Marvel isinfamous for ditching fan favorite super heroes, whether it’s in movies, games, or comics. Despite being Marvel’s first family, the Fantastic Four notoriously got the short end of the stick, especially when it came to media other than the comics.
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With a streak of extraordinarily abysmal movies populating the resume of The Fantastic Four, with the only exception being the newest Fantastic Four: First Steps (which I genuinely liked a lot!), the only redeeming media left for the family is video games. While there aren’t a lot of solo titles for our heroes, they do get featured in quite a few Marvel games as playable characters, and these titles aren’t half bad.
7Marvel Contest of Champions
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Marvel Contest of Champions
Developed by Kabam in 2014 specificallyfor mobile phones, Marvel Contest of Champions is a simplified 1v1 fighter that features a roster of Marvel heroes and villains with each character made to fit in their own class type thanks to their special moves and upgrade trees.
There isn’t a dedicated story arc since it is a mobile game, but the pretense is that the characters are summoned to the Battlerealm to fight under the Collecter’s command. All four members of the Fantastic Four are playable and has distinct animations and move sets that reflect their comic prowess.
6Marvel: Future Fight
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Marvel: Future Fight
Yet another Marvel mobile game, this time developed by Netmarble in 2015, Marvel Future Fight features a squad-based ARPG with a RPG-lite progression system. Players build a three-character team and play through story missions, events and, since its a mobile game, online PvP.
The Fantastic Four are featured in full glory in Marvel Future Fight since the 2019 update. This update also added Doctor Doom and Silver Surfer as playable characters, with each character having their own combos, animations and visual effects. For example, the Invisible Woman blends Force Field defense with stealth attacks, whereas the Human Torch’s AoE attacks are flashy and deal high damage.
5Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
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Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Released on the best-selling home console of all time, the PS2, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer was based on the live-action filmof the same name. So it’s fair to say that the game didn’t have a lot to live up to.
Even then, the title wasn’t entirely bad. Sure, it had its shortcomings, but it let players play as either of the four heroes and switch between them on the fly. And for some fans, that was enough. The game plays in third-person mode and even allowslocal co-op. It follows the story that the movie established loosely, but does feature major set-piece battles against Doctor Doom and the Silver Surfer.
Each of the character has their own unique powers that can be upgraded, giving the game a fun sort of progression. While it was short and repetitive, it’s one of the few titles to focus solely on The Fantastic Four, which is why it deserves a spot on this list.
4LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
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LEGO Marvel Super Heroes
Almost every LEGO game is a family-friendly tie-in to the mainline games, and this one brings the filtered flavor to the Marvel family of superheroes. The title features over 150 playable characters, but most importantly, it features the Fantastic Four.
The family appears in multiple cutscenes throughout the game’s storyline, especially during the early hours of the game. Their signature powers are showcased in full brick-sized glory: Reed can transform into hammers and springs, Sue goes invisible, the Thing can smash heavy objects and the Human Torch can, well, set things on fire. While they don’t play a central role in the game’s story, the few story arcs they have are meaningful to the story.
3Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
Four Become One Again
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
Marvel Ultimate Alliance came back with it’s third entry after a hiatus of nearly 10 years, this time exclusively on the Nintendo Switch, but sadly, it didn’t have the Fantastic Four in the game at launch. The Reeds, Storms and Benjamin Grimm were later added to this team-based Action RPG in the Shadow of Doom DLC, which also introduced Doctor Doom and his own storyline.
Like any Ultimate Alliance game, the heroes are well-animated and feature their signature moves and unique animations. We also get a DLC campaign that features the family as a central protagonists in a post-game epilogue narrative, which fans of The Fantastic Four gobbled up like there was no tomorrow.
2Fantastic Four (2005)
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Fantastic Four (2005)
Another entry that came out on the 6th generation of consoles, as well as PC, it was a tie-in video game to the first Fantastic Four Movie. Focused entirely on our four heroes, each character is playable and has an upgradeable skill tree with unique combos to match.
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The story is mostly similar to the movie with a few changes. It also includes entirely original locations, like Skrull planets and Latveria. While the game didn’t shape up to be a critical darling, or a major financial success, fans still appreciate the attempt to create a Fantastic Four game the showcased the team’s dynamic.
1Marvel: Ultimate Alliance
The Game That Let the Fantastic Four Fight Galactus… and Everyone Else
Marvel Ultimate Alliance
A fan-favorite game and one that many old-school players still have fond memories of, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance was released on the 6th and 7th generation of consoles to pretty warm reviews. It had a massive roster of Marvel Heroes from nearly every corner of their comic empire, including the Fantastic Four.
Since the game let players pick a random cast of 4 characters in every level, the Fantastic Four were basically the perfect fit. Having all four of them in the playable roster gave players special synergy bonus, which was a nice touch. Players can choose to play out the entire game with the Fantastic Four selected as the main party, or mix-and-match as they see fit.
Marvel: Ultimate Alliance is often considered the best game to experience the Fantastic Four in a fully fleshed-out combat system within a massive Marvel Narrative featuring enemies like Galactus and Doctor Doom.
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