How to Play

Marvel United

1-4 players 40-40 min 7.6 Board Game Geek Rating

Players control Marvel superheroes working together against an AI-controlled villain executing their evil scheme. Heroes play action cards from personalized decks, chaining abilities with teammates to create powerful combinations. Victory requires strategically coordinating superpowers and teamwork to thwart the villain's master plan before they succeed in threatening multiple locations.

Published 2020

Marvel United

Get Ready

Setup the game with these step-by-step instructions before diving into your turn.

1
Choose heroes
Each player selects a Hero, taking their miniature, Hero cards (12 cards), and any associated Equipment cards
2
Prepare hero decks
Shuffle each Hero's deck and draw 3 cards as your starting hand
3
Select villain
Choose a Villain and place their Dashboard with Health tokens matching their health value
4
Build master plan deck
Shuffle the Villain's 12 Master Plan cards to form their deck
5
Arrange locations
Place 6 Location tiles in a circle, creating the game board
6
Position villain
Place the Villain miniature at the Location opposite where Heroes will start
7
Place heroes
All Hero miniatures start at the same Location (opposite the Villain)
8
Deploy threats
Place 1 Threat card faceup at each of the 6 Locations around the Villain
9
Set up missions
Place the 3 Mission cards (Rescue Civilians, Defeat Thugs, Clear Threats) nearby with their token requirements visible
10
Prepare token pools
Place Civilian/Thug tokens, Threat tokens, Health tokens, Crisis tokens, Action tokens, and Invulnerable tokens within reach
11
Start storyline
The first Villain turn begins the game by drawing a Master Plan card

On Your Turn

What you can do during your turn.

1
Add master plan card
Draw the top card from the Master Plan deck and add it to the Storyline
2
Move the villain
Move the Villain clockwise the number of Locations shown on the card, triggering the Location effect at the final destination
3
Resolve BAM effects
Activate all BAM! effects on the Villain Dashboard and any Threat cards in play
4
Apply special effects
Resolve any special effect text printed on the Master Plan card
5
Add tokens to locations
Place Civilian and Thug tokens as indicated on the card to Locations around the Villain
6
Check for overflow
If a token cannot be placed due to full slots, add 1 Crisis token to that Location instead
7
Discard civilians in crisis
If a Location has both a Crisis token and Civilians, discard all Civilians there and advance the Villainous Plot
8
Draw a card
Take 1 card from your Hero deck into your hand
9
Play a card
Place 1 card from your hand faceup to the right end of the Storyline
10
Resolve actions
Perform actions using symbols from both your played card AND the previous Hero card in the Storyline, in any order:
11
Use special effects
Activate any Special Effect text on your played Hero card
12
Spend action tokens
Use any accumulated Action tokens to perform additional actions
13
Trigger location effect
Optionally resolve the End of Turn effect of your current Location
14
Handle damage
When taking damage, discard 1 card from hand to deck bottom per damage; if you discard your last card, you are KO'd
15
Recover from KO
When KO'd, lay your Hero down and trigger the Villain's BAM! effect; on your next turn, stand up and draw 3 cards before the normal draw step
16
Rescue civilians mission
Complete by rescuing the required number of Civilians (varies by player count)
17
Defeat thugs mission
Complete by defeating the required number of Thugs
18
Clear threats mission
Complete by removing all tokens from Threat cards equal to the requirement
19
Gain mission reward
When completing the second Mission, each Hero draws 1 card; the Villain becomes vulnerable to damage

Winning

How to claim victory.

1
Heroes win condition
Remove all Health tokens from the Villain after completing at least 2 Missions
2
Overkill rule
Excess damage dealt to the Villain counts toward victory even if it exceeds remaining Health
3
Heroes lose by plot completion
If the Villain completes their Villainous Plot (tracked on Dashboard), Heroes lose immediately
4
Heroes lose by empty deck
If the Master Plan deck is empty when the Villain must draw, Heroes lose
5
Heroes lose by elimination
If any Hero starts their turn with zero cards in hand (not from being KO'd), Heroes lose
6
Heroes lose by fear track
If the fear/crisis track fills completely due to discarded Civilians, Heroes lose

watch & Learn

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FULL rules

Looking for the full details? Grab the complete rulebook as a downloadable PDF.

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