10 Lessons Marvel Ultimate Alliance Can Teach Other Superhero Media
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a box office juggernaut. (No, not Professor X’s step brother. His movie rights are still owned by Fox.) Occasionally, Disney’s emphasis on creating storylines that weave throughout all of the films has hampered the ability of individual films to create a coherent story (cough Age of Ultron cough), but it’s also helped to craft a vibrant universe of worthy heroes that we love as characters as much as paragons of superpowered justice. At least on the Marvel side, we have a renaissance of cinematic superhero storytelling, but the market for solid licensed superhero games remains an almost barren wasteland.
Ten years ago, Raven Software and Activision released Marvel Ultimate Alliance. A Beat ‘Em Up/RPG hybrid, Ultimate Alliance let players loose with over twenty playable members of the Marvel universe to stop a plan by Doctor Doom to usurp the powers of Odin and conquer the world. It’s a fairly basic superhero crossover tale, but it was deeply rooted in decades of comic book lore and made by a team who clearly understood what folks loved about Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s vision of cape storytelling.
Last month, both Marvel Ultimate Alliance and its… less than satisfactory sequel were re-released for modern consoles. Although the re-releases suffer from a host of technical issues, they reminded us why those games have become standard bearers for licensed hero games, and here are ten lessons that they can still teach games and films today… for better and for worse.
1. Embrace the Fantastic
In part because of the success of Christopher Nolan’s “realistic” reboots of Batman, superhero films and games have moved away from the fantasy and science fiction at the heart of much of the Marvel and DC Universe. The mysticism that underlined Jack Kirby’s most fertile years or the space opera leanings of Chris Claremont’s tenure with X-Men are nearly non-existent in the stories we see on film and in games. It’s little surprise that one of the freshest of the recent crop of superhero films is the gonzo Guardians of the Galaxy.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance starts on a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier but takes players to Mephisto’s realm (aka Hell), to Asgard and all the way across the universe to the Shi’ar Empire. By the time the game is over, you remember that you are playing characters with nearly godlike powers (and some, like Thor, are actual gods), and the only thing limiting their adventures is the writer’s imagination.
2. Diversity Matters
Here’s a game that should make you sad. Name a solo licensed superhero game with a female lead. I can name one, and it was the abysmal Catwoman game based off the Halle Berry film. Here’s another challenge. Name a solo licensed superhero game with a lead that’s a person of color. There aren’t any.
Representation matters, and in games and film, it’s not there. Ultimate Alliance offered players the most recognizable members of the Marvel universe like Spider-Man, Iron Man and Thor, but it also gave players the chance to play as less visible members of the universe that weren’t just white dudes: Luke Cage, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, Black Panther, Storm, and the Invisible Woman, to name a few. With a Luke Cage show coming to Netflix and Brie Larson cast as the MCU’s Captain Marvel (the former Ms. Marvel), it’s time we get games where the spotlight is officially shone on them.
3. Choose Your Source Material Wisely
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 was a disappointment for a lot of reasons. It dumbed down the combat of the first game significantly while also replacing careful combat design with endless waves of enemies. But it’s biggest miscue was primarily basing itself off of Mark Millar’s Civil War storyline. Having to listen to characters complain about violations of their constitutional rights when they’re literal vigilantes enforcing the law outside of any judicial authority or public accountability is a stretch.
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