Marvel Ultimate Alliance is an Action RPG series published by Activision and developed by Raven Software and Vicarious Visions, starring many of Marvel's most popular superheroes and supervillains. A spiritual successor of sorts to the X-Men Legends series (arguably a sequel to the second, but the first is in a continuity of its own), which was also developed by Raven. The first one was released in 2006 and took you through a tour of the Marvel Universe trying to stop Doctor Doom and his Masters of Evil.The sequel was released in 2009, developed solely by Vicarious Visions (due to Radaven opting to do the X-Men Origins: Wolverine tie-in game on their own at the same time), is based on the Secret War and Civil War events before eventually splitting off into an original plotline altogether. The heroes are split into pro-reg and anti-reg as the plot progresses and the player's decisions will affect the ending as well as which characters they can choose.Both games had versions released on the PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and PSP. All versions of MUA 1 were essentially the exact same game apart from graphics and exclusive characters (which is proven by the PC port, which allowed for switching between both sets of graphics on the fly as well as game modding). The differences between versions of MUA 2 are more drastic; the Xbox 360 and PS3 version was made from scratch whereas the Wii, PS2 and PSP version is more or less a Mission Pack Sequel to MUA 1.The series has been received rather favorably by gaming critics, gaming as a whole, and also comic book fans, for much of the same reasons the X-Men Legends series was.
This series contains examples of:
A God Am I: In first first game, after stealing Odin's power, Doom. Nanite!Nick Fury in the second game as well.
Doctor Doom: I'll show you how a real god smites his enemies.
Nanite!Nick Fury: You damn throwbacks are like bacteria compared to us!
Adaptation Distillation: MUA 2 is this for the Civil War, faithfully recounting the essential moments of the storyline until the game's original endgame kicks in.
Adventure Duo: The DLC for the second game created a team bonus for Best Friends? (Cable & Deadpool, Spider-Man & Venom).
All Your Powers Combined: The final boss of the second game, Cyborg Nick Fury, has access to the abilities of those infected by the Fold. He makes much use of a bunch of them.
When unlocked as a playable character, he only uses four of them: Electro, Spider-Woman, A-Bomb, and Firestar.
How to forget the battles against Kraken, Ultimo and Galactus and the first game?
Don't forget Fin Fang Foom, Arcade (in a giant power suit), and Ymir.
Authority Equals Asskicking: Dr. Doom. Black Panther. Namor. Lilandra. Von Bardas. If Black Panther is your main character during the boss fight with Doom, then you will literally have two heads of state, fighting each other with the power of Odin.
Also, Black Panther makes use of this to convince Namor to let the team help out in Atlantis, saying that he would do the same if it was Wakanda under attack.
Badass Bookworm/Genius Bruiser: The Think Tank team bonus (The Hulk, Green Goblin, Mr. Fantastic, Spider-Man or Iron Man) and the Master Minds (Mr. Fantastic, Nick Fury, Iron Man, Spider-Man).
For that matter, Mr. Fantastic in general. His Fantastic Fists boost is practically a Game Breaker. When fully leveled up, it causes him to get critical hits almost 100% of the time. It's only supposed to affect his basic melee attacks, but it's glitched so that it affects all of his attacks. It can also combine with other damage multipliers, creating some hilariously short boss battles (i.e. the boss is KO'd before the attack animations finish).
Battle Couple: One team bonus is called Double Date (Mr. Fantastic & Invisible Woman, Storm & Black Panther). Daredevil & Elektra didn't make the cut.
Blatant Lies: In the first game, Black Widow claims that the nanites at the Atlantis outpost will let you move though the water as if you were on dry land.
Bonus Boss: In the first DLC pack for MUA 2, one of the Sim Missions is a boss battle against Magneto.
Deadpool: And YOU! (points to the screen) YOU THINK IT MAKES ME LESS OF A MAN IF I CAME HERE FOR THE CHERRY FESTIVAL? YOU'RE LAUGHING WITH YOUR EYES! I CAN SEE IT! TIME FOR A BOSS BATTLE SUCKERS!
