How to Play Marvel United: Return of the Sinister Six

Game Objective

In Marvel United: Return of the Sinister Six, players unite as heroes to face the threat of the Sinister Six, a group of villains led by Doctor Octopus. Doctor Octopus has gathered New York's most dangerous villains – Electro, Sandman, Vulture, Kraven, and Mysterio – to work together, something the heroes must overcome with coordination, planning, quick thinking, and teamwork.

In Sinister Six Mode, the ultimate challenge is to face all six villains from the expansion at once. The villains work together, each bringing their own special effects. Heroes must find each villain's weak points and defeat them one by one until all are vanquished. The HEROES WIN if they defeat all 6 villains.

Setup

When playing against the Sinister Six at once, follow all standard Core Box rules, with the following changes or additions:

1. Do not use the Mission Guide or Mission cards for this game.
2. Do not choose any Villain Dashboard. Instead, place the large Sinister Six Dashboard in the center of the table. Each of the 6 villains has their own Health pile which must be filled with tokens according to the number of heroes, as usual.
3. No Threat cards are used in this game. Leave the Location spaces empty. Instead, place a Weakness card in the corresponding space for each villain around the Sinister Six Dashboard.
4. Take the Sinister Six Master Plan deck, shuffle it, and place it face down next to a random Location. Randomly place 2 of the villains' game pieces in that Location, 2 in the Location to its right, and 2 in the Location to its left. In this game mode, villains must always be placed on top of the End of Turn effect space of the Locations.
5. Heroes are placed in the Location opposite the villains' central Location, so they are not adjacent to any villain.

Game Flow

Villain Turn

The villains already start the game Under Pressure, which means that from the beginning, they play a Master Plan card into the Storyline after every TWO hero turns.

Each Master Plan card shows all members of the Sinister Six in a column, in different orders. When a card is played, activate in descending order the 2 villains listed at the top who have not yet been defeated. If one of the top villains has already been defeated, move on to the villain listed below them, and so on.

• The top villain moves clockwise the number of Locations indicated on the card, activates their BAM! effect as listed on the Sinister Six Dashboard, and then adds 1 Thug token to their Location.
• The next villain also moves clockwise the number of Locations indicated on the card, activates their BAM! effect, and then adds 1 Civilian token to their Location.

NOTE: When only one villain remains, they perform both activations on each villain turn.

Actions and How to Play

Defeating the Sinister Six

While players do not need to complete Missions in this mode, each villain can only take damage after their Weakness has been found. Each villain has a Weakness card in their section of the dashboard, showing a different combination of 3 actions.

During their turn, a hero in the same Location as a villain can use actions to place the same token in a corresponding space on that villain's Weakness card (they can also use Wildcard symbols, action tokens, or Special Effects that grant actions to do this).

Once all spaces on a villain's Weakness card have been filled, the card is removed, and that villain can now be damaged.

Once a villain is defeated, place their character piece in their section of the dashboard. They are ignored on Master Plan cards, and any special rules related to them are no longer in effect (once Mysterio is defeated, heroes with Crisis tokens no longer play their cards randomly).

End of Game and Scoring

Victory Conditions

The HEROES WIN if they defeat all 6 villains. To be able to deal damage to a villain, heroes must first clear their corresponding Weakness card.

Loss Conditions

The HEROES LOSE if the villains need to draw a Master Plan card but their deck is empty. They also lose if any hero starts their turn with no cards in both their deck and their hand.

Tips for Winning

• Coordination and planning are crucial for success, especially when dealing with the villains' Weaknesses.
• Prioritize finding the villains' Weaknesses to be able to deal damage to them, as they cannot be defeated otherwise.
• Pay attention to the villains' BAM! effects and how they interact with Locations and tokens, as this can impact the heroes' movement and attack strategy.