Five Marvel characters who deserve their own video game on current-gen platforms

Traditionally, superhero games are often hit or miss. For every Spider-Man 2, you get a Superman 64. However, 2009’s Batman: Arkham Asylum and the sequels that followed proved just how awesome it can feel to play as your favorite comic book characters. Marvel stepped into the ring with 2018’s PlayStation 4 exclusive Spider-Man. Developer Insomniac took inspiration from both classic Spidey games and the Arkham series to create the ultimate web-slinging experience.

Although the highly anticipated Avengers game by Square Enix disappointed fans with bad character designs, repetitive gameplay and microtransactions, excitement for future Marvel games remains strong. Fans hope that Square Enix can right some wrongs in their upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy game. Additionally, Insomniac announced both Spider-Man 2 and a Wolverine game during last week’s PlayStation Showcase.

With all the excitement surrounding these new Marvel games, we thought it’d be fun to discuss five other characters who deserve their own games on current-generation platforms.

The Hulk

I know, I know. The Hulk is already playable on current-gen platforms in Marvel’s Avengers. But let’s be fair. Does that game really do him justice?

Personally, I believe Marvel’s green giant deserves his own current gen title to truly shine. It’s been 16 years since the last time gamers truly got to feel like the Green Goliath, and that in itself is an abomination.

A new Hulk game could build and improve on what I feel is one of the most underrated superhero games of all time, Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. That game released in 2005 for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube. Ultimate Destruction allowed players to unleash their rage as the titular character in an open world with interactive environmental combat and a traversal system dubbed “Unstoppable Movement.”

In addition, the game features a diverse move-set with special attacks and a variety of memorable boss fights. Much of the environment, including cars and street poles, are destructible, and Hulk can equip these items as weapons.

With the power of current gen consoles, the destructive elements can be expanded even further. Games such as Battlefield allow for the complete destruction of nearly every building on the map. Bringing these physics into a Hulk title would provide the most authentic experience for players yet.

The Punisher

Like The Hulk, Frank Castle also received a criminally underrated game during the PlayStation 2 era. Other than a mediocre PS3 arena shooter, however, The Punisher hasn’t seen any newer releases. That’s a shame due to the serious innovation made in the video game industry since.

Ironically, The Punisher may very well be one of the most translatable Marvel characters for video games. Unlike other comic book characters whose powers would need to be adapted to fit the medium, The Punisher would work beautifully as a standard third-person shooter. Taking elements from such games as Gears of War and Max Payne 3 would help create fluid gameplay to truly feel like the violent anti-hero.

Developers could even pull stealth elements from games like Metal Gear Solid and a hand-to-hand combat system similar to the Arkham games to add further variety. In addition, centering the story around Castle’s human-side akin to the Netflix series would help make the definitive Punisher experience.

Dr. Strange

Unlike the last two entries, Dr. Strange doesn’t already have a previously successful standalone game. The Sorcerer Supreme’s unique magical abilities, however, creates a great opportunity. While I will admit that truly replicating Strange’s move-set in a video game would be challenging, I don’t think it would be impossible. In fact, utilizing an RPG-style skill tree to unlock new spells could be one of the game’s core features.

In addition, a Dr. Strange game could break up the action with puzzle-based sections. To get an idea of what I’m picturing, look no further than the Portal games. In addition to creating portals for navigation, these could be strategically used in combat to send enemies elsewhere on the map.

Strange’s time manipulation would also make for some unique gameplay mechanics. Respawning in the game could even canonically be explained as travelling back in time, similar to what happened in the movie against Dormammu.

With a diverse move-set, centered around learning new spells, a Dr. Strange game could suit a wide-range of playstyles. Focusing on unlocking different spell-types within the skill tree would create replay value, as gameplay shifts depending on the character build for Dr. Strange.

Daredevil

Due to The Man Without Fear’s inability to see, creating a Daredevil game would certainly pose a challenge. Because Matt Murdock is one of my favorite characters, however, I spent a lot of time thinking of how to make a game and stay true to the character.

First of all, a Daredevil game should be an open world action-adventure set in Hell’s Kitchen. The core gameplay would center around Arkham-inspired combat mechanics to take down enemies. For traversal, I think the Daredevil game should take inspiration from the parkour mechanics associated with Assassin’s Creed.

Daredevil’s sensory abilities would become the focus for stealth sections of the game. In stealth sections, players will need to switch perspective to first-person. While in this perspective, players will gain a sonar ability. The sonar ability limits visibility to black-and-white outlines. The location of enemies, and what direction they’re facing will become visible to the player any time they make noise.

Sections of the game could also shift gears by putting a focus of Matt Murdock as a lawyer. While in the courtroom, players would need to choose the correct prompts given from a list of questions and answers to win the case for the client. In addition, Murdock’s intense hearing could be used to detect lies by listening to the heartbeat of whoever is being questioned.

Blade

Does anybody even remember the Blade video games from the early 2000s? Let’s be honest, there has never been a good video game based on the Daywalker. Besides the Wesley Snipes movies, the character has gotten little mainstream attention period. In fact, I’d argue that Blade is one of the most underrated characters in all of Marvel’s library.

The lack of attention is definitely a shame as Blade would translate incredibly well in the medium of video games. In terms of appearance, this game would feel like Castlevania on the streets of New York. In terms of combat, the game could combine the genres of third-person shooters and hack and slashers to take down hordes of vampires in bloody glory.

Hopefully, with the upcoming Marvel Studios Blade movie and the inclusion of the character in the Midnight Suns game, Marvel’s vampire hunter will finally get the attention he deserves.

What Marvel characters would you like to see get a standalone game on current gen? Let us know down below!