are any of the free starter characters any good and what are their play styles?

Daredevil looks cool but I would rather play someone with range and I doubt he plays like that. Storm maybe?

I can't remember what the free characters are. Scarlet Witch is one of them, for sure, and she's one of the best characters in the game. Storm and Scarlet Witch are both ranged characters but they're both controllers rather than dps. Jean Grey, Cable and Iron Man seem to be the most popular ranged characters at the moment, even after Iron Man's nerfs. Least popular is probably Punisher, both he and Deadpool are apparently pretty weak right now. Hawkeye is another ranged option, not sure if he's free but he seems to have a pretty high chance of dropping from the first boss.

Jean Grey is all about managing the Phoenix gauge and using her transformation to get the big damage and speed buffs, she can be quite high maintenance (and a bit boring at lower levels.) She has a great AoE stun though.

Scarlet Witch is fun to play. You have to quickly level and acquire combusting hex, binding hex and bolstering aura to get the most out of her early on. Good for grouping, combine her with a dps like Thor and you will just tear the game apart. Speaking of, not sure what happened to her chaos gauge - last time I played as her it wasn't working, prior to that it would mess with the screen as it filled up, throwing weird effects and filters on there. Not sure what it was meant to do once it fills up completely.

Storm is another controller, haven't tried her out but it looks like her playstyle is close to Scarlet Witch's.

Both Ms Marvel and Black Widow can be specced for range but it's not really the way to play those characters. They are good all-rounders though, so if you want to get a cross-section of what the game's combat offers they're nice for that.

I haven't put much time into other characters, and I'd imagine that the free characters will be/are some of the less popular guys. I rarely see a Daredevil or a Storm in-game, but you can't travel two screens without seeing a bunch of Hulks.

As this is seven hours after you asked the question, who did you pick and were they any good, OP?

I was in the closed beta. The free heroes are all well rounded but a little generic.

Daredevil: is great at getting in close and dealing damage most of his attacks cause some form of debuff.

Hawkeye: is ranged focused and rather weak at lower levels but at higher levels he's pretty impressive

Storm: is a balance of ranged and aoe, she's pretty fun

Scarlet Witch: is David (Diablo 1 and 2) Brevik's current favorite. she focuses on aoe and makes the early game a breeze.

The Thing: My favorite. one word 'tank'. he's great for going solo but has auras and shouts that make him a great addition to a party as well.

You'll choose one of these when you start the game and receive a random starter hero after the tutorial level.

If you like the free characters you're in luck because they are totally adequate and you can easily get through the game with anyone of them.

They say you don't need to pay money to get every character and costume but in my experience with the current build you'd be lucky to see one hero or costume drop after completing the story missions. They drop randomly from bosses the first time you defeat them in a 24 hour period. My suggestion is to spend twenty dollars on credits get the hero you want to play as and use the rest of your credits to buy some extra storage and just enjoy the game. This game is well worth 20 bucks.

hawkeye is really boring. unless u don't mind spamming single target dps since his AOEs aren't good