Character rankings: Tiers (late April 2016)

Polares

4 Jean is still queen in PvE but it is not S tier for PvP anymore. Rhulk is S tier for PvP and has completely replaced Jean in the current meta. Iceman is arguably better than rhulk BUT rhulk can be so fast and has so much life that it is more used than iceman.

Ps: All of this is valid when NOT buffed, any top5 buffed is obviously better than the rest of the top5.

stochasticism

Update for war machine, winter soldier and 4hawk? (Not to mention im46 and 5cap)

Vhailorx

Updated with newest characters.
Most assessments are made via thought experiment and loaner nodes (i have no 2016 character maxed).
Made starting with ioroku's list.

S TIER
5* Wolverine (Old Man Logan) - not as good on defense but probably the best single character to date
4* Jean Grey - goes great with 4* Hulkbuster, very strong in pve. Vulnerable in pvp
4* Ironman (Hulkbuster) - still very strong, great mix of single target damage and self acceleration
5* Jean Grey (Phoenix) - pairs well with OML, cascades can be deadly at 5* level, so purple is essentials for her
5* Green Goblin - probably the best character for a single match
5* Iron Man (XLVI) - boardshake, self acceleration, damage mitigation; very versatile. Need to team IM allies is a drawback
4* Iceman - current 4* king for all-around utility
4* Cyclops (Classic) - interesting self-acceleration skill
3* Iron Fist - combos well with nearly everyone, probably the strongest 3* for damage and board shake
3* Luke Cage - great with Iron Fist, great on defense, still packs a wallop
3* Kamala Khan
3* Cyclops - best single target damage in 3* land
3* IM (Model 40) - mediocre on his own. But ap accelleration is king and he is the best multi-color battery in the game
4* Red Hulk
4* Punisher (Max) - massive damage output, uncapped damage on black


A TIER
5* Spiderman
5* Silver Surfer
5* Captain America - yellow is pretty bad. Red and blue are fine 5* powers
4* Thor (Goddess) - borderline top tier with im40
4* Professor X - borderline B tier. But has some useful niches
3* Thor (Modern) - one of the strongest 3*s, slow but still viable well into the 4* transition
3* Magneto (Classic)
3* Scarlet Witch - great with Kingpin
4* Quake - amazing defense
4* Nova
3* Blade - can still fill the board with strike tiles
3* Black Panther - great with Iron Fist
3* Steve Rogers (Super Soldier) - great with 3* Iron Man, pve champ for board control and ap efficiency
4* Deadpool (Uncanny)
4* The Thing - great with 4* Deadpool
4* Kingpin
4* Wolverine (X-Force)
4* Nick Fury - borderline b-tier, but blue is very good
4* X-23 - and best true healing in 4* tier. Useful for grinding
4* Kate Bishop - 3/5/5 build offers solid mix of speed and high damage


B TIER
2* Black Widow (Original) - a fan favorite and relevant WELL into the 3* transition, stealing AP is never bad!
2* Ares - still combos well with Daken, still one of the strongest 2*s
2* Daken - still combos well with Ares
1* Juggernaut (Classic) - useful meatshield in BoP; great for Deadpool Dailies
4* Spider Gwen - borderline C-tier
2* Thor (Marvel NOW!) - not a bad 2*
3* The Hood - stealing AP is never bad!
2* Storm (Classic) - classic combo with 2* Magneto is still a classic
2* Magneto - great with 2* Storm
3* Wolverine (Patch) - great with Loki
3* Loki - still great board shake
4* Carnage
4* Ghost Rider - good against 5*s
4* Ant-Man
4* Venom
4* Miles Morales (Spider-Man) - great with 5* Spider-Man
4* Elektra - good against 4* Hulkbuster
4* Sam Wilson (Cap) - strong against bosses because red damage doesn't cap.
3* Sam Wilson (Falcon) - good with Daken, Blade, or anyone who makes lots of tiles
3* Doctor Doom - takes too long but can hit hard
4* Howard the Duck - weirdly useful in some places
3* Deadpool - meh but can pull Whales out to solve crazy Gauntlet matches
3* Black Widow - awesome board control with 3 targeted tile destruction moves. Useful for Winfinite. Not much esle
3* Daken - too squishy unless boosted. Strong power set though
4* War Machine - decent boardshake, strong against on his tiles.
4* Winter Soldier - ap theft in 4* tier! Decent damage and interesting CD powers, but not fast enough to be top tier



C TIER
4* Star-Lord
4* Drax
4* Invisible Woman - better but still not good
3* Colossus - can hit like a truck if you ignore him, slightly above "meh" on defense
3* Psylocke - quick and good support but not quite powerful enough
3* She-Hulk - does a little bit of everything but just doesn't quite cut it
3* Human Torch - red and green are strong but there are better choices for both
3* Quicksilver - great with Iron Fist
3* Rocket & Groot - ok healing but meh everything else
3* Mystique - good with Scarlet Witch
3* Storm - a good upgrade to 1* Storm
3* Gamora - good with Iron Fist, her black can be deadly
3* The Hulk - still not bad on PvP defense, but not really good at anything else
2* Johnny Storm - on the low side of meh
2* Wolverine - pretty ****
1* Iron Man - solid all around 1*
4* Mr. Fantastic - mostly uselss, but can be occasionally useful on a team built to make him last forever with self heal
1* Spider-Man - better powers than 3* spidey
1* Hawkeye - useful board control, but not viable for long.
3* Beast - not as bad as he userid to be


D TIER
1* Black Widow - good early on, gets worse at max level, eventually replaced
1* Storm - good early on, but squishy and quickly replaced
3* Captain Marvel - not bad on defense but otherwise unremarkable
3* The Punisher - sadly no longer relevant
3* Sentry - how the mighty have fallen
3* Spider-Man - just doesn't do enough
3* Squirrel Girl - not really good at anything
3* Daredevil - trap tiles have gotten better but not enough to make him usable
3* Bullseye
3* Vision
2* Ms. Marvel
2* Hawkeye
2* Steve Rogers - only useful for board control
3* Doctor Octopus - was always bleh; nice passive though
3* Ragnarok - the "upgrade" made him worse; he's still awful
2* Bullseye
2* Moonstone - dev crush but still awful
4* Hulk (Totally Awesome) - sadly not awesome
4* Devil Dinosaur - joke character, fun to mess around with he purple
1* Venom - sell
1* Yelena Belova - terrible and almost strictly worse than 1* Black Widow


BAGMAN
2* Spider Man (Bag-Man) - need we say more?

TLCstormz

Is Peggy Sue S+? lol

Oh.....and I also believe that OBW should be MUCH higher than B. I mean....pound for pound? Come on, now.