Vs. System (short for Versus System ), also written as VS System and abbreviated as VS , is a collectible card game designed by Upper Deck Entertainment (UDE). In the game, players build and play a deck of Vs. System cards in an attempt to win a game against their opponent. It was first published in 2004 and is set in the superhero genre. The game was discontinued by Upper Deck Entertainment in January 2009.
110-411: UDE announced at the 2014 Gen Con Indianapolis that they would be letting convention-goers playtest a subset of Marvel Origins reprinted as "Vs. System Living Card Game ". UDE then relaunched Vs. System at the 2015 Gen Con Indianapolis in its updated 2PCG format, switching from the traditional, partially-randomized card distribution model of most CCGs to a non-random, fixed-distribution model. The sets of
220-529: A Multiverse resembling DC's parallel worlds ; this plot device allows one to create several fictional universes which normally do not overlap. What happens on Earth in the main Marvel Universe would normally not affect what happens on a parallel Earth in another Marvel-created universe. However, writers would have the creative ability to write stories in which people from one such universe would visit this alternative universe. In 1982, Marvel published
330-628: A humanoid species of water-breathers that live in Earth's oceans. Most of these races have advanced technology but existed hidden from humanity until recent times. More variants of humanity can be found in the Savage Land (see Places below). Most of the Savage Land races have their origin from a group of primitive ape-men who seems to have escaped the Celestial experiments and whose influence
440-652: A " hero " team versus a " villain " team. The first 3 ( X-Men vs. the Brotherhood , Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock , and Batman vs. the Joker ) drew all their cards from other expansion sets. However, the last 3 ( Batman , Fantastic Four , and X-Men ) contained new cards not in expansions sets. Each of the last 3 starter sets also were published to coincide with an associated film also released that year ( Batman Begins , Fantastic Four , and X-Men: The Last Stand , respectively). UDE had originally planned to release
550-567: A 7th starter set, for Superman (to coincide with the 2006 Superman Returns movie), but that set ended up being cancelled and never released. Additionally, UDE planned an Essential Collections line geared towards introducing characters from outside the Marvel and DC Universes . However, only one such set ever ended up being released, the Hellboy Essential Collection . It contained two pre-constructed 60-card decks,
660-495: A common layout. All cards are marked in the lower left with an expansion code or set code , a three-letter code identifying the set in which the card was published. The first letter of the set code indicates the setting (D for DC Comics and M for Marvel Comics ), except for the Essential Collection set, which starts with the letter E. Most Vs. System cards are released in expansion sets , of which there were
770-497: A comprehensive rule book, and a number of other extras. Like the starter decks, the Hellboy Essential Collection is tournament-legal. UDE also planned a Giant-Size line. However, the only set ever published in the line was The Coming of Galactus , a set geared toward multiplayer play in which multiple players would be pitted against a single powerful player taking on the role of Galactus . All cards in
880-471: A consequence, their acts are recurrently dangerous to mortals. When dire threats threaten the universe, it is not uncommon for these beings to gather together to discuss the threat and even act on it. Most conceptual entities are simply interested in furthering their essential function or to keep the balance with an opposing force. However, certain cosmic entities, such as Galactus , the In-Betweener ,
990-421: A degeneracy that is unhealthy for tournament play and the long term health of the game. When this occurs, organized play intervenes and the offending cards are usually banned. The first card to be banned was "Overload" banned because of its synergy with various attackpumps. Used in tandem, players were able to stun their opponent's board at minimal cost. UDE later released a fixed—playable but unremarkable—version of
1100-509: A higher realm known as Paradise, proving that some form of Heaven and Hell do exist in this Universe, seemingly like those in keeping with common real-world religious belief. Similarly, demons are evil magical beings who take affairs in the matters of the universe. Some of the most powerful are Blackheart , Mephisto , Nightmare , Satannish , Thog the Nether-Spawn and Zom . There are also powerful benevolent mystical entities such as
1210-469: A mist-like substance; some of the most powerful are capable of controlling the weather to a somewhat limited degree. All vampires must ingest blood to maintain their survival and physical vitality. So long as they do so regularly, they cease to age and are immune to diseases. They retain the well-known vulnerabilities common to vampires in other media interpretations, including sunlight, garlic, religious icons and weapons made of silver. Vampires can be killed by
SECTION 10
#17327931746641320-425: A monthly or near-monthly basis, each containing 60 cards, with a number of copies of each unique card equal to the limit of the number of copies a player is allowed in their deck (e.g. three copies of each card in an Android: Netrunner pack). Larger "deluxe" expansions are released less frequently, and typically contain many more cards and sometimes introduce new game mechanisms. Many games from other companies use
1430-462: A new direction in human evolution, as he is born with superpowers even though his genetic profile said he was an ordinary human being. The majority of the public is unaware of what may cause superhuman powers. Other possible origins for superhuman powers include magic , genetic manipulation and/or bionic implants. Some heroes and villains have no powers at all but depend instead on hand-to-hand combat training or advanced technological equipment. In
1540-846: A possible manifestation/ avatar of the One-Above-All . The mentioned One-Above-All is believed to be the supreme, omnipotent being, who solely created the Marvel Multiverse , and possibly acted beyond. He also brought to life the Living Tribunal , an extremely powerful cosmic entity, who serves to maintain balance within the Multiverse. The Marvel Universe is part of a Multiverse , with various universes coexisting simultaneously, usually without affecting each other directly. Furthermore, each universe has various other dimensions associated with it, and one such group
