F.A.Q. • *Don't you mean Battle Royale and not Hunger Games?* - The writer of Avengers Arena, Dennis Hopeless, directly called out Hunger Games in interviews. Yes, the first cover of Avengers Arena is a tribute to Battle Royale, but I am referring to the book that ARCADE based Murderworld on, not Hopeless. Even then, it really doesn't matter.
Actually in issue 7 it is heavily implied that the book that inspired Arcade to carry out this new version of Murder World was neither Battle Royale nor Hunger games, but "Lord of the Flies" ... although, really, Avengers Arena has much more to do with Battle Royale than with any other similar book (you only need to read it or see the movie to realize it)
I'm going with battle royale and the covers are paying homage to it. Don't recall hunger games having a black and white class photo with red marks are dead members but battle royale did
I've always thought it was meant to be Lord of The Flies. There's a variant cover that references it. (Though there is one for the other two as covers as well)
Arcade's basically a DC villain in the Marvel universe. Marvel villains tend to be more defined by their designs, powers, and weapons where DC villains tend to be more focused on their gimmicks. Couple that with the fact that Arcade kind of just floats around fighting any hero who happens to come against him rather than being tied to one specific hero and he just seems out of place to me.
AFAIK, Marvel's the one that has the more shared villains that float around fighting any hero who happens to come against him, TBH. The Rhino battles both Spider-man and the Hulk, Dr Doom is just as often acts as a big bad for the MU as a whole as well as being the Fantastic 4 archnemesis, Kang has fought the Fantastic Four (as Rama-Tut) and Avengers, Morgan Le Fey started as a spider-woman villainess and became a villain for the MCU as a whole, Thanos was an iron man/Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) baddie before becoming a big bad for the MCU as a whole etc.
Joker is my favorite villain but I absolutely HATE how much he’s used. Like I want to see more of the minor villains. Like so many major villains I’ve kinda just grown to dislike just due to how oversaturated they are. Like I LOVE the villain Anarchy. He’s my second favorite villain, but the last important thing he did was probably being in Batman Arkham Knight, which isn’t even a comic. It’s kinda sad to me.
I don't think joker's overused in modern comics honestly. In terms of his appearances in new52 onwards, he really appears a handful of times and the comics usually make a big deal about it. Animation and movies definitely overuse him though. No disagreement there
Hawe you watched ''Beware Batman''? They focused on less famous Batman vilains and they actually made Anarchy Batman's main antagonist instead of Joker
Tevya Smolka same here it was one of my favorite levels in the game and got me interested in the character. Too bad he hasn't had a big storyline since avengers arena.
Arcade is a sound concept that suffers because of repeatedly botched executions... almost literally, in the sense of his fictional history. Those willing, let me indulge my fanboy bonafides by painting an image of how to make Arcade functional: Let us re-imagine Arcade as a character that walks the line. *Not* as an anti-hero or a sympathetic villain, but as someone who knows how to bend the rules, playing by them when it is to his advantage, but never throwing them out entirely because he knows he'll lose if that happens. That mix of specialized strengths and general weakness. The public face of Arcade is as a sort of entertainer. Murder World (officially) began as a violent fantasy board game but found more success when adapted to video games, and then as a live action obstacle course based game show. The game show (and _some_ of the home games) tone down the violence significantly; contestants may be hurt but along the lines of sports injuries. Periodically, "sports entertainment specials" of Murder World are released, with special effects are used to replicate the violence of the video games, and the content may even be fully scripted. Which is how the *true* Murder World stays hidden in plain sight. While the public side of things is quite profitable, this _other_ Murder World is his true business. Through select channels, he provides actual survival spectacles to the powerful and wealthy. _Technically_ all contestants volunteer for the show, and filming takes place in locations where everything is _barely_ legal. On the rare occasion one of these episodes of Murder World reaches general public, it gets passed off as another pay per view fabrication. Besides the public cover, the *other* big difference between this Murder World and most we've seen before? Arcade has a better sense of fair play, out of *personal necessity.* He doesn't want some government rushing in to stop his fun. He doesn't want high-level superheroes trying to do it all the time. Arcade isn't above Murder World being used to assassinate someone, but he won't do so when it jeopardizes all he's built. As far as he *officially* knows (and the paper trail can back up), everyone who comes to the real Murder World is a volunteer. Rumor has it that some villains, government agencies, and even heroes compete as a means of training. Why is this version of Arcade (and Murder World) so merciful? Arcade is, at his core, pragmatic. He loves the live and death (mostly death) struggle of the contestants, and he loves the power and influence provided by his position (especially his status as a "super villain"). He'll preen and posture while he thinks he is in a position of power, but he'll cower and grovel once he realizes he's lost it. His "product" is good enough that villains tolerate him (a few of his "betters" are even genuine fans); he's selling the entertainment before the assassination, and indeed, his real niche stems from the _slight_ chance the person survives. You don't send someone to Murder World just to die, you send them to die slowly or because you've got some reason you want them to have even the tiniest chance of living through it... which is what keeps various aware heroes and dubious government agencies from just taking him down regardless of the legal technicalities. Frustrating though it is... Arcade is better than the overt evil that came before him and which would likely replace him. You wake up in Arcade's Murder World, and while it may be a death trap, it is one you've at least got an honest chance of surviving. *TL;DR:* Evil(er?) Willy Wonka replacing the chocolate factory with Murder World and no desire (or need) to find a successor. Arcade is a rich sociopath who enjoys hurting others but knows how to control his appetites just enough to avoid serious hassles.
Arcade reminds me more of Mad Mod than the Riddler with the whole trapping the hero in this crazy themed world where he works behind the scenes, having a big ego, and being really lesser known even more so than The Riddler.
I've actually got an interesting idea for an Arcade storyline. He gains the reality stone and turns all of New York into a Murder City and the heroes have to find and stop him while trying to keep themselves and the civilians alive.
