From power rings to radioactive rocks, explosives to magical artifacts, every hero and villain has some equipment they just can't live without. And when you need to decide which of these weapons you need on your Heroclix team, it can be a pretty tough decision. I'm here to help.

This time on Object of Desire: Green Kryptonite!

Greetings, my fellow Clixers! Today we take a look at the substance that turns Superman from nigh-indestructible crime fighter to sniveling worm in seconds flat. It was more common than coal in the Silver Age, and can kill you if you make a ring out of it. That’s right, we’re looking at some Green Kryptonite!

smS101 Green Kryptonite

Characters within 4 squares modify their attack values by -1 and can't use the Flight ability. Characters within 4 squares that possess the Superman Ally team ability or the Kryptonian Keyword can't have damage dealt to them reduced below 1.
5 Points


Availability: Green Kryptonite is available on the secondary market, as well as in the hands of Lex Luthor, Metallo, Batman. and pretty much anyone else in the DC Universe who ever woke up in the morning and thought “I think I want to go to Metropolis today”.

They really should have just packaged this one in each of the Superman Clixbricks. Check the Silver Age comics; this stuff practically grew on trees back then. It doesn’t even have a game balance reason, but would instead have been a great nod to the sillyness of the 1960s.

But I digress. Now, in the comics Green Kryptonite works specifically on Kryptonians, and then only on the ones from the same universe as that particular planet Krypton. It’s why Superboy Prime wasn’t affected when he was run through the Kryptonite asteroid field in the end of “Infinite Crisis” but was affected when the Element Lad from Earth-Prime turned a bunch of rocks into Kryptonite in “Legion of Three Earths”. Stupid Multiverse. DC, please leave multiple dimensions to Wizards of the Coast and their flagship games (who have cooler characters that interact with multiple worlds anyways*) and just stick with one world. It would make things so much easier when keeping track of what affects who.

But I digress again. In order to make the Green Kryptonite object effective, it was changed to work against all characters, and works better against Kryptonians. Killing Flight can change the game if you can bog down your opponent’s fliers in hindering terrain, and a negative modifier to attack is always useful; be sure to shoot the guys near it so you don’t lose your attack power yourself. Against Kryptonians, it basically grants all your guys Armor Piercing against their Kryptonians. Good in certain situations, but useless if your opponent isn’t playing Superman & Co. or Zod and his generic army.

In Action
When I first saw the rules on this object, I was astounded it wasn’t a Relic that granted those abilities as long as someone was holding it. For cripes sake, Lex Luthor wore a ring made of the stuff for years just to keep Superman away. It could have at least have had the Continual rule, just to grant those bonuses before you use it as a stabby-type weapon! If you are going to use it, and this is kind of an iffy choice now that Kryptonians aren’t shiny and new, plant it in whatever terrain will give your opponent’s fliers the biggest headaches. Even if they never go near it, you have effectively shut off that part of the board with the object. Consider putting a squishy Hypersonic Speed character there when not attacking, like (don’t flame) Nightcrawler or Bart Allen. You can also store your pit crew there, keeping fliers from basing your Perplex/Probability Control/Outwit/whatever figures safe from close combat-based characters that fly.

Final Assessment
This object had the potential to be so much more than it ended up being but, in the end, we should consider ourselves lucky that it came out as thematically accurate as it did. I shudder to think what Green Kryptonite would have been like before NECA started making their objects based around what the things actually did in the comics instead of pasting some random game effect onto them.

That’s all for this article; come back next time when we cover more Kryptonite. I think I’ll leave you guessing as to which one I’ll be covering, though. Until then, happy Clixin’!

*Not that I’m saying Wizards is always right. Still, Dungeons and Dragons and planeswalker cards are hard to argue with.

Sorry if the bumper pic looks screwed up. I didn't get a chance to run this through beta posting, and I think it shows.

Well, I can't say I disagree. It's about as accurate as I can think Green Kryptonite would be, and the -1 attack and no flight modifiers can really ruin an opponent's day much the same way as clogging a passage with an open fire hydrant. (how does the water stay in the same 49 squares in space again?)

I love these object reviews, they get my wheels turning.

Nice review!
I thought some people reported getting kryptonite in their packs. (not anyone I've seen IRL, but on realms)

Yeah, you're right. I got my first one of these out of a pack and know a few other people who did too.

"Continual" is no longer used in Heroclix. Objects work when held unless otherwise specified.

It does

All objects are now "continual" auromatically, and the designation no longer exists as a game effect or term.

The loss of flight for Kryptonians often doesn't matter much, given the Superman Ally team ability and tendency to have Hypersonic Speed. It has apllications, but the -1 damage seems to be the bigger draw.

The most effective use of Green Kryptonite I've ever seen was by a guy who had a rare Red Hulk carry it around. He didn't need to use it in attacks because he was using all of his actions positioning to Poison more people and stay out of line of ranged attackers, and giving multiple characters a damage penalty stretched out the length of Red Hulk's dial a lot. Because the Super Strength was from a trait and the object couldn't be taken out while he was holding it, there wasn't much I could do about it. And if I had been running a Kryptonian they would have been easier to Poison and had more trouble escaping. That was good thinking.

Lex should have a trait that let's him carry objects with the word kryptonite in them

That would be nice. It's pretty dumb that only Super Strength characters can carry kryptonite.

Yes, and thanks again for another review!

I got green in the same pack I pulled Kal. The plastic holding the figures was a different color. I think it was green.

Really this is true. Its should be a special object that can be picked up by anyone and only does 1 damage if thrown.

Interesting, considering Green K modifies attack values by -1 rather than damage values.

I ran a moderately successful Warriors Three team (the original Hammer of Thor versions) that used the Green K. I barely felt the -1 to attack since their attack values were usually at 13 anyway and it made it harder for my opponents to hit the Three's 18 Defenses.

Quote : Originally Posted by commandercool It has apllications, but the -1 damage seems to be the bigger draw.

The most effective use of Green Kryptonite I've ever seen was by a guy who had a rare Red Hulk carry it around. He didn't need to use it in attacks because he was using all of his actions positioning to Poison more people and stay out of line of ranged attackers, and giving multiple characters a damage penalty stretched out the length of Red Hulk's dial a lot. Because the Super Strength was from a trait and the object couldn't be taken out while he was holding it, there wasn't much I could do about it. And if I had been running a Kryptonian they would have been easier to Poison and had more trouble escaping. That was good thinking.


lol, yeah "somebody's" doing it wrong...