1650-717: A sacred vow not to intervene in events, though the Watcher assigned to Earth, Uatu , has violated this oath on several occasions. The Elders of the Universe are ancient aliens who have often had a great impact on many worlds for billions of years, acting alone or as a group. A power called the Power Primordial is channeled through them. Many other races exist and have formed an "Intergalactic Council" to have their say on matters that affect them all, such as interference from Earth humans in their affairs. Also abundant in
1760-497: A series of titles where events in one book would have repercussions in another title and serialized stories would show characters' growth and change. Headline characters in one title would make cameos or guest appearances in other books. Fantastic Four #12 is the first crossover comic book in modern Marvel continuity (first meeting of Fantastic Four and the Hulk). Eventually, many of the leading heroes (Ant-Man, Wasp, Iron Man, Thor and
1870-433: A similar distribution model, but because "Living Card Game" and its initials "LCG" are registered trademarks of Fantasy Flight Games, other publishers do not use this term. For example, Upper Deck Entertainment relaunched VS System in 2015 as an LCG-style game but markets it as a "Two-Player Card Game" or "2PCG" and similar Doomtown: Reloaded was called an "expandable card game". Fantasy Flight Games currently prints
1980-590: A total of 18. The first 14 expansion sets all had either 165 or 220 cards, but starting with Marvel Legends , which had 273 cards, the size of expansion sets grew larger, peaking at 330 cards of the Marvel Universe set. Marvel Legends also debuted a card face layout redesign. The game was also periodically supplemented by the release of starter deck sets, of which there were a total of 6. The starter deck sets each contained two playable 40 card mini-decks. They pitted two teams against each other, typically
2090-405: A wooden stake driven through the heart, though they return to life if the stake is removed. Vampires are highly allergic to silver and can be killed with it. While they normally heal rapidly, injuries inflicted by silver weapons heal at a much slower rate if the injuries are not fatal. Vampires can also be killed by decapitation or being burned with fire, with burning them to ashes and then scattering
2200-467: A world. The Marvel Universe was also notable for setting its central titles in New York City ; by contrast, many DC heroes live in fictional cities. Care was taken to portray the city and the world as realistically as possible, with the presence of superhumans affecting the common citizens in various ways. Over time, a few Marvel Comics writers lobbied Marvel editors to incorporate the idea of
2310-495: Is Stark Industries, owned by Tony Stark ( Iron Man ), but there are others. Advanced technology has also been given to humans by hidden races, aliens, or time travelers like Kang the Conqueror , who is known to have influenced the robotics industry in the past. In superhumans, the energy required for their superpowers either comes from within using their own body as a source or, if the demand of energy exceeds what their body
SECTION 20
#17327931746642420-435: Is a division of Asmodee North America . Fantasy Flight Publishing was founded in 1995 by its CEO Christian T. Petersen . Since the release of its first game product ( Twilight Imperium ) in 1997, the company has been doing business as Fantasy Flight Games (FFG). Since that time, FFG has become one of the biggest names in the hobby games industry, being a marketplace leader in board games and maintaining strong businesses in
2530-516: Is a member). The lords of the various pantheons sometimes gather in groups known as either the Council of Godheads or the Council of Skyfathers. The gods were forced to stop meddling with humanity (at least openly) a thousand years ago by the Celestials , and most people today believe them to be fictional. Other pantheons have been depicted in the Marvel Universe that is still actively worshiped in
2640-632: Is a term trademarked by Fantasy Flight Games for expandable card games . FFG defines a "Living Card Game" as a variant of collectible card games . LCGs have regular expansions and deck construction like CCGs, but do not have the "blind buy purchase model" of CCGs. Instead of randomized starter decks and booster packs , LCGs have starter sets and expansion packs with fixed non-randomized distribution of cards. Their starter sets come with pre-constructed starter decks, and are designed to be self-contained; they can be played by themselves or expanded for constructed play with expansions. Expansion packs are released on
2750-473: Is capable to deliver, comes from another source. Marvel tries to explain most superpowers and their sources "scientifically", usually through the use of fictional science-like concepts, such as: A degree of paranoid fear against mutants exists due to stories of mutants being a species or even a subspecies of humans ( Homo superior or Homo sapiens superior ) that is evolving and is meant to replace normal humans. This has caused organizations to form to deal with
2860-567: Is collectively known as a Reality. Often what is referred to in the comics as a Universe is actually a Reality . According to mythology, the Multiverse has been created by the omnipotent being One-Above-All . Even the Marvel Multiverse, however, is only a part of the Omniverse, which consists of all of fiction and reality combined, including all the works that are outside of Marvel's copyright restrictions. The action of most of
2970-530: Is either restricted from use after the license expires or the characters redesigned or renamed to avoid copyright infringement. Within the fictional history of the Marvel Universe, the tradition of using costumed secret identities to fight or commit evil had long existed, but it came into prominence during the days of the American " Wild West " with heroes such as Carter Slade/the Phantom Rider . During
3080-575: Is known by various names and appearances in other cultures and among the various pantheons, but she is the same being. As a result, she is a member of every polytheistic pantheon of 'gods' worshiped by humans. Besides mythological gods, many deities made up by Marvel writers exist as well, such as the Dark Gods, enemies of the Asgardians . The Dark Gods are a race of 'gods' that have been worshiped by extraterrestrial races. Well-known alien races like
