Real Name: Quentin Beck
First Comic Book Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man (June 1964)
Affiliations in Comic Books: Maggia, Sinister Six

Marvel United Appearance: Marvel United: Return of the Sinister Six (July 2020)
Marvel United Team Decks: Sinister Six

Movement

BAM!

Civilians

Thugs

How Mysterio Plays: Mysterio delays the Heroes and speeds up the play of his deck to run out of cards before the Heroes can win. He does this through various means, even before the game begins. Mysterio’s Special Setup places all Threats facedown on their Locations. The Heroes must spend an action to flip the Threat faceup with one of the Threats necessary to be flipped faceup even to deal damage to Mysterio.

Special Setup: Shuffle the Threat cards and place them facedown on the Locations.

Villainous Plot: Mysterio has no Villainous Plot. Instead, he has a Special Setup and Special Rules.

Special Rules: As long as there are no “Broken Illusion” Threat cards faceup, Mysterio can’t take any damage (2 Missions must still be completed before he can be damaged).

To turn a Threat card faceup, any Hero in its Location must spend a single action (of any type).

BAM!: Turn all Civilian tokens in play into Thug tokens and vice versa. Then, add a Civilian token to Mysterio’s Location.

Mysterio has one of the most bizarre BAM! effects in Marvel United’s original release, but it fits in with his desire to upset the game’s flow. While flipping over all Thug and Civilian tokens may not seem like much, it can disrupt the Heroes’ turn from round to round. You may not be able to clear the Rescue Civilians or Defeat Thugs missions when you expect to clear them. Adding a Civilian token also doesn’t seem like much, but Mysterio can add a lot of tokens per turn; an additional Token could cause another Overflow, which can further speed up his deck.

Overflow: If a civilian or thug token can’t be added to a Location, draw another Master Plan card and add it facedown in the Storyline.

Mysterio’s Overflow is yet another effect that doesn’t seem like much but it’s his main way to run out of cards in his deck before the Heroes can win. Mysterio can play as many as three or four cards (a fourth with a BAM! effect) per turn. The Master Plan deck only has 12 cards. That can be a whopping third of Mysterio’s deck.

Threats

Mysterio has 2 copies of 3 different Threat Cards.

Battle Drones (Threat)
Clear: 3 Attack
Constant Effect: When this Threat is revealed, the Hero revealing it takes 1 damage.

“Battle Drones” works differently than most other Threats. It only damages Heroes when it’s revealed. While the damage isn’t much, “Battle Drones” poses a different challenge. Mysterio only has four Threats that can be cleared (2 copies of “Battle Drones” and 2 copies of “Smoke and Mirrors”), so finishing the Clear Threats mission can be a chore. “Broken Illusion” comprises the final two Threats. Players must have at least one copy of “Broken Illusion” facing up to be able to deal damage to Mysterio. Note: Mysterio has an effect in his Master Plan deck that can flip a Threat facedown again; every time “Battle Drones” is flipped face up, it will deal one damage to the Hero who revealed the Threat.

Smoke and Mirrors (Threat)
Clear: 3 Heroics
Constant Effect: When this Threat is revealed, add 1 Thug token to this Location.

“Smoke and Mirrors” has another seemingly non-threatening effect, but Mysterio adds a lot of tokens. An additional Thug could cause an Overflow, reducing the number of cards in Mysterio’s Master Plan Deck. Again, Mysterio only has four Threats that can be cleared, so finishing the Clear Threats mission can be a chore.

Note: Like “Battle Drones,” any time “Smoke and Mirrors” is revealed, it will add 1 Thug token to its Location.

Broken Illusion (Threat)
No Clear Requirement
Constant Effect: Mysterio can now be damaged (once 2 Missions have been completed).

“Broken Illusion” differs from most other Threat cards. It doesn’t have a clear requirement of any kind, but the Heroes must have one “Broken Illusion” faceup to damage Mysterio. Heroes cannot damage Mysterio if no “Broken Illusion” is showing, even if the Heroes have completed two missions.