Here's my crazy idea: Arcade captures 12 obscure and hated super heroes and forces them to compete in a competition where one dies every issue. Fans get to vote online each issue for who gets killed but the votes are private so that each issue is still a surprise
I think Arcade would be perfect for TV, a season long adaptation of the avengers storyline. Use it to intro new heroes so there is no obvious choice of who is gonna survive.
I had an idea that if they do a heroes for hire show. Have the villain be arcade. A serial killer who kills in elaborate traps and even films them like it’s a game show. The cops can’t figure who he is. So some people hire luke cage and iron fist to figure out who arcade is and stop his murder spree
I find it interesting that you say he's mostly seen as a joke. I agree, of course, that that's how he's seen by the superhero/supervillain community (at least when they're not actively in one of his murder traps), but I've always been under the impression that he's actually a *very* successful assassin outside of that context. I don't think it's brought up as much nowadays, but - if memory serves - when he first appeared, he'd been doing professional murder for quite some time, and started trying to kill superheroes because he got bored. Also, in those days, we'd occasionally see him kill some random person no one had ever heard of at the beginning of a story. I mean, he comes from money, but he's *got* to be doing some serious earning to keep building Murderworlds. :-)
Between what you've shared, and what I've read, Riddler seems to focus more on drawing out ingenuity and having a battle of wits to prove his superiority. Arcade seems like more of a general sadist who wants to savor the pain and death. "Any idiot can kill, I wanted to do it with style!"
Anonymous Account Exactly. People who watch marvel movies while knowing nothing of the comics act like they created the damn character. Tell someone Thanos was beaten by squirl girl and the instantly say "how? all he had to do was snap his fingers. He's literally the strongest in the universe." And i be like "No he isnt. Definitely strong but far from stongest. And no he cant because squirlgirl is unbeatable. Its in the name. Nobody knows how she does it but she does."
Traynell ifill I remember 2012 nobody knew who Thanos was until that post credits scene unless they read comics, but to non-comic readers he grew over time. The only X-Men villain known was Magmeto, until 2016, unless you read comics because Apocalypse was always the big bad in the 90's. Now everyone knows everything about Thanos and Apocalypse only because of the movies
Anonymous Account Exactly. And when you try to tell someone about something thats not in the movies, they always try to bring it back to the movies. Like bro i aint talking about captain america civil war im talking about civil war from the comics.
Traynell ifill Squirrel girl beating Thanos is not actually canon and is written as a joke like the Thanos copter, it's like common sense is lost on this generation,😒😒😒
Mr. Nunuisance I know but i meant as the storyline. I can tell someone about it canon or not and they start giving me a bunch reasons why im wrong because it did or didnt happen in the movie. Squirrel girl was just an example because everyone thinks they know everything about thanos. Its kinda like how people say deadpool killed spiderman and the hulk but its not canon either.
I first learned about Arcade back in the late nineties from a website called The Villains of Marvel Comics. Not being an avid Marvel fan, it introduced me to characters like Thanos, Apocalypse, the Red Skull and, uh, the Spot. One that instantly stood out to me was the dapper redheaded man with the lethal carnival named Arcade. I've never read a story with Arcade but whenever I hear him mentioned I smile, glad he's still remembered and still using a weaponized amusement park for assassination. Got to say, I've never seen Arcade with long hair and it looks good on him.
Arcade, Riddler, Jigsaw Killer, Mad Mod. All genius-level intellect masterminds with death traps. Two of them are redheads. Most wear suits. All are homicidal and mad.
I remember Arcade. I played a lot of Marvel Ultimate Alliance. One of my favorite places in that game was Murderworld. It even had Pitfall. My favorite section of that place was the pinball, wbere you fight Rhino and Shocker. After that, you go into the Fun House and fight Arcade, who was manning a mech. And for a while, I thought he was an enemy of Captain America's
I'm actually quite fond of the Hellcat artsyyle in issue 6, mainly cause Natasha Allegri also worked on the Adventure Time Fionna and Cake comics, as well as Bee and Puppycat.
The Riddler is my favorite Batman villain too. I used to have that card set as well, and I also used to have that Marvel puzzle game on my phone, but while it was fun, I just didn't have a lot of time for it, so I uninstalled it. Didn't even know that it was still going.
I feel like you didn't give him enough credit for the Avengers Arena story. That was a BRUTAl one. He legit kidnapped children and forced them to murder each other. He might be a kind of campy, ridiculous character, but Avengers Arena was something else. That storyline should definitely have more recognition. Imagine how cool it would be to have a tv show based on that series!
Arcade seems like a villain who could set up a VR murder world game similiar to Sword Art Online where players are unable to log out and die once their hp hits zero. Agents of Shield had a concept like this with Virtual Reality ruled by Madam Hydra/Aida in season 4. Yet Arcade using the Darkhold to create a VR murder world would be the best way to reinvent the character.
Amelia Davidson Oh god, yes! I wish you could have included the old school SNES game Arcade’s Revenge, but I do get that it’s not canon. It’s frustrating, because I wish they would write with him more in-depth... Not just a gimmick. I’m also surprised that with as insanely popular as FNAF is, Marvel never did a tie-in with Arcade in murder world.
This is a really good video. I love it when Comic book TH-cam channels talk about lesser known characters. Digging into the lore of comics and talking about different characters is always super awesome!!! Especially when I know of some characters, but don’t know most of their storylines or history. Great job again Drake!!
I am so glad that you are doing the history of the Marvel villain Arcade. He had caught my attention in the Ultimate Spider-Man Animated Series and I'm pretty much kinda sort of heard or remember him from the X-Men evolution TV series as well.
My theory about them using Arcade more is that when we inevitably get a Young Avengers/Champions movie, the villain that brings them all together WILL be Arcade.