In fact, during the credits of the second game, Deadpool visits the developer and complains about how he isn't stronger than everyone else. In response the developer further nerfs him and threatens to make him DLC.
At one point in the second game, you can have a conversation with She-Hulk where you ask her about the "strange non-sequitur jokes" she used to make. Shulkie says that she leaves most of those to Deadpool, as it makes him happy. (Before DP, She-Hulk was the main fourth wall demolisher in the MU.)
Calling Your Attacks: In the first game, when a character uses their Xtreme attack.
The Cameo: In both games, as expected. Special mention to the cutscene that plays prior to the final mission, that explains what has happened while the playable characters were off-planet - The remaining heroes of Earth have mounted an offense against Dr Doom, but most have fallen and only Cyclops & a heavily mutilated Colossus are definitely still alive. Depicted in this scene are Charles Xavier, Magneto, Gambit, Shadowcat, the aforementioned Colossus & Cyclops, and the Hulk (Who is covered by shadow, except for his feet, due to licensing issues preventing the character being included in the main game).
Of course, with Colossus as an exclusive to the current-gen consoles and Cyclops, the Hulk, and Magneto as downloadable characters, one could make the argument that those versions in the cutscene aren't the real ones)
In the second game, an early mission has you rescue none other than Stan Lee, who each character can have a little bit of personal dialogue with.
You: It's your responsibility to tell Colonel Fury about the Black Widow. Spider-Man: No, it isn't. You: Yes, it is. You have great power; and with great power there must also come... Spider-Man: If you finish that sentence, I'm gonna put so much web in your hair you'll have to shave your head!
Composite Character: As with X-Men Legends, the first game more or less based every character on their classic Marvel Universe selves, but most of the playable characters are in the Ultimate Marvel costumes for defaults (with Spider-Man and Daredevil, it really didn't matter since they look the same in either universe) though a few like Nick Fury and Deadpool have their classic looks as default and their Ultimate costumes for alternate costumes. The second game drops this and just has everyone in their classic Marvel Universe threads for their default costumes, though some do have thier Ultimate looks as alternate costumes.
Confusing Multiple Negatives: In the first game, Thing confuses himself. What he says and what he means are complete opposites.:
Thing: "[The fact that beating up Rhino is fun (don't ask)] don't mean I wouldn't rather have a face that don't look like a gravel road".
Contractual Boss Immunity / Kung-Fu Proof Mook: Bosses are immune to stun, knockdown, and grabbing. Certain mooks are also immune to some of these, though stunning usually works.
Averted with the Tinkerer in the sequel. Most every other boss is immune to Hulk's tackle attack but the Tinkerer isn't, leading to the hilarious image of a green muscle-bound monster tackling and punching out a feeble old man with no powers.
Defeat Means Friendship: After being defeated and rid of the nanites, Venom and the Green Goblin join your team.
Same goes for Deadpool as well, who shows up as the boss of the 1st DC level, a Guest Star Party Member in the second until the end of the level, where he becomes fully playable.
Demoted to Extra: Happened to Spider-Woman and Black Panther, playable (or unlockable, in Black Panther's case) in MUA 1 and NPCs in the second game.
Also, Venom and Green Goblin feel so violated by being assimilated into The Fold that they decide to join the heroes (for real this time), no strings attached, which, knowing Norman Osborn, is a real feat. Venom (Mac Gargan) in particular seemed to really enjoy the hero thing.
Perhaps the most extreme example - thanks to DLC, you can place Spider-Man on the same team as Green Goblin, Venom & Carnage.
Escort Mission: In the first game, you can escort Doctor Strange, Corsair, and a Skrull around, but they're invincible and generally help in a fight. The appropriately-named Dum-Dum Dugan, on the other hand, isn't invincible, has a tendency to jump into fights (although he's smart enough to avoid Crimson Dynamo), and saving the game after he gets too low on health can make the Omega Base mission Unwinnable. The best bet might actually just be to use Deadpool to just teleport the team through most of the level, or even better use Spider Woman's healing aura to fix him right up.
