Best Video Games Based on Marvel Comics

Video gaming and comic books go hand-in-hand, and it's not hard to see why. Both hobbies often involve favorite characters, storylines, and superheroes with funky powers that save the day.

To a point, video games are a "semi-live action" version of the stories that happen in comic books. There are battles in both, dialogue in both, and they often even involve similar characters.

Unsurprisingly, comic book execs noticed that, and have teamed up with video game groups to make entire series of games that involved favorite comic book heroes. This is especially true with Marvel Comics, which has literally had dozens of games through the 40-year expansion of the gaming industry.

Through those 40-odd years, there have been a bunch of games that really stood out as amazing. Here are the best video games based on Marvel Comics, according to yours truly.

Before we get to the more modern games, let's start off with a retro game that took the video game arcade industry by storm in 1991. Captain America and the Avengers had it all — a good game design, favorite characters, as well as a number of Avengers characters we stopped hearing about.

If you're a fan of Hawkeye, Namor, Quicksilver, and Vision, you'll adore this game for that reason alone. Nostalgia fans, though, will love the undeniably 90s style of the game's graphics. You'll feel young again, and you'll end up getting addicted to its old school gaming goodness pretty quickly.

Either way, it's a game that's definitely one of the best video games based on Marvel Comics at the time — especially for comic book fans who love more obscure heroes.

Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage was a game that was really before its time in a lot of ways. Released in 1994, this game had a storyline that really stuck out from other Marvel Comics games of the day.

Rather than having Spider-Man battling Venom, it had the two team up in an effort to save the world from Carnage. This game involves an amazing store, impressive graphics, and some pretty decent gameplay. Villains are challenging, but not too challenging — and that makes it great.

For SNES fans that wanted some Marvel comics action, it didn't get much better in the 90s than having this game.

With several not-so-subtle nods to the comic book storylines throughout the game, it's easy to see why Maximum Carnage is widely regarded as one of the best video games based on Marvel Comics created in the 90s.

Looming, violent, and enamored with the idea of killing those who stand in the way of justice, the Punisher is a comic book character who was basically designed for video games. Considering his build and rep, it's not really that big a surprise that the video game based on him was a smash hit back in the 90s.

The Punisher is one of the best video games based on Marvel Comics ever made, and even today, there are pockets of people who love to play it from time to time.

While today's games tend to be too complex in terms of gameplay, The Punisher was simple, fun, and had the classic 90s look of a seriously entertaining fighter game. This updated version has all the cool factor of the 90s, and also has better playability. It's a win-win on all fronts! What more can you want?

One of the most celebrated character franchises in the Marvel Comics Universe would have to be Bruce Banner, more commonly known as The Hulk. He smashes, he's pure rage, and he's big and green.

Knowing that he's all about smashing and tossing things, no Marvel fan can be that surprised to know that he's spawned a number of video games involving him beating the turds out of evildoers.

However, most of those games do their best to keep The Hulk from being a walking, talking wrecking ball on every level. They wanted to make him less violent, often due to the whole "violence in video games" debate that still rages on to this day.

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is a 2005 release that was all about letting people let off steam through causing as much destruction as possible with his superpower. It's incredible, and it's one of a time.

After all, who hasn't wanted to have the kind of smashing power that the Hulk has?

Perhaps the most successful of all Marvel Superheroes franchises, at least in terms of video games, would have to be the X-Men. It's obvious why, too: X-Men are perfect for video game design, as well as for hit movies like Days of Future Past.

There are plenty of characters, plenty of powers, they look good, and there are easy to make storylines in the comic book series. Unsurprisingly, many of the best video games based on Marvel Comics involve them.

X-Men 2: Clone Wars is one such game. It was actually an upgraded, expanded version of the original X-Men game, and everything that the older game lacked, the newer game had.

This game involved a surprisingly strong storyline involving a ton of X-Men, and allowed you to play an incredibly wide range of mutants. At one stage, you even get to play Magneto!

Marvel vs. Capcom was one of the most successful game series ever, and they still are coming out with games involving this theme. These fighter games are the ultimate matchups of the most popular Marvel characters versus the most powerful Capcom characters.

Signature moves, much-loved duel locations, insanely cool effects, and some of the most awesome player-versus-player action ever seen on video games are what make these games incredible.

Needless to say, almost every single game in this series belongs in a list involving the best video games based on Marvel Comics. They are legendary in the gaming world, and they earned their titles as the top games effortlessly.