Spider-Verse mech-suit character Peni Parker comes to Marvel Champions
Suit up with Sp//dr.
Peni Parker and Sp//dr, characters featured in the animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, are coming to Marvel Champions.
A mech-suit that is co-piloted by Peni Parker – a hero who is part of the Marvel comics universe – Sp//dr was originally operated by Peni’s father, before he was killed and she chose to take on the mantle herself. As well as Peni, Sp//dr is co-piloted by an arachnid with whom Peni is psychogenetically linked with, allowing them to work in tandem with one another when fighting crime in their version of New York City. Whilst known for appearing in the 2018 animated movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Peni Parker has previously had her own Marvel comic book series in which she encounters her universe’s Mysterio, Daredevil and other well-known Spider-Man characters.
The most unique thing about Peni Parker and Sp//dr’s new deck for Marvel Champions: The Card Game is that the hero has two cards, one for each element of their identity. Whilst every other playable character in Marvel Champions has one card that’s double-sided, to represent their hero and alter-ego identities, Sp//dr and Peni Parker have two cards. The alter-ego side of the character – representing Peni – has her civilian version, which enables her to put the Sp//dr inactive card into play. As soon as the player flips the Sp//dr inactive card to its pilot side, then the alter-ego card is flipped to the Sp//dr hero side and the player can begin attacking as normal. This gameplay mechanic allows players to hop Peni out of her mech-suit whenever the action starts getting too hot, transferring all counters placed on her hero card to the Sp//dr inactive card when they do.
Another unusual element about Peni and Sp//dr is that the characters’ hand-sizes are lower than most other heroes, with Peni only able to have four cards and the Sp//dr holding just three. This aspect is counteracted by the fact that their sync ratio ability enables them to generate resources rather than cards, thereby allowing her to contribute to the co-op game fight that way. Peni can also upgrade her Sp//dr suit with the right cards, making it an even more formidable opponent to the enemies she’ll face. Besides her suit, Peni will also have several allies to call upon for help such as the aforementioned Daredevil and Spider-Man Noir, a version of the web-warrior that also appears in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
As well as Peni Parker and the Sp//dr suit, players will get a new encounter set with the Marvel Champions deck which they can use alongside the core game. The encounter found in this expansion will add Iron Spider’s Sinister Six, a group of villains featuring the likes of Sandman and Hobgoblin that will present the players with an extra challenge, should they want to face it.
Marvel Champions: The Card Game is a tabletop game that has players teaming up as various heroes from the comic book universe to protect the world against a rogue’s gallery of villains. The living card game and its subsequent expansions – including the Sp//dr and Peni Parker expansion – are released by Fantasy Flight Games, the studio also responsible for the Arkham Horror Files universe and Keyforge.
The Sp//dr and Peni Parker expansion is set to be released on July 15th at a retail price of $17 (£13) and requires the core Marvel Champions game to be played.