DC Super Heroes United Designer Reveals How DC's Heroes and Villains Change the Game

Lead Designer Andrea Chiarvesio talks superman, batman, wonder woman, joker, and more in CMON and Spin Master's DC United.

By Matthew Aguilar - June 22, 2024 11:43 pm EDT

Back in 2020, CMON and Spin Master introduced the world to Marvel United, and now it's time for the popular United system to crossover with the world of DC in the much anticipated DC Super Heroes United. DC Super Heroes United will hit Gamefound this July and will bring some of DC's greatest heroes and villains to the award-winning game system, including Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Joker, Lex Luthor, Aquaman, and more. At the helm of the game is Lead Designer Andrea Chiarvesio, who ComicBook had the chance to speak to all about the game, including what DC fans can look forward to when they break open the game for the first time, how some of your favorites will play, the challenges they'll face, and some of the future things fans can look forward to when the campaign gets underway.

First though I wanted to get a sense of what the DC Universe brings to the United system, how it opens up opportunities, and how the heroes change the dynamic of gameplay. Also, it doesn't hurt that Chiarvesio is already a big fan of the DC world and its many fan-favorites.

"DC has not only powerful and beloved Heroes, but especially has been able to provide comic book fans with many interesting Villains over the years. Since stories (and games, consequently) are as interesting as their antagonists are, this opportunity got me excited since I knew from the beginning that I would have room for lots of creative gameplay," Chiarvesio said. "It's impossible to not have a special love for Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman (in no particular order): we have seen these characters to be interesting protagonists of so many cool stories. Besides them, I don't know if I am at liberty to say, but I have a soft spot for someone you don't really want to be friends with... I think DC aficionados know who I am talking about."

That Superpowered Feeling

DC's heroes are legitimate powerhouses, and there were some unique challenges in adapting the gameplay and accommodating all of those various abilities and powers while still maintaining balance. That led to getting more creative with the villains, as Chiarvesio wanted to shake up how the villains scheme and attack the heroes as opposed to just raising their power levels arbitrarily.

"Several DC Super Heroes have almost god-like powers, and I always feel playing a Hero in United should provide you the same feeling as interpreting that Hero as much as possible (given that the room for customization is ten cards). And I could not, and didn't want to, simply scale up the challenge by making the antagonist uber-powerful," Chiarvesio said. "The design challenge was then to provide interesting opponents with unique schemes that can't be solved by the brute force of getting actions in the Storyline (or extra actions from Equipments). There will still be a few Villains with very linear plots, and it might be too easy to defeat them by using heroes that belong to a different category, but I feel that this is how the game should be."

One hero that will come with a host of options in how to approach a villain is Batman. Batman's trademark preparation for any situation is accounted for thanks to his many equipment cards, and that arsenal could get even more extensive throughout the campaign. "In the DC Super Heroes core box, Batman will have six different gadgets at his disposal... I would not rule out the possibility that during the campaign he gets to extend his arsenal. To which magnitude might depend from the backers."

From Gotham to Metropolis and Beyond

Another important element to the game is locations, which will once again provide numerous ways to affect the game. Whether you're saving civilians, defeating thugs, taking on Henchmen, or attacking the villain directly, there are a host of things to do at any given time depending on where you are. There are some locations that will benefit certain heroes, including Batman, and Chiarvesio also teased that the Bat-Family will be quite the force to be reckoned with, provided some of them show up during the campaign.

"Knowing that Gotham is Batman's home and fortress, you can expect to find in the game a couple of Locations that might have a different effect for the Caped Crusader than they have for anyone else (and at least in one case, Batman might find that Location hard to visit because of hurtful memories but also a source of great inspiration)," Chiarvesio said. "About the Bat-Family, all I can tell is that as we always try to do, characters used to work together will prove to be good teammates to each other."

The Man of Steel

It wouldn't be a true representation of DC without the Man of Steel, and Superman is well accounted for in the core game. It was previously revealed that Superman doesn't get any equipment cards because...well, he's Superman and doesn't really need them. That doesn't mean there aren't other tactical options at your disposal in how to deploy Superman, as you'll have one major choice to make early on.

"Superman has two starting hand cards: Flight and Invulnerability. The first one will allow him to always get the movement(s) he might need, while the other will not only protect him, at least partially, from incoming damage, but also to 'rebound' part of the damage back," Chiarvesio said. "According to the villain you're facing, you might have to choose between which one you want to put on the Storyline, and while sometimes the choice is pretty obvious, other times you might find out too late that it really wasn't the case!"

"Generic equipment cards are a standard feature of the United system so will be available in DCSHU as well. On a personal note, I feel that Supes has no need to use a lamppost as an improvised weapon and certainly none to wear a special costume to protect him from harm. These are designed to provide heroes less powerful with a little bit of extra flexibility or protection. But when I see one of our playtesters giving a general equipment item to a hero that doesn't really need it I always raise an eyebrow," Chiarvesio said.

