Marvel has had quite a history in video games. Of course, the comics and cinematic universes are the two areas people jump to first when thinking of their favorite heroes. Still, there’s actually a long string of great games, so many that you’ll definitely be upset some didn’t make this list.
Of course, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man makes quite a few appearances on this list, being the most popular superhero and having some pretty dang good games, but there’s definitely more to Marvel games than that. Here is a list of the ten best Marvel games of all time.
10. Marvel’s Midnight Suns
When you think of a Marvel video game, you likely think of being constantly on the move in action-packed battles. Our first entry here actually subverts those expectations, as Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a tactical RPG, made by Firaxis Games, the XCOM and Sid Meier’s developer.
While the combat may not be for everyone, as it is definitely slowed down and more methodical because it is card-based, players loved the interactions between heroes in between missions, and some were quite surprised to find they enjoyed the fighting sections. On first look, it may not be for everyone, but you might want to consider giving it a try if you haven’t.
9. Ultimate Spider-Man
Ultimate Spider-Man was a new attempt by Treyarch, today best known for the Call of Duty: Black Ops games, to make an open-world Spider-Man game following the massive success of a different game you’ll find later on this list.
Set in the Ultimate comic book line, you play as both Spidey and Venom, who play differently enough to make them stand out from each other. You have the classic acrobatic style of Spider-Man, and then when you switch to Venom, you have a more brutish persona, who has to constantly feed on enemies to maintain your slowly draining health bar. This game often gets overlooked, but it is a real gem that is a ton of fun to explore.
8. Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
The Guardians of the Galaxy really became a household name after the James Gunn movies, so it only made sense that they would eventually get their own game (ignoring the Telltale game, which was fine at best). This time around, the Deus Ex developer, Eidos-Montreal, handled things and made what many consider to be an underrated game. At the very least, it is considered to be much better than Square Enix’s Avengers game.
In this game, you play as Star-Lord, with the other Guardians constantly standing at your side. In combat, you can make commands for them to perform abilities to set your elemental attacks up for big damage. When the time is right, you perform a motivational speech that kicks in the music you would expect to hear and really gets things moving.
The story here is also done very well for Peter, and there are a ton of interesting collectibles and costumes you can pick up, making this a game you should definitely consider giving a try if you are a fan of the MCU, even though it is an original telling of them.
7. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
Raven Software, another development team today that is relegated to only working on Call of Duty, made Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, a game where you select four heroes from a larger roster and go around fighting any enemies that get in your way. It really feels like a beat’em up game, but from a top-down perspective.
The real joy in this game is being able to create such a unique team to get the job done. Sure, you can go around as the classic Fantastic Four or Avengers, but what if you wanted to mix and match your favorite heroes? There have been two sequels to this game since, but they haven’t been able to hit the highs of the original.
6. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Out of all of the Marvel movies to get a good video game adaptation, X-Men Origins: Wolverine would probably not be the one people would point to, but here we are. Raven Software comes back and delivers a brutal game that received a mature rating, which wouldn’t be quite expected for a PG-13 movie.
This game plays similarly to the classic God of War games, where you are just relentlessly attacking enemies, as expected when Wolverine gets set loose. You also get to see his healing factor at play in real-time, which is really something to behold. The story still isn’t really anything to write home about, but the gruesome combat really does a lot of heavy lifting here to turn one of the most underwhelming Marvel movies into a pretty fun game.
5. Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals is a hero shooter that combines dozens of superheroes and puts them against each other in contests that involve moving a payload and capturing points. Spread across three roles, these characters all lend themselves to the team in a variety of ways. Everyone here is unique in their abilities, interactions, and there are tons of fan-service skins available that pay homage to various comics, movies, and some that really “attract” a certain kind of reaction.
Marvel Rivals came in and instantly competed in a space that Overwatch has essentially held unopposed for years. It makes so much sense for a live service game to continually add to the character list, given the massive roster that Marvel has to choose from, so don’t expect this game to go away any time soon.
4. Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man 2 may be one of the best video game adaptations of a movie ever, and it was the first time that a game truly nailed down how to make web-swinging feel great. To this point, Spider-Man games felt slow, and your webs would just shoot into the sky and not attach to anything. Here, everything was fluid, and the webs actually attached to the environment around you, making it actually feel like you were playing as Spider-Man.
While focused on the second Sam Raimi film, this game also adds to it with quite a few characters that don’t appear in that movie. While Spider-Man 3 failed at bringing in more characters, the Spider-Man 2 game manages them well enough to feel natural in a Spider-Man world, while still leaving room for the movie’s story.
3. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
And now, for the Insomniac portion of the list. Spider-Man and Insomniac were seen as a perfect pairing by many for years, and when it finally happened, we knew they would deliver some truly great games.
The second attempt at playing Spider-Man saw you taking on the role of Miles Morales, who recently received his spider powers, and shows the trials and tribulations he faces as he protects New York on his own for the first time, while also trying to maintain his personal life, which includes a close friend re-entering the picture.
The Miles Morales game does a lot of what made the first game so great, while making room for Miles to come out of Peter’s shadow a bit. It really is a great set-up for what came next, while still being its own thing.
2. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
Speaking of what came next, Insomniac’s third Spider-Man game was Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and saw you protecting New York as both Peter and Miles interchangeably, while bringing in Venom and having Peter deal with the symbiote.
This game very easily could have ended up with both Spider-Men playing almost exactly alike, but Peter’s focus on gadgets, while Miles’s use of his venom powers, which is still a confusing choice of words, differentiates them enough to make them feel like their own characters.
As of this writing, this is the most recent Insomniac Marvel game with Wolverine on the way, and while we don’t exactly know what to expect from Spidey in the future, Insomniac has more than earned the appreciation and excitement for future games.
1. Marvel’s Spider-Man
Yeah, Insomniac has unquestionably made not just the best Spider-Man games, but the best Marvel games of all-time so far. Starting with the first game here, we had a story filled with a ton of surprises, brilliant open-world traversal, and great combat that feels similar to the Batman Arkham games, which is always a plus.
New York is absolutely littered with collectibles, references to the larger Marvel world, and non-stop things for the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to contend with. Really, the top two slots here are completely interchangeable, as they are both masterpieces when it comes to playing as Marvel’s top hero. Really, what nudges the original just slightly ahead of the sequel is a truly heartbreaking ending that shocked players and showed that Insomniac knew what they were doing from beginning to end.