The days of superheroes being banished from gaming are in the past. Though there are still some bad video games like Marvel’s Avengers, there are also some incredible critical successes like Marvel’s Spider-Man. But what’s the best way to get a hit? Mining ideas people already love, like Marvel’s well-known crossover events.
Marvel’s already gained a sizable fanbase off their crossover events, not just in the comics but in the MCU, too. It’s easy to see why. These comics offer the epic scale needed to wow fans in theaters. With video games, that same massive scale is needed, and Marvel still has tons of events that are begging for video games.
10/10 Secret Wars 1984 Could Be An Incredible Fighting Game
In 1984, Marvel created a major comic book crossover in the form of the miniseries Secret Wars. Within the storyline, Marvel’s biggest heroes and villains were teleported to another world by an omnipotent being called the Beyonder. The Beyonder demanded a battle to determine whether the heroes or the villains were superior.
Secret Wars would make for a great background setting for a fighting game. A three-on-three fighting game like Marvel vs. Capcom, only focused on the Marvel side of things, could allow players to make their own teams, with the story culminating with a battle against the Beyonder himself.
9/10 Armor Wars Presents A Perfect Storyline For Iron Man
The original Armor Wars miniseries is the most memorable Iron Man storyline for a reason. It revolves around a driven Tony Stark who’s lost control of his technology. Though his allies began to turn against him, Iron Man went after everyone using his stolen technology–evil and good–to make sure no one could ever use his tech to harm people again.
Along the way, Iron Man faced a number of challenging armored opponents and even fought a government-funded villain named Firepower. Stark was forced to publicly fire Iron Man and even upgraded and built a new armor to finish Firepower off at the end. It’s a great narrative-driven storyline that Iron Man fans would love to see turned into a video game.
8/10 The Onslaught Saga Showed The Marvel Heroes Battling An Unstoppable Enemy
The original Onslaught storyline is one of Marvel’s most important events of the ’90s. It featured the main Marvel heroes battling against a fusion of Professor Xavier and Magneto’s darkest aspects. Over the course of multiple comics, Onslaught gets dangerously close to his goal of creating a single consciousness out of humanity utilizing the combined power of Franklin Richards and Nate Grey.
With his incredible powers, it takes not just the X-Men, but The Fantastic Four and the Avengers to bring Onslaught down. It’s the perfect major event, and there’s even potential for a sequel with the Heroes Reborn storyline.
7/10 Annihilation Would Make A Fantastic Musou Game
The original Annihilation is a dark science fiction story where the ruler of the Negative Zone, Annihilus, waged war on the positive universe. Annihilus took his limitless army and laid waste to the home planet of the Nova Corps and countless other worlds as the villain’s swarm tried to assert their dominance.
The only people capable of standing in Annihilus’s path were a select group of super-powered individuals including Nova, Gamora, and Quasar. What better way to display the large number of enemies they had to face than a Musou/Warriors-style game, where hundreds of enemies are attacking at once?
6/10 War of Kings Could Be An Incredible Action Game With Political Drama
War of Kings was another major comic from the Marvel Cosmic era of the late 2000s. The series focused on the galaxy immersed in a war between the power-hungry Shi’ar and the Kree Empire. A subtle wrinkle to the story is that the Kree Empire was recently taken over by the Inhumans, thanks to a political marriage between Crystal of the Inhumans and Ronan the Accuser.
While the story largely focuses on relatively unknown characters, the Guardians of the Galaxy also play a role here, though the Guardians are a bit different from their MCU versions. With that team present, there’s a strong chance it could work as a Guardians-focused game. The team could be working to broker peace before the galaxy crumbles under the stress of war.
5/10 Avengers: Operation Galactic Storm Features The Avengers Fighting Across The Galaxy
In the early 90s, Marvel wrote a major Avengers storyline that took all the heroes out into space and left the team forever changed. Avengers: Operation Galactic Storm saw the Avengers dealing with a war between the Kree and the Shi’ar Empire after the Shi’ar brought their conflict to Earth.
Forming a massive team split into three factions, the Avengers dealt with the war on three fronts: protecting planet Earth and going to both the Kree and Shi’ar, begging for them to negotiate. The story has the massive scale necessary for the Avengers, and the interpersonal drama between Avengers leaders Iron Man and Captain America could keep the game going.
4/10 Age of Ultron Makes The Team Face Impossible Odds
Age of Ultron already made for a solid film with some scary scenes in Avengers 2, but it’s also a strong concept for a video game. In the near future, Avengers villain Ultron discovers a way to defeat the Avengers and nearly wipe out all of humanity. After an initial attack, only a ragtag group of Avengers are still around to fight him and his army.
It’s the perfect basis for a cinematic story that has tons of recognizable Marvel characters and even switches to an entirely different future for another villain fight just before the end. There’s even a bombastic final boss fight where the players get to defeat Ultron once and for all.
3/10 The Kang Dynasty Could Be An Epic RPG
The Kang Dynasty represented the end of an epic run on the Avengers by writer Kurt Busiek. A story that ran roughly a year and over a dozen issues, it featured the Avengers fighting back not only against the threat of Kang the Conqueror, but many of their older enemies as well. With this story, the Avengers are forced to rely on old and new allies to stand a chance to defend the Earth, let alone stop Kang once and for all.
The Kang Dynasty would be perfect for a massive RPG story in the style of Dragon Age, featuring appearances from numerous well-known Marvel enemies. Players could also engage in side quests across the Marvel Universe, protecting the Earth until they were prepared to fight Kang.
2/10 Mutant Massacre Could Be A Cinematic Action Game That Pushes The Mutants To Their Limits
The X-Men’s Mutant Massacre storyline was one of the biggest and darkest Marvel tales in the ’80s. A crossover that included everyone from Thor and Daredevil to the New Mutants and X-Factor, the story had the epic feel that Marvel’s biggest comic needed at the time. The story focused on the sewer-dwelling Morlocks attacked by a group of relentless hunters known as the Marauders.
Though the X-Men tried to defend the Morlocks, the Marauders represented a ruthlessness even the X-Men hadn’t dealt with before. A game like this might focus on the X-Men being on the defensive for most of the game, and narrowly defeating some of their deadliest foes in the end.
1/10 Spider-Verse Is An Improved Version Of A Beloved Spider-Man Title
The Spider-Verse storyline is exactly what fans want from a major Spider-Man adventure. Peter Parker’s adventures as Spider-Man are in danger when the Inheritors appear, a group of immortals who want to feed on the life force of the multiverse’s Spider-Men. Heroes from multiple universes all come together to fight against the Inheritors, risking their lives to win a war for the sake of the entire multiverse.
This is a more coherent version of the already popular Spider-Man game, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. With more Spider-Men and Spider-Women, more universes, and a bigger threat, this would make for a great stage-based action game.
