#3 is the daringly swashbuckling and dearly departed

Nightcrawler (Web of Spider-Man, #047)

When he was first revealed, people honestly thought this fan-conceived version* of the popular X-Man would break the game. But, in truth, he’s only good enough to rate third.
That’s still pretty good. Why so high?

• Unparalleled mobility. His “Extra-Dimensional Teleportation” trait sends him through walls and characters…nothing stops him. More to the point, he’s one of fewer than 5 characters in the whole game that can attack from behind walls and blocking terrain;
• Stealth keeps him from being an easy target from range and, more importantly, protects his powers from being easily countered.
• Shape Change can keep him from being attacked even when a foe IS able to punch or shoot him.
• 19 DV makes that attack a difficult proposition even without…
• …Super Senses, courtesy of the “BAMF!” SP, which additionally allows him to move half-speed away from the attack if the roll works. This makes Duo Attack and Flurry cry.
• Oh yeah, he can carry, too.
• All this is fine, but it’s not what lands him on this list. It’s his ability to hit a target with a HSS attack and then drop the target next to him after he finishes moving so the rest of his team can pile on the target that makes him a game-changing piece. Suddenly, all the usual positioning tactics have to be thrown out of the window.

For all his game-changing strengths, he’s weak on dealing damage and practically undone after taking only two clicks of damage. But he’s inexpensive enough to fit on plenty of teammates with longevity and damage ability to spare.

Next up is one of those potential teammates.

 

* This figure was designed by Ben Cheung, the 2008 HeroClix World Champ.