Almost immediately after, you have to escort Bruce Banner but he has no health bar to worry and the escort goes through all of ONE fight before he reaches where he has to be.
In the second game, you have to protect NPC allies, from Cloak and Dagger to Venom. The worst is Songbird's solo mission, in which you must protect three scientists from an army of super-hardy mutants and Moonstone. The scientists tend to put themselves between Songbird and the enemies, making for a frustrating time.
Four Temperament Ensemble: Since you play mostly in teams of four, you may inevitably fall into this, if you know which characters to pick. For example, Deadpool (sanguine), Wolverine (choleric), Spider-Man (melancholic) and Daredevil (phlegmatic).
Future Me Scares Me: Well, more like "Future Me Pissed Me Off," but in the first game if one of the characters on your team is Doctor Doom (he can be downloaded or gotten by buying the Gold Edition, but either way, he's exclusive to the Xbox 360), the Doctor Doom who's the Big Bad of the game ends up being from the future.
Game Breaker: One that was acknowledged and fixed: Deadpool's teleport in the first game. Essentially, it works by going for a spot a certain distance from Deadpool in the direction he's facing: if there's an area the player is allowed to go at that point, then Deadpool will instantly move to it. If not, he'll go as far as he can along that path. Elevation doesn't matter. Nothing in the way matters. Because of this, if used smartly enough this can be used to - in addition to getting places the player usually can't - skip whole areas of the level as the player is fully allowed to go through walls, Insurmountable Waist High Walls, voids and rivers, even burning wreckage as long as there is something to walk on on the other side. In the sequel, Deadpool's teleport was unsurprisingly changed so that it does not go through things the player is not allowed to go through, and the range is decreased to boot.
Game-Breaking Bug: Since many of the bosses in the second game are playable characters, replaying missions at higher levels yields the same difficulty, because the boss stays the same level as you. In the "Chemical Plant Escape" level, however, you have to protect Nick Fury from the Green Goblin. Since Nick Fury doesn't level up, and the Goblin does... By level 60 you have literally two seconds to bring the Goblin's health to zero before he kills Fury in a single shot. Unwinnable, or damn near it.
Godwin's Law: The special conversation between Captain America and the holograph of Nanite-infected Nick Fury. To be fair, the two of them literally had fought Hitler's Nazis together. But when Fury states that the Fold would bring an end to all future wars, Cap responds:
Captain America: Right, once you've taken everything over. Pretty sure I've heard that one before... from an old German acquaintance of ours.
Good Colors, Evil Colors: In the first game, the main baddies are Doom, Baron Mordo, Loki, Enchantress, and Ultron. All but Ultron are garbed in green.
Ground Pound: Luke Cage, the Thing, Colossus, the Hulk. Seeing a pattern?
Iceman/Deadpool/Spider-Man/Human Torch: Why are [Iron Man and Captain America] so obsessed with each other, anyway? It's reaching "creepy ex" territory.
This, from 1:
Spider-Man: Hi, again. Shall we continue to discuss how wonderful Tony Stark is?
Idiot Ball: "Why is Galactus at war with the Skrulls?" Oh, Cap.
Nightcrawler grabs the door handle with both hands at the end of his "Escape from Doomcatraz" cutscene - dude, you can teleport, you don't need to open the door.
To be fair, he needs to know where he's teleporting in order to teleport there. Chances are, he didn't know where he was at the time.
What's that Nick? Doom has access to plans that detail how to steal Odin's power and he's just launched an attack on the Hellicarrier? Wait, you want us to investigate a completely unrelated event going on in Atlantis as we have no idea where Doom is. No idea, really Nick, did you think to try his castle? In the country that he rules? Feel free not to tell anyone what Doom's planning either, that'll makes things simpler.
