The Best Superhero Games You Can Play Right Now

Midnight Suns

Superheroes are perfectly suited to video games, but it’s taken a while for developers to get up to speed and realise that it’s not just about trying to replicate cool comic book powers and gadgets. The best superhero video games understand that it’s just as much about the characters, the worlds they inhabit, their motivations, and interactions with their peers that make superheroes so compelling.

So while we can point to a bunch of games with superheroes in them, these are the best at capturing the world of the comic book and turn it into something really special.

Batman: Arkham Asylum

Really, you can take your pick of Rocksteady’s Batman games - Arkham Asylum, Arkham City and Arkham Knight - and have a good time with all three of them. But for us, Batman: Arkham Asylum is the better stealth-and-punch game of the three. It’s a streamlined Batman experience, with surprise takedowns and really crunchy punch-ups making up the bulk of the game, way before the sequels got a little too ambitious with bloat.

Fans of the comics should be able to feel how very close it is to Grant Morrison’s treatment of Arkham, combined with Frank Miller’s no-nonsense violence. Rocksteady does a fantastic job of understanding the Batman and giving the player a real power trip at the same time. And if you’re not really sure which one to buy, Warner and Humble Bundle is currently offering a fantastic deal on all Batman-related games.

Play on: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

Injustice 2

Sometimes you can’t be bothered with stories and soap opera and all that dramatic fluff you find in comic books. Sometimes you just crave overpowered superheroes having a big old punch-up. That’s where the Injustice games come in. Developed by the fighting obsessives at Netherealm - you know, the Mortal Kombat team - Injustice 2 takes that classic formula of muscles, threats, and a fist to the face, and gives it a lovely DC Comics wrapping.

It looks amazing, and it features an absolute jam-packed roster of fighters. Sure, you can play as Superman and Wonder Woman - and you should - but it also throws in characters like Gorilla Grodd and Swamp Thing, who you’re never likely to find in other games, and gives them just as much reverence as the headline acts. Injustice 2 gives you the opportunity to duke it out with some of the darker corners of the DC Universe.

Play on: PC, PS4, Xbox One

Marvel Snap

Let’s keep it simple, shall we? Marvel Snap is a quick, slick, and funky little mobile game where you build a deck of heroes and villains and fight over a location. Best of three wins. Blammo.

In less-talented hands it could have become one of those mobile games that gets delisted from stores with little fanfare. But Marvel Snap was created by some of the minds behind the excellent Hearthstone, so it prioritizes fun gameplay over the dreaded monetisation. And with over 1000 variant card covers it follows the Marvel template of constantly giving players cool artwork to pour over.

Play on: PC, Android, iOS

Marvel’s Midnight Suns

Midnight Suns feels fresh because it takes a bunch of Marvel characters and steers them away from the expected action adventure dust-up. Developed by XCOM studio Firaxis, this is a tactical role-playing game with turn-based combat using card decks, which is as far from the “tap X to punch” gameplay you’ll find in 90 percent of superhero games.

It’s a different experience but one that is just as thrilling as you create your hero, The Hunter, and team-up with some classic (Iron Man, Doctor Strange) and not so well known heroes (Magik, Nico Minoru) from the Marvel universe. Loosely based on the Midnight Sons storyline, you take on Lilith and her quest to steal the Darkhold in this goth-centric battle to stop the world ending. Recommended as a great superhero game but also one that feels very different to others out there.

Play on: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox X/S, Xbox One

Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy

The second Marvel game from publisher Square Enix (following the avoidable Marvel’s Avengers), Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is a great action game with an enjoyable storyline. It manages to escape the long shadow of the excellent movie cast and deliver Guardians who somehow feel unique to the game itself. With a range of believable emotions on display, some very good dialogue and a streamlined, 12-ish hours of play, it’s a wheeze from start to finish. Crammed full of 1980s pop culture references, you’ll speed through this single player game and come out the other side smiling.

Play on: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox X/S, Xbox One, Switch

DC Universe Online

It’s still alive! We can’t quite believe it either, because it exists under the radar of all the other big name superhero games. But while they come and most of them go, DC Universe Online has been trotting along since it launched in 2011.

You create your own superhero or villain, bust your way out of Brainiac’s spaceship, and then you’re free to explore the open world of the DC Universe, interacting with famous heroes and villains. It’s a traditional free-to-play MMO with all the familiar trappings like raids, solo missions and multiplayer team-ups, and developer Day Break games has done an admiral job of delivering updates and tweaks that see it thrive in 2023.

Play on: PC, Switch

Marvel’s Iron Man VR

Hey, look, you need to do something with that clunky VR headset that’s been lying around untouched for six months. We’d recommend dusting it off and having a go at Marvel’s Iron Man VR. It’s not a full-on video game experience, but it is a slick little first-person shooter where you live the Iron Man fantasy - cruising through the air, blasting enemies while wearing a cool metal suit.

And while you’ve got your VR headset on, download Batman Arkham VR, a first-person detective game where you gather clues to the missing whereabouts of Nightwing and others. It’s pretty neat for an hour or so.

Play on: PS4, Meta Quest 2

Lego Marvel Super Heroes

We will never not recommend Lego Marvel Super Heroes to anyone who enjoys the knockabout fun of Lego and the silliness of classic Marvel. Here you play as pretty much the entire Marvel Universe in an open world environment, punching, flying, driving, falling and laughing in a game that comes dangerously close to a time-sink of stupidity. There are multiple Lego Marvel and DC games, and to be honest, all are a lot of fun, but the original Lego Marvel Super Heroes still feels super-fresh.

Play on: PS3, PS4, PC, Xbox One, Switch

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

There’s a reason why Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is being hailed as the best superhero game ever made. That’s because it is. It’s a fantastic refinement of Insomniac’s gameplay - swinging through New York feels so natural, the combat slick and effective, and there’s a fantastic roster of heroes, villains and major players in Peter Parker’s life. Oh, and Miles Morales’ life too. Because you play as both characters. They both feel different, and with alternate missions, as well as a guest star we won’t spoil here (but isn’t hard to guess), it’s not so much a superhero game as a superhero comic book simulation.

We absolutely endorse Insomniac's other Spider-Man games on PS4, btw. Now, let’s just imagine what Insomniac is going to do with Wolverine.

Play on: PS5