Hey. My son is just turning 3 and loves anything and everything Marvel related. I haven't tried the game yet myself, but I've played some of the other LCG's and have a plethora of other FFG games (Descent, IA, Legion, MoM 2nd, LOTR etc..) and know the top quality of product they produce.

I'm assuming 3 is to little, as he is still learning basic numbers and letters, but I almost wondering if I should start collecting pieces of the game now for us to play down the road.. as I got into the LOTR LCG late and it became very difficult to track down the scenario packs. To the point where I stopped trying and just focused on the Saga expansions.

How many years off do you think he is, on average obviously every kid is different, from playing ?

Depending on how much you assist him and how interested he is in the heroes involved, I bet you could get going around 6, maybe younger if he actively wants to play it rather than getting bored and wandering. You'll have to help him through the process of discarding good cards to play other good cards. That's a hangup that I see lots of adults get stuck on, and I think kids will actively not like the game if they can't hang on to all the cards in their hand. You'll also probably want to abbreviate the game, such as only playing one stage of the villain, but otherwise, a lot of the concepts aren't too hard. The game is highly thematic, so it shouldn't be hard to grasp things like scheming advancing a bad thing that'll happen if they don't get in there and fight the villain.

It's not very mathematical and is very thematic, so if your kid has the attention span to sit down and read cards with cool pictures on them, you should be ok.

Edit: You can take my input with however much salt you want. I have no kids, so my closest points of reference are my nieces, one of which just reached 5 (and only recent would sit through games of candyland, in my experience) and hearing others talk about what they're playing with their kids. Long-term planning games don't seem to sit well with young kids, and games without engaging themes don't occupy their attention long enough, but if there's something exciting and simple they can do on their turn, generally they can be convinced to play for a time.

Just get a copy while they new and fresh in the stores. Your son will grow into it and thank you.

So my son is 3 and while that’s to young to understand the mechanics of the game it isn’t too young to enjoy the theme and characters and artwork.

He wanted to be in my lap while I played the other day and I had him help me decide what to play and who to attack and where to thwart etc. He was super excited when I drew Hulk and got to play him and have him attack. He liked when I got to use black panthers claws. I was able to get him to yell “Wakanda Forever!” Whenever I played one. It was far and away the least optimal game I’ve ever played but it was also the most enjoyable and he had a blast.

So I’d say go for it cuz the potential for fun and bonding is there whether he’s actively playing or not.

My daughter is 4 and she'll play Sushi Go and that's about her speed. My son is 6 and he's just to the point where he enjoys something like Stuffed Fables, but that's as meaty as he can manage. That's with me doing the majority of the reading for the game including explaining his card effects to him. He can read, but most card games are not written to his level. Also Stuffed Fables is very easy to put down when he clearly needs to stop (which happens after a map or two). As for Champions, he likes the card art and the descriptions, but he doesn't have the patience to run a deck. I'd think probably 8 is a good age for actually playing the game and not just watching from your lap. That said every kid is different.

I play with my four year old. He has a hard time with discarding cards but he loves to do stuff. In general, he wants to attack so I always give him aggression. He also likes to play the villian, which basically is me just telling him what to do. He really enjoys beating me as the villian.

My son is 6 and I have been slowly introducing him to gaming over the last years, upgrading the games steadily as he starts to enjoy and understand them better
Although most of FFG's catalogue is a bit on the beefy side for him, he does enjoy chucking dice with Elder Sign and loves the classic Hey, That's My Fish!
Ticket to Ride, Wacky Races and the new Disney Talisman also come to the table a lot
Lately I've introduced him to card games like Pokemon and KeyForge, which he is slowly grasping
He likes joining me playing Marvel Champions, but together playing the same hero, as it is still a bit difficult to master (and I have to translate all the cards for him 😅 ), but I don't think it will be long before he can play his own hero

If your son likes games and likes Marvel, I would say already start buying, you'll have a blast in a few years

I’m tempted to try it with my 8 year old, but I wouldn’t try it with my 5 year old.

I tried it with my 17 year old and he did pretty well. I didn't have to help with anything really. He picked it up pretty fast.

You have t raise your gamer before they will be ready for Marvel Champions (as there is a lot of down time)...I might suspect a well raised gamer around 9 or 10 if interested can will enjoy it. I play with my son regularly but he is now in middle school. My daughter in 4th Grade is uninterested and prefers other games.

Here some I games I like to groom your young ones on...

Viva Topo! (counting, turn taking, and press your luck)

Galloping Pigs (racing pigs, no reading, just colors, basic hand startegy formulation - tiny cards for tiny hands )

Botswana/Wild Safari (planing with card piles and miniature animals)

Pitch Car (mini) - taking turn/finger dexerity

Water Lily - decision making/planning

rat-a-tat-cat (adding)

As they get older I added in...

Camel Up

Spot It!

Sushi Go

Hey thats My Fish

Coloretto

HeroClix (simplified version)

After that we leveled into...

Love Letter (many variation LotR and Batman)

Galaxy Trucker

King of Tokyo

Steam Park

Medieval Academy

Costa Rica

Alhambra

Century Golems

Splendor

Karuba

Flash Point Fire Rescue

By 10 my son was playing Russian Railroads competitively

A lot of it depends, I play this with my son who is 7, but I have simplified it down and I basically made an aggression deck where all the cards were damage cards so there are not many mechanics to work with. That being said I think 7 or 8 is a good time to try the full version, but as others have said the sooner you get them interested in any game the better. I also play x-wing with my son, just the ships no upgrades, and he has picked up on that as well. I would say just try it out and see what happens you might be surprised.