5 More Marvel Console Video Games We Want

In May, Marvel fans got the disappointing news that Disney Interactive had canceled Disney Infinity. That meant no new additions to the toys-to-life video game would be released, not even the upcoming Doctor Strange or Spider-Gwen toys.

The good news came in June. At E3, Marvel Games announced that they would no long keep major game development in house. The company was now looking to outsource the creation of games based on Marvel characters. They then revealed the first game of this new development era, a new Spider-Man game being developed by Insomniac for the PlayStation 4.

While Spider-Man was the only game revealed, Marvel Games’ Vice President promised that several more “epic” console game projects were already in the works. Of course, we immediately started thinking about what games we most want to see from Marvel, which has focused mostly on mobile games in recent years. The list was long, but what follows are the five games we most want to see Marvel make.

Deadpool & the Defenders Beat ‘Em Up

This pick is entirely inspired by the recent Deadpool #13, which was an 80-page, four-issues-in-one crossover between Deadpool, Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist. Seeing so many of Marvel’s best hand-to-hand fighters teaming up made me nostalgic for the old beat’em up arcade games like Konami’s X-Men or Capcom’s The Punisher. We’d love to see that spirit brought to life on modern consoles. Online and couch co-op would be a must, along with a decent sized roster that should at least include Deadpool, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and the Punisher.

On the other hand, we’d settle for a sequel to Deadpool‘s solo game too.

Avengers vs. X-Men Fighting Game

While Marvel Games hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a new Marvel vs. Capcom game, we think the success of DC Comics’ Injustice: Gods Among Us and the excitement around Injustice 2 proves that you don’t need an out of universe crossover for a great superhero fighting game.

Avengers vs. X-Men was arguably Marvel’s biggest event since Civil War, at least until Secret Wars happened. It features a practically all of Marvel’s biggest character and a storyline that both justifies why everyone is punching each other and lends itself well to the kind of cinematic story mode that has become a staple of console fighting game. Dark Phoenix Cyclops would even make a perfect final boss battle, especially if you have to work your way through the rest of the Phoenix Five first.

Guardians of the Galaxy Action-Adventure Game

The cosmic side of the Marvel Universe has remained criminally underexposed compared to all of the love that the Avengers and the street level heroes get. That’s begun to change with the popularity of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and we’d love to see Marvel Games capitalize one that by bringing the space scoundrels to consoles.

It’s difficult to pin down exactly what the gameplay here would be like. The squad-based combat of Mass Effect has proven to work well with characters who have different ranged power sets, but no so well it comes to hand-to-hand combat. The Uncharted series shares the same swashbuckling DNA as the Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and that spirit should definitely infuse the game. Borderlands did a great job of mixing ragtag underdogs into a sci-fi universe. Mixing together elements of any or all of these game could be the recipe for a great Guardians of the Galaxy video game.

Daredevil Open-World Game

We recently got a peek at Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, a PlayStation 2 video game that would have let players take control of Marvel’s “Scarlet Swashbuckler” to swing about Hell’s Kitchen and use Daredevil’s radar sense to fight crime. The game was never released for a variety of reasons, but things have changed. A lot of the concepts touched upon in the development of Daredevil: The Man Without Fear have been proven and polished by Rocksteady in their Batman Arkham trilogy. Obviously, a Daredevil game should be a complete clone of Arkham, but the combat and exploration that was so much fun in Batman’s Gotham City would be just as much fun in Daredevil’s Hell’s Kitchen.

Secret Wars RPG

Marvel’s Secret Wars event would lend itself just as well to a fighting game setup as Avengers vs. X-Men would, but we think it lends itself even better to an RPG. The entire story taking place on Battleworld opens up a whole realm of possibilities in terms of what you can do. Imagine starting off in Marvel’s New York City only to see it destroyed around you. Whatever characters you’ve chosen survive on Reed Richards ship, but now your group must travel through the various domains of Battleworld, recruit allies, defeat each region’s overlords, and gain the strength necessary to topple the godlike Doctor Doom in a final boss battle that would reach Final Fantasy levels of epic. That’s a game we could sink 40-80 hours into.