Kingpin of Crime: Leadership. If a roll for Leadership is successful, he may also use Outwit this turn. If it is not successful, he may use Perplex this turn.

This shows what I think would be a "public figure" version of Wilson Fisk, where no one suspects his true agendas or methods. He should be shown as driven, patient, and surprisingly dangerous opponent, especially for street-level guys. Borrowing from his zombie version, I think the last two clicks of Steal Energy are good for showing how he can try to get back to a position of prominence.

Now, for the weighted version:

#016b Prime Wilson Fisk
Real Name: Wilson Fisk
Team: HYDRA, Sinister Syndicate
Range: 0
Points: 83
Keywords: Assassin, Martial Artist, Ruler, Tactician

7 10 17 3

7 9 16 3

7 10 16 3

6 9 16 2

6 9 15 2

6 8 14 2

7 8 14 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Ruler of the Underworld: Leadership, Outwit, Perplex.

Here's a more "in his element" version of Wilson Fisk. You might notice the similar flow to the earlier version, but since there's some extra space (7 clicks instead of 6) and his stats make him stronger when it comes to hand-to-hand combat.

Besides the obvious keywords, I would like to imagine this kind of Wilson Fisk with the Hand, Mafia, and Team-Up abilities.