Just like the original film for the Avengers, it was hard to believe it was real. Marvel fans had been waiting ages to finally get the crossover on the big screen and that was a tiny step in what would explode into an even bigger cinematic universe. However, getting a video game based on the property isn’t that special.Â
As exciting as Marvel’s Avengers was in the eyes of many gamers, these heroes have graced consoles for ages now. Still, it might be worth exploring the Avengers projects that didn’t make it to light along with some other cut Marvel games as well. Unless otherwise noted, most of this information was gathered on Unseen64.
10 Questprobe’s X-Men
Questprobe was a series of adventure games made for early computers, like the Apple II in the 80s. They made adventure games starring The Hulk, Spider-Man, and The Fantastic Four. Well, more like the Fantastic Two because it only had The Thing and the Human Torch. There were plans for an X-Men game too but it was canceled due to the developer going bankrupt in 1986. A tease for this can be found in the 2010 issue of GamesTM.Â
9 Spider-Man 4
Sam Raimi was the director of the first three Spider-Man films. He had plans for a fourth which would have involved John Malkovich playing the Vulture, Anne Hathaway playing Black Cat, and Dylan Baker reprising his role as Dr. Curt Conners although he would finally turn into the Lizard in this one. It should come as no surprise then that there were plans for a tie-in game before both projects were canceled. There is some very rough footage out there for it. Â
8 Disney Infinity
Disney Infinity burned bright all the way through the third game. Ideas for new figures and playsets were on the table for it and even the next iteration. For example, there were plans for another playset starring the Guardians of the Galaxy, presumably about the second film.
There are scrapped artworks and prototype models for Dr. Strange, Spider-Gwen, and a series of bigger figures. One of those would have been for the Hulk and each bigger edition would have had new powers. There were also plans to have a playset about Thor: Ragnarok in Disney Infinity 4.0.
7 X-Women: The Sinister Virus
There were numerous X-Men games during the 8-Bit and 16-Bit generation of consoles. Most of them had female heroes, but there were never any that focused purely on just the women. X-Women: The Sinister Virus would have changed that. All that is known about it is that it was going to be for the Sega Genesis around 1995 according to a brief snippet in the December 1996 issue of EGM. There is a blurry video promo.
6 THQ’s Avengers
Before THQ went bankrupt, the first time, they had plans to help finance a tie-in to the first Avengers film around 2012. It would have featured all heroes in the film but would have had a different plot altogether involving a Skrull invasion. It would have been a mix between a brawler and a shooter depending on which hero one took over. Another interesting piece about this game was that it was all in the first-person perspective. There is a lot of footage out there worth checking out.Â
5 Z-Axis’ Iron Man
In the early 2000s, Z-Axis was announced to be working with Activision on two Marvel games. One of them came out, which was a movie tie-in to the third X-Men film. The other was Iron Man and all that exists of the game are three screenshots. It was being developed for the PS2 and Xbox and based on the other game, one could assume it was going to be a brawler, or action game of some sort. Why it was canceled is unknown.
4 Daredevil: The Man Without Fear
As of right now, Daredevil has only received one game. It was a Game Boy Advance tie-in to the first movie. Around this time there was a more ambitious title being developed for the PS2 and Xbox. It would have been more tied to the comics and featured free roaming environments sort of like the Spider-Man games around this time. Unseen64 actually made a video featuring all of the lost footage of this canceled game, which is pretty substantial.
3 Marvel: Chaos
NuFX was a video game company that had worked with EA for years until they were eventually bought by them in 2004. Some might remember them as the developers behind the wildly poplar NBA Street series along with other sports titles. Anyway, they were rebranded as EA Chicago when the merger happened and their first title was going to be a fighting game, Marvel: Chaos. There are quite a few screenshots of this Xbox 360 game out there, but a lot of footage has been taken down of the game. EA Chicago was shut down after the game was canceled.
2 Ghost Rider
Neversoft, the original developers behind the vast majority of the Tony Hawk series, was going to team up with Crystal Dynamics to make a PS1 game based on Ghost Rider. At this point, other than diehard Marvel fans, the character was relatively obscure in pop culture.
This may have lead to the cancellation. Unseen64 has some screenshots and videos archived of the project’s pitch demo. Unlike Daredevil though, Ghost Rider did eventually receive a proper tie-in to his movie adaptation in both portable and console form.
1 Marvel 2099: One Nation Under Doom
Another canceled PS1 game was Marvel 2099. This was based on the futuristic comic arc wherein famous heroes were shown in an alternate futuristic light. From the video and screenshots out there, it looks like a 2D brawler starring, at least, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Hulk, and Punisher. Saffire was developing it while Mindscape was going to be the publisher. Like the rest of these, the reasons for cancellation remain a mystery.