Wonder Woman and The Lasso of Truth

dc-super-heroes-united-superman-wonder-woman-cyborg.jpg — (Photo: CMON/Spin Master)

Wonder Woman completes the DC Trinity and is as versatile as you'd expect. Fans will also be happy to know that she will have her famous Invisible Jet in tow, and it happens to also be insanely useful to boot. I did see if there was a Lynda Carter spin move in the mix somehow, but no dice. There was however one feature of Wonder Woman's lasso that held some promise but didn't really fit the co-op nature of the game.

"I would have loved to do it, but no... United is not really centered on civilian identities of Heroes so it would have seemed slightly out of place, honestly. As you can guess, her lasso will appropriately force Villains to reveal the truth about their next plans," Chiarvesio said. "I gave a thought about giving her the ability to also force teammates to do the same, but it's a cooperative game (with very few exceptions that I try to be really thrifty about it given that type of gameplay is not really everyone's cup of tea), so I rejected the idea quite immediately."

Shaking Up the Villains

As we previously mentioned, the villains of the game aren't just damage sponges and will take some strategy to defeat. A perfect example is Lex Luthor, who isn't directly attacking the heroes, instead leaving that to his other allies (like Joker, Gorilla Grodd, and more). Instead, Luthor is trying to paint himself as the actual hero of the game and trying to accomplish missions before you can, though I did have to ask if the purple and green power armor makes any sort of appearance.

"Lex will win the game if during any of his turns he completes a mission for you. He is trying to pose as a hero for the people, so don't give him this opportunity. At the same time, he has some dark scheme going on, so he will also try to get to the end of his Master Plan fast," Chiarvesio said. "As soon as you put him under pressure, he will partially switch from the first to the second plan, while keeping both as possible paths to the Heroes' demise. When designing a complex and interesting villain as Lex is, it's kind of impossible to implement all the nuances and all the different versions and appearances of that villain over decades of comic book stories. In my experience, it works better when I choose an angle and try to show that through gameplay."

"Again, it's almost impossible to depict all the possible facets of complex personalities and characters in a dozen cards (and a dashboard that I do my best to not overload with text whenever possible)," Chiarvesio said. "Maybe in the future, I'll get the opportunity to show the more 'fighting' and less deceiving side of Luthor, who knows? I cross my fingers 😊."

There are of course other villains in the mix, including Cheetah, Joker, and Darkseid. Each one brings their own style and skillset to the game, challenging players in a variety of different ways. Finding styles that can convey the core concepts of each character was paramount, especially with all of the directions these characters have been taken over the years.

"Again, how do you give a full depiction of a complex and multifaceted villain as the Joker in a bunch of cards? 'My' Joker is a coward psychopath, that will try to poison the world while trying to be hard to find for the Heroes... an interesting race against time for the Heroes, that won't give time or opportunity to save many civilians. Cheetah is both a ferocious huntress and a hard-to-catch fugitive if she needs to hide. Her gameplay might look more straightforward (and it indeed is), but this doesn't mean she's a soft opponent. With Darkseid I could have gone in a million of different directions. I decided to not show him as the tyrant of an invading army, an angle we have seen and explored many times already (and we still will with other villains). His obsession for the Anti-Life Equation is the center of his gameplay since it will allow him to reach his ultimate goal. He won't care about the Heroes, simply move them out of his way if needed. Heroes must do their best to stop him from collecting all the parts of the Equation, and slowly build up the conditions required to finally defeat him."

The Best Lantern

You knew I would have to bring up Green Lanterns, and while Chiarvesio couldn't dive into detail on if they will end up making an appearance in the game or the campaign, he did very much agree with me that yes, Kyle Rayner rules. "It's indeed hard to not mention Kyle Rayner as the best Green Lantern of all, but I admit I always had a soft spot for John Stewart," Chiarvesio said. "I can't really explain why, since I admit Kyle is the perfect embodiment of will (and creativity as well)."

Like with Wonder Woman, heroes can have access to their vehicles through Equipment cards, and Chiarvesio teased others could end up having those options as well. "Vehicles in this game can be naturally translated into Equipment (or in some cases, like spaceships or planes, could even become special Locations in the pre-equipment era). So, yeah, I can see some heroes getting their wheels to cruise around," Chiarvesio said.

Last but certainly not least I wanted to ask about playmats, specifically if those who jump into DC Super Heroes United can use their previous United System playmats. The good news is you totally can, but it does seem as if you'll have the option to grab a DC-specific playmat at some point during the campaign.

"DCSH United, even if it will have a few unique features, shares the same basic rules of other United games, so I don't see why that would not be possible," Chiarvesio said. "I would, of course, preferentially use thematically coherent accessories whenever possible, however! 😊"

DC Super Heroes United hits Gamefound this July, and you can check out the campaign preview right now. We'll also have full impressions of the game very soon, so stay tuned to ComicBook for more coverage!

Are you excited for DC Super Heroes United? You can talk all things DC and tabletop with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!