3190-869: Is located in the Andromeda Galaxy, the Kree Empire in the Greater Magellanic Cloud, which is a satellite of the Milky Way galaxy in which Earth, of course, is found, and the Shi´ar Empire is located somewhere between them in one of the smaller galaxies (perhaps the Triangulum Galaxy); frequently, these three empires are quoted as the main political powers "in the universe". Similarly, the Local Group seems to be
3300-459: Is no longer produced or supported by Fantasy Flight. On November 17, 2014, it was announced that Fantasy Flight Games had agreed on a merger with French board game publisher Asmodée Éditions . Asmodee has helped to bring some of Fantasy Flight's board games to digital form, and in October 2017, Asmodée and Fantasy Flight announced the formation of Fantasy Flight Interactive, a division of
3410-652: Is one of the principal deities of Hindu religion, his defeat offended some followers of Hinduism. This battle was retconned later as having been the deity Indra , the Hindu god of thunder, who was posing as Shiva, that met defeat. To avoid offending the believers of still active religions, Marvel features such deities as characters in the background or who make very brief cameo appearances. Marvel's depiction of vampires has been heavily influenced by various interpretations of popular media, such as Bram Stoker 's Dracula . As with many other supernatural creatures, Marvel entwined
Vs. System - Misplaced Pages Continue
3520-730: Is present in all modern Homo sapiens . Other leftovers from the era when primitive humanoids walked on Earth still exist, such as the radiation-altered Neanderthal man known as the Missing Link , an enemy of the Hulk. The Marvel Universe also contains hundreds of intelligent alien races. Earth has interacted with many of them because a major " hyperspace warp" happens to exist in the Solar System . The three major space empires are: The three are often in direct or indirect conflict, which occasionally involves Earth humans; in particular,
3630-552: Is purely due to story conveniences (or a somewhat haphazardly shifting patchwork pattern of authors), and mainly that the fictional "continuity" has been maintained and expanded far beyond what Stan Lee and others originally planned or hoped for. Hence, the passing of time was more discernible in the very early years, such as the graduation of Spider-Man ; and what started as children or teenaged characters, such as Kitty Pryde , Franklin Richards , Valeria Richards , Power Pack , or
3740-535: Is unknown why this happens, though a warp known as the Nexus of All Realities exists in a swamp in the Florida Everglades of Earth-616. For the most part, this does not matter, as most beings are unaware that this occurs, or even that their universes were recently "born" from another. However, individuals and organizations exist that try to monitor or manipulate the various realities. These include Immortus ,
3850-1031: The Avengers , the X-Men , the Fantastic Four , the Guardians of the Galaxy , and many Marvel superheroes live in this universe, including characters such as Spider-Man , Captain America , Iron Man , Thor , the Hulk , Ant-Man , the Wasp , Wolverine , Black Panther , Doctor Strange , Daredevil , and Captain Marvel , Blade , Black Widow , Hawkeye , Mister Fantastic , among numerous others. It also contains well-known supervillains such as Doctor Doom , Magneto , Ultron , Thanos , Loki , The Green Goblin , Kang
3960-570: The Big Bang . 'The " Fulcrum " is a comparatively recent addition to the hierarchy, that "all" cosmic entities allegedly serve, of a level of raw power stated to far surpass the might of the Watchers and the Celestials. Unlike most other entities, it is capable of conscience, compassion, and even a sense of humor, and has stated that it wants other cosmic beings to develop such as well. He is
4070-609: The Captain Britain Corps , the Time Variance Authority , the Timebreakers / Exiles , and Kang the Conqueror 's forces. It is possible to travel through time without creating a new alternative universe, instead of altering events in the future, but this seems to have devastating and very far-reaching repercussions, as depicted in Marvel 1602 (it almost destroyed the whole multiverse, including
4180-844: The Frightful Four , the Lethal Legion , the Legion of the Unliving , the Black Order , the Annihilation Wave , and the Cabal . Most of the superhumans in Marvel's Earth owe their powers to the Celestials , cosmic entities who visited Earth millions of years ago and experimented on their prehistoric ancestors (a process they also carried out on several other planets). This resulted in the creation of two hidden races ,
4290-603: The Hulk , Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Silver Surfer , while the most recent incarnation of the team consists of street-level New York City heroes Daredevil , Jessica Jones , Luke Cage and Iron Fist . The Guardians of the Galaxy include Marvel's cosmic characters such as Adam Warlock , Star-Lord , Gamora , Drax the Destroyer , Rocket Raccoon and Groot , but the team has also introduced other heroes into
4400-839: The Inhumans (composed of Blackagar Boltagon , Medusalith Amaquelin-Boltagon , Crystalia Amaquelin-Boltagon/Crystal , Gorgon , Karnak Mandel-Azur/Karnak the Shatterer , Triton and Lockjaw ) and Alexi Shostakov/the Red Guardian . Other notable heroes from the Bronze Age and Modern Age from the early-to-mid 1970s to the early 1990s include James "Logan" Howlett/Wolverine , Ororo Munroe/Storm , Piotr "Peter" Rasputin/Colossus , Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler , Luke Cage (also known as Power-Man), Danny Rand/Iron Fist , Misty Knight , Colleen Wing , Barbara "Bobbi" Morse/Mockingbird ,
4510-518: The Inhumans , another genetically unstable race (like the Deviants, but in their case, it is due to their use of a substance called the "Terrigen Mists") that was created by a Kree experiment long ago; the Subterraneans , a race of humanoids adapted to living below the surface, created by the Deviants (some Subterraneans were transformed into the 'Lava Men' by a demon); and Homo mermanus ,
Vs. System - Misplaced Pages Continue
4620-549: The Maelstrom , or the Stranger have demonstrated personality, motivations, or (except for the first one mentioned) even ambitions beyond their functions, but often maintain the perspective that morality is entirely relative, or that destroying civilizations of "lesser" beings is no eviler than if these beings destroyed an anthill. Others such as Uatu the Watcher , Eon, or the Celestials , Ashema and Tiamut are aberrations in
