Almost a perfect opposite to the highly physical, bombastic #8 of the Top 10, is the cerebral, mobility-challenged…
#7
Professor X (Giant-Size X-Men #036)
The telepathic founder of the X-Men, with his rather anemic stats, seems an odd choice to make the Top Ten list. But it’s all about Special Powers and Traits these days, and his “In Contact With Cerebro” trait is a doozy enabling him to make:
- Penetrating/Psychic Blasts
- Mind Controls
- or Outwits or Perplexes…
- …all from the safety of his own starting area, so long as he has a friend with the same keyword to channel his line of fire through. Even basing said friends won’t prevent the Prof from blasting away for penetrating damage.
- Given that his X-Men, Illuminati, Scientist and even New Mutants keywords supply him with a large variety of quality teammates to draw from, he’s become a game-changing figure.
He’s still relatively low in the list partly because he’s limited in the teammates he can use. Also, a few silver bullets have emerged in the game that prevent him from holing up in his start zone quite as safely anymore, and his very average numbers won’t save him from their assault. But none of those pieces come close to making the Top Ten. Therefore, because, he does what few other pieces can — absolutely force the opponent to reconsider their usual style of play — he’s worth the #8 spot on Heroclixin’s Top Ten Best of 2011.
(Or did he only make me think so? Hard to be sure around telepaths.)
Next: number SIX.