Marvel has always been a household name all across the world, and the last decade or so has seen its stock rising meteorically, thanks largely to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s no surprise that the company has set its sights on other areas of potential growth as a result, and to that end, since 2018, Marvel has been making big waves with video games as well. Naturally, it seems like those plans are going to accelerate significantly in the next few years, with a bunch of major games based on Marvel properties confirmed to be in development- while rumours claim that there are still other projects in the pipeline that haven’t yet been formally unveiled. Here, we’re going to talk about Marvel’s future in games, and everything that we know about its upcoming releases.
Before we kick off- it’s worth mentioning that Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is headed to PC later this year, while Marvel’s Avengers, for all of its many troubles, continues to get updated, with more content apparently being in the works at Crystal Dynamics. From this point forward, however, we’re only talking about full new upcoming releases.
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2
Let’s start off with the one that’s probably the biggest of all the games Marvel currently has in the pipeline. Insomniac’s open world Spider-Man title in 2018 was a massive critical and commercial success, so obviously, there’s no shortage of people who’re keenly anticipating the launch of its sequel. Starring Venom as one of the central antagonists (and possibly Carnage, based on hints in its reveal trailer), Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 will bring back both Peter Parker and Miles Morales as playable characters in what will hopefully be yet another spectacular single player adventure. Up until this point, details on the game have been scant, but with Sony currently planning a 2023 launch for the superhero title, the hope is that we’ll be learning more very, very soon.
MARVEL’S WOLVERINE
Of course, Spider-Man 2 isn’t the only Marvel title that Insomniac currently has in development. Within seconds of unveiling it, Insomniac and Sony also announced Marvel’s Wolverine last year, and even though all we’ve seen of the game so far is a very brief cinematic trailer, the excitement surrounding it is already palpable. Insomniac is promising an original story with a mature tone (which makes sense, given that this is a Wolverine game), and if the developer can adapt the iconic property as well as it adapted Spider-Man, we’re going to be in for an absolute treat. Here’s hoping we get to learn more about the game in the not-too-distant future.
EA’S IRON MAN GAME
Given how massively popular Iron Man has been in all media over the last decade and a half, it’s honestly a little surprising that we’ve yet to see a major AAA video game adaptation of the property- but hey, better late than never, right? Of all the games in this feature, this is the most freshly announced title, with EA and Marvel Games recently having confirmed that Motive Studio – the developer behind Star Wars: Squadrons and the upcoming Dead Space remake – is working on a single player AAA Iron Man action-adventure game that will tell a new and original story. Details on the game are very scant right now, what with it only recently having entered pre-production, but the prospect of a AAA story-driven single player Iron Man game developed by a competent studio is an exciting one, to say the very least.
SKYDANCE NEW MEDIA’S CAPTAIN AMERICA AND BLACK PANTHER GAME
Now this is an interesting one. Last year, Skydance New Media confirmed that it was working on a new story-driven single player action-adventure Marvel game, with its development team being led by the legendary Amy Hennig, creator of the Uncharted franchise. And while concrete details on the game are still largely missing, more recently, it was confirmed that the game will be set in the Second World War and star Captain America and the Black Panther of that era. With two beloved Marvel superheroes sharing the spotlight with two other regular characters with no superpowers – all four of them being playable – the potential for the game to deliver a very unique story and gameplay experience is immense. Again, details are scant here- we don’t know the game’s name, we don’t know when it will be out, and we haven’t seen any gameplay at all yet. But the developers have confirmed that it’s going to be a very cinematic experience with high production values – which, of course, is very much in Amy Hennig’s wheelhouse – and that it will be a purely single player experience, which should probably spell good things for the game’s storytelling (on paper, at least).
MARVEL’S MIDNIGHT SUNS
Marvel clearly loves action-adventure titles, seeing as every game we’ve spoken about up until this point falls in that category, but another major Marvel game – the one that’s closest to launch, in fact – is going to be a rather different experience. Firaxis is taking its turn-based tactics expertise and applying it to the upcoming Marvel’s Midnight Suns, a game that will star an ensemble cast featuring beloved names like Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, Captain Marvel, and many more.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is, of course, going to be an RPG, which means players are going to get a much greater degree of control over how they want these iconic heroes to progress- while building relationships and friendships with them and getting to know them better on a much more personal level is also going to be a crucial component of the experience. Meanwhile, we’ll also get to create our very own original Marvel superhero dubbed The Hunter- which is a massively exciting prospect in and of itself. There’s a ton of potential here for this game to turn out to be something truly special, and developer Firaxis’ excellent track record over the years certainly inspires plenty of confidence about the same.
MARVEL SNAP
Sure, there’s a bevy of major console games coming out based on Marvel properties in the coming couple of years, but a game in the mobile space (and PC) that’s also worth keeping an eye on is Marvel Snap. A collectible card game developed by former Hearthstone devs, Marvel Snap is being billed as the fastest CCG on the market, and given the talent behind it, there’s every reason to be optimistic. As is the case with pretty much every free-to-play game, the monetization factor is a bit of a worry – and sure enough, Marvel Snap has already come under fire for that very reason – but if developer Second Dinner Studios can get the balance right on that front, we’re likely looking at a game that one could easily sink dozens (if not hundreds) of hours into.
RUMOURED: EA’S BLACK PANTHER GAME
EA’s Iron Man game isn’t the only Marvel game the company has in the works. The publisher has confirmed that it is working on several projects based on Marvel properties, and if leaks are to be believed, one of those games is a single player open world Black Panther game. You don’t need us to tell you why that’s an incredibly exciting prospect. Black Panther is, of course, a fascinating character, while you can’t help but salivate at the idea of a AAA open world game set in Wakanda, where you’re free to move about and act as the nation’s king. Given the fact that rumours of EA’s Iron Man and Black Panther projects emerged around the same time, we’d say there’s plenty of merit to these claims. But of course, until such time the game gets officially confirmed to be in development, we can’t be too sure. Here’s hoping, then, that we do hear more about it in an official capacity sometime relatively soon.