'When's Marvel?' (or Mahvel, if we're being picky) has been a rallying cry among fighting game fans for years now. Part meme, part genuine call for the return of Capcom's classic Marvel vs Capcom series. Well, the good news is that Marvel is coming back, and we even know when—2026! The bad news is that Capcom (and its extensive cast of crossover characters) is out of the picture. But the potentially very good news is that Guilty Gear and Dragon Ball FighterZ (arguably MVC's spiritual successor) studio Arc System Works is taking the next shot at the superhero tag-team fighter format, and raising the stakes.
Announced during Sony's State Of Play showcase last night, Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls looks like it's putting a bit of an anime-styled spin on the classic cast (returning favourites Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Dr Doom and Storm are now joined by Star Lord, Ghost Rider, and Ms. Marvel to make up the initial eight revealed), and upgrading the fights from MVC-standard 3v3 to 4v4. There's no release date yet, and no hint at how many fighters there'll be, but I'd expect a drip-feed of reveals from now til' launch.
My personal take on the trailer is that there's a lot to like here. Marvel classic elements like launchers that allow you to follow them skyward for lengthy aerial follow-up combos seem present and correct. As are Guilty Gear's dramatic stage transitions if you slam your opponent hard enough against the arena border, doing extra damage while also getting the splattered player out of a tough corner position. The slightly anime-styled redesigns of the cast are a perfect fit for Arc System Works' fancy toon shader tech, and the multi-character, meter-burning tag combos look as satisfying as ever.
An accompanying interview segment during the State of Play showcase also revealed some additional interesting details, like the newbie-friendly option to stick with your lead character through the entire match (although there's no mention of how health will be divided up) letting you treat your other three characters as call-in assists for extending or mixing up combos. More advanced players can switch up the lead character on the fly, of course.
Plus, given that this is ArcSys, expect the game to keep rolling out new characters in seasonal waves so long as players keep splashing out for them—it's not like Marvel is short on characters that'd fit right in.
If waiting until 2026 seems like a bit much, the fans have you covered. Thanks to an all-star mod team assembled by fighting game YouTuber/Streamer Maximilian Dood, the somewhat underwhelming Marvel Vs Capcom Infinite (which frequently goes on sale for under $10) recently received a massive community overhaul called MVC Infinite & Beyond, giving it a slick new toon-shaded aesthetic, competitive balance tweaks, some new game modes, a better soundtrack and even online play support. It's a genuinely good game now, albeit one with a small pool of competitive players.
There's no Steam page up for Marvel Tōkon yet (just an official announcement page here), but it is confirmed to be coming to PS5 and PC (via both Steam and Epic) some time in 2026.
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