Hey, it's Nick Fury you're talking about. He's known for keeping those kinds of stuff to himself. Also, the heroes DID try to go to Latveria, but Baron Mordo rerouted them into a badly-disguised Murderworld, remember?
Invisibility: A complete subversion of Useless Useful Stealth available to Invisible Woman, Nick Fury, and Black Panther. It works on every enemy and boss, the enemies only react when you attack them directly (meaning you can pick off one mook without any of his buddies noticing), and any enemy you do attack will only throw a couple of counter-punches before losing sight of you again. Very arguably a Game Breaker.
Karma Houdini: A fair bit of the second game is Reed Richards' fault, as his plan to mind control mass amounts of villains ends up becoming too widespread for him to control and the nanites start linking minds instead of subjugating them, ending in them attempting to assimilate the whole world. Plus, of course, the whole "mass mind control" bit in the first place. Nobody calls him out on this but Sue Storm if you get a special conversation with him.
Being a large ham is pretty much in the Asgardian DNA. Loki was definitely the hammiest and most fun of the villains in the first one.
Being infected with nanites also seems to make you hammier, if the final boss of 2 is any indicator.
Hell, even some enemies you defeat in the Asgard missions in the first game are like this. Could be kinda Narmish if it wasn't you beating the crap out of them.
Look Behind You: Ms. Marvel to Shocker, when you find her in the underground weapon-smuggling tunnel in 2. He makes it seem he's not fooled until he turns around... and sees your team there.
Lost Forever: Activision refused to renew their contract with Marvel, citing poor sales, so any downloadable content for either game was removed from the Xbox 360 and PS3 marketplaces; their reasoning was that the characters "were always a limited offer." With MUA1, at least, the player can hunt down a copy of the Gold version which contains all the DLC on-disc or mod the PC version to add them in, but with MUA2, no such version exists yet, so new players are stuck without the additional characters. Did we mention that you need access to DLC to play online with other people?
Actually Activision added the DLC back online recently for MUA2 so for those of you who didn't get to fulfill your dreams of Cable and Deadpool in a team or Spidey, Green Goblin, Venom and Carnage in their own little group... now's your chance.
Unfortunately, if you're a PS3 user in anywhere except the US, apparently you're still screwed as it's not been put up yet, and there's no word on a release date.
And of course, was only available until December 31st, 2010. Gone now.
The Mole: The majority of heroes highly suspect that Black Widow is one. Turns out they were right. (See The Stinger)
Multiple Endings: MUA 1 had short vignettes at the end that changed depending on which optional objectives you completed. MUA 2 has a more traditional instance in that the side you choose at the beginning of the Civil War decides whether the Superhuman Registration Act gets passed or not.
Downer Ending: No matter which X-Man you save in Mephisto's Realm in MUA 1, in the end either the X-Men will disband (if you save Jean Grey; Nightcrawler will die by falling into the Infinite Vortex and Mystique will kill Professor X to avenge her son) or the Dark Phoenix rises again (the other way around; you save Nightcrawler and send Jean to her "death"). But considering the frequency of that last one in the comics, guess which one most players went with.
Since the X-Men are still together and Jean's alive and well with her Phoenix powers intact in MUA 2 it suggests Dark Phoenix was converted to good again. So everything worked out in the end.
However, the fact that you may actually play as Nightcrawler (provided you have the DLC, he'll always be in your party), might as well coerce you to save Jean's life.
One exampe is in a conversation with Spider-Woman talking about her relationship with Spider-Man is, she says "I'm not his cousin who he donated blood to", that's a reference to She-Hulk (who would appear in the sequel).
And this dialogue in MUA 2:
Spider-Man: Great to be working with you again, we should be on TV or something.
During the ending cinematic of MUA 2, you can see a news crawl about people's neighbors being Skrulls, a reference to Secret Invasion.
Narm: Penance in MUA 2. Also a fair chunk of Mephisto's Realm, with the use of "astral energy" instead of "soul" and Nightcrawler's Small Nein.
