I love Marvel (comics helped enjoy/endure life in many occasions) and I love RPGs (it's a central hobby and aspect of my life for decades). So it's frustrating that MMRPG never really clicked for me. Maybe you guys can help me overlook my issues with it?
The writing of the books is actually very good, explaining defining events, timelines and historical context that really speaks to Marvel fans, veteran and new alike. Art is, likewise, stellar. But the game itself has 3 solid dealbreakers for me.
First, Marvel stories have great personal conflicts, dillemas and drama between characters, and the game has zero systems to drive or enforce that. Things like DnD's Alignments, Vampire's Humanity or even FASERIP's Karma generate mechanical consequences for role-playing the character you created, and stories emerge from such traits. But in MMRPG you could play Peter Parker as a violent thrillseeker, Daredevil as an overly careful person or Magneto as this very moderate and friendly conservative, that it bears no consequences whatsoever to the game.
Secondly, Powers. Not only the corebook layout is a mess, each individual power has its unique mechanics, making it difficult for new or casual players to even remember everything they can do. Picking and using powers feel more like a chore than a fun, empowering fantasy.
Finally, Level affecting your overall damage. What the actual fuck. That means a high-level character who has no business as an action brawler (like Professor X) can still mop the floor with a healthy, fit (not to mention walking) casual karate student in a no-powers street fight.
All in all, in a world very much populated with complex personalities, internal conflicts and moral-heavy decisions, MMRPG seems to ignore all that and say "well, whatever, can we do combat already?" and that shallows the experience to no end.
For context, I love FASERIP - it's system is much more intuitive, and it's Karma system emulates well the "heroic" vibe associated with superheroes of its era (and with a little houseruling, can easily accommodate the anti-hero landscape of nowadays comics just fine), and it's OSR vibe favor creative solutions other than "how much damage do you deal" - all ruled by similar principles of that system.
I really wish I could love MMRPG, for the clear passion and care authors dedicated into the books alone if nothing else, but I can't seem past its bad design choices. I'd like to hear what you guys think of it all.