If your playing a 300 point team and you have 50 points left and the only character you have to play is Captain Marvel at his 48 point cost, can you play him at that cost or do you need his AE to bring him in at point value?

You need to play Rick Jones in order to bring in Captain Marvel at his Alter Ego cost.

You need his AE to bring him in at that point cost.

Thank You...now I feel bad
But now I know the rule and can fix the problem next time.

Nonononononononnononono. Don't feel bad. It's not on YOU to feel bad. The Rules are poorly written. There is absolutely no mention whatsoever of how AE's work in the rulebook OR in the player's guide. How is it POSSIBLY your fault for not understanding the nuances?

Answer: It's not. There needs to be a proper explanation in the rulebook and/or player's guide.

Except the player's guide does spell it out.

And then the individual character cards spell out how to treat Orange starting lines. Unfortunately the issue is that it is not explained on the Alter-Ego figure which is where most of the confusion comes from. There is no need to spell out a Special Power Mechanic inside the Rulebook, because then they would have to spell them all out which is what the Player's Guide is for!

They did update the Final Word: Alter Ego Powers.

I still feel kinda bad about because I went on to win the prize that night, granted Capt. Marvell only used his prob and maybe attacked twice all three rounds, it was basically the Drax and Namor show. But it was still not legal, then I think well the Judge should have caught it as well. So ultimately I was the one who played it and it was not a legal figure how I played so I take full responsibility...but I'm still keeping the prize.

That section about starting lines just makes me ask, "well what about the orange line?" It doesn't say anything about starting lines in general, just how the red/blue/yellow starting lines work.

Also, there are 34 figures that have the Sharpshooter symbol. There are 31 figures that another figure can alter-ego into. I'm not saying they need to put something in the PAC or Rulebook, but something in the Player's Guide would be nice.

Yeah but sharpshooter is explained on the PAC and not in the Rulebook. I can agree with the Player's Guide entry, but I would perfer it be a trait explanation on the Alter Ego'd Figure, this way its self explanatory to someone just opening a box.

A note somewhere would be useful (on the Alter Ego'd figure's card would have be ideal), especially since (as I have pointed out previously) the yellow and the orange are not all that easy to distinguish. So I have a figure with a line that might be yellow, or might be orange, and the rules explain about a yellow line but don't mention orange: not unreasonable to think "OK, this is just poor color reproduction".

Uh Oh. Here we go again.

The PAC is an extension of the rulebook. All the combat abilities are explained only in the PAC. Really, major things should be in the rulebook. Powers and abilities should be in the PAC. Clarifications, like non-standard starting lines that show up on 1% of figures work just fine in the Player's Guide, kind of like the new REV starting lines.