A Marvel’s Secret Wars-Inspired Multiplayer Game Was Nearly Made by Call of Duty Developer

Call of Duty developer Treyarch almost made a Marvel multiplayer game inspired by the original Secret Wars comic run. There’s no shortage of Marvel video games out there, though very few of them are actually based on actual comic books. Many of them are original stories or tie-in to a film. They may pull some bits and pieces from comics, but generally speaking, we don’t have a ton of direct adaptations. Treyarch’s Ultimate Spider-Man and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 may be one of the closest examples of a more direct adaptation of a comic book, with the latter adapting the Civil War storyline. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 lifts from Kraven’s Last Hunt as well, but it’s far more loose.

With all of that said, there are some major Marvel comic book events that are very much worth bringing to life in a video game. Of course, these would require big budgets, talented teams, and a lot of effort, but there are storylines that would be a lot of fun to play. One of the most famous storylines in comics is Secret Wars. There are actually two comic runs that share this name, but the more recent one is more of a new take on the same concept of one gigantic crossover between the Marvel characters. However, the original storyline is most famous for introducing Spider-Man’s signature black symbiote suit.

With that said, prior to the Jonathan Hickman run ever existing, Treyarch reportedly considered making a big Marvel multiplayer game inspired by the original run of Secret Wars. Former Treyarch developer Ian Hosfeld, who worked on the various Spider-Man games made at that studio, revealed to Spider-Man News that after Ultimate Spider-Man 2 was cancelled, the team explored this multiplayer project. However, it was very short-lived as Activision had assigned Treyarch to begin working on a new James Bond game at the time.

“Ultimate Spider-Man 2 was cancelled, and for a while we explored a multiplayer Marvel Universe game, along the lines of the original Secret Wars. That didn’t get very far because Activision, who had bought Treyarch by then, acquired the James Bond franchise, and our team was assigned to develop that game.”

It’s a bit of a bummer that this never happened, but there’s a real possibility something else like this could happen in the future. Marvel has managed to create a strong gaming division with well-made single player games, but also really creative and successful online games like Marvel Rivals as well. Perhaps a big game set on Battleworld could happen in the future.

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