Technically yes, but that barely resembled the comic version, he was more just a gamer who got access to real weapons, but didn’t realize. We are talking about X-men Evolution right? I don’t remember him in any others but I could be wrong.
I think Arcade would work better as a villain for either the Daredevil or Defenders show, maybe implement the Hunger Games Murderworld for the Defenders.
when he showed up at the end of spectacular spidermen 3 i went wild, i JUST watched this video the day before i read it, so thanks for making sure i know who the guy is lol
What about a comic about HOW he builds those huge murder worlds. Why some are themed as they are ? Where does he get the material? He doesn't have the power to create matter out of thin air so where does the budget come from? Who is willing to work with him? Mby he has a group of friends with whom he plans these things going about it like a fun , over the top brainstorming session and his buddies have no idea that he's Arcade. Maybe some of them are rly enthusiast when they see that miraculously a villain decided to make a death game similar to what they were discussing theoretically a few month ago. Maybe some are not so happy about this and they start suspecting one another because of this. This might just be a really silly idea and maybe it has already been done and I just don't know about it...but hey! We're here talking comics so why the frick not?
Wait wouldn't Arcade be inspired by the Battle Royale novel instead of Hunger Games? I mean the logo for the comic is a straight rip-off of the Battle Royale logo.
I like that Arcade is kinda inconsistent with his appearances, for two reasons: 1. It makes sense; his Murderworlds must take months, if not years, to be made, even if he's a millionaire, and he must make them superhero proof. 2. He's a hitman, a character that's all about killing his targets, so showing up often would require him to either take out a lot of characters, or having him failing all the time and become a joke, both of which are bad
I feel like a murder world that he could trap a bunch of bigger name heroes in, but they’re all separated and put in a part of it that’s specifically tailored to that hero could be cool. Eventually, some of the heroes would find each other someway or another and that would make it easier to get through the thing.
Arcade & Task Master, with possiby a 3rd anti-hero, should get a series on the Marvel streaming services training/testing future villains & mercenaries. That would be THE SHIT!
I feel like Arcade could work as a maniacal game show host with Murder World as a setting. He's got the charisma, he could hire some of the Marvel Universe's most notorious assassins (Like Kraven the Hunter or Crossbones) and theme their arenas based on their strengths and attributes. He could also recruit Mojo for his media mastery to put this spectacle on TV. Think of it like The Running Man or American Gladiators.
Arcade is one of my favourite underrated comic characters, up there with The Spot and Beetle and Mysterio (well. I guess with Far From Home Mysterio isn't really that obscure/underrated anymore). Which means that when I ran my Marvel campaign in Mutants and Masterminds, they all showed up semi often.
Arcade actully found an appearance as a main antagnonist in an episode of Ultimate Spider-Man (I think that’s what it was called. might be wrong) where he had a video game themed murder world with enemy waves, power-ups, upgrades, and a big boss with a video game weak point. It was a lot of fun.
Murderworld was somewhat based on two seventies cult movies; Futureworld and Westworld. But I never thought of the Riddler when I saw Arcade. I did think of Arcade when I saw Syndrome in The Incredibles. If you want to match him up with a specific hero, then he's perfect for Deadpool.
Since you're into tabletop games, have you ever considered doing some videos on superhero tabletop RPGs? I would love to hear your thoughts on things like the Valiant Universe RPG that came out a few years ago. Maybe the history of licensed superhero ttrpgs, or ones you've played that you really liked. Or superhero ttrpg settings or characters that you liked as much (or even more than) comic book settings. Maybe a little general history of superhero ttrpgs, or call out some that you think are particularly pivotal or iconic. Or, conversely, if you don't really like superhero ttrpgs, talk about why you don't. Seems logical that superhero comic fan + ttrpg fanatic = superhero ttrpg fanatic. But I can see reasons for not.
Video suggestion: How about a video on mysterio? He's all but confirmed for Spiderman 2, and it occurred to me I don't know much about him. I do know there's been many different interpretations of him.
Chris Claremont loved (and created) Arcade and would throw him in the X-Books as much as possible in the 80s, enough that he was considered an actual X-Men villain back then. His best appearance, in my opinion, was Excalibur 4&5 where, yeah, he loses, but he also shows that's he's not necessarily in it to win. This is how he has fun. The idea that he's seen as a joke who longs for attention is pretty contrary to what he was shown as back in those days.
I say, replace the ice cream suit with powered armor and make Murderworld more like Saw. Build his booby traps into his armor and getaway vehicles, too. Give him a tougher name, like "Murdermaster," "Wargames," "Deathmonger" or something. Make Murderworld his hideout, perhaps a survivalist bunker, capable of holding off a SWAT team or National Guard troops and tanks. Perhaps he could start as a creepy child, like a chaotic evil Home Alone kid, then grow up to be a booby trap expert in the military, wanted for war crimes but broke out of a stockade with his tech. This would make superhero intervention more necessary. Make him more like Hannibal Lecter-meets-the Architect of Matrix. A large normal human body count in his Murderworlds would change his image! These changes would give him more street cred.
The cover of that "Hunger Games" like comic is obviously a nod to a japanese movie called battle royale. And also the island part sounds more like that movie.
Murder World with a Arcade a taller guy and a shorter guy so sort of like on Fantasy Island. You could also compare to Toy Man and where only be one would be on Highlander. Murder World could also be like West World. So can compare to different characters and places.
Arcade should be the villain of an Avengers film. The Avengers wake up in a D&D world, their classes are obviously based on how they operate/their roles, show all of them in the world with their names, classes, and quirks (personality traits and faults) listed, pan out to show the region they're in (Murderworld) and have the title come up "Avengers: Arcade". Cut to Arcade explaining the rules of the game to them. They refuse to play along at first, but the NPCs keep trying to kill them for it, so they start to play along (to lessen the breaks in immersion and add comedy). Marvel D&D shenanigans ensue.
