Choose the Perfect Marvel-Themed Board Games – Infographic Guide
Our friend Ann Deakins from the wonderful site About Time Board Games shared her thoughts with us on how to choose the perfect Marvel themed board games.
Now that the gruesome year 2020 is finally behind us, I thought it would be interesting and exciting to bring you some of the best Marvel Comics board games available on the market nowadays, and to review them for your and our pleasure.
The list is massive. So I divided the items to Marvel card games and Marvel board games – thus played on a literal board – based on their primary ways of playing.
Get ready for fun!
Marvel Card Games
Thematic Card Games
By thematic card games, I mean games that are available in different forms and editions, too, not just with Marvel characters and topics. Such evergreen games in this list featuring a Marvel design are Hedbanz, UNO, Codenames, Love Letter game, Fluxx, Munchkin and others.
Marvel Hedbanz Board Game
In a Hedbanz game you really have to use your head – you need to guess which Marvel character’s card is tied to your forehead, by asking questions from your fellow players, since the only one who doesn’t know your card is you, and the others don’t know their own card either and also try to guess their card. The game includes 60 character cards, along with 24 scoring chips, 6 headbands and masks, timer and game instructions.
The first player to guess his or her Marvel character wins the game.
UNO Avengers Card Game
This card game is a classic UNO game, with the exciting Marvel’s Avengers theme. The deck features UNO cards with the images of Avengers characters like Captain America, The Hulk or Black Widow from the movie.
There are some special modifications to the original UNO gameplay, like the unique Infinity Gauntlet Card and the Avengers Assemble Card offering special abilities to the given player who plays it!
UNO Marvel Captain Marvel
Similarly to the above mentioned UNO Avengers cards, this game also has a Marvel theme, but this time with Captain Marvel. The game is the best for avid Captain Marvel fans, as her story and movie are in the focus, and the cards all feature something relating to her story and movie.
The deck contains a special Cosmic Crush Wild Card in order to shake up the competition!
Codenames: Marvel Card Game
In Codenames: Marvel you play the well-known social word game with characters and places from the MCU. The two teams, S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra, have to play against each other to find the field agents.
This game includes a 5×5 grid of cards where there the field agents, neutral words and a secret assassin can be found. Avoid the assassin because he brings instant defeat to your or your opponent’s team.
Overall, the design of this card game is really nice, stylistic and faithful to the Marvel Universe. If you are into such social word games, then Codenames: Marvel is perfect for you.
AQUARIUS Marvel Avengers End Game Movie Playing Cards
If you are a Marvel fan who likes ordinary playing cards, this deck is for you. Thanos is a central figure in the End Game movie, and these cards feature multiple images from the movie and about Thanos.
The officially licensed merchandise is really cool, and the pictures are neat, although it’s a little hard to read the numbers if your eyes are not that good (like mine).
Infinity Gauntlet: A Love Letter Game
This card game and the deck has a nice artwork, and it’s ideal if you like the Love Letter type-games, since it’s based on those mechanics. The objective of the game is to defeat Thanos with the heroes/players. If Thanos has all the Infinity Stones, he wins.
The cards can do a number of different things, but essentially the higher numbers win. If either Thanos or the heroes lose all hit points, the other faction wins.
Marvel Fluxx Card Game with Collector’s Coin
Fluxx is a great card game and it has many editions, a Marvel edition, too. This package also includes a Collector’s coin, which serves to remember whose turn it is among the players.
For those who are less familiar with this game: in Fluxx, the cards determine the rules of the game itself – things like how to draw, how to play or how to win with cards. This deck includes 100 nicely designed, Marvel-themed cards.
Munchkin Marvel Edition
In the Munchkin card game’s Marvel edition, you need to reach Level 10 in order to win, and you do this by defeating Marvel-related monsters with Marvel heroes, gaining bonuses and acquiring treasures. Loot the room to gain new items, kick down the door and enjoy this Marvel game with your best friends!
