In 2004, developer Raven created the smash hit X-Men Legends. This game took Marvel’s merry mutants and sent them throughout the X-men universe in 4-player action rpg goodness. The game featured customizable stats, upgradable powers, and a huge load of fan service. Raven followed up the following year with X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse which addressed the small amount gameplay issues found in the original XML and featured a story which included even more of the X-Men universe, including elements from the Age of Apocalypse storyline. In 2006, Raven decided to let the whole Marvel universe get in on the act with Marvel Ultimate Alliance. This game allowed fans to experience their favorite (and not so favorite) Marvel super heroes in a way they never imagined possible.
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• Adam Warlock (UPC # 65356931894)
• Black-suit Spider-man (UPC # 65356931891)
• Silver Savage (UPC # 65356931893 – Silver Surfer from the Planet Hulk storyline)
• Spiral (UPC # 65356931895)
• USAgent (UPC # 65356931890)
• Union Jack (UPC # 65356931892)

And it appears that they have wildly guessed on the Build-A-Figure for the wave so I won’t even mention what it was.

I am ecstatic about a Spiral figure, assuming its done right, but rather apathetic to the rest of the wave. I’m still waiting on a Nimrod Build-A-Figure. Make it happen Hasbro!

IGN seems to have the cover to the first issue for the third installment of the Ultimates book. It appears to be a slightly new lineup of Ultimates facing off against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Venom and maybe Storm? I haven’t been keeping up on the Ultimate books lately outside of the Ultimates itself. Thankfully thats been on a schedule I can keep up with; about two issues a year.

If you had told me 20 years ago, after the abysmal box office showing that was the original Transformers animated feature, that a Transformers film would outdo Spider-Man’s opening week gross, I would have said, “What, that weird kid that appeared in the comic book? So?”

Sorry, run that forward a little bit.

If you had told me five years ago, after Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man film made $400 million at the domestic box office, breaking records along the way, that a Transformers film would (so far) outdo that hot property the same year as the third installment, I would have laughed. If the best that the Aquaman property could hope for was to beat Spider-Man in a fictional scenario in the HBO series Entourage, surely in the real world a toy company’s property had even less of a chance.

Well, now Michael Bay is laughing. All the way to his gold-plated Camaro. (Goldbug?)

The Transformers opening 6-day gross of over $155 milion has beaten out Spider-Man’s $151 million, and so far it shows little sign of slowing down. Along the way, it garnered the highest opening Tuesday ever (by $12 million dollars — up 80% from now-second place), the third highest Wednesday ever (now fourth, thanks to Harry Potter’s new record-setting Wednesday premiere), and the title as the biggest opening week for a non-sequel in all of film history — the title which Spider-Man held until last Sunday.

Spider-Man is clearly not very happy about this development. Not content to leave the battle at the box office, our intrepid arachnid friend was last seen hurling himself into battle against the alien robot menace at the end of the first issue of the New Avengers / Transformers 4-part mini-series. Not since Transformers #3 — at the time a Marvel publication — have we seen these two clash. Guys, can’t we all just get along?

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Shortly after the fighting game X-men Children of the Atom, Capcom wasted no time in putting out more games featuring Marvel’s pantheon of super heroes. This game in particular is one of the more slept-on Capcom fighters (although not to the degree of Project Justice and Tech Romancer). Taking control of one of six Marvel heroes (Spider-man, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Psylocke) or one of six villains (Shuma Gorath, Blackheart, Juggernaut, Magneto, and Thanos and Dr Doom via use of a code), you must fight your way up the ladder to meet Thanos in a plot loosely based on 1992’s Infinity Gauntlet storyline.

The game play is similar to most other Capcom fighters, with six attack buttons, three for punches, three for kicks, each differing in speed in power. Special moves are done via quarter and half circle motions, as well as charging. However, since these are superheroes, don’t expect your garden-variety martial-arts maneuvers like in street fighter. Your fighter can jump up to several feet high, ‘normal’ attacks fire projectiles, special attacks can cause serious damage, and super moves take up the entire screen. It’s not as zany as in Darkstalkers, but you’re still not gonna see any of these moves in the next Street Fighter game. The main difference that sets this game apart from other Capcom fighters, although it isn’t much, is the addition of the Infinity Gems. They appear throughout the match, and grant your character special powers when you use them. Of course this regulates multiplayer games into bouts of “who can get to the gems the fastest” although an experienced player can destroy any newbie player who plays in that manner.

This game is often overlooked due to the fact that at the time of it’s release, it was just one of many 2-d fighting games. However, it was a Capcom fighter. Moreover, it was a good game based on a Marvel property. Capcom of course went on to use the engine to produce several more Capcom fighters, most important of which being the Marvel Vs Capcom games. This is still a good game to check out if you run across the arcade cabinet, even better if you can find a copy of any of the home ports. Also of interest is the SNES spin-off “War of the Gems”, which is a side scrolling beat-em-up in the vein of Capcom’s “X-men Mutant Apocalypse”.

KidsWB released a promo image for the Spider-Man cartoon debuting this fall. The show was previously going to be called The Amazing Spider-Man, but with the Spidey comic line getting stripped down to that one title, the cartoon’s name was just changed to Spectacular Spider-Man. I imagine there’ll be a comic book tie-in to the show of the same name, which would explain the change of the show’s name. Not like they’re about to change the book’s name, right?

Also, Wizard took a bunch of pictures at the New York Licensing Show which – while it doesn’t sound very interesting – resulted in some impressive shots. We’ve got a select few mirrored below – and be sure to keep an eye out for an old Amazing Spider-Man cartoon poster:

Starting in what seems to be August, Marvel will be canceling Spectacular Spider-Man and Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, cutting back to the one core title: Amazing Spider-Man. However, we can rest assured that Marvel isn’t content to allow Spider-fans to retain their cashflow – instead, now Amazing Spider-Man will begin coming out three times a month.
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