4730-680: The New Mutants are all allowed to age at wildly shifting rates (in the second case even backward at times), whereas surrounding characters somewhat dependent on a certain age limit do not change at all. This recurrently creates inherently contradictory effects, as events are routinely described to have happened several years ago, even in cases when this would mean that some of the involved characters would have been toddlers. Different approaches also exist regarding allowing "second-generation" descendants of heroes or villains, full-grown over 18 years after an event (for example, Hulkling , other members of
4840-542: The New Warriors , David Haller/Legion , John Proudstar/Warpath-Thunderbird , Anna Marie LeBeau/Rogue and Jubilation Lee/Jubilee . Some of Marvel's more recent creations from the mid-to-late 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, such as Wade Wilson/Deadpool , Remy LeBeau/Gambit , Nathan Summers/Cable , Neena Thurman/Domino , Clarice Fong/Blink , the Thunderbolts , Yelena Belova (also known as the second Black Widow),
4950-748: The Runaways , the modern Guardians of the Galaxy , the modern Defenders (based on the Netflix MCU version of the same name ), Laura Kinney/X-23 (a.k.a. the second Wolverine), Shuri , the Dora Milaje , Daisy Johnson (also known as Quake), Phil Coulson , Melinda May , Bucky Barnes/the Winter Soldier , Maria Hill , Miles Morales (the second Spider-Man of the Ultimate Marvel Universe), Hope van Dyne (also known as
5060-500: The Shi'ar and Skrulls also have beings they worship as 'gods', though little has been revealed about them. Many persons and beings have falsely pretended to be gods or demons during history; in particular, none of the ones claiming to be major figures from Judeo-Christian beliefs have turned out to be the real article, although several angels have appeared in recent years, as well as an apparent true rebellion and expulsion of angels from
5170-1725: The Vision , Simon Williams/Wonder Man , Hercules , Kevin Plunder/Ka-Zar , Groot , Nick Fury , T'Challa/the Black Panther , Mar-Vell (the first Captain Marvel), Carol Danvers (also known as the first Ms. Marvel, Binary, Warbird, and the current Captain Marvel), Sam Wilson/the Falcon , Dane Whitman/the Black Knight , Norrin Radd/the Silver Surfer , Jane Foster (also known as the second Thor), Warren Worthington III/the Angel-Archangel , Hank McCoy/the Beast , Scott Summers/Cyclops , Robert "Bobby" Drake/the Iceman , Jean Grey (also known as Marvel Girl and Phoenix), Charles Xavier/Professor X , Lorna Dane/Polaris , Alex Summers/Havok , Sean Cassidy/the Banshee , Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic , Susan Storm/the Invisible Woman , Johnny Storm/the Human Torch , Ben Grimm/the Thing , Brunnhilde/the Valkyrie ,
5280-423: The Young Avengers , the Runaways , and the Secret Warriors ), whereas other books, such as Young Allies use the inherent contradiction to debunk similar claims. If a past storyline wherein a direct depiction of a then-current president or similar is referred to in a later era, it tends to become updated accordingly, sometimes with an "in-joke" acknowledgment. A more recent explanation was given by Galactus to
5390-425: The afterlife ). Also, time itself passes much differently within the confines of the Marvel Universe than it does in the real world. Despite various characters having appeared within company publications for decades, few, if any, have aged to any appreciable degree. For example, the patriotic hero Captain America was created in 1941 but stopped appearing in titles soon after the end of World War II . The character
5500-457: The 20th century, the tradition was reinvigorated by Steve Rogers/Captain America and the Invaders in the 1940s, who fought for the Allies of World War II . Unlike the DC Universe , few of Marvel's Golden Age characters have risen to prominence in modern publications; Captain America is one exception, and to a lesser extent, his contemporary, Namor the Sub-Mariner , primarily because both of these characters were reintroduced to readers and
5610-550: The Avengers have included Marvel's major heroes as members at one time or another. The X-Men are a team of mutants led by Professor X and include many of Marvel's most popular characters, such as Wolverine and others. The Fantastic Four are viewed as "Marvel's First Family" of superheroes, usually consisting of Mister Fantastic , the Invisible Woman , the Human Torch and the Thing , as well as siblings Franklin and Valeria Richards . The Defenders were an ad hoc team usually brought together by Doctor Strange which has included
SECTION 50
#17327931746645720-483: The Avengers set. In 2004, Vs. System won the Gamers' Choice Award and was also nominated for Best Collectible Card Game or Expansion both from Origins Awards . In 2005 it received the Game of the Year award from InQuest Gamer . Fantasy Flight Games#Living Card Games Fantasy Flight Games ( FFG ) is a game developer based in Roseville, Minnesota , United States, that creates and publishes role-playing , board , card , and dice games. As of 2014, it
5830-419: The Barbarian Nyarlathotep and Set. Some deities or demonic beings that are original characters of Marvel have been heavily influenced by these mythologies, such as Shuma-Gorath . Most of the current generation of gods have been revealed to be the descendants of the Elder Goddess Gaea . The two most featured pantheons are the Asgardians (of whom Thor is a member) and the Olympians (of whom Hercules
5940-426: The Barbarian , Red Sonja , Kull the Conqueror , and Solomon Kane also have real-life existences in the Marvel Universe. The Hyborian Era of Conan and Kull is considered part of Earth-616 pre-recorded history. However, they rarely encounter modern Marvel superhero characters. This is most likely possible due to the uncertain legal status of Howard's works before 2006 when they became public domain. As of 2019, Conan
6050-442: The Barbarian, as well as Kull the Conqueror and Solomon Kane, have been firmly integrated, thanks to Marvel regaining the publishing rights to the characters. Other licensed works that have been incorporated into the Marvel Universe include Godzilla , the Transformers , the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (in the character of Machine Man ), Rom the Spaceknight , the Micronauts , and the Shogun Warriors . In most cases, such material
6160-427: The Conqueror , Red Skull , The Kingpin , Doctor Octopus , Carnage , Apocalypse , Dormammu , Mysterio , Electro , and the Vulture . It also contains antiheroes such as Venom , Namor , Deadpool , Silver Sable , Ghost Rider , The Punisher , Elektra , and Black Cat . The Marvel Universe is further depicted as existing within a " multiverse " consisting of thousands of separate universes, all of which are
