5 Comic Series That Would Make Great Video Games

In recent years, superheroes and supervillains have seen a massive rise in popularity. While this is mainly due to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and DC’s Extended Universe, there are still plenty of comic book properties, which either haven’t been adapted into other mediums, or have simply not been used to their fullest.

As a huge dork for both comic books and video games, I got to thinking: What comics could be turned into really great video games? Well, I thought about it, and I’ve come up with what I believe would be five amazing games. I’ll be detailing the premise of each game, the genre, and what developer I think should be tapped into for bringing each of them to life.

5. Ms. Marvel

Ms. Marvel, AKA Kamala Khan, is a fairly recent creation from Marvel, having first appeared in 2013. Despite having only existed for a short time, she has truly resonated with people.

Among comic readers, she has become one of Marvel’s most popular characters, serving as a role model for both young girls, people of Muslim heritage, and teenagers.

She’s more altruistic than most heroes, she has shape-shifting and size-changing powers, and, most importantly, she writes fanfiction.

For her game, I think an action-adventure title would work best. As Ms. Marvel, the player would traverse Jersey City, fighting criminals on the streets while going around to different parts of the city to complete missions, some of which would advance the story.

Think Spider-Man 2, but replace web swinging with stretchy arms.

Kamala doesn’t have many story lines which could be adapted, so I feel an original story would work best. The tone should match the book, being lighthearted while also tackling social issues. Some of her rogues could also serve as bosses, including the millennial hating Inventor, Kamran, a rogue Inhuman, and the wannabe superhero, Becky St. Jude. 

They may focus on the Call of Duty series these days, but as the makers of several excellent Spider-Man games, I feel that Ms. Marvel would be in good hands with Treyarch.

4. The Bat-Family

Everyone loves Batman. Really, everyone. And I’m personally sick of all the attention he gets. Why? Because as cool as Bruce Wayne is, literally everyone else in the Bat-Family is a cooler, more interesting character.

From the Robins to the Batgirls to the more independent members, this usually unorganized team is large and fascinating, and full of potential to be tapped.

Since most of the Family use different fighting styles from each other, I feel a Bat-Family fighting game would work incredibly well. In addition to being a genre which would allow dozens of characters to be playable, it would also allow for each of the characters to show off their personalities well.

Why yes, Clayface is a part of the Family now.

Since NetherRealm studios did so well with Injustice: Gods Among Us, I’d say give this title to them.

My pitch for the story? Batman is put seemingly permanently put out of commission. As the rest of Gotham’s heroes rise up to make up for his lack of a presence, a mysterious figure, who’d ultimately be revealed to be the DCU’s deadliest martial artist, Lady Shiva, attempts to tear the Family apart. Her motivation would be her desire to see her daughter, Cassandra Cain-Wayne, become an assassin like her. This plot would allow for an excuse to have the entire Bat-Family fighting each other.

Why would Cassandra, AKA Batgirl, AKA Black Bat, AKA Orphan, end up being the game’s protagonist? Well, my Halloween costume from this year should clear that up.

3. The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl

Question; Who is the most powerful being in the Marvel Universe?

If you said Hulk, Thanos, Galactus, or the Living Tribunal, basically God, then sorry. You’re close, but above all stands the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, AKA Doreen Green.

Despite having seemingly mundane powers: She can talk to squirrels, she has a squirrel tail and claws, and she has the proportionate strength of a squirrel, Doreen has defeated Thanos, Deadpool, Wolverine, and Doctor Doom in combat. 

Naturally, with as much power as she has, the best type of game to make about her… is a life simulator.

I’m serious. As strong as she is, the best thing about Doreen is her humanity. So while eating nuts and kicking butts could certainly be a part of the game, I’d love to experience the world as Doreen. 

I’d want to talk with my best friends Tippy-Toe, a squirrel, and Nancy, not a squirrel, I’d want to go to college and take computer science classes, and most of all, I’d want to annoy Tony Stark on Twitter.

This game doesn’t need a complex story. Just a week’s worth of slice of life stories would be more than enough. As for the studio, as unlikely as it would be to happen, I’d say give it to Nintendo. They’re a company with the cheerfulness and experience with the genre necessary to pull this game off.

2. Young Justice

Nope. Wrong Young Justice. I love the show, and I’m super excited it’s getting a third season, but this list is about adapting comic books. And while, the Young Justice comics are nothing like the show, I feel them to be superior.

Pretty different, huh?

In the comic series, the Young Justice team consisted of Robin, AKA Tim Drake, Superboy, AKA Kon-El, Impulse, AKA Bart Allen, Wonder Girl, AKA Cassandra Sandsmark, Cissie King-Jones, AKA Arrowette, Secret, AKA Greta Hayes, Empress, AKA Anite Fite, The Ray, AKA Ray Terril, and my personal favorite character, the teenage clone of Lobo, Slobo.

To incorporate all of these characters, I would make this game a turn-based RPG. I think it’d bring a breath of fresh air to the genre since, unlike the TV show, the Young Justice comic was super goofy and lighthearted.

Young Justice has only ever had one 54 issue run, and with how much story and character development got packed into it, I think it’d work perfectly just to adapt the entirety of the comic. From Robin, Superboy, and Impulse forming the team, to their first major challenge, the villain-in-training, Harm, all the way up to their final encounter with Darkseid.

As for the studio, I’d give it to Mistwalker, the makers of great turn-based RPG’s like Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon.

1. Booster Gold

The fact that no one has made a game about “The Greatest Hero You’ve Never Heard Of” is completely baffling to me.

Booster Gold, AKA Michael Jon Carter, is a time traveler with a super suit and a desire for fame and fortune. While a selfish jerk in his early days, the death of his best friend, Ted Kord, AKA the Blue Beetle, led to him growing into a true hero.

The most important part about what I just said: He. Is. A. Time Traveler!

Think about it. The plot of the game could deal with Booster being sent on missions throughout time by his son/mentor, it’s complicated, Rip Hunter. As Booster goes on these missions though, different time periods could be represented by different game genres.

Booster goes back incredibly far in the past? The game becomes an 8-bit platformer. A little bit less far in time? A 16-bit platformer. The far future? The game suddenly turns into an FPS.

I think the concept would work really well, especially if Nathan Fillion was brought in to voice Booster, who’d talk during all his missions. Fillion may be too old to play Booster in live-action, but I think he’d be the perfect voice for him.

Klei Entertainment has the talent to bring multiple genres together in one game, and that’s why I’d get them to develop the game.

Which of these comics would you like to see adapted into video games? Let me know in the comments!