When it comes to Marvel, you have your cosmic-level threats, comedic bouts, and on-the-nose heroism that inspires us to be better people. There’s the colour, silly spandex outfits, cartoonish fights, and blatant messages of do-goodery, and there’s nothing wrong with any of that. It has its place, but Marvel comics often strike a meticulous balance between all of those lighter elements and the hard-to-stomach questions relevant to our modern world, whether it’s Daredevil’s crisis of faith, Punisher’s war on crime, or Wolverine’s unconsented loss of bodily autonomy. Those themes are tucked away in all of that cheese, and more video games need to embrace the darkness of these stories.
Far too often, Marvel has shied away from that side when it comes to gaming – with the notable and bloody exception of the X-Men Origins: Wolverine adaptation. It was a great, gory beat ‘em up that people loved, showing that there’s clearly an audience out there waiting. However, the current market is made up of the jolly, PG types – Ultimate Alliance, Avengers, Spider-Man, and a boatful of mobile games… they have a heart – being family-friendly doesn’t mean that you can't have emotional gusto – but grittier stories simply elicit a different emotional response that is rich with despair. Sometimes you want to watch Paddington, but other times, nothing hits like The Departed.
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There are long-running rumours of Naughty Dog helming a Daredevil game, and a year on from The Last of Us Part 2, it’s the perfect time for a reveal. Insomniac’s Wolverine is likely sharing a world with Spider-Man due to it being from the same developer, but expanding on that universe doesn’t have to begin and end with one studio. Naughty Dog and Insomniac used to be incredibly close, even advertising one another’s games. You’ll find Jak 2 posters dotted about in Ratchet & Clank: Going Commando and the same goes the other way. So, expanding on Insomniac’s superhero world wouldn’t be far-fetched or out of the developer’s comfort zone, but, importantly, Naughty Dog is known for handling more mature tones. It had a similar start with family-friendly platformers but grew to release a guttural dystopia that felt like Ninch Inch Nails’ industrial grunge spliced with the horrors of a zombie apocalypse. Through Naughty Dog, Daredevil could add a much-needed insight into how disgustingly wretched New York City gets when the sun goes down. Hell, Kingpin is sitting right there, waiting to be utilized as the main bad, and we’ve seen how terrible Wilson Fisk can be.
The worst thing that could happen right now is stagnating Marvel games by utilizing the same genre. How many third-person action adventures can we realistically endure before it gets old? Avengers, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Ultimate Alliance… you know, all those games I mentioned before? It’s a growing list. Midnight Suns is taking the right step by embellishing the superhero fisticuffs with cards and turn-based action, but Punisher would be a great vehicle for expanding on Marvel’s catalogue in the mainstream by tapping into the FPS genre. They’re more popular than tactical games, but, more importantly, they’re known for their violent nature. One of the foundational first-person shooters, Doom, has been renowned for its gory gibbing since the ‘90s. Translating that to the dank glum asphalt of contemporary America would be intriguing, to say the least – mowing down mobsters like we’re in a more morally ambiguous John Wick would be a treat.
Blade, meanwhile, could make for a refreshing power fantasy hack-and-slash akin to Darksiders. Marvel has far more than its currently utilised upbeat colourful cast at its disposal. Sure, you have your sci-fi settings that sport universal, even multiversal threats, and you have your Earthly heroes fighting big bads wanting to conquer everything, but then you have the little guys worming away in the soil, simply out for a quick buck and a bit of territory. The things they do are far more personal and brutal. Kingpin bashing a journalist’s head in with a door is infinitely more grotesque than watching a man snap his fingers, even if the impact was far greater. But it shouldn’t be one or the other. Striking a perfect balance, as all things should be, keeps things fresh and addresses so many different audiences which is exactly what the games need to learn first and foremost from the comics and shows. Wolverine and Midnight Suns – even Venom in Spider-Man 2 – seem to indicate that Marvel gets the appeal of its darker side, but it shouldn’t stop there.
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