6270-486: The DC Universe. This is one method of explaining the various crossover stories co-published by the two companies. Pop culture characters such as Sherlock Holmes , Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster exist in the Marvel Universe. This is usually justified as a second-hand account of events as told to credited authors Sir Arthur Conan Doyle , Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley , although the general public continues to believe them to be fictional. Robert E. Howard 's Conan
6380-492: The Destroyer , Peter Quill/Star-Lord , Gamora , Rocket Raccoon , Frank Castle/the Punisher , Marc Spector/the Moon Knight , the Eternals (composed of Ikaris , Thena , Ajak , Makkari , Kingo , Phastos , Gilgamesh and Sprite ), War Machine , Nova (Richard Rider), Adam Warlock , Power Pack , Betsy Braddock , Scott Lang (the second Ant-Man), Felicia Hardy/the Black Cat , Silver Sable , Katherine "Kitty" Pryde (also known as Shadowcat, Ariel, Sprite, Star-Lord and
6490-404: The Fixer) and Jolt , while the current incarnation of the team is made up of reformed supervillains/anti-heroes working for the government: Deadpool , the Punisher , the Red Hulk , the Winter Soldier and the Ghost . Although teams of supervillains are few and far between, notable examples include the Masters of Evil , the Emissaries of Evil , the Brotherhood of Mutants , the Sinister Six ,
6600-424: The Hulk) assembled into a team known as the Avengers , which debuted in September 1963. This was not the first time that Marvel's characters had interacted with one another— Namor the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch had been rivals when Marvel was Timely Comics (Marvel Vault), under editor Martin Goodman — but it was the first time that the comic book publisher's characters seemed to share
6710-450: The Kree and Skrulls are ancient enemies, and the Kree-Skrull War has involved humans on several occasions. The Skrulls have also been known to be in a long and consistent war against the Majesdanians, who live on a milky planet named Majesdane. The war between the two had started after two Majesdanians, Frank and Leslie Dean of the Pride had been kicked out for criminal activities; the two traveled to Earth, where Frank and Leslie stopped
SECTION 60
#17327931746646820-427: The Marvel Comics titles takes place in a continuity known as Earth-616 . This continuity exists in a multiverse alongside trillions of alternative continuities. Alternative continuities in the Marvel Multiverse are generally defined in terms of their differences from Earth-616. Continuities besides Earth-616 include the following (for a complete listing see Multiverse (Marvel Comics) ): One cannot normally alter
6930-452: The Marvel Universe are legendary creatures such as gods, demons and vampires . The 'gods' of most polytheistic pantheons are powerful, immortal human-like races residing in other dimensions who visited Earth in ancient times, and became the basis of many legends. However, all of these 'gods' share a common ancestry and connection to Earth due to Gaea, the primeval Elder Goddess that infused her life essence into all living things on Earth. Gaea
7040-449: The Marvel Universe compared to the real world, owing to the serial nature of storytelling, with the stories of certain issues picking up mere seconds after the conclusion of the previous one, while a whole month has passed by in "real-time". Marvel's major heroes were created in the 1960s, but the amount of time that has passed between then and now within the universe itself has (after a prolonged period of being identified as about 10 years in
7150-488: The Marvel Universe during the 1960s. Marvel's most prominent heroes were created during the Silver Age of Comic Books in the 1960s to early 1970s, including Peter Parker/Spider-Man , Tony Stark/Iron Man , Thor , Bruce Banner/the Hulk , Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange , Matt Murdock/Daredevil , Ant-Man and the Wasp (Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne), Natasha Romanoff/the Black Widow , Clint Barton/Hawkeye , Pietro Maxmioff/Quicksilver , Wanda Maximoff/the Scarlet Witch ,
7260-599: The Marvel Universe is home to a large number of superheroes and supervillains , who have gained their powers by any of these means. The general public is so familiar with such concepts that Empire State University has a scholarship for "aliens, dimensional travelers, clones, independent machine intelligences and other students outside the norm", businesses and residences have superhero property insurance and bookmakers take bets on their battles' outcomes, and New York air traffic controllers handle starships landing at local airports . Comparatively, little time passes in
7370-414: The Marvel Universe's history; if a time-traveler should cause an alteration to the established flow of events at some point in the past, a divergent universe will simply "branch out" from the existing timeline, and the time-traveler will still return to his or her unaltered original universe. Those realities can also spawn realities of their own. There exist hundreds, probably thousands of such realities. It
7480-505: The Marvel Universe, technology is considerably more advanced than in the real world; this is due to unique individuals of genius-level intelligence, such as Reed Richards ( Mister Fantastic ) of the Fantastic Four. However, most of the advanced devices (such as powered armor and death rays ) are too expensive for the common citizen, and are usually in the hands of government organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D., or powerful criminal organizations like A.I.M. One major company producing these devices
7590-415: The Marvel Universe. (A universe incorporating all these types of fantastic elements is fairly rare; another example is the DC Universe .) Monsters also play a more prominent role with east Asian origins of magical incantation, outlandish sorcery and manifesting principle in the Marvel Universe. One such case is Fin Fang Foom arising from the ashes of tantric magic. Thanks to these extra elements, Earth in
7700-433: The Pride . The Midnight Sons consist of supernatural heroes such as Blade , Ghost Rider , Moon Knight , Elsa Bloodstone , Hellstrom , the Werewolf and the Man-Thing . The Thunderbolts' original incarnation were supervillains disguised as superheroes consisting of Citizen V (a.k.a. Helmut Zemo ), MACH-IV (a.k.a. the Beetle), Songbird (a.k.a. Screaming Mimi), Moonstone (a.k.a. Meteorite), Techno/the Ogre (a.k.a.
