The Early Phases (1982-2012)
Borrowing terminology from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), there are currently four distinct “Phases” when examining the history and development of Marvel licensed video games. Unlike the coordinated movies of the MCU, the Phase changes seen in the history of Marvel video game releases have not come from a consistent corporate mandate, as they are spread over a wider period of time and across multiple corporate shifts. The cultural variances that can be seen within the history of Marvel games are also implicitly tied to a history of the emergent video game industry. Rather than attempting to innovate from the front or dominate this sector, Marvel always prioritizes a leveraging of cross-cultural moments in reactionary bursts across established multi-media formats. This is partially because outside of Marvel’s control, one consumer trend or technical discovery can alter the entire ludic and narrative direction of the medium within a short span of time.
The cultural and industrial underpinnings of Phases One through to Three have been outlined in a prior study on Marvel licensed video games (see: Wilson 2024, 105-122). In brief, Phase One: Origins (1982-1983), is defined by the release of Spider-Man (1982). Here, with cross-promotional Marvel published magazine articles, adverts, and tie-in comics, Marvel expresses an early interest in directly offering the digital Spider-Man as one of many possible authentic Spider-Man narratives across a range of intertexts. These all then benefited from the coherence of being tethered to a familiar “Spider-Man” commodified form. Phase Two: Competition (1984-2006), “demonstrates a growing global awareness of the value of a comic book licenced game, with a greater competition shown by video game producers for licenses and subsequent market space” (Wilson 2024, 110). During this period, Marvel rescinds close control in favor of outsourcing their licenses to third party game publishers, and by extension, developers from around the world. As the video game industry of the 1990s shifted towards the commercial imperatives of promoting recognizable IP and selling branded tie-in products within a crowded market-place, so too did the number of video games with Marvel characters increase. With the emergence, then cultural dominance of the MCU, starting with Iron Man (2008), Phase Three: Franchise Tenants (2007-2012) maps over the first Phase of their Cinematic Universe counterparts. However, while spin-off games continue to be the focus of their release slate in this Phase, these titles are now positioned, both through their development and promotion, as a “sub brand” extension of the cinematic “range brand” (Taylor 2017, 268). This reflects Marvel’s greater control over their licenses, but also shows their initial disinterest in the formation of a separate Marvel Video Game Universe (MVU).
The purpose of this chapter, therefore, will be to move beyond 2012, where Phase Three ends, and to consider the parameters of Phase Four: Divided. I propose that it is called ‘Divided’ precisely because there are two distinct strategies at play during this decade of game development, where Marvel licenses have been leveraged from two distinctly different points of intersection with the medium and audience, which also each differ from the prior Phases. There are the prestigiously produced, single-purchase, single-player, single-branded experiences as seen with Marvel’s Spider-Man and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy (which I have labelled ‘Phase Four S’ for ‘Single’). There are also the easily adaptable/updatable, multi-player, multi-purchase, multi-branded, live service titles such as Fortnite and Marvel Strike Force (labelled ‘Phase Four M’ for ‘Multi’). Where significant overlap can be found in Phase Four, namely with Marvel’s Avengers (2020), there is a suggestion of the type of games that may follow when the two strands converge, but crucially, due to the commercial and cultural failure of Marvel’s Avengers, there is no certainty on what the late Phase Four games, or Phase Five itself, will exactly look like. This essay will provide a framework for understanding the context of their emergence once they do arrive.
Phase Four S
It is only with the acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, LLC by The Walt Disney Company in 2009 that Marvel Games, a dedicated video game subsidiary, was created to handle third party license agreements. Jay Ong was hired as Marvel’s Vice President of Games in 2014, and immediately noted that ‘The [Phase Three] games we did with Activision were trending poorly’ (Kent 2021, 501). For Marvel, working with a company that generated dozens of tie-in titles in quick succession was no longer enough….
The full 6,500 word version of this chapter is published The Routledge Companion to Superhero Studies, co-edited with Lorna Piatti-Farnell, published by Routledge, 2025.
Carl Wilson 