We’re Entering a Golden Age of Marvel Fighting Game Figures

A few weeks ago, Hasbro revealed it was cooking up a massive tribute to the legacy of Capcom’s Marvel fighting games, from Children of the Atom all the way through to the legendary Marvel vs. Capcom franchise, with a series of Marvel Legends figures replicating aesthetics and matchups from across some of the most iconic fighting games ever made. But would it be a fighting game without a shock new challenger entering the ring?

Last night Bandai confirmed that it would be kicking off its own “Gamerverse” line of figures in the S.H. Figuarts range, likewise inspired by the classic Capcom Marvel games, starting with a downright glorious Cyclops that’s due out this November for ¥9,900 (or around $68). Heavily inspired by the aesthetic of Bengus’ artwork for the likes of Marvel vs. Capcom and X-Men vs. Street Fighter (itself drawing inspiration from Cyclops’ then-current Jim Lee suit from the ’90s refresh of the X-Men comics), the figure is more than just Bandai’s first crack at comics-inspired X-Men figures (the Figuarts line has had a few mutant entries via movie adaptations, most notably Deadpool and Wolverine via their appearances in Deadpool & Wolverine). It’s a celebration of Cyclops specifically as he appeared in those classic fighting games.

It’s very cool to see the SHF Cyclops hitting all the poses you’d want him to hit from those early games, from his legendarily sassy Optic Blast pose, to hitting a Gene Splice uppercut, to, of course, using a set of back sheets to replicate his massive Mega Optic Blast hyper combo. He can even do his little x-hand pose before he fires, to boot!

But what’s most interesting about this wave of merchandising nostalgia for the early Marvel/Capcom games—off of the back of the re-release of several of the classic games in the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection last year—is that they’re now all dropping right as Marvel’s fighting game legacy prepares to move away from Capcom itself. The start of this month saw Sony make a surprise reveal of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, a new tag-team fighter in the vein of those classic Capcom titles, but made by Guilty Gear‘s Arc Systems Works. It was the first major Marvel fighting game not developed by Capcom in years, and came in the wake of the disappointing release of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite back in 2017.

The MvC series had spent nearly a decade wash with disappointment for the latest title, while also patting itself on the back for the legacy that had come before it. Now, on the video game front, that legacy is preparing to go elsewhere. But on your toy shelf, at least, it’s staying firmly put in Capcom’s court.

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