Marvel Cosmic: Invasion is a 2D, retro beat ’em up from Tribute Games and DotEmu, and launching on PC and consoles later this year.
The best modern beat ’em up developer and publisher announced the project during the March 2025 Nintendo Direct. The announcement trailer shows off a very colorful, comic pixel art style and side-scrolling gameplay that looks very similar to 2022’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge (which we loved).
Inspired by the huge roster of Marvel characters (and Marvel vs Capcom), players will choose two characters and seamlessly swap between them, using superpowers and attack combos to obliterate enemies.
Confirmed characters include Captain America, Phyla-Vell, Nova, Spider-Man, Storm, and Venom. A total of 15 characters will be featured at launch.
The story focuses on cosmic super villain Annihilus, causing heroes from across the galaxy (but mostly Earth of course) to band together against the Annihilation Wave.
Surely we’ll see some Guardians of the Galaxy characters, right? Iron Man has to be a lock as well!
Up to four players can join together with drop-in/drop-out local and online co-op multiplayer, including crossplay. The press release also promises “a range of accessibility features, empowering the whole family.” Nice!
“Marvel Cosmic Invasion celebrates a universe that’s enthralled our team since childhood, and the genuine honor of being entrusted with this incredible roster also begins a new era for Dotemu’s work with the best entertainment franchises in the world,” said Cyrille Imbert, CEO, Dotemu. “Marvel Cosmic Invasion is truly a lifetime in the making — and after witnessing Tribute Games’ unwavering devotion to the fans and passion for beloved characters firsthand throughout the development of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge, we knew teaming up with them for a modern evolution of arcade-style Marvel action was the only choice.”
Marvel Cosmic Invasion will launch later this year on Steam PC, PlayStation, Switch, and Xbox. It has not yet been rated by the ESRB.
