Today, we want to share with you some ideas from fans on what Marvel properties could be given the Batman Arkham video game treatment.
It’s worth noting that these fans have no illusions about the possibilities of such a game being commissioned. Many of them are aware Marvel’s current owner Disney has ramped down its videogame efforts to mobile and Disney Infinity. Many of them also believe it’s unlikely that Marvel would find a developer as talented as Rocksteady to build such a game, nor that they would be willing to pay a developer that’s famous enough.
Still, some of these ideas are great, so let’s go through them:
The lion’s share of requests, perhaps obviously, are for Spider-Man, who has had a much more illustrious career in video games (and his share of stinkers as well). We’ll outline three separate ideas for you here:
Pitch one: just reuse the open world format Spider-Man has already been using, and then layer on it improved narrative, missions, and combat system. Arguably, the more recent Spider-Man games have a workable template, and the next developer just needs to step up to Arkham.
Copy Dishonored, which already had something like a spider-sense, retool blink to quick-web, and bring in actual webslinging. Combat would also deviate from Arkham, focusing more on crowd control than being a powerhouse.
Other Spider-Man pitches point to Dan Slott’s run as a good basis for an Arkham like game, and incorporating photography as a mechanic.
Next up, surprisingly, is Daredevil, although I’m sure some would argue it shouldn’t be a surprise. Daredevil actually has a lot more in common with Batman than Spider-Man does, and failed Ben Affleck starrer aside, a successful game could bring the character to the forefront better than the movies could.
The pitch for Daredevil, aside from his likeness to Batman, and extensive rogues gallery, is the combination of his blindness and enhanced senses to make a more interesting brawling mechanic. Another fan points out, on the Wii U, such a Daredevil game could make use of the GamePad as the radar sense.
Other interesting pitches are for Iron Man, Iron Fist, and the X-Men. The pitch for Iron Man would be to retain the Vanquish mechanic from the movie game, retool combat into a combination of speed and strength and develop a good repulsor mechanic. With Iron Fist, you essentially have a Batman sans gadgets. With X-Men, the idea would be to switch around characters a la GTA V.
One idea that came out of left field but I thought was worth considering was Murderworld as a shoe in for Arkham, and of course Arcade filling in for Joker. Arcade and Murderworld are obscure even in recent Marvel lore (unless you read Avengers Arena), but the idea of a deranged hitman setting up elaborate little amusement park-themed deathtraps Jigsaw style is perfect for an Arkham style game. It may also be interesting to explore multiverse versions of Murderworld, as in Earth 11052, Arcade managed to turn the Danger Room into one, and in Earth 11326, Alcatraz Island itself is Murderworld.
Of course, the Marvel Universe having spanned decades, and with characters collecting years upon years of storylines, there’s no end to the possibilities of Arkham style games. I would personally like such a game to explore Black Panther’s fight to stem civil war in Wakanda, or maybe Planet Hulk. What ideas do you have for an Arkham game in the Marvel Universe? Feel free to share them in the comments below.