7810-404: The Red Queen and the second Wasp), Cassandra Lang (also known as Stature, Stinger, Ant-Girl and Giant-Girl), the Stepford Cuckoos , Amadeus Cho (also known as the second Hulk), Kamala Khan (also known as the second Ms. Marvel), Kate Bishop (also known as the third Hawkeye), Lunaella Lafayette/Moon Girl , America Chavez (also known as the second Miss America), Robbie Reyes (also known as
7920-661: The Red Queen), Emma Frost (also known as the White Queen), Jennifer Walters/the She-Hulk , Tyrone Johnson/Cloak and Tandy Bowen/Dagger , Brian Braddock/Captain Britain , Doreen Green/Squirrel Girl , Elektra Natchios , the New Mutants (composed of Illyana Rasputin/Magik , Xi'an Coy Minh/Karma , Danielle Moonstar/Mirage , Sam Guthrie/Cannonball , Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane , Doug Ramsey/Cypher , Warlock and others),
8030-531: The Rings , as well as board games based upon popular computer games: Doom: The Boardgame , StarCraft: The Board Game , and World of Warcraft: The Board Game . They are also known for revising and reprinting popular or cult classic games, including Cosmic Encounter , Arkham Horror , Talisman , and Netrunner . From 2010 to 2013 FFG was Dust Studio's partner in publishing and distributing Paulo Parente's miniature wargame Dust Tactics . Commenting on
8140-705: The Ultimates, namely that some important events – for instance, the creation of the Fantastic Four or the Avengers – have a 'gravity' all their own and warp time around them, causing the timeline to subtly change to accommodate this. While the Marvel Universe is presumably as large as the non-fictional universe comic book readers inhabit, for all intents and purposes the Local Group is the universe; practically all action takes place in it. The Skrull Empire
8250-526: The Vishanti; or amoral and malevolent entities who are not truly demonic, such as Dormammu and the Octessence, or ones heavily drawing upon the mythologies of H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard . Some supernatural beings, entities and human characters created by Lovecraft and Howard, who were friends and influenced each other's work, have been adapted by Marvel and include Abdul Alhazred , Conan
8360-701: The Vs. System are based on the superheroic settings of Marvel and DC Comics , with the exception of a smaller set called the Hellboy Essential Collection. For the most part expansion sets alternated release between Marvel-based sets and DC Comics based sets with new sets every three to six months. All sets are interchangeable and compatible with each other and share the same card back. This allows players to mix characters fighting against or with each other. Card art, characters, and gameplay concepts are inspired by their comic book appearances with
8470-801: The White Tiger (Hector Ayala), Shang-Chi , Greer Grant Nelson/Tigra , Jessica Drew (also known as Spider-Woman), the Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Daimon Hellstrom , Satana Hellstrom , Theodore "Ted" Sallis/the Man-Thing , Eric Brooks/Blade the Vampire-Slayer , Michael Morbius/Morbius the Living Vampire , Howard the Duck , Monica Rambeau (also known as Photon, Pulsar, Spectrum and the second Captain Marvel), Moondragon , Drax
8580-481: The actual adventures of the superheroes (except for details not known to the public, like their secret identities); many of these are licensed with the permission of the heroes themselves, who customarily donate their share of profits to charity. Additionally, the DC Comics Universe is also said to exist in the Marvel Universe as one of the many alternative universes. The reverse may also be said concerning
8690-412: The ashes being the most effective means of ensuring their demise (scattering the ashes is done so that the vampire cannot be mystically resurrected). The cosmic entities are beings of unbelievably great levels of power (the weakest of whom can destroy entire planets) who exist to perform duties that maintain the existence of the universe. Most do not care at all about "lesser beings" such as humans, and as
8800-675: The card called System Failure, released in MAV. Unlike most CCGs which have banned lists unique to various formats, UDE has chosen to have one universal all-encompassing banned list. A video game based on the Vs. System was released on February 27, 2007 for the PC , PSP and Nintendo DS . It was developed by Vicious Cycle Software and published by Konami . The game has been named as the Marvel Trading Card game and only includes cards from Marvel Origins and Marvel-based expansions up to
8910-644: The card game, roleplaying game, and miniature game categories. From 2000 through 2008, FFG produced a series of supplements and adventures for Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition under the Open Gaming License . This series was collectively known as Legends & Lairs. These books included supplements for classes, expanded magic, and environments, as well as a series of Instant Adventure booklets. In 2008, FFG partnered with Games Workshop to represent Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 settings in role-playing, board, and card games. FFG announced
9020-484: The creations of Marvel Comics and all of which are, in a sense, "Marvel universes". In this context, "Marvel Universe" is taken to refer to the mainstream Marvel continuity , which is known as Earth-616 or Prime Earth . Some of Timely Comics (the 1930s and '40s predecessor to Marvel Comics) characters coexisted in the same world was first established in Marvel Mystery Comics #7 (1940) where Namor
9130-435: The designers using what they describe as "top-down design", meaning they make every attempt to develop a character's card mechanics in keeping with how the character is represented in comic books. Well known artists that have contributed card art include Alex Ross , John Van Fleet , Alex Garner , Jim Lee , Rachel Dodson , and Bill Sienkiewicz . The Vs. System attempts to emulate epic superhero battles. Each player starts
9240-491: The end of that partnership on September 9, 2016. Effective February 28, 2017, FFG no longer offers for sale any games made in conjunction with Games Workshop. In August 2011, Fantasy Flight Games acquired the license for card, miniature and role-playing games set in the Star Wars universe. They have also created board and card games for the well-known licenses Game of Thrones , Battlestar Galactica , and The Lord of
