THE POWER OF FOUR

Comic book teams come in many forms. From solo heroes to teams with a seemingly never-ending roster, there is a great diversity in team organizations. Some teams are very static, never taking on new members while others have a very open membership, accepting new champions to their roster on a regular basis. Some teams are official organizations while others are a loose confederation of heroes bound only by a common belief, objective or motivation. There is, however, a very useful, commonly seen team organization that repeated throughout decades of comics - the four-man team. 

Much like the vaunted five-room dungeon of fantasy RPG fame, the four-man team looks to digest the concept of the super team down to its bare essentials. This team formula is not meant to be a strict layout for a team but rather the most elemental building block of a solid team structure. Adding to it and refining it is certainly allowable and even adviseable but this basic layour will get you going and give yo ua plyable team if you choose to go no further. 

At the core of the four-man team are four distinct roles. These can vary but these four are the most commonly expressed. The four key roles are as follows - 

The Brain: Often but not always the leader, this character is the thinker, strategist. Their powers may or may not helpto define their role or be completely unrelated. Character such as Mr Fantastic are a prime example of this role but others such as Cyclops from the X-Men or Captain America from the Avengers also fit the trope. The important thing for this character type is that they are inclined to provide command and control for their team.

The Brick: Frequently a huge, hulking figure such as Thing or Hulk, this character's primary role is combat and defense, often combining toughness, physical damage output. They do not need to be huge, imposing figures though and there are a fair number of examples of more normally proportioned Bricks, like Rogue. A variant on the Brick is the Brawler, trading skilled fighting for simple brute force. Example of this variant are Puck, Wolverine, and Beast.

The Blaster: The primary ranged combatant in a four-man team come in the form of the Blaster. These characters unitlize ranged attacks or mobility to engage the team's opponents. Guns, energy blasts, or psionic abilities are common manifestations of this role but also a teleporter or speedster might fit the roles as well. It is not uncommon for this role to be duplicated across another role in a team as well such as Cyclops being one of the X-Men's primary blaster characters while also being a leader. 

The Support: The most broadly defined of the roles, the Support often manifests any combination of powers that allows them to defend, obscure, transport or otherwise provide useful backup to the other members of the team. Magic characters and characters with very versatile power sets often fall int othis role and may have characterstics of other roles. Storm and Jean Grey are both good examples of Support characters even though Storm has the ability to fire blasts of lightning. 

A team that possesses some combination of these four roles will be set up for success, however with such a small team it is important that the character in each role is designed to fully support their role on the team. It is also recommended that each role have some overlap into other roles and this can be done freely between roles. There is, for example, no reason, a Leader cannot also be a qualified Brawler or a Brick have abilities that allow for Support. Doing so will help assure the team can function well enough with a member down or should the team get split. 

Once you have the core four set up, it is easy to expand a team, adding additional members who fill one or more of the roles or who do not specifically fill any of the four roles. Larger teams tend to repeat on the combat roles of the Brick/Brawler and Blasters first, with additional Support being added after that. The X-Men have a Leader who is also a Blaster but Also has a Support who is a Blaster. They have both a Brawler and a couple of Bricks, depending on the specific team lineup. 

This brings me to one of my personal variants of the four-man team which I like to use specifically for villain teams. This formula is one I noticed on a lot of villain teams, specifically in the 90s and it produces and interesting dynamic. Rather than the Leader, Brick, Blaster, Support roles, this team is broken down into the Master, Monster, Killer, and Weirdo. In this lineup characters are built more along themes than specific team roles but they tend to end up creating interesting teams nonetheless. 

The roles for my four-man villain team are defined thusly - 

The Master: Thsi character is the leader of the team but not always through virtue of being the most qualified. They are often the most powerful or more brutal ofthe team and therefore keep the rest in line through fear and their will alone. They are often gifted with a lot of power or tech that makes them able to stand on their own.

The Monster: Much like the Brick, the Monster is often a hulking, brutish figure though they may be some sort of creature or at least look the part. Savagery mixed with brute strength and endurance typifies the Monster. Monsters often have abilities beyond simple simple brute powers. 

The Killer: Killers are similar to Brawlers though they are not always combat oriented. Sometimes, the killer is more of a stealth support sort of character. They are often indicated by savage weapons, natural or otherwise. 

The Weirdo: This is the most outlandish of the four villain types in this model. The Weirdo is usally some sort of strange being such as an alien or demonic life form, a being of pure energy, or an unspekable horror from beyond reality. Weirdos often have strange powers, making them something of a Support character.

As you can see the basics of the four-man team can be altered with a little thought along the lineso f themes or style rather than specific tactical roles. You should never feel limited by the four-man team either, whether it is the just the basics unit o your team or the entirety of it, creativity really is the only limit.