Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a gorgeous beat-em-up game that not only has brilliant frenetic fighting action, but a gorgeous mix of classic comic art and retro-inspired music. Created by Dotemu, it’s one of the best retro-style games around, but it’s also curiously an adaptation of an often overlooked Marvel comic book event.

For fans of Marvel’s comic books, Cosmic Invasion is an adaptation of Annihilation, a storyline from 2006 that has been praised by fans as some of the best modern Marvel content while also flying somewhat under-the-radar.

Speaking to FRVR, narrative designer Yannick Belzil explained that the decision to adapt the storyline was actually pitched by Marvel Games, the same team assisting Marvel Rivals developer NetEase on making that game’s next year even bigger than 2025.

“When we first started thinking about the game, I was thinking very hard about Avengers Forever as a possible adaptation,” Belzil explained, although they didn’t mention whether they meant the 1999 storyline or the new 2021 comic of the same name.

Belzil explained that the introduction of “Annihilus and his armies became more compelling for our needs” as the team needed an easy to use army of enemies to continue fighting. “It was the Marvel Game[s] team’s suggestion but quickly became an obvious choice: beat-em-ups need strong villains and a malleable theme for enemy armies. Annihilus is certainly that and the possibilities of a bug army were very promising.”

“I would use a lot of panels and pages from the comics, a lot from the 80s and 90s and specific artists for some characters.”

Yannick Belzil on the art style of Marvel Cosmic Invasion

Obviously, Marvel Cosmic Invasion does not adhere to the same beautifully detailed artwork of the Annihilation comic books, instead opting for a more bright and colourful, classic-style look reminiscent of Ditko and earlier Marvel styles. If anything, it’s closer to Capcom’s arcade games than anything truly graphic novel, but it’s a style truly its own.

“We always go back to the comics first, since they’re the original inspiration for all of the games, movies and tv series. I would use a lot of panels and pages from the comics, a lot from the 80s and 90s and specific artists for some characters. A lot of Mark Bagley for Spider-Man, Jim Lee for Wolverine and Storm, Walt Simonson and Daniel Warren Johnson for Beta Ray Bill and so on.

I think an essential visual element for these type of games is “beat’em up charisma” which means, you see a character, you want to see them fight and beat up the others. Characters like Phyla-Vell with her big sword or Cosmic Ghost Rider, you want to see them in battle immediately.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a fantastic beat-em-up, but it’s also a glorious celebration of Marvel as a whole. While the storyline is an adaptation of the comic, it’s far from one-to-one, and it’s a really good way of bringing the events of the comic into an extremely fun and varied video game.