9350-516: The espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and its enemies, HYDRA and A.I.M. In 2009 Marvel officially described its world's geography in a two-part miniseries, the Marvel Atlas . Most importantly, the Marvel Universe also incorporates examples of almost all major science fiction and fantasy concepts, with writers adding more continuously. Aliens, gods, magic, cosmic powers and extremely advanced human-developed technology all exist prominently in
9460-607: The following LCGs: Fantasy Flight Games has previously printed the following LCGs: Fantasy Flight has also printed Blue Moon Legends , which is a comprehensive collection of Blue Moon and its expansions. Although it has similar gameplay and a fixed card set like a Living Card Game, it was not released in the Living Card Game line. Fantasy Flight Games published the card game KeyForge in 2018. Created by Magic: The Gathering designer Richard Garfield , KeyForge differs from other collectible card games (CCGs) in that
9570-627: The fourth Ghost Rider), Riri Williams/Ironheart and Spider-Gwen ( Gwen Stacy of Earth-65) have become popular characters in their own right. Prominent teams of superheroes include the Avengers , the X-Men , the Fantastic Four , the Defenders , the Inhumans , S.H.I.E.L.D. , the Howling Commandos , the Guardians of the Galaxy , the Runaways , the Midnight Sons and the Thunderbolts . All these groups have varying lineups;
9680-571: The game uses procedural generation to create unique decks. Commonly, CCGs are sold in pre-built decks or boosters packs. Fantasy Flight Games calls KeyForge a "unique deck game" because each deck contains a procedurally designed character unique to that deck called an Archon. IGN described the game as "a bold new idea and a vastly different kind of game format", but questioned the randomization model, speculating that "people won't be spending tons of money on single rare cards, but that may have been replaced with spending tons of money on random deck boxes in
9790-589: The game with 50 "endurance points". If a player has zero or negative endurance at the end of the Recovery Phase, he or she is knocked out of the game. The Vs. System Comprehensive Rules has an in-depth explanation of every aspect of the game and is official for use in tournament judging. There are four types of cards in the Vs. System, with color-coded frames: Character (usually red, but black for "concealed" characters), Equipment (gray), Location (green), and Plot Twist (blue). All four types of cards share
9900-623: The godlike Eternals and the genetically unstable Deviants , in addition to giving some humans an "x-factor" in their genes, which sometimes activates naturally, resulting in sometimes superpowered, sometimes disfigured individuals called mutants . Others require other factors (such as radiation ) for their powers to come forth. Depending on the genetic profile, individuals who are exposed to different chemicals or radiation will often suffer death or injury, while in others it will cause superhuman abilities to manifest. Except for psionic abilities, these powers are usually random; rarely do two people have
10010-434: The heels of Contest of Champions . The Marvel Universe is strongly based on the real world. Earth in the Marvel Universe has all the features of the real one: same countries, same personalities (politicians, movie stars, etc.), same historical events (such as World War II), and so on; however, it also contains many other fictional elements: countries such as Wakanda and Latveria (very small nations) and organizations like
10120-495: The hopes of getting lucky with a great card combination. On June 22, 2022, it was announced that Ghost Galaxy had acquired KeyForge from Fantasy Flight Games. 45°0′56″N 93°11′5″W / 45.01556°N 93.18472°W / 45.01556; -93.18472 Marvel Universe The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Superhero teams such as
10230-616: The merged companies to bring more of Fantasy Flight's physical board games to digital implementations. However, as part of a company-wide layoff, Fantasy Flight opted to close Fantasy Flight Interactive in January 2020. In December 2019 through January 2020 Asmodee announced they were moving towards focusing on Fantasy Flight Games' core boardgame-, dice- and card- games. Their tabletop role-playing games like Star Wars and Genesys will move to Edge Entertainment and Miniatures games like X-wing and Armada to Atomic Mass. Living Card Game
10340-427: The mid-to-late 1990s) most recently been identified as 13 years. Consequently, the settings of some events which were contemporary when written have to be updated every few years to "make sense" in this floating timeline . Thus, the events of previous stories are considered to have happened within a certain number of years before the publishing date of the current issue. For example, Spider-Man 's high school graduation
10450-418: The miniseries Contest of Champions , in which all of the major heroes in existence at the time were gathered together to deal with one threat. This was Marvel's first miniseries. Each issue contained biographical information on many major costumed characters; these biographies were a precursor to Marvel's series of reference material, The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe , which followed shortly on
10560-912: The origin of vampires with aspects of the mythologies created by Lovecraft and Howard. They were created by magical rites performed by priests of Atlantis before the Great Cataclysm that destroyed much of the world, with Varnae becoming the first vampire. Marvel would depict vampires as frequent antagonists during the Hyborian Age to Howard characters such as Kull and Conan. In recent years, Marvel's depiction of vampires has altered greatly by creating various subspecies of vampires that exist in clans that greatly differ in appearance and belief. All vampires are depicted with varying degrees of superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes and accelerated healing. Many are capable of transforming into animals such as bats or wolves; some can transform into
