1. The movement characteristic
This is very easy as it says it right so on the stat card of each character they can be:
S = Short
M = Medium
L = Long
Obviously Long movers are fastest here and Short movers are the slowest but there's an important factor beside which tool a character uses to move:
2. The base size
There are three different bases used in MCP:
35mm = Small
50mm = Medium
65mm = Big
Which base size a character has is extremely important to it's actual speed on the board. Since you always measure from the edge of the base characters with bigger bases are actually faster than those with smaller ones if they have the same movement characteristic.
But that's still not everything that matters regarding speed:
3. The models size characteristic:
In MCP you need to climb instead of advance when you want to get on or over a piece of terrain, that is bigger than the moving character. Climbing always uses the Short tool regardless of the characters usual speed.
Now being bigger makes moving around the table easier as a result. Size 5 is the tallest anyone has gotten so far and thus will basically never have to climb over anything. But that's just Dormammu and the Sentinels right? Well yes, but actually no:
4. Flight and Wall Crawler
The innate superpowers Flight and Wall Crawler mean that the character always counts as size 5 during advances so is basically never in need of climbing anywhere.
Importantly that is also true when the enemy advances them so it can be detrimental sometimes.
With that out of the way let's examine the term "Lizard Speed":
Lizard has a movement characteristic of M, he has a medium Base, he is Size 3 and he has the Wall Crawler innate superpower. Now I have heard characters like Bishop being described as having Lizard Speed and that is just wrong. Bishop is only size 2 and thus more hindered by terrain on the board and more importantly he doesn't have Wall Crawler (or Flight) which makes Lizard ignore all terrain on the board. It wouldn't make a difference when you play on planet bowling ball with no terrain on the board but as MCP players we tend to have our tables well filled usually.
Here is a list of Movement from slowest to fastest (going in a straight line from the deployment to a midline objective with no terrain in the way):
The slowest characters in the game have a small base and also move short. Examples are Mysterio, Crossbones and Supergiant. They need two exactly straight moves towards the middle to reach range 1 of a midline objective. Size and Flight/WC don't matter as much for them as they can't get slower through climbing as they already are.
Medium Base slow movers follow but they are already a lot quicker on foot than the small base ones. Venom and Kingpin are popular examples here. Neither will win a race anytime soon but it's not as slow as the small base guys. They are actually only less than a range 1 slower than:
Small base medium movers, who are the absolute average Joes of the game. Luke Cage, Shang-Chi and Red Skull would be examples.
Big base small movers aren't speedsters but get around the board faster than you'd expect for characters with an S on their card. They are actually faster than small base medium movers. They end up exactly range 2 from a midline objective with one move. Hulk and Immortal Hulk are probably the best known examples for this.
Medium base medium movers are pretty quick. Examples here are Lizard, Bishop and Beta Ray Bill. They get to exactly range 2 of the midline in a single move. Which is just marginally slower than:
Small base Long movers. These end a single move just outside of range 1 to a midline objective. The best known characters here are Baron Zemo and Black Cat.
Basically exactly as fast are big base medium movers (like Hulkbuster, Malekith and Abomination), who also end up just outside of range 1 of the midline objective in a single move.
The fastest characters in the game are medium base long movers. They can reach range 1 to a midline objective in one move and are thus natural safe grabs (meaning they don't need any outside help to do it). Amazing Spider-Man, Angela and Namor have this. Importantly all three of them also have Flight or Wall Crawler. Which means even though they are all only size 2 terrain will not be able to hinder them from doing it.
Big base Long movers would easily outrun even them but there aren't any in the game and honestly we should also never expect there to be any.
Edit: Ghost Rider can do it with his Hell on Wheels superpower and he is size 3 so he's also not super hindered by terrain.
Who do you think are the fastest characters after the three natural safe grabs we just talked about in terms of movement (from movement actions)?
The answer is:
Malekith (big base, medium move, flight)
Dormammu (big base, medium move, size 5)
Cosmic Ghost Rider (big base, medium move, flight)
Nova (small base Long move, flight)
Captain America Sam Wilson (small base Long move, flight)
Crystal (small base Long move, flight)
Spider-Man Peter Parker (small base Long move, Wall Crawler)
Daredevil (small base Long move, Wall Crawler)
Ghost-Spider (small base Long move, Wall Crawler)
Gwenom (small base Long move, Wall Crawler)
Quicksilver (small base Long move, Wall Crawler)
Spider-Woman (small base Long move, Wall Crawler)
Hulkbuster (big base, medium move, size 4)
And finally who are the characters that actually have "Lizard Speed" meaning medium base, medium move and either Flight, Wall Crawler or are size 5 to ignore all terrain on the board?
Beast, Black Panther Chosen of Bast, Carnage, Doc Ock Sinister Scientist, Doctor Octopus, Angel
Archangel, Beta Ray Bill, Doctor Strange, Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Voodoo, Gladiator, Green Goblin, King Black Bolt, Mister Sinister, Thor, Hero of Midgard, Ultron, Ultron, Metal Tyrant and Vulture.
So there's actually quite a lot of characters that have "Lizard Speed" and some that are even faster.
I hope this was useful for someone 😄
Cheers from Germany 🍻
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