Marvel Can't Have an Injustice of Their Own, and It's Their Own Fault

DC's Injustice series is a lot more successful than you would think, and many have wondered if Marvel can do the same thing. And they really can't.

[PhoenixUp]

Does Marvel really need an Injustice of their own when they've been involved with the Marvel vs. Capcom series since its origins in 1994? That iconic crossover franchise's legacy is what inspired Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe which led to Injustice in the first place.

The MvC series has kept a strong presence for a long time at EVO tournaments and for casual players as well. People aren't going to get tired of seeing Marvel characters fighting each other in video games, especially when they're also paired up with and against Capcom characters.

EA tried to make a fighting franchise of their own with Marvel characters with Marvel Nemesis, but that flopped for other reasons.

[Sono421]

I really want the 2 companies to do a collab and make Marvel vs DC omg that would be great!

[Jeff257]

That would be awesome. Take us back to Amalgam Comics. Would be sweet if they gave us the crossover characters like Super Solider, Dark Claw, and Iron Lantern.

[CorndogBurglar]

The logic is totally flawed in this article.

If a fighting game is well made and fun, then people will play it.

Just because Marvel Comics has a lot of stories lately around heroes fighting other heroes does not mean people will be turned off to a Marvel fighting game. In any fighting game you play, you will have fights with good guys fighting good guys, good guys fighting bad guys, and bad guys fighting bad guys. It all comes down to character selection.

[4Sh0w]

Exactly. I mean simply put his logic is the DC Superman movie wasn't that good so it HELPED Injustice and the Marvel movies already have everybody fighting each other= So What? Is he actually saying a standalone Marvel fighting game with tons of great characters and kickass fluid fighting system wouldn't sell because of what's in the movies? lol Is this guy serious?

[Hardiman]

His reasons were pretty silly. It would sell and sell well.

[chrisx]

An injustice style marvel game would be really cool its a shame there's none

[Activemessiah]

Well.. they have "What If"... or the Ultimates... or "insert name" Vs the Marvel Universe...

[TheOttomatic91]

Uh not sure if they need one with all the hype Marvel vs Capcom gets.

[Dark_Knightmare2]

I haven't really seen much hype for marvel vs Capcom infinite

[LAWSON72]

Yeah and the hype for Injustice a game that just came out seems to be insane /s

I think I have seen more hype for Tekken lol

[lizard81288]

True, but there hasn't been much info released either. I guess Capcom is waiting for E3. IIRC, since last year, there has only been 2 trailers. The first teaser trailer, and the story trailer.

[LAWSON72]

I don't know how MvC does not count.

Personally MvC>Injustice, and it has quite a legacy spanning many years remaining quite relevant and popular. Not really a huge fighting fan but I was a big fan of what I played of MvC3.

[Bobafret]

I sort of wish Injustice was more like Tekken, I cannot stand the 2.5d view.

[boomtube1987]

Go play Tekken then u fool. This is nethrealm studio. A western dev NOT Japanese. They cant compete against West devs.

[Bobafret]

Why do you have to be such a jerk? I hate that 2.5d is even a thing, it sucks. I would rather go back and play War Gods on the PS1 than backtrack to 80's 2D crap.

[boomtube1987]

@Bobafret cause MK and Injustice are best selling games cause of gameplay. Japanese cannot compete western devs in fighting, shooting and sports games

[ApexWolf22]

Nevermind that NetherRealm has held the DC license for years? anybody remember MK vs. DC? These games were developed because DC wanted in on the fighting market after watching Marvel cash in for years. Same as the movies, they were tired of missing thier gravy trains.

[zerocarnage]

marvel v Capcom infinite???? why would they need an injustice game, there characters are being put into one of the most loved if not the most loved fighting franchises in history or to ever grace a cabinet, pc or console.

It all started with Street fighter 1..

It certainly wouldn't be the first or last time collaborations between 2 fighting games developers have taken place there have been a fair few.

I would like to see a marvel v capcom EX style

one thing that annoys me with some fighting games is the daft characters that should not be there and the amount of decent characters that could be in place instead.

[SinisterKieran]

well square enix are doing marvel games right#? if i remember.
so i think marvel is mostly in good hands.

[ChronoJoe]

Interesting perspective but I really disagree; if anything the success of the marvel movies would be likely to drive the success of good marvel video games. I disagree with the suggestion that because Marvel movies are popular people don't want to see the same thing in the video game space.