He's a D-List villain at best. Along the lines of the Ani-Men or the original Baron Zemo. He won't really be a better character until someone revises him to be more than a one-trick pony..
Thr spider-man cartoons have a problem with dr. Octopus as they use him a lot. He seems to be a go to villan and not use other villians like mysterio morbious chamelon havent been used in a while i like him but if marvels spider-man gets a season 3 maybe use some of the lesser know villians.
I always like when there's some ethical conflict with supervillains. Like during the time where Waller was shipping villains off to a prison planet in the DCU, and all the remaining supervillains worked together, when a lot of them had ISSUES with the Neo-Nazis, but one of them was a telepath/precog so they had no choice. Or when Luthor was perfectly okay with killing people in a crowded mall but found dead children distasteful and cracked the Joker in the jaw for making a spectacle of it. Or hell, when Electro had ISSUES with the Kravinoff family raising the dead in a fauxdoo ritual and he outright said 'Yeah I'm a catholic this is really not-- you know what, forget it, you paid me, what do I do?' It's little touches that add to villains. Hell, the Juggernaut reformed and stopped talking to Black Tom when Tom was totally okay with murdering kids and Cain is more of a.. collateral damage type, who isn't particularly murderous except towards Xavier. I even loved the McDuffie written Justice League, when they made a direct reference to the formation of the newest JLA, with Luthor, Joker and Cheetah instead of Clark, Bruce and Diana. Joker suggesting Dr. Light, Cheetah disagreeing because he's a rapist, and then Luthor casually saying 'Understandable but if we restrict ourselves to people of upstanding moral character, we're going to be very short on people', which convinced Cheetah. And then she gutted him when things fell apart.
If they ever adapt arcade, it would make sense that his first murder world be a pinball motif. Among many other versions based on the comics, also a SAW inspired one, and even one were he could team up with Mojo. I do like that he could be a hitman who is being paid to kill, because then he can be a bad guy to many of marvels heroes not just one faction.
I knew the name arcade from an old x men snes game. But I always thought that the title "Arcades revenge" was probably a joke, because it was probably an arcade game. Later, I undestood that arcade is an actual character.
Really ENJOYED this video! Thanks to the "Harley Quinn" show, I've become a MASSIVE fan of the diminutive nemesis of Wonder Woman, Dr. Psycho. How about an upload, in this style, on him? 🙇🏻♂️
He made for an interesting Genesis game. The concept is very video game-y anyway. I was pretty horrible at games when I played it back then, so I couldn't tell you if the overall game was actually good, but it was still fun for me at the time. I just loved the settings like Gambit having to fight a bunch of Chess pieces and Wolverine working through a ton of plastic ball pits.
F.A.Q.
• *Don't you mean Battle Royale and not Hunger Games?* - The writer of Avengers Arena, Dennis Hopeless, directly called out Hunger Games in interviews. Yes, the first cover of Avengers Arena is a tribute to Battle Royale, but I am referring to the book that ARCADE based Murderworld on, not Hopeless. Even then, it really doesn't matter.
Comic Drake He is really hopeless
Actually in issue 7 it is heavily implied that the book that inspired Arcade to carry out this new version of Murder World was neither Battle Royale nor Hunger games, but "Lord of the Flies" ... although, really, Avengers Arena has much more to do with Battle Royale than with any other similar book (you only need to read it or see the movie to realize it)
I'm going with battle royale and the covers are paying homage to it. Don't recall hunger games having a black and white class photo with red marks are dead members but battle royale did
I've always thought it was meant to be Lord of The Flies. There's a variant cover that references it. (Though there is one for the other two as covers as well)
Arcade references battle royale in the book itself though
Arcade's basically a DC villain in the Marvel universe. Marvel villains tend to be more defined by their designs, powers, and weapons where DC villains tend to be more focused on their gimmicks. Couple that with the fact that Arcade kind of just floats around fighting any hero who happens to come against him rather than being tied to one specific hero and he just seems out of place to me.
Class Act Media what about the more complex marvel villains like Magneto,Venom,or Green Goblin?
I really like Arcade as a Marvel Universe villain cuz most of them are very hero specific. It’s also part of why I like Doctor Doom
He is smth between Toyman and Riddler.
He is considered a mutant tho, genius level intellect is his power
AFAIK, Marvel's the one that has the more shared villains that float around fighting any hero who happens to come against him, TBH. The Rhino battles both Spider-man and the Hulk, Dr Doom is just as often acts as a big bad for the MU as a whole as well as being the Fantastic 4 archnemesis, Kang has fought the Fantastic Four (as Rama-Tut) and Avengers, Morgan Le Fey started as a spider-woman villainess and became a villain for the MCU as a whole, Thanos was an iron man/Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) baddie before becoming a big bad for the MCU as a whole etc.
Arcade is also similar to Toyman in design wise (red hair, big bow tie) and obsession with toy themes
Sandy Scrap Witch not to mention his name is Arcade
Joker is my favorite villain but I absolutely HATE how much he’s used. Like I want to see more of the minor villains. Like so many major villains I’ve kinda just grown to dislike just due to how oversaturated they are. Like I LOVE the villain Anarchy. He’s my second favorite villain, but the last important thing he did was probably being in Batman Arkham Knight, which isn’t even a comic. It’s kinda sad to me.
My top three Batman villains;
1. Calendar Man
2. Scarecrow
3. Riddler
I don't think joker's overused in modern comics honestly. In terms of his appearances in new52 onwards, he really appears a handful of times and the comics usually make a big deal about it.
