House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4 Review: Rook’s Rest

This HOUSE OF THE DRAGON review contains spoilers. Exhaustively researched and extensively detailed, Annie Jacobsen’s book, Nuclear War: A Scenario, presents what a 24-hour period during a hypothetical nuclear exchange would look like. As the nukes begin to fall on the United States, Russia, Western Europe, and the Korean Peninsula, Jacobsen imagines what must be going through […]

The post House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 4 Review: Rook’s Rest appeared first on Den of Geek.

Recently, it was announced that Capcom would be releasing yet another game collection, this time focusing on their arcade efforts with Marvel Comics. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics comes with a rocking Punisher beat ‘em up, as well as a series of six fighting games that have evolved over the course of six years. In 1994, X-Men: Children of the Atom arrived with an Akuma cameo in it, and by 2000, we had Marvel vs. Capcom 2, featuring a massive roster of heroes and villains from both companies.

The cover art, used as part of the collection’s reveal, updates the intro of X-Men vs. Street Fighter by once again having Ryu shake hands with Cyclops. It’s a fitting image, as the Jim Lee version of Cyclops is back in the zeitgeist thanks to the success of X-Men ’97. Still, certain parts of those games might not feel as timeless in 2024 as they were in the mid-’90s.

It’s the norm for comic books to take a status quo and then muck with it for the sake of adding a new coat of paint onto everything. Give it time, and things will rubber-band back to the “iconic” way. Spider-Man will wear a new costume until it’s time to go back to the original outfit. Superman will grow a mullet until it runs its course and he gets a haircut. Deadpool will lead a team of Deadpools (and later a team of guys dressed as Deadpool) until it’s time to make him a solo act again.

Anyway, here are some aspects of the Marvel vs. Capcom games that are stuck in the ‘90s.

Professor Hulk

In 1987, Peter David started a very lengthy run on Incredible Hulk, with an initial focus on Hulk’s gray-skinned personality, Mr. Fixit. In 1991, David changed things up a bunch by doing a story where psychiatrist Doc Samson merged Banner, Savage Hulk, and Mr. Fixit into one entity. From there, we got Smart/Professor/Merged Hulk. Unlike in the MCU, where he kept Banner’s nerdy personality, the comic version had more dash to him. This remained Hulk’s main form until David left the book in 1998 due to disagreements with the editorial team. The following writers went back to the angry Neanderthal take.

However, as Marvel Super Heroes came out in 1995, and was based on 1991’s Infinity Gauntlet comic event, they went with the intelligent, smirking, confident Professor Hulk version of the character. Capcom made virtually no changes to the sprites or voice samples when it came to Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. In fact, it wasn’t until Marvel vs. Capcom 3 came out with its 3D character graphics that they finally had the better-known “HULK SMASH!” incarnation.

Terraxia

As mentioned, Marvel Super Heroes was a loose adaptation of Infinity Gauntlet. That gives us some very specific cameos, like in the background for the Thanos boss fight. We get the likes of Death, Mephisto, She-Hulk, Scarlet Witch, Drax the Destroyer, and Nova. Most notable here is the use of Eric Masterson as Thor, who held the mantle for about a year and a half, but is immortalized by having that change happen during this comic’s storyline. While Masterson Thor shows up in Captain America’s arcade ending, they go back to the regular version of the character when Thor is an assist in Marvel vs. Capcom.

During Thanos’ victory animation, Terraxia even appears and hugs him (which he retains in Marvel vs. Capcom 2). This is enough of a deep cut that she’s surprisingly never been brought back in any way. During Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos tried to make Death jealous by Weird Sciencing his own girlfriend into existence with the Gauntlet. Terraxia succeeded in brutally murdering both Iron Man and Spider-Man for Thanos but was later killed thanks to Nebula getting her hands on the Gauntlet.

The Parker Marriage

Ah, this one just stings.

Marvel Super Heroes came out in the midst of Spider-Man’s infamous Clone Saga, where the team-up adventures with his clone Scarlet Spider went on for far too long thanks to editorial meddling. A big plot point was that Mary Jane was pregnant, which is reflected in Spider-Man’s Marvel Super Heroes ending, where he comes home and she gives him the good news. Unfortunately, the Clone Saga would messily end with the baby being kidnapped under the guise of a miscarriage, then forgotten about completely. Yeah, comics.

At least the Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter ending would at least have Peter come home to Mary Jane and enjoy their babyless marriage. For as long as that lasted. In