10670-465: The problem, who can be divided into three camps: those who seek peaceful coexistence between mutants and normal humans (the X-Men and their affiliated groups), those who seek to control or eliminate humans to give mutants safety or dominance ( Magneto and his followers, as well as other mutants such as Apocalypse ), and those who seek to regulate or eliminate mutants in favor of humans. The latter often use
10780-513: The real world, including those worshiped by the Aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, the gods of Hinduism , the Shinto gods and the gods of Zoroastrianism . These deities are rarely depicted, however. One such appearance generated a good deal of controversy as the depiction involved a fight between Marvel's incarnation of Thor and the Hindu god Shiva , a battle which Shiva lost. As Shiva
10890-552: The robots known as the Sentinels as weapons. Certain species are regarded as subhuman , like the Morlocks , who lurk beneath New York City and have been discriminated against by the outside world because of their mutant deformities. The Morlocks have recently joined the terrorist organization Gene Nation. In addition to mutants, Eternals, and Deviants, several other intelligent races have existed secretly on Earth. These include
11000-511: The roster such as Kitty Pryde , the Silver Surfer, the Thing and Nova . The Inhumans are a royal family consisting of Black Bolt , Medusa , Crystal , Gorgon , Triton , Karnak and Lockjaw , who rule the city of Attilan. The Runaways are a group of teenagers and a dinosaur consisting of Alex Wilder , Nico Minoru , Karolina Dean , Chase Stein , Molly Hayes , Gert Yorkes and Old Lace who rebel against their evil parents known as
11110-409: The same set of powers. It is not clear why the Celestials did this, although it is known that they continue to observe humanity's evolution. A Marvel series titled Earth X explored one possible reason for this: that superhumans are meant to protect a Celestial embryo that grows inside Earth against any planetary threats and have done so for eons. An X-Men villain that is known as Vargas claims to be
11220-460: The sense of sympathizing with, and occasionally coming to the defense of, humanity. The Phoenix Force first received personification in Jean Grey . The Phoenix Force is composed of the psionic energy from all living beings' past, present, and future, and is an embodiment of rebirth and destructive transformation through "burning away what doesn't work", and helped to restart the universe before
11330-586: The set were legal for tournament play, with the exception of an oversized Galactus card and "Planet" cards. Finally, there were exclusive sets , consisting of promotional cards associated with a particular expansion set released through venues such as conventions and tournaments. The exclusives sets are listed here rather than in the table below. The 5 exclusive sets (with set codes in parentheses) were: The following table lists all non-exclusive sets in chronological order of release: In tournament play, there are three common formats: Upper Deck Entertainment planned
11440-452: The shift in 2013 Petersen stated “it became clear that Paolo and the Dust games would be better served by a partner who specializes in the unique business of miniature games.” Fantasy Flight Games was known for their game franchise Midnight , which was also made into a movie called Midnight Chronicles by the company's short-lived Landroval Studios. As of 2012, it appears that Midnight
11550-509: The war against Earth in exchange for giving the Skrulls the location of Majesdane, which was hidden behind the corona of a white dwarf . The war had gone on for 16 years minimum; it ended abruptly after the Skrulls shot a barrage of missiles at Majesdane, who retaliated. Another prominent alien race is the Watchers , immortal and wise beings who watch over the Marvel Universe and have taken
11660-410: The year-round professional $ 1 million Organized Play Pro Circuit prior to the release of the game. The following is a listing of players who have won more than one 10K event or have won a Pro Circuit event. As with most TCGs, the ever-increasing card pool leads to more and more combinations and possibilities. While this is generally considered to be a positive factor, sometimes these combinations bring
11770-781: Was changed in a 2004 storyline to refer to the War on Terror in Afghanistan , whereas the original Iron Man stories had referred to the Vietnam War in Vietnam ; similarly, The Punisher 's backstory has also been changed as well. Marvel Comics itself exists as a company within the Marvel Universe, and versions of people such as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby have appeared in some of the stories, whereas characters like Steve Rogers, ( Captain America 's alter ego ), have worked for Marvel. The Marvel of this reality publishes comics that adapt
11880-528: Was mentioned in Human Torch 's story, and vice versa. Later several superheroes (who starred in separate stories in the series up to that point) met each other in a group dubbed the All-Winners Squad . Though the concept of a shared universe was not new or unique to comic books in 1961, writer/editor Stan Lee , together with several artists including Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko , created
11990-553: Was published in Amazing Spider-Man #28 (September 1965), his college graduation in Amazing Spider-Man #185 (October 1978), and his high school reunion in Marvel Knights Spider-Man #7 (December 2004). Because of the floating timeline, where stories refer to real-life historic events, these references are later ignored or rewritten to suit current sensibilities; for instance, the origin of Iron Man
12100-499: Was revived more than 20 years later, explained as having been frozen in a block of ice though believed to be dead, to lead Marvel's latest team of superheroes the Avengers . This first Avengers team featured several characters that would go on to be some of the company's most famous and most popular. Although the characters would be portrayed in hundreds and even thousands of adventures over the decades, they have been portrayed as having aged little or not at all. Naturally, this tendency
#663336