[CorndogBurglar]

Well that isn't what the article said. At all.

His reasoning is because Marvel COMICS are constantly pitting their heroes against each other. Many of the past big yearly events have focused on heroes fighting each other, rather than heroes fighting villains. The only movie he listed was Captain America: Civil War, because again, it was heroes fighting each other. The popularity of the Marvel films doesn't really play into his argument. He's talking more about a Marvel fighting game just being more of the same, heroes vs heroes.

Having said that, I totally disagree with him. Its a fighting game. No matter what fighting game you play you are always going to have good guys fighting good guys, or bad guys fighting bad guys, or good guys fighting bad guys. Even the MvC stories start out with with heroes of each world fighting each other, but then teaming up to fight the real enemy. Every single one has been like that.

Heroes fighting each other a lot in Marvel Comics has no bearing on whether or not people will be interested in a Marvel fighting game.

Just like the DCU Movies have no bearing on whether people will still play a good DC fighting game. If the game is fun and well made, people will play it.

[ChronoJoe]

Not at all?

"Marvel Can’t Have an Injustice of Their Own, and It’s Their Own Fault
ByJustin CarterPosted on May 17, 2017
The big game of the week is Injustice 2, wherein various characters of the DC universe fight each other in an alternate universe where Superman has decided that fascism is so hot right now and goes on to control Earth. The sequel so far has received great praise, and as is always the case with the ‘Big Two’ comics publishers, there are those out there wondering if distinguished competition Marvel would try their hand at such a concept with their large ensemble of characters. In fact, some on Twinfinite believe it’s the best move for Marvel.

However, as much of a tempting idea that must be, I can’t really find myself thinking this is a thing the House of Ideas can do. In fact, in all honesty, I’d go so far as to say that this is something that they should never do.

Now look, this isn’t one of those company bias things. I like both Marvel and DC and accept that both of these companies have their problems, like all giant media conglomerates do. But with that in mind, DC had one thing over their rivals that made the original Injustice such a hit: Superman. Remember, 2013 was the same year that Man of Steel came out, and it was a movie that, for lack of a better term, didn’t endear everyone to Big Blue. Having the game release not too long before the film ended up working out more in the former’s case than you’d think. High Councillor Superman may have melted a 15-year-old’s brain, but for many, it was enough to be able to take payback as Shazam or as the “real,” Good Superman from the other universe. MoS Superman was one that couldn’t be waved off as an evil version from a bad universe, he is currently the definitive version of that character for however long Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill are contracted into this universe, and that hasn’t exactly garnered a lot of love from a lot of people.

Injustice and the DC movies are weirdly linked in that the tepid (at best) reception to the films has ended up making the game look better in comparison. There are many out there that consider NetherRealm’s take on the DC characters to be more accurate and right than recent film fares like Batman v Superman or Suicide Squad, and it’s a sentiment that’ll likely stick for as long as both enterprises are around. Sure, the games and their tie-in comics have great and well-told stories in their own right, but it’s undeniable that their status got an extra boost from the films not being all that good themselves. The chips just so happened to lie on NetherRealm’s side with that one, and it’s not really something that can be replicated with Marvel. "

I think it's a significant component of the argument, as iterated by that paragraph. I know the audience of N4G don't read beyond the opening headline, but if you were going to make a several paragraph reply, then at least read the full article.

[4Sh0w]

ChronoJoe,

I agree it was a part if his argument, lol but you could have cut n pasted much better to highlight that, which is what I was referring to above:

"Remember, 2013 was the same year that Man of Steel came out, and it was a movie that, for lack of a better term, didn’t endear everyone to Big Blue. Having the game release not too long before the film ended up working out more in the former’s case than you’d think."

-Either way it's all really bad logic.

[CorndogBurglar]

I did read the whole article. Did you? Because you only posted the first few paragraphs. Obviously I'm being a smart-ass there, but seriously, his argument for a Marvel fighting game not doing well isn't based around their movies being good. Its based around the fact that heroes are constantly fighting heroes in their comics, and then he mentions the ONE film, Captain America: Civil War, that also had heroes fighting heroes.

99% of his reasoning is around that. That people don't want to see more of the same in their fighting games.

His reasoning with DC is that their heroes don't fight each other as much. Also, people didn't like Man of Steel very much, so when Injustice 1 released it was something DIFFERENT. Not more of the same.

