The Marvel Cinematic Universe has reshaped entertainment through its interconnected films and TV series, weaving them into a long-running, cohesive story. Marvel video games, however, operate in separate universes, with each title telling standalone stories. For instance, Insomniac's Marvel’s Spider-Man series is completely unrelated to Eidos-Montreal’s Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Likewise, upcoming games like Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, Marvel’s Wolverine, and Marvel’s Blade lack any narrative connections.
At one point, Disney considered creating a Marvel Gaming Universe that would do for video games what the MCU achieved for movies and TV. So, why did this plan never materialize?
DC and Marvel Superheroes: Which Recent Game Stands Out?
Cast Your Vote
New face-off
1ST
2ND
3RDView Your ResultsComplete the matchup for your personal outcome or check the community’s picks!Keep playingShow results
On The Fourth Curtain podcast, host Alexander Seropian and guest Alex Irvine, both involved in the MGU concept, shared why it was ultimately abandoned.
Seropian, co-founder of Bungie (known for Halo and Destiny), later oversaw Disney’s video game division before departing in 2012. Irvine, a longtime writer for Marvel games, recently contributed to world-building, dialogue, and character backstories for the hit title Marvel Rivals.
Reflecting on earlier Marvel projects, Irvine discussed the shelved Marvel Gaming Universe.
“When I began working on Marvel games, there was a vision to establish a Marvel gaming universe similar to the MCU,” Irvine noted. “But it never fully came to life.”
Seropian added that the MGU was his brainchild, yet it failed to secure funding from Disney executives.
“During my time at Disney, I pushed for linking these games together — this was before the MCU took off,” Seropian recalled. “But the project didn’t receive financial backing.”
Irvine, who also worked on the acclaimed Halo alternate reality game I Love Bees at Bungie, elaborated on how the MGU would have functioned.
“It was incredibly frustrating because we had developed so many exciting concepts,” he said.
“Coming from an ARG background, I thought integrating ARG elements would be fantastic. We envisioned a shared hub where players could engage across all games, moving between titles, blending comics, original content, and more. But as Alex mentioned, without funding, we ended up producing individual games instead.”
So, what prevented the MGU from gaining internal support? Irvine believes the proposal grew too intricate, leading to hesitation at Disney.
“Even then, we were tackling questions like: How does the MGU differ from comics or films? How do we maintain consistency? The complexity of these issues made some at Disney reluctant to proceed,” Irvine explained.
It’s intriguing to picture what could have been if the MGU had received the necessary resources. Perhaps Insomniac’s Spider-Man would have shared a world with Square Enix’s Marvel’s Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, with cross-game cameos and narratives building toward an epic, Endgame-like climax.
Looking forward, speculation surrounds Insomniac’s Marvel’s Wolverine. Will it inhabit the same universe as Marvel’s Spider-Man? Could Spider-Man or other characters from those games appear in Wolverine?
Ultimately, the Marvel Gaming Universe joins the ranks of abandoned video game concepts. Yet, in some alternate reality, it might still be thriving…
Latest Downloads
Downlaod
Top News