In the first Pro-Reg mission, as soon as you run into the White Star, one of them says in the whiniest voice imaginable: "It's a raid! Get to your positions!"
You know those big hulking... things you run into at the omega base? Seem kind of intimidating, don't they? Then you run into them again in Asgard, and they talk. And they sound exactly like you'd expect them to. Another enemy that suddenly talks in Asgard is the Clay Warrior. His "Halt! You Shall Not Pass!" might have been Badass if you hadn't just spent a level one-shotting about two-hundred or so of his kind.
In the first game, one of Doctor Doom's victory phrases after defeating an enemy is "Finally! I have achieved my ultimate triumph!". When he says this after defeating Random Mook #284, it's either this or What Do You Mean, It's Not Awesome?.
New Game Plus: Clearing MUA 2 on any difficulty level allows the player to replay the game on Legendary difficulty with all the stats from the previous runthrough. It also allows any character to be playable at all times, regardless of if you choose to be Pro-Reg or Anti-Reg.
Similarly, the second playthrough onward of MUA 1, aside from having the Hard difficulty level unlocked, lets you use everyone you've unlocked (as well as letting you choose your team from the very start). Which is good if you want to use Dr. Strange, Black Panther, Daredevil, Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider or Nick Fury (indeed, teams such as Classic Avengers, Supernatural, Marvel Knights, Defenders and/or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are impossible to field without these guys). Also, all the unlocked costumes, so you can turn up with Assassins (Wolvie Ultimate, Elektra Stealth, Deadpool Weapon X and Blade - any outfit but Original) all in black. And all the leveling you achieved up to that point (which, difficulty-wise, will seem like starting it all from scratch if you pick Hard).
No Kill Like Overkill: After becoming all-powerful, Doom sees a wing of bombers descending on his castle. Despite these planes offering no threat to him, he opts to create a miniature supernova to destroy them. Ostentatious even by his standards.
No Nonsense Nemesis: After obtaining Odin's powers, Doom actually tries to just shoot the heroes, but the Watcher saves the heroes and lets Doom think he succeeded.
Not Using the Z Word: The word "soul" appears to be a dirty word in the first game. Just listen to any of Mephisto's speeches and try not to cringe every time he awkwardly forces the phrase "astral energy" into an otherwise normal demonic boast.
Though he lets it slip at the end credits audio bloopers (albeit he says "astral souls". Ugh.)
The Other Darrin: A lot of the voice cast changed between MUA 1 and MUA 2.
Pint Sized Powerhouse: Ms. Marvel, Wolverine, and Spider-Man all have greater lifting strength. Ms. Marvel and Captain America also qualify for the team bonus "Bruisers".
Pragmatic Adaptation: The Wii/PS2 MUA 2. Besides keeping the same gameplay as MUA 1, various sequences were cut out, like the rescue of Ms. Marvel and the Washington DC level (Ms. Marvel/Deadpool now show up from the beginning). Others were changed/shortened; The Goliath/Yellowjacket fight is practically a rehash of the Galactus fight in MUA 1, and Zombie!Von Bardas plans to blow up Times Square rather than bombing the riverfront. This leads to a bit of Fridge Logic when the subsequent cutscene still shows Von Bardas's barge going down the river.
Press X to Not Die: Or rather, press X to hit the giant boss/avoid the giant boss's attack before it hits you. Only in MUA 1.
Puny Earthlings: As you fight the natives of Atlantis, Mephisto's Realm, Asgard, the Shi'ar warship, and the Skrull planet (now featuring Galactus), this comes up quite a bit. Hilarious when Thor gets this treatment in Asgard.
Put on a Bus: On the side of heroes, between both games: Doctor Strange, Elektra, Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Nightcrawler, Ghost Rider and Silver Surfer.
Real Men Wear Pink: Deadpool goes to Washington DC for the cherry blossom festival then challenges the player to a boss battle when he sees them laughing at him for it.
