Snap Into Marvel! — It’s Hard To Hail Hydra Bob

Real Name: Robert Dobalina

First Comic Book Appearance: Cable & Deadpool #38 (May 2007)

First Multimedia Appearance: Deadpool (2016) played by Rob Hayter

Powers: Bob possesses no super-powers and little in the way of specific skills or abilities heightened by training. 

Comic Book Chronicles

Bob is basically Deadpool’s sidekick. And fittingly for a character tied to another character whose schtick is at least partially about knowing he’s a comic book character, Bob is also a caricature/representative of those hired goons populating the various villainous organizations in comics. In Bob’s case, that means specifically Hydra, Marvel’s Nazis-but-not-Nazis terrorist organization famous for its slogan, “cut off one head and two more will take its place”.

Bob joined Hydra, at the urging of his wife, simply because he needed a steady job. He encountered Deadpool as a soldier of Hydra, and was forced into helping him escape from a Hydra base. From there, he continued to work with Deadpool, getting caught up in various high-stakes adventures and comic book storylines alongside the merc-with-a-mouth, though it’s been a few years since Bob’s appeared with any regularity. 

While Bob’s appearance in the first Deadpool film is little more than a cameo (and he appears without the distinctive Hydra uniform or any mention of the organization, as the film rights to Hydra belonged to Marvel Studios while Deadpool at the time was still under the control of Fox), his spirit of an ordinary guy caught up in the extraordinary world of superheroes and supervillain stooges in many ways permeates both Deadpool films. One could squint and see Bob in Rob Delaney’s performance of Peter, the regular Joe who ends up going along on X-Force’s disastrous mission.  

Fit & Finish

Like Gwenpool, the lack of a significant MCU counterpart and a relatively recent and straightforward comics history means that Hydra Bob’s cards, both the standards and the initial (non-Venomized) variant, are relatively straightforward representations of the character’s standard look. In fact, one of the nice things about his card is how it basically just drops a Hydra Goon into your deck. 

Form & Function

Bob’s Marvel Snap ability — moving, randomly, to a new location, anytime either player snaps — sets him up to be the worst card of the season, if not one of the worst cards in the game. A four power card for one cost isn’t bad, but there’s ways to get similar (or better) power elsewhere in the game with significantly less downside. Bob is essentially a lower-powered Martyr, who trades the slim chance that he could randomly move in a way that helps you (vs. Martyr, whose movement is triggered specifically to make you lose) for one less power. Sure, you could Sauron or Zero him out first, but again, just use Martyr in that case for the extra power.

Under the right circumstances — possibly in the upcoming Deadpool’s Diner game-within-the-game — the ability to move the card by snapping (vs. having to spend energy on another card to make him move) may be beneficial, particularly if Kraven is on the board. But for the most part, this is a card that cedes entirely too much power to your opponent (as their snaps will move him too) with too random an outcome for too little upside. 

That said, in terms of tying his Marvel Snap ability to his comic book characterization, Hydra Bob is kind of a brilliant card. The fact that his movement is governed by actions outside the game (beyond the fourth wall, so to speak) ties in with his connection to Deadpool and that character’s meta awareness.

Beyond that, Bob’s chief character trait in the comics is cowardice — he spouts Hydra slogans reflexively when he’s scared — which is echoed in the fact that the card moves when someone snaps. The snap in Marvel Snap is meant to express a belief (whether real or a bluff) in the strength of your hand and your position in the game. What does the cowardly Bob’s card do when someone acts aggressively by expressing their strength? It runs away. 

That’s really quite clever, and one of the better “characterization expressed as gameplay” functions in the game. Unfortunately, it also makes the card itself a pretty useless one to play.