Animation and movies definitely overuse him though. No disagreement there
Hawe you watched ''Beware Batman''? They focused on less famous Batman vilains and they actually made Anarchy Batman's main antagonist instead of Joker
@@nikeneon3188 Oh I loved that show, easily top 3 favourite batman shows ever
Arcade is surprisingly underused and overused at the same time
Let me clarify he is pretty much never used and made fun of and when they use him they over do it
I saw him in a spiderman episode and I thought his teen master mind thing was cool
@@prophet1390I think they strike this balance in Zeb Wells’s Hellions series
I found him through the ultimate marvel alliance game
Tevya Smolka same here it was one of my favorite levels in the game and got me interested in the character. Too bad he hasn't had a big storyline since avengers arena.
agreed
Tevya Smolka hands down the most fun level
Tevya Smolka I saw him on the game on TH-cam
Todd Howard For Real indeed
Arcade is a sound concept that suffers because of repeatedly botched executions... almost literally, in the sense of his fictional history. Those willing, let me indulge my fanboy bonafides by painting an image of how to make Arcade functional:
Let us re-imagine Arcade as a character that walks the line. *Not* as an anti-hero or a sympathetic villain, but as someone who knows how to bend the rules, playing by them when it is to his advantage, but never throwing them out entirely because he knows he'll lose if that happens. That mix of specialized strengths and general weakness.
The public face of Arcade is as a sort of entertainer. Murder World (officially) began as a violent fantasy board game but found more success when adapted to video games, and then as a live action obstacle course based game show. The game show (and _some_ of the home games) tone down the violence significantly; contestants may be hurt but along the lines of sports injuries. Periodically, "sports entertainment specials" of Murder World are released, with special effects are used to replicate the violence of the video games, and the content may even be fully scripted.
Which is how the *true* Murder World stays hidden in plain sight. While the public side of things is quite profitable, this _other_ Murder World is his true business. Through select channels, he provides actual survival spectacles to the powerful and wealthy. _Technically_ all contestants volunteer for the show, and filming takes place in locations where everything is _barely_ legal. On the rare occasion one of these episodes of Murder World reaches general public, it gets passed off as another pay per view fabrication.
Besides the public cover, the *other* big difference between this Murder World and most we've seen before? Arcade has a better sense of fair play, out of *personal necessity.* He doesn't want some government rushing in to stop his fun. He doesn't want high-level superheroes trying to do it all the time. Arcade isn't above Murder World being used to assassinate someone, but he won't do so when it jeopardizes all he's built. As far as he *officially* knows (and the paper trail can back up), everyone who comes to the real Murder World is a volunteer. Rumor has it that some villains, government agencies, and even heroes compete as a means of training.
Why is this version of Arcade (and Murder World) so merciful? Arcade is, at his core, pragmatic. He loves the live and death (mostly death) struggle of the contestants, and he loves the power and influence provided by his position (especially his status as a "super villain"). He'll preen and posture while he thinks he is in a position of power, but he'll cower and grovel once he realizes he's lost it. His "product" is good enough that villains tolerate him (a few of his "betters" are even genuine fans); he's selling the entertainment before the assassination, and indeed, his real niche stems from the _slight_ chance the person survives. You don't send someone to Murder World just to die, you send them to die slowly or because you've got some reason you want them to have even the tiniest chance of living through it... which is what keeps various aware heroes and dubious government agencies from just taking him down regardless of the legal technicalities. Frustrating though it is... Arcade is better than the overt evil that came before him and which would likely replace him. You wake up in Arcade's Murder World, and while it may be a death trap, it is one you've at least got an honest chance of surviving.
*TL;DR:* Evil(er?) Willy Wonka replacing the chocolate factory with Murder World and no desire (or need) to find a successor. Arcade is a rich sociopath who enjoys hurting others but knows how to control his appetites just enough to avoid serious hassles.
Now this is a good idea
Isn't he a hit man too?
@@diegomurillo3632 he was a hit man but got bored of killing in basic normal ways
King 👑
This is brilliant
Arcade reminds me more of Mad Mod than the Riddler with the whole trapping the hero in this crazy themed world where he works behind the scenes, having a big ego, and being really lesser known even more so than The Riddler.
That version of Mad Mod was made for the cartoon. In the comics, he was literally just a fashion designer for villains.
I've actually got an interesting idea for an Arcade storyline. He gains the reality stone and turns all of New York into a Murder City and the heroes have to find and stop him while trying to keep themselves and the civilians alive.
Here's my crazy idea:
Arcade captures 12 obscure and hated super heroes and forces them to compete in a competition where one dies every issue. Fans get to vote online each issue for who gets killed but the votes are private so that each issue is still a surprise
@@MrPineapple045 so.. Great Lakes Initiative or Thunderbolts? actually the joke team vs a joke villain sounds great so
Arcade = Combination of Jigsaw and Riddler
Except, Arcade and Murderworld, predate Jigsaw and SAW by a couple decades.
So you might say: Jigsaw = Combination of Arcade and Riddler.
@@pious83 I was about to say "that's not how combinations work" but then I realized that's not anything works
*Sees Thanos dabbing* HE REALLY IS EVIL!
He dabs half the universe out of existence.
Mystery Geek What are you, 3?
Timothy McKane What are you, 6?
@@memelicker6437 what are you 60?
I think Arcade would be perfect for TV, a season long adaptation of the avengers storyline. Use it to intro new heroes so there is no obvious choice of who is gonna survive.
I had an idea that if they do a heroes for hire show. Have the villain be arcade. A serial killer who kills in elaborate traps and even films them like it’s a game show. The cops can’t figure who he is. So some people hire luke cage and iron fist to figure out who arcade is and stop his murder spree
I find it interesting that you say he's mostly seen as a joke. I agree, of course, that that's how he's seen by the superhero/supervillain community (at least when they're not actively in one of his murder traps), but I've always been under the impression that he's actually a *very* successful assassin outside of that context. I don't think it's brought up as much nowadays, but - if memory serves - when he first appeared, he'd been doing professional murder for quite some time, and started trying to kill superheroes because he got bored. Also, in those days, we'd occasionally see him kill some random person no one had ever heard of at the beginning of a story. I mean, he comes from money, but he's *got* to be doing some serious earning to keep building Murderworlds. :-)
Between what you've shared, and what I've read, Riddler seems to focus more on drawing out ingenuity and having a battle of wits to prove his superiority. Arcade seems like more of a general sadist who wants to savor the pain and death.