Don’t forget to look out for the expansion sets of this game!
Original Card Board Games
By original card board games, I mean those Marvel card games collected, that are not based on any older games like UNO or Fluxx. The following games were designed just for you to experience the ultimate Marvel Cinematic Universe card game fun!
Play with the Good Guys
Avengers Assemble! If you are the fan of Marvel heroes, then you can play as one of those heroes to save the day once again from the already known Marvel monsters and evils.
Marvel United by Spin Master Games
In Spin Master’s Marvel United you play against a selected Marvel villain, like Ultron or Taskmaster, and each player chooses a hero receiving cards and a playing figure. Each hero has special abilities, and players have to complete assigned missions like rescuing civilians or defeating thugs before bringing down the big boss.
There are easily distinguishable tokens in the game package along with top-notch paintable hero miniatures, and neat location cards. Overall, this is an easy play with clear rules, and I’m really satisfied with this card game.
Marvel Contest of Champions: Battlerealm by Fantasy Flight Games
In this game you control a Marvel hero through a hero or champion card and four power cards. You either have to knockout other players or collect points in order to win.
The Marvel artwork is great, and the cards are all very nice, and there are some location cards and special dice to make this card game all the more interesting.
Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Deadpool Expansion Board Game
Every Marvel fan knows Deadpool, assassin extraordinaire, famous person and overall handsome fellow. It’s a different question if you like him or not. 😊 But he has his very own card game!
These playing cards include original Marvel art, and fun references to this anti-hero. This Deadpool version is an expansion set, so you will require the Marvel Legendary core set to play with it.
Marvel Champions: The Card Game
Marvel Champions is a superhero combat game played with cards published by Fantasy Flight Games. Each player has an identity card for his or her hero, and since it’s a co-op game, players have to fight together against a villain in order to win.
The cards are really nice, and I can say that the Marvel design is really cool, too. Game mechanics are well thought out, as you can upgrade, take action and have allies. You can take an alterego form with your hero, too, for example to play as Peter Parker or as SpiderMan, and villains will scheme or fight against you to make your life more difficult.
It’s worth checking it out this Marvel treasure.
Marvel Champions: The Rise of Red Skull
The Rise of Red Skull is an expansion set to the Marvel Champions card game. Check out the additional playing cards of Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, Crossbones, Zola, Taskmaster or Red Skull, and play the exciting campaign found in the rulebook. Don’t want to spoil the story, but it’s all very interesting, and it is Hydra-related as you could guess.
As this is an expansion set, it is useful to have the core set, and to be familiar with the original version of Marvel Champions already mentioned above.
Play with the Bad Guys
There are many villains and bad guys when it comes to Marvel stories. The following card games enable you to lead Evil to victory! Isn’t it fun to be bad sometimes? Just ask these guys!
Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power
In this game you may choose from Thanos, Ultron, Hela, Killmonger or Taskmaster to fulfill your dark destiny against the other players and the world. Each bad guy has their own unique story and missions to complete, with their own powers and goals.
Defeat and crush Earth’s mightiest heroes like Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, The Hulk and others!
Marvel Sinister Six, Spider-Man Villains Heist Card Game for Teens & Adults
In Marvel Sinister Six, the focus is on Spider-Man villains, as you can compete as the Green Goblin, Venom, Lizard and others to become a master super villain and defeat Spider-Man. This is a heist card game, which means that there are different locations where you can steal the loot, while escaping from Spidey.
Defeat Spider-Man in Sinister Six!
Marvel Board Games
The other type of Marvel games are actual board games played on boards and not through cards only. They may include some playing cards, too, but the game is mainly based on a board in some form.
Thematic Marvel Board Games
Among these we find Marvel games that can be found in other versions, too, but in this case they have Marvel designs or specially modified rules, let those be Monopoly, Stratego or even chess.
Marvel Monopoly Games
Monopoly is a very popular board game, and as you may have guessed there are some Marvel versions to it as well.
