Summary
While it’s taken them up until about now to really make an impact on the wider gaming world,Marvelvideo games have been around since the early 1980s, withSpider-Manfor the Atari 2600 being the first credited Marvel appearance in the video game landscape. Since then, Marvel has continued to release video games fairly consistently, with at least one Marvel game dropping every year since 1984. In that time, just about every corner of the Marvel universe has been represented in some form in the video game landscape, from the Avengers andthe Fantastic Fourto the X-Men and even the Midnight Suns.
But while countlessMarvelheroes and villains have cropped up over the years in video game form, it’s often the case that they’re merely a shadow of their comic book selves. In many cases, if a Marvel hero is going to be playable, then their abilities end up getting nerfed. Whether it’s an immortal god becoming susceptible to bullet wounds, or an ancient sorcerer only being able to wield a magical sword, Marvel games have nerfed plenty of heroes over the years, and there are a handful where this is most egregious.
RELATED:What to Expect From Marvel Snap’s December Season
Marvel’s Avengers
An odd and divisive game from start to finish,Marvel’s Avengersattempted to ride on the coattails of Insomniac’s superbSpider-Manseries, but it failed to deliver an experience that was at all similar in terms of quality. A co-op, multiplayer, live-service beat-em-up,Marvel’s Avengershad a litany of issues, but one of its overarching complaints was just how much it nerfed its titular heroes. In an attempt to make Black Widow just as enjoyable to play as Hulk and Thor, every hero inMarvel’s Avengerswas nerfed pretty significantly from their comic counterparts, and that’s a theme that shows up across this list. When a Marvel game puts an entire team of heroes at the forefront, it’s almost guaranteed that some major characters are going to get nerfed.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns
Not nearly the worst offender on this list,Marvel’s Midnight Sunsdoes its very best to make its stronger heroes feel suitably powerful, but it still ends up nerfing some in the process. While characters like Spider-Man, Blade, and Iron Man feel pretty spot on,Midnight Sunsis also home to characters like Doctor Stange and Captain Marvel, and they don’t really get to flex their muscles all that much. Captain Marvel, for instance, admits in-game that she can take down a whole fleet of starships single-handedly, but thanks toMidnight Suns' card combat system, she’s usually relegated to just a handful of punches and kicks, with her more powerful attacks being rare to find in a deck.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Another team-based Marvel game,theMarvel Ultimate Allianceseriescontains well over 30 characters in each of its entries, bringing the series' total playable character count to around 100. With all of these playable characters to choose from, it’s only natural thatMarvel Ultimate Alliancehad to nerf a good deal of its roster to ensure that the game maintains a level playing field. While this is fine for lower-tier heroes like Colossus and Moon Knight, it does make characters like Silver Surfer and Dr. Doom seem incredibly weak by comparison.
Marvel LEGO Games
A different yet familiar sort of Marvel hero nerf,the LEGO Marvel gamesaim to maintain a fun playable roster by keeping everyone’s abilities level just likeAvengersandUltimate Alliance, but they mainly do so because it’s a series aimed at younger audiences. to keep every character accessible and fun to play as for younger players, the LEGO Marvel games end up only giving each character a very basic moveset, which often reduces extremely powerful heroes and villains down to just one simple ability, such as shooting a unique projectile or solving a specific type of puzzle.
Marvel Vs. Capcom
When it comes to fighting games, it’s expected that every character on the roster maintains a similar level of power, thus making each match a fair fight. So, naturally, this leads to a number of nerfs intheMarvel Vs. Capcomseries. Rather than really utilize any of their devastating in-universe powers, characters like Doctor Strange, Thanos, and Ultron are all given basic attacks that can often feel a tad weak, all just so that they can go toe-to-toe with fighters like Ryu and Chun-Li.
Marvel
Marvel is a brand associated with a wide array of popular superhero comics, movies, television shows, and merchandise. The company owns the rights to popular characters like The Avengers, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Deadpool, and many more.
