DC’s Gaming Efforts Are Embarrassing Compared to Marvel Games

DC is no match for what Marvel Games is accomplishing in the video game space and it’s rather unfortunate. Last week, Insomniac Games revealed its long-awaited first look at Marvel’s Wolverine. The game looks tremendous so far as it showcases a brutal, M-rated Wolverine slicing and dicing what appear to be Reavers. It looks like the kind of action-packed superhero adventure fans want with big scripted set pieces such as car chases and explosive, perilous situations. Of course, we’ll have to wait until the full game releases to know exactly how it all shakes out, but it is still great to see Marvel pumping out another big budget superhero game.

On the other hand, DC doesn’t really have anything imminently coming up on its slate as far as we know. James Gunn has confirmed there are DCU games in the works, but those are a couple years away at the earliest. In some ways, we are seeing a repeat of where DC and Marvel were at cinematically in the early 2010s. Marvel was ahead of the game, forcing DC to play catch up. Hopefully, this doesn’t lead DC to rush big projects along and if the current films are anything to go off of, they probably won’t, but it is an interesting parallel.

How Marvel Games Compares to DC’s Gaming Efforts

Marvel Games as a publisher has existed since 2009, but were largely known for movie tie-in games, mobile games, and free-to-play titles. The company as we know it today really began in earnest in the mid-2010s, partially starting with Telltales’ Guardians of the Galaxy, but definitely with Marvel’s Spider-Man in 2018. Insomniac Games was given a big budget, a respectable development timeline, and heaps of freedom to make a new game, completely unshackled from any films or other projects that it would have to tie-in with.

That game paid dividends for everyone involved and within a few years, we got two follow-ups, but also other games like Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy from Eidos-Montreal, Marvel’s Iron Man VR, and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. There was also the ill-fated Marvel’s Avengers which fell flat on its face, but it’s one of the only real misses Marvel has had thus far. Those other three games combined with the three Spider-Man games from Insomniac Games have all been well-received by fans and critics alike, even if they didn’t all have the same levels of commercial success.

However, perhaps most importantly, Marvel has made sure all of these games are varied. They aren’t all carbon copies of Spider-Man, but instead, they embrace different genres and styles of gameplay. Midnight Suns is a prime example of this as it is one of the best turn-based strategy games of the decade and is a ton of fun. It was unfortunately written off as some card game by a lot of outsiders, but for those who tried it, it’s a great game. Marvel is even still keeping the VR train going with Marvel’s Deadpool VR later this year, a nice surprise after Iron Man VR released back in 2020.

Marvel Rivals has also shown what can happen when a brand like this embraces a different genre. I personally know people who don’t really care about Marvel that got into Rivals because the game just looked fun, serving as an entry point to the franchise for them. By doing more than single-player third-person action games, Marvel is appealing to not only its own fans, but becoming a dominant force among fans of other genres as well. Marvel is also once again cornering the fighting game scene with Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls, which has been well-received in beta.

In addition to Marvel’s Wolverine, we are also getting games for characters that have been underserved in gaming such as Captain America and Black Panther with Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, Tony Stark himself in Marvel’s Iron Man, and Marvel’s legendary vampire slayer in Marvel’s Blade from Arkane.

DC, on the other hand, is struggling to have any kind of relevance in gaming. Games like Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League have tainted the brand in gaming. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some great games like Batman: Arkham Shadow and LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight looks very promising, but when you compare it to Marvel’s output, it’s not great. Not to mention, it seems like DC really only manages to score wins with Batman. The Batman Arkham games were tremendous too, but that core trilogy ended a decade ago and we can’t hang on to that as a sign that DC has it good in the games department.

There are rumors of a new Batman game in development, but we haven’t gotten a new Superman game since Superman Returns in 2006. Not to mention, no modern AAA games based on The Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, or Aquaman. DC’s various heroes are extremely underrepresented in gaming outside of the Injustice games, especially when you compare it to Marvel.

DC Had a Shot Before Cancelling a Few Games

Wonder Woman had a video game in development, but it was scrapped earlier this year. It would’ve seen an expansion of the Nemesis system that was created for Shadow of Mordor and sounded like a great first step into DC making non-Batman-related games. Unfortunately, we’ll never see it and it’s extremely frustrating.

Reports also suggested that a game based on The Flash was also in development at Warner Bros. Montreal, the team behind Gotham Knights and Batman: Arkham Origins. The studio mulled over a few different ideas after Knights, even contemplating a Constantine game which was apparently of interest, but didn’t get the greenlight. The Flash game did move forward, but was eventually cancelled after the poor reception of 2023’s The Flash movie.

Even though the game likely would’ve still taken a few years to release and we all probably would’ve forgotten the film or at least not let it impact our interest in the game, WB made the call to scrap it. Not only that, but it likely had nothing to do with the film since the games have historically been pretty disconnected. It’s a baffling decision and one that only stifled DC’s trajectory in the world of gaming.

James Gunn Could Salvage DC’s Gaming Future

I’ve seen some people express concern over James Gunn having such a hand in DC’s future games. Although it seems like his day to day is focused on film and television, Gunn is overseeing everything DC. His eventual plan is to have DC video games that connect back to the cinematic universe that he’s shepherding, though they won’t be movie tie-in games like back in the 2000s. We’re not quite sure what any of that will look like yet, but it at least indicates a vision.

Gunn has shown interest in shining a light on underrepresented DC characters on the big and small screen, but that could also likely extend to gaming. It may finally allow us a Superman game or maybe even something a bit more out there like Swamp Thing. Gunn has also worked in the video game space before as the writer of Lollipop Chainsaw, so he has some knowledge of the video game process and isn’t going to be demanding unrealistic things.

This article wasn’t written to be fanboy-ish toward Marvel or hate on DC. It’s just a plea to James Gunn and the team bringing DC to life in gaming. We want great, varied DC games that can stand alongside the awesome Marvel titles that are being cranked out. Only time will tell if that can happen, but I do think DC is starting to get into the best place it has been in a long time. It might take a few years before we can really see things getting back on track, but I have hope that WB will get it there.

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