Marvel Comics Collector’s Monopoly
This board game is a really classic one. Not just in the sense of being a Monopoly, but by having a traditional Marvel Comics design and style. The „Properties” (featured in Monopoly) are all represented by the 22 most popular Marvel Comic Books covers.
If you are a fan of the Marvel art and stories from the 1960s and 1970s, you will appreciate this board game. The package includes some interesting collectible tokens, too.
Hasbro Gaming’s Monopoly Game: Marvel Deadpool Edition
Deadpool again? It’s no surprise that this eccentric and popular Marvel anti-hero even has his own Monopoly game edition, brought to you by Hasbro Gaming.
On the cover of the box, you can see the characteristic red and black figure, but in the package itself there are themed tokens, property spaces, Contract, Pouches, and Dumb Luck cards as well, but everything has some kind of Deadpool symbol on it, and even the dice are red and black.
If you are the fan of this crazy character, don’t forget to check this game out.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Monopoly
The Guardians of the Galaxy are one the funniest hero groups in the Marvel Universe, and their story is among the best Marvel ones in my opinion. No wonder that they are very popular, and that they have their very own Monopoly game.
The game has all the Guardians of the Galaxy characteristics, starting from the box cover with their picture on it, cool artwork and characters from both movies, houses and hotels are also renamed to meet the story. The coolest things, however, are of course the available miniatures and Baby Groot.
Monopoly Black Panther
Black Panther is one of the most popular Marvel characters, so it’s understandable that he received his own Monopoly game version. The playing figures are all Black Panther related and the game also features locations and characters from the story of Wakanda’s hero.
Black and purple are dominant colors here as they are in Black Panther, too, and the box features all the game instructions, board, Black Panther-styled heart and bead-themed cards, and purple-black dice necessary to play Monopoly.
Other Thematic Marvel Board Games
There are many thematic board games with Marvel versions, too, other than Monopoly. Let us see the most interesting ones on the market.
Marvel Chess Board
Chess is one of the most ancient strategic board games, and Marvel has managed to update it to have its own version. The rules of the game are practically the same as the original one’s, with heroes featuring on one side and villains featuring on the other side with the same game mechanics.
In this Hasbro board game, the figures are little cardboard pieces with a pretty design. It’s ideal for children who are just getting to know chess, and the Marvel design makes it all the more attractive.
Marvel Avengers Trouble Game
Trouble Game is familiar to most of us from our childhood, as it is one of the simplest board games. In the Avengers styled Trouble Game you can choose Black Widow, Hulk, Iron Man or Thor as players, and in different colors, and the heroes walk around Captain America’s shield on the board. The game includes a Pop-O-Matic dice roller which is very useful to avoid the dice from getting lost.
Stratego: Marvel Heroes
Stratego can be a familiar game to many of us strategy board game nerds, but a Marvel Stratego can be even more exciting than the ordinary one. Instead of soldiers and officers, there are Marvel heroes and villains on each side, but there are special powers to them, too, which they can use during the gameplay.
The Stratego board is a little bit different from the original, as it reminds me to a Marvel metropolis battleground.
Marvel Dice Masters
In this dice building game, each die represents a hero, such as Spiderman, Ironman, Hulk, Human Torch, Captain America, Storm, Beast or Thor. The players bring action cards and battle against each other by throwing dice, and reducing each other’s hit points in order to win.
MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) Risk
Take the role of Captain America, the Winter Soldier, Iron Man, Ultron or Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe Risk to lead your faction to victory. Rule Manhattan and join the fight against or along the Marvel heroes and villains in this game based on classical Risk.
Enjoy the unique Marvel design and custom sculpts made for each faction and conquer the board.
Hasbro’s Iron Man Risk
Hasbro’s Iron Man Risk is a modified version of the Risk game, featuring Team Captain America or Team Iron Man. You can choose to play with two or four players taking the role of Captain America and Falcon, or Iron Man and War Machine.