Deadpool: And YOU! You think it makes me less of a man if I came here for the Cherry Blossom Festival. You're laughing with your eyes! I can see it! Time for a BOSS BATTLE SUCKERS!
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The DLC for the first game created a team bonus for Friendly Rivalry (The Human Torch & the Thing, Wolverine & Cyclops).
Sadistic Choice: Blackheart forces the player to choose whether Jean Grey or Nightcrawler dies.
The obvious side-choosing in MUA 2; you'll inevitably earn the wrath of either Captain America or Iron Man.
Shoryuken: Iron Man in the first game has a Rocket Uppercut that's very powerful and very fun to use, especially in Atlantis.
Multiple references to Spiderman And His Amazing Friends exist throughout the game including a line of dialogue between Spidey and Firestar (see Mythology Gag above). Another referance to the cartoon occurs when Deadpool complains to the game designers that the game wasn't called Deadpool and his Inferior Friends.
Then there's Deadpool's suggestion that when they find Titanium Man, they should make him say something like "Moose and Squirrel." Hilariously, Titanium Man actually does say "Moose and Squirrel" when you fight him.
The Stinger: At the end of MUA 1, Black Widow is revealed to be a double agent, who's set up Weasel to take the fall. Also, Galactus vows revenge on the heroes. That last one is quickly glossed over via a conversation with Thor in MUA 2, which implies that Galactus' revenge happened offscreen between the two games.
Stop Helping Me!: Stop knocking the demons off the altar, stupid CPU players! They only die permanently if you kill them on the altar!
Stop killing the exploding bugs, dammit! We need them to rig the teleporter!
Stupidity Is the Only Option: At one point in the third chapter of Marvel Ultimate Alliance, you beat Loki (who's famous for his illusions and trickery) in what seems to be an Anticlimax Boss. Then Nick Fury calls and tells you to collect 4 swords to get the armor Loki was trying to get, even though you would have absolutely no reason to do this. To nobody's surprise, this is a trick by Loki to get the armor. Naturally, you have to do this.
In Act IV, the Skrull Empress is willing to share knowledge of Galactus' weakness providing you help her escape. Anyone with the right mind knows she's lying and just using you to flee, but you need to go along 'cause she'll be leaving the hangar's doors wide opened for you to progress in the game.
Super Hero Packing Heat: Nick Fury, Deadpool, and Blade. Two of Fury's costumes give him bonuses to his guns. Deadpool and Blade also qualify as The Musketeer.
Take a Third Option: Subverted: The Thing, rather than take a side in the Civil War, goes hiding... but when he stumbles upon you later, depending on which side you are playing as, he'll either force himself to register or be appalled by what SHIELD is doing and join the resistance.
And how the Human Torch and Ghost Rider can use their fire powers underwater apparently.
Unstoppable Rage: Wolverine has an exclusive Rage Meter that will send him into a Berserker Mode, changing all of his power attacks.
Villain Protagonist: A character pack in the Xbox 360 version of the first game allowed you to take control of Magneto, Venom, Sabretooth and even that game's own Big Bad, Dr. Doom. In the second game, half of the Thunderbolts (you know what half) fit the role.
What the Hell, Hero?: As it's based off Civil War, the public doing this is a part of the premise.
Nick Fury chews out everyone in the second game, after getting this treatment himself at the very beginning. Also, certain conversations allow you to do this as well - with Anti and Pro Reg sides laying into each other for what they've done. Also, after the two sides, the Fantastic Four give this to Reed Richards, who reallydeserves it.
Wolfpack Boss: Wrecking Crew and the evil clone Fantastic Four give you a chance for some four-on-four battles.
Wolverine Publicity: Spider-Man takes center stage on the covers of both games despite having little importance in either story. He, Captain America, Thor, and Wolverine also get lead roles in the first game's cutscenes, to the extent that the intro showing the four of them is called "The Ultimate Alliance".
Worth It: One of the scenes in the MUA 1 ending credits is about Iceman getting knocked out by Spider-Woman's pheromones, and this is his reaction.
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