Marvel masterpieces you can't legally buy in 2026

As with any licensed property, video games based on pre-existing IP don't always last forever, even if they're great. Rights holders move on, rights ownership expires, and sometimes a studio just can't sustain the support a game needs to keep it available for an extended period of time.

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This was unfortunately very widespread Marvel games. Due to the ownership of the rights changing (in large part because Disney started gobbling them up when the MCU took off), there are a lot of fantastic Marvel games that you just can't buy anymore. There may be some used copies on Amazon, but if you're looking for these games in an online store, you're out of luck.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows

His legacy remains in meme culture

Before we get into the rest of Marvel, we'll cover a few of the webhead games, as a surprising number of excellent Spider-Man games have been released over the past two decades. First up is Spider-Man: Web of Shadowsan excellent open-world action game developed by Shaba Games and Treyarch.

Web of Shadows it followed a similar formula to other open-worlds from the 2000s Spider-Man games. You could walk around Manhattan, encountering random events and collecting collectibles. It featured an improved version of the combat system that allowed you to fight enemies on walls and in the air, as well as the ability to switch between red, blue and black suits at any time, each with its own moveset and skill tree. Web of Shadows was removed when Activision's ownership rights to Marvel expired, a common theme we'll see a lot in this list. However, just last week, Twitter user/X Stormslayer released a fan-made remaster of the game that runs on PC emulation.

The Ultimate Spider-Man

He received a posthumous nod in Marvel's Spider-Man 2

Also developed by Treyarch, The Ultimate Spider-Man came on the scene a few years ago Web of Shadows and just 15 months after the sequel Spider-Man 2. This one was packed with a cel-shaded art style meant to evoke the look of the comic it was based on, but had one more ace up its sleeve that changed the way people looked at it. Spider-Man games forever.

Not only yes The Ultimate Spider-Man would let you explore the open world as Spider-Man, but at set times you'd switch to playing as Venom while still having access to the open world. Spidey was faster and more mobile, while Venom, while still able to web swing, was heavier and more powerful. This was even given a nod Marvel's Spider-Man 2 during the sequence at the end of Act 2, where you briefly play as Venom and go on a rampage through New York. unfortunately, The Ultimate Spider-Man was also a victim of rights expiration and is no longer available.

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions

The best of the non-open world Spider-Man games

Following web of shadows, Treyarch moved on to development Call of Duty full-time games and Activision passed on the rights Spider-Man games via Beenox, the studio that ported Web of Shadows to the PC. Beenox's first crack at Spidey was Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, a linear action adventure game featuring not one, not two, but four different versions of Spider-Man: Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man Noir, Spider-Man 2099 and Ultimate Spider-Man.

Featuring an all-star cast of former Spider-Man voice actors Broken dimensions he sold out his fight and was better for it. There was definitely a sense of limitation due to the lack of an open world, but the storytelling and gameplay were so strong that it was still a must-watch for Spidey fans. It was so good that writer Dan Slott used it as inspiration Spider-Verse comic book story that was later adapted into a modern classic animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its continuation. unfortunately, Broken dimensions (and its minor sequel, Edge of Time) were also victims of Activision's rights expiration. The good news is that Stormslayer has also released a fan-made remaster of this game for PC emulators.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance

The King of Beat 'Em Ups

At a time when beat 'em ups were still one of the most popular game genres, Raven Software followed up on X-Men Legends games with Marvel Ultimate Allianceteam-based beat 'em up featuring 23 playable Marvel heroes, anti-heroes and villains, all hailing from across the Marvel Universe. The “next-gen” versions (PS3 and Xbox 360) featured Colossus and Moon Knight as additional characters, while a pair of expansion packs added eight more characters to the roster.

While these are basic RPG elements, with automatic upgrades rather than character building, Marvel Ultimate Alliance it was still great to play, each character felt distinct and boasted unique abilities that could be combined with other characters in a variety of cool ways. Like every other game on this list (so far), Marvel Ultimate Alliance was removed after the rights expired at Activision. While Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order The Nintendo Switch tries to recapture some of the magic, but it can't quite recreate what made this game so special.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2

An inferior sequel, but not without charm

Taken over by Raven Software (after the studio switched to first-person shooters and eventually became and Call of Duty team), developed by Vicarious Visions Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, a direct sequel to the first game that ditched the original narrative and instead followed a plot adapted from civil war and Secret Wars comic stories. While Vicarious did his best to follow in Raven's footsteps, Ultimate Alliance 2 came out as a smaller version of the first game. But that doesn't mean it's not worth playing.

It features a roster of 34 playable characters (with the controversial pre-order character Juggernaut), including some then-unknown names such as Cable, Sentry, and Songbird, Ultimate Alliance 2 he still had some really cool fusion moves that the two characters could perform in tandem. It also improved graphically over its predecessor, and the revised storyline allowed for some branching narrative options depending on which side you chose, resulting in potential boss battles against characters like Iron Man or Captain America. As another victim of Activision's rights expiration, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 can no longer be purchased. Strangely, the Xbox Store listing is still there, just without the purchase link.

Deadpool

A relic from the pre-Ryan Reynolds era

Developed by High Moon Studios, the team behind the criminally underrated Darkwatch and the bourne plot, Deadpool was the first attempt to rehabilitate Marvel's Merc with a Mouth after his notoriously scorned adaptation in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Honestly, it does a pretty good job. Long before Ryan Reynolds got the chance to bring the character to life on the big screen, 2013 Deadpool the game captured everything fans love about the character in video game form.

Deadpool, played by Nolan North (aka Nathan Drake), is his vulgar, absurd, fourth-wall-breaking self, complete with dual katana and pistols to dismember enemies, as well as some other weapons as you progress. The humor and voice acting are spot on, and while the combat doesn't revolutionize action games, it's still a lot of fun, with plenty of skill upgrades and all the violence and gore you'd expect (and some stealth options too, weirdly). Deadpool was also a victim of Activision's license expiration, but a spiritual successor, Marvel's Deadpool VR, it is available if you have the hardware for it.

Marvel's Avengers

Imperfect live service elements sunk a solid character action game

We can finally stop blaming Activision for making these games unavailable today. Marvel's Avengers was a live-action character action game developed by Crystal Dynamics and published by Square Enix. It was the first crack at the Marvel game for both companies, but you wouldn't know it. The story does an admirable job of separating its now iconic characters from their MCU counterparts and delivers a solid story of how the Avengers “reassemble” after a devastating attack they were unable to prevent.

The live service elements are what ultimately brought this game down. Marvel's Avengers is a decent character action game, crippled by the need to keep all characters balanced to make the multiplayer work. The combat itself is actually quite fun (the disappointment of the Hulk being left out aside), and each character has a wildly diverse moveset that feels like it could work as a starting point for solo play. They also all have a number of awesome unlockable skins. The post-release content is also excellent, with Hawkeye Future Imperfect the story is a special highlight. But eventually Marvel's Avengers was brought down by trying and failing to maintain a formula for live services that didn't fit his ideas or design, leading to the eventual cancellation of further updates. Today, those who bought it originally can still play the single-player content offline, but newcomers can no longer purchase the game.