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This article is about the series. For the game, see Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes. Marvel vs. Capcom is a series of fighting games created by Capcom in which characters created by Marvel Comics and Capcom's own characters appear together. The "vs. series" originates from the fact that every game in this series is a fighting game, and although it was the first vs. series involving Capcom, the name Marvel exists to distinguish it from Capcom's other vs. series with SNK (Capcom vs. SNK) and Namco's crossover RPG with Capcom (Namco x Capcom). The Marvel vs. Capcom series is perhaps considered to be the most popular among American fans of the Street Fighter series, in part because it allows their comic book heroes and villains to fight alongside or against their favorite Capcom characters. The Marvel characters depicted in these games were often based on their incarnations in various early 1990s animated series (particularly X-Men), and were often voiced by the same voice actors. Many of the characters and fighting mechanics used in these games were first developed and refined in two other fighting games Capcom had developed earlier, serving as precursors to the series: X-Men: Children of the Atom, which featured characters strictly from the X-Men universe, and Marvel Super Heroes, which gleaned characters from Marvel's entire roster (X-Men included). Many of Capcom's characters, as they starred in non-fighting games (mainly games that were made for Capcom's CPS-1 hardware) were purposely made for the series, with only the Street Fighter and Darkstalkers cast being imported (from Street Fighter Alpha 2, and later, Alpha 3, as well as Darkstalkers 3). As such, many often see the Street Fighter and Darkstalkers characters as being inferior due to them having to be artificially "powered up" for their appearance in this series. Although the tag-team fighting concept was not new, it was refined with this series (although fans would argue whether this was for better or for worse). New fighting game terminology, such as "Aerial Rave" (the act of performing a combo on an opponent while the opponent remains airborne) and "Variable Combination" (the act of having two or more characters on the same team to perform their super combos at the same time) were added to the fighting game vernacular with this series. Games Story There does not appear to be a concrete story behind each game in the series (drawing many criticisms from longtime Marvel fans that had hoped that Marvel's writers would cover for Capcom's apparent weakness in storytelling), although several plot points run across the various games of the series. However, various pairs of characters - typically one Marvel and one Capcom, were often partnered with each other during gameplay (although later games randomized the partnerships so that it was possible to complete the game facing all-Marvel or all-Capcom teams). However, several interesting (but noncanonical to both Marvel and Capcom continuities) sideplots did emerge throughout the series, some of which contradict the others: Marvel Characters This is a list of all the Marvel characters that have appeared in the Marvel vs. Capcom series, most of which have appeared in various Marvel comic books: Characters from X-Men Characters from Avengers (comics)|The Avengers Characters from Spider-Man Characters from Ghost Rider Characters from Fantastic Four Characters from Doctor Strange Capcom Characters This is a list of all the Capcom characters that have appeared in the Marvel vs. Capcom series, most of which have appeared in other Capcom games: Characters from Street Fighter Characters from Darkstalkers Characters from Mega Man (series)|Mega Man (Rockman) Characters from Resident Evil Characters from Star Gladiator Characters from Cyberbots Characters from Strider (arcade game)|Strider (Strider Hiryu) Characters from Captain Commando Characters from SonSon Original Characters | |||||||
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