Unsurprisingly, even long before the MCU propelled Marvel to unparalleled heights, there were a plethora of video games based on its most popular characters. From the expected fighters to side-scrolling brawlers, Marvel games have come in all shapes and sizes, some, inarguably, better than others. Naturally, dedicated fans and those just beginning to dabble in the comics will want to experience the very best of them, to both play as their favorite characters and make up for the somewhat disappointing output of the MCU (I’m still not over Secret Invasion).
Of course, to find the very best Marvel video games, one must first wade through the divisive and occasionally downright terrible titles. So many Marvel games have, rightfully, been written off as terrible (who remembers 1982’s Spider-Man for the Atari?) and not worth the code they’re written with, which, in many ways, makes it easy to figure out which games are actually worth considering. However, there is one Marvel game, one that proved immensely divisive and controversial at launch, that is actually very good. It is very easy to overlook Marvel’s Avengers when figuring out what to play, but frankly, that would be a huge shame.
I first played Marvel’s Avengers years after it had originally released, and thus had the benefit of numerous patches and expansions that served to make the base experience a tad more palatable. I went in with rather low expectations, indeed assuming it would be one of the worst Marvel games ever made, as so vehemently stated by its detractors online. Yet, the more I played Marvel’s Avengers, the more I realized that, while certainly not without flaws, there’s something rather special about it.
This realization came about during my umpteenth session playing through one of the many HARM missions. These put you in a largely featureless virtual space as one of the game’s many characters and see you duke it out against waves of increasingly challenging foes in an attempt to perfect skills or unlock new ones. Typically, I avoid these types of superfluous side content, mostly out of time limitations, but also because I find they add very little substance. Yet, in Marvel’s Avengers, I found myself so gripped by the gameplay and by the unique playstyle of each hero that I legitimately completed as many of these missions as I could.
To be absolutely clear, Marvel’s Avengers is far from being the perfect experience it should have been. Sure, it’s one of the best Avengers games available, but it is riddled with baffling game design that was born out of a fundamental misunderstanding of what makes a live service game great. Its mission structure is repetitive at best and frustrating at worst, its character designs are often laughably bad to incentivize you to buy a new skin, and its main story, as compelling as it can be, is parceled out in piecemeal-sized chunks interspersed between the aforementioned repetitive missions.
However, that being said, there is a lot to love about Marvel’s Avengers, not least the fact that you can play as the titular team. The roster on offer is pretty phenomenal and far greater than any other Marvel game of this size and scope has offered thus far. While they’re largely grouped into specific types, each hero plays differently from one another, both encouraging you to switch between them per mission and greatly alleviating some of that repetition, at least for a short while. This roster was further expanded through free expansions that introduced new story missions based on comics like Old Man Hawkeye, meaning that, by the time the game was delisted, there was plenty on offer for fans to enjoy.
The big problem with Marvel’s Avengers now is that it is no longer available for purchase digitally. The game was delisted back in 2023, although all of its single-player content (much of which can be played with AI teammates) was made playable offline beforehand. It is still very much playable today, but only if you purchased it digitally prior to September 2023 or if you can obtain a physical copy. This is a problem that plagues many live-service titles, especially those based on popular IP that require licensing. Frankly, it feels like it is only a matter of time before the equally divisive Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is delisted forever. Still, if you can get a copy of Marvel’s Avengers, then it is undeniably worth playing in 2026 and beyond.
Of course, I’m not trying to overlook the obvious failings of Marvel’s Avengers when it launched. Matchmaking was atrocious, the endgame content was barebones at best, and while the roster was impressive, the focus on microtransactions didn’t sit particularly well with players who’d already paid the upfront premium cost. Crystal Dynamics was far too slow in rolling out new content, and even when they did, it still didn’t feel enough, as the existing content was too repetitive, as aforementioned. The proverbial cherry on top was that Spider-Man was only accessible on PlayStation, something that, understandably, irked fans.
However, now that it has received all of the necessary updates and expansions, and the previously paid-for content has been made free, of course, it is a better and worthwhile experience. It is a shame that it took so long for Marvel’s Avengers to become even a sliver of what it should have been at launch, and an even greater shame that it hasn’t really gotten its flowers since Crystal Dynamics ironed out the majority of its biggest issues.
Amongst all the controversy, repetitive gameplay, and exclusive characters, lies a pretty great game, one that has a strong storyline that captures the same magic Eidos-Montréal, who assisted on Marvel’s Avengers development, delivered with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and great gameplay you can’t really get anywhere else. Sure, Marvel’s Avengers will likely always be remembered as the failed live service game, and perhaps deservedly so. However, that doesn’t mean its strengths should be overlooked, nor that fans should skip it in favor of its more critically acclaimed contemporaries. There’s a lot of fun, joy, and excitement to be found in Marvel’s Avengers that I highly recommend experiencing for yourself. At least that way, you can decide for yourself whether it truly is as bad as they say.
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