Before the Marvel Cinematic Universe changed the face of the movie industry with its series of interconnected films, a video game version of this concept was once pitched to Disney, according to Bungie co-founder Alexander Seropian.
On an episode of The Fourth Curtain podcast, Seropian and his guest Alex Irvine revealed (via IGN) how they’d come up with a plan to create a connected universe for future Marvel games, but Disney higher-ups decided to pass on the idea. Seropian–who was VP of game development for Disney’s game division until 2012–and Irvine–who has writing credits on several Marvel games–added that funding for the idea never materialized, killing the idea early on in its development.
“I was coming out of ARGs at that point and thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we had some ARG aspects?’ There would be a place where players could go that all the games touched, and we could move them back and forth from game to game,” Seropian explained. “We could link in comics, we could loop in anything, we could do original stuff. And then, as Alex said, it didn’t get funded. So we made a bunch of games.”
Irvine added that it was also a challenge to make the proposed Marvel video game universe stand out from the comics and film adaptations, and in the end, the idea was scrapped. Currently, Marvel video games from Spider-Man to Guardians of the Galaxy all exist in their own distinct universes, and the only exception to the rule is Insomniac’s upcoming Wolverine game, as it’ll be set in the same Earth-1048 reality that the web-slinger calls home. Other in-production Marvel games include a Black Panther title from EA’s Cliffhanger Games and Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra from Skydance.
Meanwhile, Marvel’s rival DC Comics has struggled in the video game space as of late. Rocksteady’s Arkhamverse adventure Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was a massive flop for the studio and the Wonder Woman game was also canceled earlier this year. Developer Monolith Productions was one of several studios closed by Warner Bros. Games, alongside Player First Games and WB San Diego.