Master Plan Deck

Movement: Mysterio averages 2 Movement each turn. He is 33% faster than any of the core set villains. His movement varies, only has 1 card with speeds of 4 and 5, 3 cards with speeds of 3 and 0, and 2 cards with speeds 1 and 2. Mysterio has two special Movement that accompanies his “Fake Heroics” effect text.

Civilians:
Mysterio adds a lot of Civilians each turn (with an average of just under 2 per card). One card places a whopping 9 tokens (5 Civilians and 4 Thugs). He almost always places at least 4 tokens of some persuasion.

Thugs:
Mysterio adds a lot of Thugs as well, but not nearly as many Thugs as Civilians. Again, he has one card that places a staggering 9 tokens (5 Civilians and 4 Thugs). The number of tokens Mysterio places can easily cause an Overflow to occur, which will speed up the game clock.

BAM!:
Mysterio has a BAM! effect on half of his cards. His BAM! effect flips over all in-play tokens (Civilians to Thugs and Thugs to Civilians). It’s one of the few BAM! effects that don’t deal damage and can make completing a mission difficult as the game state can rapidly change.

Special Effects on Cards

1) Holographic Technology: Shuffle all Threat cards in play (discarding any tokens on them). Then put them back facedown starting on Mysterio’s Location and going clockwise.

“Holographic Technology” can reset the board even more than Mysterio’s BAM! effect. Players won’t know where each Threat card is once they’re placed back in play, facedown because they get shuffled beforehand.

I advise clearing Threats in a single round (in between Mysterio’s turns) if you are going to clear Threats, so you don’t lose progress. Mysterio only has two copies of “Holographic Technology.” If you see two copies of “Holographic Technology” in play, you can finish clearing Threats at any pace you want. However, Mysterio can play cards facedown, so it could be difficult to ascertain how many “Holographic Technology” cards have been played.

2) Fake Heroics: Discard all Civilian and Thug Tokens in Mysterio’s Location. Then, draw another Master Plan card and add it facedown in the Storyline.
“Fake Heroics” is yet another effect that can reset the board. Mysterio will also move to the next Location with the most Civilian tokens, guaranteeing that he will wipe a substantial amount of Civilian tokens in a single turn, making it more difficult to clear the missions Rescue Civilians and Defeat Thugs.

Special Movement: Mysterio has one special movement that accompanies both copies of his “Fake Heroics” effect cards. The text reads, Move clockwise to the next Location with the most Civilian tokens. This special movement guarantees that Mysterio’s “Fake Heroics” deals a blow to the Heroes’ chances of finishing the missions Rescue Civilians and Defeat Thugs.

General Strategy

The board can and will change a lot with each of Mysterio’s turns, so I advise Heroes to complete Threats and clear as many Civilian and Thug tokens as they can in between each Mysterio turn. It doesn’t matter which missions you choose to clear to make Mysterio vulnerable to damage. He places an even number of Civilians and Thugs, and his Threats require an even amount of Attack and Heroics. Which missions you choose to clear depends on which Heroes you play. Heroes with high Heroics will want to Clear Threats and Rescue Civilians. Heroes with high Attack will want to Defeat Thugs and Clear Threats.

A Hero’s special abilities play more into who you may want to play as against Mysterio. A Hero who grants a bunch of tokens works. Captain America and Iron from the core set, Groot and Star-Lord from the Guardians of the Galaxy Remix expansion, and Spider-Man from the Enter the Spider-Verse expansion fit this bill. But you can play Heroes who affect the game’s flow. Black Widow from the core set, Ghost Spider and Miles Morales from the Enter the Spider-Verse expansion fall into this category. Or you can even play a Hero who can wipe out a bunch of tokens all at once like Hulk from the core set.

If you choose not to finish the Clear Threats mission, make sure you time your reveal of a “Broken Illusion” Threat to coincide with completing the Rescue Civilians and Defeat Thugs mission. You’ll want to reveal at least one “Broken Illusion” Threat as you finish your first and second missions as close together as possible to avoid Mysterio from speeding up too soon.