There are a number of hero figures and troop tokens in the package along with an updated Civil War edition Risk battleground.
Control the most territories on the board, capture the Winter Soldier, and escape with the Quinjet!
Original Marvel Board Games
These games are originally and specifically designed for MCU fans, as they have their own game systems and their each own separate story. I divided the games into versions played with dice or without dice, as this point can be important to many players.
Played with Dice
Alea iacta est! In other words – the die has been cast, said Julius Caesar.
Dice are age old accessories to games and board games, and there are some variants which have less or more than 6 sides, or can have special symbols on them. If you prefer playing with dice, then check out the following Marvel board games.
Marvel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever Board Game
Wakanda Forever is set in Black Panther’s homeland from the MCU, and each player represents and leads a tribe from Wakanda. Players collect Vibranium as a game resource through the roll of a dice, and your objective is to become the Black Panther, the ruler of Wakanda.
There is a shorter and a longer gameplay, and the game design and cards are simply stunning. This Marvel game is certainly worth your precious attention.
Marvel Thanos Rising: Avengers Infinity War
In this board game, players try to defeat Thanos in achieving his evil masterplan – as in the Marvel movies and comic books, Thanos tries to collect the six Infinity Stones to power up the Infinity Gauntlet to achieve ultimate power, and your team has to prevent him from doing that. That’s the game objective.
Thanos Rising is an exciting dice and card board game, ideal for 2-4 players, and for Marvel fans.
Atomic Mass Games Marvel Crisis Protocol Core Set
In this one, players can actually play on a board resembling a street with Marvel characters. The hero figures are amazing, as well as the design of this fantastic tactical game, and you also have special dice to play with.
Players can choose to be either good or bad guys, heroes or villains from the Marvel Universe, build teams and use each character’s special skills and speed to their advantage.
Hasbro’s Heroscape Marvel Game Set
Hasbro’s Heroscape Marvel Game is played on a hexagonal game board with different terrains and structures. You may pick from several game scenarios while choosing either the good or bad guys in this Marvel-styled dice-playing game. A single game set includes 10 painted Marvel heroes and villains, 40 terrain pieces and 2 glyphs, and many many dice and markers.
The main goal is practically that you have to wage war against the other team and destroy each other in the game.
Marvel Heroes: The Marvel Universe Strategy Boardgame
With great power comes great responsibility…
This is a famous quote from the Spider-Man movie, and a subheading to this board game, but now it is upon you to unleash your powers, and win in Marvel Heroes.
In this Marvel board game you have to fight over New York City with the Super Heroes against their Nemesis. The game includes high-quality plastic figures for both factions and a large board representing the city. The character cards show the hero’s special abilities and there are power-ups that can be achieved.
Not Played with Dice
Some board game players just don’t prefer rolling the dice. If you happen to be one of those people, then the following Marvel board games are made for you.
Hail Hydra Board Game
Hail Hydra is a board game where once again you can be evil. It’s a social deduction game, so there are actually Hydra traitors among the players, and the teams of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra fight against each other in New York City!
Discover all your favourite S.H.I.E.L.D. / Avengers heroes and Hydra villains from the stories and movies and win. Hail Hydra!
Marvel Strike Teams HeroClix Strategy Game
In this particular Marvel board game, the Avengers and Hydra fight against each other once again in the battle of good versus evil. The board game package includes various hero or villain figures, square-based maps, missions and player cards.
One player is a villainous mastermind, while the other players control their heroes in missions to complete given objectives while using items, controlling obstacles, weapons and objects. All very tactical.
Conclusion
We hope that this list of Marvel board games has been comprehensive enough, and that it helped you find your favourite game of choice.
Played either with cards or on a board, with or without dice, or in any other fashion, all of these board games have some sort of a Marvel design and/or are set in the Marvel Universe we all love and cherish.
Game on!