"Any idiot can kill, I wanted to do it with style!"
Put him in a Marvel Movie and everyone will know shit about him
Anonymous Account Exactly. People who watch marvel movies while knowing nothing of the comics act like they created the damn character. Tell someone Thanos was beaten by squirl girl and the instantly say "how? all he had to do was snap his fingers. He's literally the strongest in the universe." And i be like "No he isnt. Definitely strong but far from stongest. And no he cant because squirlgirl is unbeatable. Its in the name. Nobody knows how she does it but she does."
Traynell ifill I remember 2012 nobody knew who Thanos was until that post credits scene unless they read comics, but to non-comic readers he grew over time. The only X-Men villain known was Magmeto, until 2016, unless you read comics because Apocalypse was always the big bad in the 90's. Now everyone knows everything about Thanos and Apocalypse only because of the movies
Anonymous Account Exactly. And when you try to tell someone about something thats not in the movies, they always try to bring it back to the movies. Like bro i aint talking about captain america civil war im talking about civil war from the comics.
Traynell ifill Squirrel girl beating Thanos is not actually canon and is written as a joke like the Thanos copter, it's like common sense is lost on this generation,😒😒😒
Mr. Nunuisance I know but i meant as the storyline. I can tell someone about it canon or not and they start giving me a bunch reasons why im wrong because it did or didnt happen in the movie. Squirrel girl was just an example because everyone thinks they know everything about thanos. Its kinda like how people say deadpool killed spiderman and the hulk but its not canon either.
I first learned about Arcade back in the late nineties from a website called The Villains of Marvel Comics. Not being an avid Marvel fan, it introduced me to characters like Thanos, Apocalypse, the Red Skull and, uh, the Spot. One that instantly stood out to me was the dapper redheaded man with the lethal carnival named Arcade. I've never read a story with Arcade but whenever I hear him mentioned I smile, glad he's still remembered and still using a weaponized amusement park for assassination. Got to say, I've never seen Arcade with long hair and it looks good on him.
I actually LOVE Arcade, I hope to see him in more stuff because theirs a lot of ideas for someone like Arcade.
Arcade I find is a very underrated villain in my opinion
Same especially after what he did in Avengers Arena. Guy wasn't playing around. There were actual Deaths and they have stuck.
@@jturner2577 agreed
Arcade, Riddler, Jigsaw Killer, Mad Mod.
All genius-level intellect masterminds with death traps.
Two of them are redheads. Most wear suits. All are homicidal and mad.
4:57 "Inspired by the Hunger Games" - Its just PLAIN "BATTLE ROYALE" from Japan Manga Lad
I found Arcade through the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon, in an episode where Wolverine and Captain America team up with Spidey to fight Arcade.
I knew it! I thought I remembered him in that but I wasn't sure until now.
Mine was marvels ultimate alliance
isn't he kinda like Marvel's SAW also?
Polverine74 so Riddler
4:09 you could not help yourself could you Drake?
Booster Gold is best filler.
I was suprisingly caught of guard when at 8:54 jobbythehong's transformation sequence song plays
And as a necessity SWIVELLL HEREEEE
Me too xD
I remember Arcade. I played a lot of Marvel Ultimate Alliance. One of my favorite places in that game was Murderworld. It even had Pitfall. My favorite section of that place was the pinball, wbere you fight Rhino and Shocker. After that, you go into the Fun House and fight Arcade, who was manning a mech. And for a while, I thought he was an enemy of Captain America's
Found arcade through Marvel ultimate alliance
3:25 I actually love Natasha Allegri work and instantly recognized her style from bee and puppy cat
I'm actually quite fond of the Hellcat artsyyle in issue 6, mainly cause Natasha Allegri also worked on the Adventure Time Fionna and Cake comics, as well as Bee and Puppycat.
❤❤❤❤
The Riddler is my favorite Batman villain too. I used to have that card set as well, and I also used to have that Marvel puzzle game on my phone, but while it was fun, I just didn't have a lot of time for it, so I uninstalled it. Didn't even know that it was still going.
I remember Murder World in the game Ultimate Alliance, as a kid. Wow. Never saw Arcade mentioned before. Now it all makes sense for that game.
8:54 the jazz, it's the jazz of a transformation sequence
I feel like you didn't give him enough credit for the Avengers Arena story. That was a BRUTAl one. He legit kidnapped children and forced them to murder each other. He might be a kind of campy, ridiculous character, but Avengers Arena was something else. That storyline should definitely have more recognition. Imagine how cool it would be to have a tv show based on that series!
Arcade seems like a villain who could set up a VR murder world game similiar to Sword Art Online where players are unable to log out and die once their hp hits zero. Agents of Shield had a concept like this with Virtual Reality ruled by Madam Hydra/Aida in season 4. Yet Arcade using the Darkhold to create a VR murder world would be the best way to reinvent the character.
Amelia Davidson
Oh god, yes! I wish you could have included the old school SNES game Arcade’s Revenge, but I do get that it’s not canon.
It’s frustrating, because I wish they would write with him more in-depth... Not just a gimmick.
I’m also surprised that with as insanely popular as FNAF is, Marvel never did a tie-in with Arcade in murder world.
This is a really good video. I love it when Comic book TH-cam channels talk about lesser known characters. Digging into the lore of comics and talking about different characters is always super awesome!!! Especially when I know of some characters, but don’t know most of their storylines or history. Great job again Drake!!
I am so glad that you are doing the history of the Marvel villain Arcade. He had caught my attention in the Ultimate Spider-Man Animated Series and I'm pretty much kinda sort of heard or remember him from the X-Men evolution TV series as well.
