Let me start off by saying: play exactly the way you want to play and how you want your roster to look!
A phrase you hear a lot in the community is that people like to play "thematic". Which is understandable especially when coming from different games with more fixed army lists etc.
There is a reason for the ability to splash in MCP though and that is: the actual comics it's based on. Take almost any two characters you can think of on the game and there's bound to be at least a panel or two in some comic where they had to work together for whatever reason.
That is not to defend putting Zemo and Namor in every list. That's a competitive decision that is also valid but a hard sell to be thematic in some rosters.
Any given game of Crisis Protocol is supposed to be that panel. A certain situation (one might even say a crisis 😃) that brought your current squad together right then and there.
What many people mean by having a "thematic" roster however is a roster that they can imagine being permanent members of the chosen affiliation. Again a valid way to build your roster if you so choose but not the only way.
And then there's people who "only play affiliated". I won't get tired of telling you, that is a totally fine and valid way to build a roster. But it is not thematic (or not in every case at least).
MCP is not based in the actual 616 but in a universe that's pretty close to it (317 is the un official name for it, if I remember correctly).
But of course we talk about the 616 when we assume affiliations for characters.
Let's just look at the Guardians of the Galaxy as an example. A faction I've pretty much read everything there is on (except for the pretty terrible 2023 run):
Here is the current affiliation list:
Characters (16)
Adam Warlock (7)
A founding member of the team. He has to be here.
Agent Venom (4)
Part of the team for an extended time.
Angela (5)
Part of the team for a short time.
Beta Ray Bill (4)
Part of the team for a very short time.
Cosmic Ghost Rider (6)
Unwillingly part of the team for all of 5 panels (not issues, panels)
Drax the Destroyer (3)
Founding member and core piece of the team (also character completely destroyed by the movies...)
Gamora (4)
Founding member and core piece of the team.
Groot (3)
Founding member and core piece of the team.
Moondragon (3)
Founding member and important piece of the team. Not present in all installments of the team.
Nebula (2)
Only here because of the movies. She's not been with the team in the comics until well after she was added to the Affiliation list in MCP.
Nova (5)
We got Annihilation and Annihilation Conquest Richard Rider which predates the founding of the Guardians and he originally doesn't join them (but stays adjacent). Becomes a member (leader) way later though.
Quasar (4)
Founding member and with the team for a relatively short time.
Rocket Raccoon (2)
THE Guardian of the Galaxy. By far the most important character here. Founding member and leader of the team several times. There pretty much aren't Guardians of the Galaxy without Rocket being around.
Ronan the Accuser (4)
Never once a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. He is here because he was part of the Alliance that battled the Annihilation Wave alongside Nova, Gamora, Drax and Star-Lord.
* Star-Lord (3)
Founder of the team and mostly with them.
Yondu (4)
The MCP character Yondu just plain and simply does not exist in the comics. He's 95% movie Yondu, a character with exactly two ties to comic Yondu: Blue Skin and the use of Jaka Arrows.
Comic Yondu is from the year 3000 where he is part of the Guardians of the Galaxy of that time period. Rocket basically steals the name for the team from them.
Now that didn't look too bad did it? Nebula, Yondu, CGR and Ronan have not been with the actual comics Guardians for an extended period of time but have been at least adjecent to some key members.
But let's look at who else is in the game that might have a claim and is not affiliated:
Characters (8)
Ant-Man (3)
He's been a Guardian for an extended period of time.
Captain Marvel (4)
She's been with the team for a very long time.
Captain Marvel, Cosmic Avenger (5)
See above.
Gladiator (6)
Gladiator has a small claim. He's only actually been with them for exactly 5 panels. You can probably guess which 5 panels that where right? Yes the exact same ones as CGR. But unlike him Gladiator fought alongside the Alliance against Annihilus and later down that whole Abnett Lanning cosmic run against the Cancerverse so he would have way more reason to be affiliated than CGR.
* Invincible Iron Man (4)
Tony Stark has been with the Guardians for a pretty long run.
Iron Man (3)
See above.
Lockjaw (3)
Lockjaw has a little bit of a claim here as he's been with Beta Ray Bill for a long time and has helped out during some of the plots. He's not really an acting character but more of a plot device in the comics though.
Shadowcat (3)
Katherine Pryde has not only been on the team, she has used the moniker "Star-Lord" and led the team, when her then fiance Peter Quill was busy being president of Spartax. Arguably this is Kitty way earlier in her career but I highly doubt we'll ever get a Star-Lord (Katherine Pryde) in the game.
These are just some examples from Guardians. I'm sure you can name some for your favorite Affiliation in a heartbeat:
Rogue and Jane Foster should be in Avengers, Immortal Hulk shouldn't be affiliated anywhere, Namor should be in X-Men, Cabal and Avengers and so on.
So to play "thematic" sticking to the Affiliation list simply doesn't work.
Tell me why I'm wrong on the SGP Discord
Cheers from Germany 🍻
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