I can honestly say that I have a lot of fond memories about this particular adventure-several of the MSH groups that I've been apart of over the decades have ran it with one set of changes or another over the years and it is still a favorite.

Recently I've managed to get my hands on an actual physical copy with all the bits and bobs for it in pretty good condition and I was thinking about running it myself but then as I went through it, it got me curious if there was a way to update it or to make the world where our "good" Doctor Doom is a hero a little bit more different.

One idea that I had was to switch out the version of the Wasp in the module for a version of the Ultimates Wasp to show the changes between the two worlds.

I was wondering if you all had any suggestions or thoughts on how to make this module a little bit more unique for my players to encounter?

It's always been a favorite of mine and I've always felt it needed updating (since it's written with the Basic set in mind and not the Advanced so has a number of issues). As far as changes to make it more different I'm not sure it needs them, although admittedly having Grimm in power armor so that he's running around equal in ability to 616-Grimm and not really different beyond being able to 'depower' unlike 616-Grimm is a bit uncreative. As a superb pilot I'd expect if he were in power armor it'd be more like the M.A.C.H. I armor Beetle switched to in the Thunderbolts. High speed, high maneuverability power armor that exploits his piloting skills with weapon systems for ranged combat.

Pretty valid point there, Nightmask. But what if his power armor was more in line with the Iron Patriot armor from the movies? Give him something that feels like he can actually do some good with instead of just a knock off suit of Mandroid armor?

We also know that for certain that the Defenders include Hank Pym, Dazzler, Jack Monroe as Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk (as a founder), Hercules, Quicksilver, Hawkeye, and the Scarlet Witch with Crystal as a former member with the mention of the "New Invaders" team of heroes on Earth-8610 (as according to the Marvel Database wiki)-but I was considering making a few minor changes, the module was set in the late 80s from what I can tell and the Skrull takeover is only less than twenty years earlier?

So the question here is would the Scarlet Witch be more like her Movie/X-Men Evolution version, more of a late teen/early adult and full of angst as would Quicksilver?

Honestly I'm thinking of dropping the whole element of "Quicksilver had an affair with Crystal" because not everything has to be a hundred percent on the nose as the 616 setting right?

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the_hammer
Pretty valid point there, Nightmask. But what if his power armor was more in line with the Iron Patriot armor from the movies? Give him something that feels like he can actually do some good with instead of just a knock off suit of Mandroid armor?

We also know that for certain that the Defenders include Hank Pym, Dazzler, Jack Monroe as Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk (as a founder), Hercules, Quicksilver, Hawkeye, and the Scarlet Witch with Crystal as a former member with the mention of the "New Invaders" team of heroes on Earth-8610 (as according to the Marvel Database wiki)-but I was considering making a few minor changes, the module was set in the late 80s from what I can tell and the Skrull takeover is only less than twenty years earlier?

So the question here is would the Scarlet Witch be more like her Movie/X-Men Evolution version, more of a late teen/early adult and full of angst as would Quicksilver?

Honestly I'm thinking of dropping the whole element of "Quicksilver had an affair with Crystal" because not everything has to be a hundred percent on the nose as the 616 setting right?

Well Pym's described as having left the hero scene because he's a successful scientist and apparently didn't suffer the chemical-induced psychotic break 616-Pym did. However I can't see how the Wasp turned into such a failure because Hank ended up successful, other than the writer just thinking 'oh gee let's reverse things and have him be a success and her be in the loser spot' and no plotting as to WHY that ended up the case.

I don't see Scarlet Witch being that different than her 616-Counterpart and definitely not like other movie and animated versions. Quicksilver meanwhile was generally filled with overweening pride and issues of being accepted by humanity so always had the angst issue. Definitely no reason for an affair with Crystal in the divergent timeline, unless prior to her marriage while still not committed completely and definitely no affairs once married.

I wouldn't describe alt-Thing's power armor as 'knock-off Mandroid armor' as it's superior to Mandroid armor in general, but certainly such bulky armor really isn't suited to alt-Ben, he shouldn't be such a battling bruiser sort acting no different than 616-Ben. There should be differences, unlike with characters like Namor that have always behaved in the same general way due to their foundations that few divergences manage to change.

Nightmask,

First off on the Thing's armor in the original module, I can't help it-every time that I look at it I get reminded of the Mandroid suits and I've never been a fan of those. It reminds me a bit too much of the old Yellow Devil boss from the first Mega Man NES game if you can believe that?

On the other hand as to why the Wasp went downhill, I came up with an alternate idea which is what if his success got the better of him and it created an emotional wedge between the two of them? Have it be more natural than as you said "the writer just had to put Jan in the loser spot"-maybe Hank became the Reed Richards of this Earth basically and as he grew in successes, his relationship with Jan became more and more something in the rear view and Jan started acting out to try and get his attention, show him that the "love of his life was in trouble and needed him"-but things kind of back fired.

I'm taking the view that in the aftermath of the liberation, the Defenders kind of were being held to a higher status than other people which meant that when Jan started acting up, it was viewed worse than it should've been and her attempts at getting Hank to notice that their relationship was made worse by other people and since Jan was a founding Defender, it just made matters worse and that's why she fell apart.

Make it more organic and have it fit the setting right?

I also had a player ask me a valid question-if she were to play Flare in the module, can she change it so that she doesn't have to "be in love with Captain America"? Can I or should I allow my players to deviate from that kind of canon of the module?