My theory about them using Arcade more is that when we inevitably get a Young Avengers/Champions movie, the villain that brings them all together WILL be Arcade.
I actually remember arcade from ultimate alliance and he's kinda stuck with me since.
He was in x men cartoon
Technically yes, but that barely resembled the comic version, he was more just a gamer who got access to real weapons, but didn’t realize.
We are talking about X-men Evolution right? I don’t remember him in any others but I could be wrong.
He might make a decent Punisher villain
Wait a second, 8:21 is that a Golden Saucer Reference?? In MY Marvel Comics??
I think Arcade would work better as a villain for either the Daredevil or Defenders show, maybe implement the Hunger Games Murderworld for the Defenders.
when he showed up at the end of spectacular spidermen 3 i went wild, i JUST watched this video the day before i read it, so thanks for making sure i know who the guy is lol
What about a comic about HOW he builds those huge murder worlds. Why some are themed as they are ? Where does he get the material? He doesn't have the power to create matter out of thin air so where does the budget come from? Who is willing to work with him? Mby he has a group of friends with whom he plans these things going about it like a fun , over the top brainstorming session and his buddies have no idea that he's Arcade. Maybe some of them are rly enthusiast when they see that miraculously a villain decided to make a death game similar to what they were discussing theoretically a few month ago. Maybe some are not so happy about this and they start suspecting one another because of this. This might just be a really silly idea and maybe it has already been done and I just don't know about it...but hey! We're here talking comics so why the frick not?
we helped with this one in the discord
Thanks for helping me find that Spider-Man image!
pokemonfadi626 Drake has a Discord?
Keenan Johnson yep -> discordapp.com/invite/0159ml8kXPk0hH02f 😊
So...Arcade is kind of like Season 0 Yu-Gi-Oh's Seto Kaiba?
Wait wouldn't Arcade be inspired by the Battle Royale novel instead of Hunger Games? I mean the logo for the comic is a straight rip-off of the Battle Royale logo.
I like that Arcade is kinda inconsistent with his appearances, for two reasons:
1. It makes sense; his Murderworlds must take months, if not years, to be made, even if he's a millionaire, and he must make them superhero proof.
2. He's a hitman, a character that's all about killing his targets, so showing up often would require him to either take out a lot of characters, or having him failing all the time and become a joke, both of which are bad
I feel like a murder world that he could trap a bunch of bigger name heroes in, but they’re all separated and put in a part of it that’s specifically tailored to that hero could be cool. Eventually, some of the heroes would find each other someway or another and that would make it easier to get through the thing.
Arcade & Task Master, with possiby a 3rd anti-hero, should get a series on the Marvel streaming services training/testing future villains & mercenaries. That would be THE SHIT!
I feel like Arcade could work as a maniacal game show host with Murder World as a setting. He's got the charisma, he could hire some of the Marvel Universe's most notorious assassins (Like Kraven the Hunter or Crossbones) and theme their arenas based on their strengths and attributes. He could also recruit Mojo for his media mastery to put this spectacle on TV. Think of it like The Running Man or American Gladiators.
my first encounter with Arcade was Ultimate Alliance and ever since then i've loved his character
Tbh, Drake, I could imagine if Arcade had gotten his own series plus a prequel with his origin story in it. It would be very clean-slated.
Arcade is one of my favourite underrated comic characters, up there with The Spot and Beetle and Mysterio (well. I guess with Far From Home Mysterio isn't really that obscure/underrated anymore).
Which means that when I ran my Marvel campaign in Mutants and Masterminds, they all showed up semi often.
Arcade actully found an appearance as a main antagnonist in an episode of Ultimate Spider-Man (I think that’s what it was called. might be wrong) where he had a video game themed murder world with enemy waves, power-ups, upgrades, and a big boss with a video game weak point. It was a lot of fun.
He reminds me alot of Roman Torchwick from RWBY.
@8:52 SWIVEL HERE
Murderworld was somewhat based on two seventies cult movies; Futureworld and Westworld.
But I never thought of the Riddler when I saw Arcade. I did think of Arcade when I saw Syndrome in
The Incredibles.
If you want to match him up with a specific hero, then he's perfect for Deadpool.
If Arcade ever stars in a Marvel Comics movie, hopefully he would be played by Stiffler from The American Pie Movies.
Since you're into tabletop games, have you ever considered doing some videos on superhero tabletop RPGs?
I would love to hear your thoughts on things like the Valiant Universe RPG that came out a few years ago. Maybe the history of licensed superhero ttrpgs, or ones you've played that you really liked. Or superhero ttrpg settings or characters that you liked as much (or even more than) comic book settings. Maybe a little general history of superhero ttrpgs, or call out some that you think are particularly pivotal or iconic.
Or, conversely, if you don't really like superhero ttrpgs, talk about why you don't. Seems logical that superhero comic fan + ttrpg fanatic = superhero ttrpg fanatic. But I can see reasons for not.
5:03 hey…sounds like he stole Mojo’s thing!
Video suggestion: How about a video on mysterio? He's all but confirmed for Spiderman 2, and it occurred to me I don't know much about him. I do know there's been many different interpretations of him.
Drake, do a video about Moon Knight!
Chris Claremont loved (and created) Arcade and would throw him in the X-Books as much as possible in the 80s, enough that he was considered an actual X-Men villain back then. His best appearance, in my opinion, was Excalibur 4&5 where, yeah, he loses, but he also shows that's he's not necessarily in it to win. This is how he has fun. The idea that he's seen as a joke who longs for attention is pretty contrary to what he was shown as back in those days.
I say, replace the ice cream suit with powered armor and make Murderworld more like Saw. Build his booby traps into his armor and getaway vehicles, too. Give him a tougher name, like "Murdermaster," "Wargames," "Deathmonger" or something. Make Murderworld his hideout, perhaps a survivalist bunker, capable of holding off a SWAT team or National Guard troops and tanks. Perhaps he could start as a creepy child, like a chaotic evil Home Alone kid, then grow up to be a booby trap expert in the military, wanted for war crimes but broke out of a stockade with his tech. This would make superhero intervention more necessary. Make him more like Hannibal Lecter-meets-the Architect of Matrix. A large normal human body count in his Murderworlds would change his image! These changes would give him more street cred.
