The Marvel Crisis Protocol update resets Stamina by Threat Value, giving characters a better shot at surviving an activation and actually hitting back.
The biggest MCP update now isn’t the NERF list; it’s that your models just got harder to wipe out in one activation. Atomic Mass Games is calling this the largest character update in Marvel Crisis Protocol history, but the change you’re going to notice every game is the new Stamina floor.
Durability has been creeping downward for years, and AMG finally decided to push it back the other way now for the majority of heroes, it seems like. Regardless, this update changes a lot more than a few popular character cards.
It also fits into the 2026 MCP roadmap, with much of the changes tied to repackaged characters. Add in the recent rulebook changes, and MCP is playing pretty differently now.
- Stamina reset: every character got a new Stat Card, with 172 getting actual changes, while the new Stamina baseline affects every matchup.
- Meta nerfs: nine models gained Peerless, while Red Skull, King T’Challa, Black Bolt, and Apocalypse were all brought down a notch.
- Rulebook additions: two new rules cover the default way to interact with objective tokens and how overhanging terrain works.
The Stamina Reset Is the One MCP Update You Feel Every Game
Updated on August 11th, 2026, with the latest MCP updates and rules changes from Atomic Mass Games.
This biggest MCP update so far, because it’s the one AMG has been trying to address for years. The studio said characters were going down faster than it wanted, so models should now have a better chance to survive an opponent’s activation and fight back.
AMG set a total Stamina baseline for every Threat Value, counting the Healthy and Injured sides together.
The new baseline lands like this:
- 2 Threat sits at 8 Stamina
- 3 Threat jumps to 12
- 4 Threat goes to 14
- 5 Threat hits 15
- Every Threat Value past that tacks on 1 more
The middle Threat values got the biggest bump, which makes sense when those characters were often getting melted under concentrated attacks before they could respond. Fights that used to end immediately now have a better chance of going another activation, and that’s going to change how people plan their turns, big time.
AMG Finally Went After the Top of the Meta
AMG also took a swing at the characters sitting above the rest of the field. Using win-loss data along with the podcast and forum discussions it follows, the studio singled out Red Skull, Master of Hydra, King T’Challa, Black Bolt, and Apocalypse for adjustments.
Nine models picked up Peerless as well, and several character changes are worth watching:
- Magneto pushed his defense to 4, traded Shrapnel Blast for Magnetic Crush, and swapped Force Projection for Polarity Shield
- Hulk now Throws automatically off Hulk Smash, with Gamma Leap climbing to 4 Power
- Hulkbuster lost Leadership, gained the Reserve keyword, and had Built to Take It reworked
- She-Hulk finally has proper Healthy and Injured sides with defense up to 4
- Kingpin got clipped, with Illicit Network counting as only 2 Healthy characters on Secure
So if your roster depended on one of those stronger picks doing the heavy lifting, you’ve got some testing to do. The next round of changes could also start targeting whatever rises to the top afterward as well.
The Team Tactic Cards and Horsemen Got Dragged In Too
The Stat Cards weren’t the end of it. Five Team Tactic Cards changed, along with the Horsemen Cards for Servants of the Apocalypse, which got their own adjustments too
On the Team Tactic side:
- Are You Sure You Want to Remember now spits out 2 memory tokens per Daze or KO, stored on the card
- Asteroid M and Mothership both slid to the Power Phase
- First of the Black Order now feeds every allied character Power, not just the others
- Spirit of Wakanda swapped its third effect from handing out Power to placing allies within Range 1
Master of the Horsemen took the biggest Horsemen hit. Its Evolution token now moves during the Cleanup Phase, and the reroll trick that helped make it so hard to pin down is gone. Anyone playing that affiliation and leaning on those rerolls will have to find another route to the same damage.
Objective Tokens Finally Get a Default Interact Rule
Underneath the character and card changes are two rulebook updates that are going to stick around much longer, with the first finally giving objective tokens a default Interact rule.
If a Crisis Card allows you to interact with its tokens, you spend 1 Power while within Range 1 during your activation. You can interact with more than one token in the same turn, but not the same token twice.
The rulebook also lays out the four token types. Civilian tokens include bystanders, secret Skrull agents, and escaped prisoners. Asset tokens cover objects such as Cosmic Cube fragments, vials of Super-Soldier Serum, and critical research notes. So, instead of those basics being spread around different Crisis Cards, there’s now one standard rule in the book.
Overhanging Terrain Gets Its Own Ruling
The other rulebook change is smaller, but anyone who’s argued about a balcony, bridge, or gantry will probably appreciate it. When the battlefield is set up and everyone agrees, parts of a terrain feature can be designated as overhangs.
You can’t put anything on top of an overhang, but objects can slide underneath it. An object that’s only overlapping the overhang doesn’t count as overlapping the terrain feature itself.
It’s not the flashiest change, but it gives players an actual answer when awkward terrain starts causing object-placement arguments.
Final Thoughts on the Marvel Crisis Protocol Update
Once you get past the sheer number of updated cards, AMG basically reset durability across Marvel Crisis Protocol. It’ll take time to see which characters gained the most from the new Stamina numbers and which former top picks actually feel the NERFs overall.
For now, grab the updated cards and rulebook from the AMG Rules page and get a few games in. There’s enough changing here that a few games will tell you a lot more than one read-through of the update ever will.
🔗 Related Reads:
- Marvel Crisis Protocol News, Updates, and Rumors
- All the Marvel Crisis Protocol Rules Updates and Changes
- New Marvel Crisis Protocol Rulebook and Changes Are Here
- The Latest New Rules Changes for Marvel Crisis Protocol
- Marvel Crisis Protocol FAQ and Affiliation List
- Marvel Crisis Protocol 2026 Roadmap and Release Schedule
- Marvel Crisis Protocol Alliances: Everything We Know
What do you think of the biggest Marvel Crisis Protocol update yet?