If I didn't read the whole article then how do I know all of that? You picked one tiny factor out of the article and based the whole thing off of that, when it really isn't what he's saying at all.

[chobit_A5HL3Y]

i'm sure marvel is content with the billions that they're making off of the mcu right now. not to mention they have the mvc franchise already.

[gangsta_red]

Sure marvel can have an Injustice style game in terms of story. Marvel has already had two Civil War story lines that blows Injustice tired "Superman turns bad" story a millions times over.

[BlaqMagiq1]

I just want another Marvel Ultimate Alliance

[X-23]

All I know is I'm missing out on Injustice 2 at the moment because I'm waiting on Tekken 7 to release in a few weeks. Does it hurt? Yes. If this was Marvel vs Capcom instead of Injustice would I be doing this ... sadly ... probably not. Speaking as a fan of comics and as someone who has a love for video games Marvel characters translate better in an over the top fighting game environment, this doesn't take away from Injustice in any way, but if you look at Injustice it's not very over the top and comic-book like, it's very theatrical and methodical which is fine in fact that's how WB represents it's cinematic universe.

Marvel though is like an explosion of action and all nonsensical things it's the type of stuff you don't have to think much about but you don't mind seeing it anyway it's the type of thing you value seeing in video games imo and it's why Marvel characters translate so well in a fighting game place alongside other Capcom characters. I don't think someone wanting to see Batman vs Ryu garners the same response as someone saying Cyclops vs Ryu.

Anyway not taking shots at Injustice. I'm actually very interested in the game, but I've just been waiting for Tekken 7 too long and MvC:I is something no Marvel vs Capcom fan predicted would have been happening.

[CorndogBurglar]

I'm not sure I agree with this. It all comes down to presentation.

DC has some ridiculously over the top characters. More so than Marvel. Marvel has a LOT of street level characters that would actually translate very well to a more grounded setting.

But at the end of the day, it is all down to presentation. If you took DC characters like Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman....characters that are all insanely powerful, and put them in a game with cartoon-ish graphics like MvC, they would translate absolutely perfectly. They already have the over the top super moves stage transitions that really showcase the characters' real power. Make it cartoony and its gold, just like MvC.

Same can be said with Marvel. If you take characters like Daredevil, Spider-Man, Punisher, Captain America, Hulk, etc....and give them realistic graphics, it would be fine. Look at that Marvel fighting game Rise of the Imperfects, or whatever it was called. It was more realistic and dark, and people liked it. The game suffered because the gameplay was not all that great and all the characters played too similarly. But the tone and setting was very cool.

So yeah, it just comes down to presentation.

[X-23]

Right, but when you consider why I say Marvel's side translates better toward that cartoon like comicbook feel you have to recognize that in the mainstream most of the time this is how Marvel characters are represented in a case like classic MvC or even further back to a game like Children of the Atom when it's stylized in that way it always garners the most attention. X-Men Mutant Academy also represented itself in a similar way, despite it being a 3D fighter.

This is not to say these characters can't have realistic graphics like in the example you gave with Rise of the Imperfects, but most of Marvel's legacy in the fighting game department has been manufactured to be much more over the top and 90's comicbook like than DC's side, which is why Capcom and Marvel can translate so well.

On that note think about what Mortal Kombat has become over the years, and how even Mortal Kombat vs DC was more theatrical in the way it presented its story and it's combat (even if its combat was horrible) it wasn't beams of energy taking over the screen or someone being hit by 99 cards in a matter of seconds.

I'm not saying that this isn't possible from DC characters, because we all know how insane it gets with some of the top tier characters on their side, but I was speaking instead on what side translates best for DC in videogames in comparison to Marvel.

If it was a game that was developed which it was simply Marvel vs DC without the inclusion of any Capcom or Mortal Kombat characters then things would be much different and I think that the cinematic aspect that DC represents in its games would be much more fitting than the stylized 90's comicbook type of game that Capcom would produce.

[KillBill]

So the premise behind the article is Marvel can't do the same as DC because Marvel has saturated the whole heroes fighting thing too much in their lore? WTF??

[DreadGara]

They don't need an Injustice cause they already have a better game.

[CorndogBurglar]

I don't know about all that.

MvC3 was horrible. Hopefully Infinite can take it back to the MvC1 and 2 feel.