One of the first original comics that I've ever read was an old murder land comic.
3:20 what is that chino comic it’s so cute I love it
The cover of that "Hunger Games" like comic is obviously a nod to a japanese movie called battle royale. And also the island part sounds more like that movie.
Murder World with a Arcade a taller guy and a shorter guy so sort of like on Fantasy Island. You could also compare to Toy Man and where only be one would be on Highlander. Murder World could also be like West World. So can compare to different characters and places.
I found out about Arcade when I played Marvel Ultimate Alliance
Arcade should be the villain of an Avengers film.
The Avengers wake up in a D&D world, their classes are obviously based on how they operate/their roles, show all of them in the world with their names, classes, and quirks (personality traits and faults) listed, pan out to show the region they're in (Murderworld) and have the title come up "Avengers: Arcade". Cut to Arcade explaining the rules of the game to them.
They refuse to play along at first, but the NPCs keep trying to kill them for it, so they start to play along (to lessen the breaks in immersion and add comedy).
Marvel D&D shenanigans ensue.
He's a D-List villain at best. Along the lines of the Ani-Men or the original Baron Zemo. He won't really be a better character until someone revises him to be more than a one-trick pony..
pious83 I'm amaze some people still use this ABCD list rhetoric.
+Mr. Nunuisance Good for you.
pious83 ???
I know him!!! He was in the Elektra mini-series that ran in 2015. He's dope
I think an Arcade/Bolivar Trask hook-up would make an awesome storyline.
8:18 Golden Saucer? Lol
Fans who compared him to The Joker: *(Pedro Pascal's laughing then crying)*
your wish did kinda come true. He was one of the secondary villains in the Hunted mini event from the amazing spider-man series
Arcade did play a role in Marvel 1st ultimate alliance game. So a whole level to him was not bad
God dang it that jazz theme is stuck in my head because of jobby
I only know him from that one ultimate Spider-Man episode
6:36 This art is spectacular, does somebody know where is this from/who did it?
Thr spider-man cartoons have a problem with dr. Octopus as they use him a lot. He seems to be a go to villan and not use other villians like mysterio morbious chamelon havent been used in a while i like him but if marvels spider-man gets a season 3 maybe use some of the lesser know villians.
I remember the game Arcades Revenge from the 90s. If not for that I wouldn’t know who he was.
I always like when there's some ethical conflict with supervillains. Like during the time where Waller was shipping villains off to a prison planet in the DCU, and all the remaining supervillains worked together, when a lot of them had ISSUES with the Neo-Nazis, but one of them was a telepath/precog so they had no choice. Or when Luthor was perfectly okay with killing people in a crowded mall but found dead children distasteful and cracked the Joker in the jaw for making a spectacle of it.
Or hell, when Electro had ISSUES with the Kravinoff family raising the dead in a fauxdoo ritual and he outright said 'Yeah I'm a catholic this is really not-- you know what, forget it, you paid me, what do I do?' It's little touches that add to villains.
Hell, the Juggernaut reformed and stopped talking to Black Tom when Tom was totally okay with murdering kids and Cain is more of a.. collateral damage type, who isn't particularly murderous except towards Xavier.
I even loved the McDuffie written Justice League, when they made a direct reference to the formation of the newest JLA, with Luthor, Joker and Cheetah instead of Clark, Bruce and Diana. Joker suggesting Dr. Light, Cheetah disagreeing because he's a rapist, and then Luthor casually saying 'Understandable but if we restrict ourselves to people of upstanding moral character, we're going to be very short on people', which convinced Cheetah. And then she gutted him when things fell apart.
They should make an Arcade Comic Series. And have Hellcat in it as well.
If they ever adapt arcade, it would make sense that his first murder world be a pinball motif. Among many other versions based on the comics, also a SAW inspired one, and even one were he could team up with Mojo. I do like that he could be a hitman who is being paid to kill, because then he can be a bad guy to many of marvels heroes not just one faction.
I feel like he is a cross between Riddler and Toyman with a splash of Jigsaw in there too.
He was also in the first marvel ultimate alliance game and I thought he was fantastic there
I think they should make a Disney + series full of B/joke characters where arcade is the main villain
Avengers arena was my favorite comic as a kid.
i loved him in the hunted event from nick spencers spiderman run
I knew the name arcade from an old x men snes game. But I always thought that the title "Arcades revenge" was probably a joke, because it was probably an arcade game. Later, I undestood that arcade is an actual character.
I think they should make him an in a way common villain to a hero like bane to batsman who appears sometimes but is remembered often
Maybe he should take a pointer from Dr. Eggman.
they used him appropriately in Secret Wars with All Father Doom
Really ENJOYED this video! Thanks to the "Harley Quinn" show, I've become a MASSIVE fan of the diminutive nemesis of Wonder Woman, Dr. Psycho. How about an upload, in this style, on him? 🙇🏻♂️
He made for an interesting Genesis game. The concept is very video game-y anyway. I was pretty horrible at games when I played it back then, so I couldn't tell you if the overall game was actually good, but it was still fun for me at the time. I just loved the settings like Gambit having to fight a bunch of Chess pieces and Wolverine working through a ton of plastic ball pits.
if you haven't already projared did that game just recently all the way through. spoiler: its borderline rage game
What was that one book with the kinda cute art? The one where one of the characters looked like Shiro from Voltron?
That is one issue of Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat. The rest of the series doesn't look like that.
If the riddler, and Mongal got fused together, and styled themselves after a 70s game show, the result would be arcade
I will help keep your lights on, I'm going to install that game.