Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan

The reason Ms. Marvel is easy to pick up is not that she is shallow — it is that her command list is unusually compact. Most of her Skills are a single motion plus Light (236 L, 6 L, 214 L) rather than three button variants each. Nine entries total, simple inputs, and every one of them does something clearly distinct.

What makes her genuinely good rather than merely simple is reach. Her embiggened limbs give her the longest normals in MARVEL Tōkon, and Elasti-Grab stretches an arm out to attack and hauls her that way, then cancels into other actions — so her long pokes double as a movement system. She fights at a range where the opponent has to make a mistake to reach her.

Ms. Marvel's gameplan is the oldest one in fighting games and it still works: stand just outside their range and press buttons. The whole character is about making the opponent walk into something.

Neutral. Zoom Knuckle is the ranged fist — the grounded version fires level and the air version angles down, and it beats projectiles, which is why zoners cannot simply wall her out. Use it to punish anyone who tries to hold a screen against her, and use your long normals to control the space directly in front of you.

Movement. Elasti-Grab is her most underrated tool: it stretches an arm out to attack and hauls her that way, then cancels into other actions. That makes it an approach, a poke and a repositioning tool in one. The aerial version can also reach downward but is limited to once per jump direction, so plan the angle before you leave the ground.

Offense. The mix-up is two moves. Karate Chop! leaps up and swings both giant hands down as an overhead. Rubber Bind is a grab that squeezes, useful for close-range mix-ups. Overhead or grab is a genuinely hard guess for an opponent who is already worried about her normals, and neither requires execution.

Defense. Flex On 'Em is the standout — a dodge that evades everything except throws, and then cancels into her Unique moves or Skills. That last clause is what makes it special: most defensive options in MARVEL Tōkon give you your turn back, and this one gives you your turn back with a Skill already coming out. Jersey Lariat's grounded version also beats air attacks partway, so she has an anti-air.

Nine command list entries, which is the second-shortest on the roster — every one of them matters.

Ms. Marvel is a good anchor for a beginner MARVEL Tōkon team specifically because of Flex On 'Em. An incoming character is at their most vulnerable, and having a dodge that cancels into a Skill means your last character is not helpless on a Grounded Tag-In.