DC and Marvel are the owners of some of the most lucrative intellectual properties on the planet. Their characters have become household names. IPs from Marvel and DC hold a strong presence across all multimedia. But for a long time, the video games that came out of both camps suffered mediocre quality due to their being forced tie-ins to live-action movies. Most Hollywood action blockbusters were supposed to be accompanied by a video game of the same name, especially if they were superhero movies. This practice stifled creativity and the games were rushed to be launched around the movie's release, with most such titles being received poorly.

There were a few exceptions like Spider-Man 2 (2004) and X-Men Origins: Wolverine which have become cult classics. By 2015, these video game adaptations were mostly reduced to mobile games, and even those have been very few and far between. But even while this trend was going strong, Spider-Man did see some decent games like Web of Shadows and Shattered Dimensions that were not connected to any films. Marvel and DC have diversified their game portfolios a lot since then, and while some future titles show promise and new ideas, not every recent release has left fans satisfied.

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DC's Initiation and Its Future Games

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Rocksteady’s take on the Batman universe took the world by storm in 2009. The game Batman: Arkham Asylum revealed the untapped potential of video games based on comic books. The game received multiple sequels and a prequel and the franchise garnered massive success overall, as did NetherRealm's Injustice titles. For a long time, there was no major DC game after Batman: Arkham Knight and Injustice 2. In this regard, the most recent release was Gotham Knights, which didn't quite manage to uphold the spiritual legacy of the masterful Batman Arkham games.

Interestingly, Gotham Knights developer WB Games Montreal was working on a Damian Wayne Batman game dubbed Project Sabbath, for which some enticing artworks had surfaced online. Sadly, the team doubted the financial viability of the project and shelved it. Exploring near future Batman mythos from Damian’s perspective would have made for an enticing premise, with Bruce serving as a mentor figure. The artworks suggested that the game could have been set outside of the Arkham games canon.

Looking ahead, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a 4-player co-op game is under development by Rocksteady, which is set in the Arkhamverse. It’s unclear how much time has passed since the events in Batman: Arkham Knight, but a lot seems to have transpired. Justice League has already formed, and the world is under invasion by a super-intelligent alien called Brainiac, who is mind-controlling some of the Justice League members. Amanda Waller has assembled a rag-tag group of villains to put an end to the Justice League threat. This unusual scenario will have the squad fighting off certain JL members while receiving support from others, which can set up intriguing dynamics between the characters.

The game will take place in open-world Metropolis and will offer the players bombastic means to cause destruction and death with high-mobility traversal options. The tone and setting has undergone a drastic change from the Arkham series. Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and King Shark form the playable team. The game will also support single player option with bot-controlled teammates.

Another incoming DC game is Wonder Woman from Monolith Productions of Middle Earth fame. The game has only received a teaser trailer, and there’s a high chance that it does not relate to the other DC games. It will adopt the patented Nemesis system from the Middle Earth games, a complex set of AI behavioral patterns for enemies which are procedurally generated. Previously encountered enemies would retain memories from their interactions with the player character and factor them into their subsequent encounters. This system would direct their personalities and actions to make for bespoke enemy encounters. It will be interesting to see how Wonder Woman utilizes this system.

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Marvel's Present and Future Games

Marvel only came into its own with its games with the release of PS4 exclusive Spider-Man in 2018. Marvel's Spider-Man, developed by Insomniac studios witnessed stratospheric levels of success and became the highest-selling PlayStation 4 exclusive to date. The spin-off Spider-Man: Miles Morales followed about 2 years later. The live-service Avengers game released to lukewarm reception despite featuring an all-star team-up -- not unlike the troubled Gotham Knights -- followed by Guardians of the Galaxy game which fared much better.

Currently, Insomniac is leading the charge on the Marvel side of things. The team is not only working on Spider-Man 2 which is up for release next year, but also expanding the universe with a Wolverine game. Both Peter Parker and Miles Morales look to be playable in Spider-Man 2. Kraven and Venom are confirmed for the game as of now. The Wolverine game is in a similar state to Wonder Woman right now, as its only trailer is extremely vague and doesn’t offer many details beyond some Easter eggs.

Notably, Neil Druckmann, co-president at Naughty Dog had expressed interest in directing a Punisher game. This could amount to nothing but seeing how Sony is pushing for more Marvel games, a future Punisher game from Naughty Dog is not too much of a stretch.

Midnight Suns is an X-COM style tactical RPG featuring a huge roster of Marvel characters from superhero teams like Avengers, X-Men, etc., set to release on December 2. A single player third person action adventure Iron Man game is being worked on by EA’s internal studio, Motive. EA has also confirmed that it will be releasing at least three Marvel related single player action games.

Newly formed Skydance New Media is making a narrative driven, ensemble adventure set during WWII. The game does not have a title yet but will feature 4 playable characters: Captain America (Steve Rogers), Black Panther (WWII- era Black Panther), Gabriel Jones of the Howling Commandos and Nanali of the Wakandan Spy Network. Amy Hennig, the President of Skydance stated in an interview that the studio is attempting to revolutionize the gameplay systems and cinematography techniques with this upcoming project

Marvel games are firing on all cylinders, and they are not going to lose momentum anytime soon. Relatively, DC’s advances in the video games space are a bit underwhelming. This could be attributed to the fact that Warner Bros. own the DC related IPs and DC games are currently only developed by studios under the WB wing. Thus, WB properties are not outsourced to external studios, which means new ideas are a little harder to come by. Regardless, the next few years still offer plenty of Marvel and DC content for fans of gaming.

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