The Most Fun Characters in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 has no right to be as addicting and sleep depriving-ly fun as it is. At its heart, it’s very much a mid-2000’s game in the same vein as the previous entry in the series that released 13 long years ago with all its button-mashing glory. Thanks to a ton of charm and the ability to pair up the most popular heroes in the world like never before, the grind transforms from a chore into a pure delight. You’ll find yourself spending countless hours running through Inifinity Trials to power up your favorite heroes, so you can unleash them on Thanos and the Black Order. It’s all the best parts of those RPG character collecting mobile games like Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes combined with the robust action of a Diablo taken to an unholy new level of corporate super hero synergy.

Now, to help you figure out where you should be pooling those hours of character progression, here is my handy list of the Most Fun Characters in the game. Quick Note: I still have not unlocked the final two characters, Loki and Thanos, but they’re so far into the endgame (see what I did there) that I figure we’re safe to rank without them.

Dishonorable Mention

Deadpool

This is one time when you’ll definitely wish the Merc with the Mouth would just shut up already. While, Deadpool does feature some fun moves and a weird obsession with taco night, the absence of Ryan Reynold’s charm and his constantly muttering “pew-pew” had me quickly relegate him to the bench.

The Top 10

10) Nightcrawler

Everyone’s favorite blue teleporting mutant doesn’t disappoint with his now you see me, now you don’t fighting style. More importantly, however, you’ll never tire of it looking like he’s stabbing whoever he talks to.

9) Ghost Rider

While he may be lacking that trademark Nicolas Cage bravado from the films, he more than makes up for it with a ridiculously long chain and the best use of a motorcycle to pulverize your enemies since Devil May Cry 5.

8) Captain Marvel

Aside from having the best haircut in the entire game, Carol Danvers also feels like the most powerful hero to choose from. Her flying looks the most badass of all the airborne heroes, and you’ll never stop experiencing a sense of glee every time you smash into the ground from up above.

7) Black Panther

T’Challa’s dizzying athleticism is a thrill to watch and a blast to pull off. No character plays faster or more fluid than the king of Wakanda, and you’ll find yourself involuntarily yelling “Wakanda Forever” whenever he powers up.

6) Psylocke

It’s really all about Psylocke’s energy attacks. They’re possibly the coolest looking of all the special effects in the game, and they make you feel like a true ninja mutant.

5) Hawkeye

Going into the game, I couldn’t help but wonder if we were getting the awesome Hawkeye from the comics (seriously go read Matt Fraction’s legendary run) or the bummer, why is he even here version from the movies. I am happy to report that the former shows up here. Aside from looking incredibly cool shooting arrows in the midst of people with actual super powers doing their thing, as one of the first long distance attackers you’ll unlock, he’s incredibly helpful for staggering your foes from afar and keeping your team alive.

4) Captain America

Two things make Cap’ truly stand-out. First up, his Eagle Scout-ish sincerity at least serves as an occasional reminder that this is important hero work going on. Second, and more importantly, it looks super insanely awesome whenever he does a shield combo where he starts throwing it off foes and kicking it around. It’s like you can reenact the great Captain America vs. Iron Man fight scene from Civil War on all these unsuspecting goons.

3) Wolverine

Live out the 50,000 times you made the “snikt” sound effect while doing the Wolverine claw pose this year alone as a kid. Combine that with his healing ability and those wonderful 90’s X-men duds for the most fun Logan has ever been. Just try not to think of the horrible things his claws are doing to all those poor foot soldiers.

2) The Spider-Gang (Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, and Miles Morales)

It wouldn’t be a true top 10 list if I wasn’t able to cheat in some way by having a single entry house multiples. A big reason that I purchased this game was that it gave me my first chance to play as Miles and Spider-Gwen in a video game, and they were everything I hoped for. Webslinging from place to place feels infinitely better than flying, and being able to render baddies harmless by encasing them in web fluid has yet to grow old. Just substitute in any fourth member for a guaranteed fun time. Eventually I had to force myself to mix things up, so I wasn’t just turning this into a Spider-verse game.

1) Ms. Marvel

About halfway through the game, I noticed something interesting about the many squads I was assembling; they all seemed to contain the teenaged polymorph, Ms. Marvel. She packs a massive punch (literally, see picture above) that is great for crowd control, and her frequent quips are filled with so much excitement and joy that I quickly came to love the fact that the most important hero in this quest was also possibly the youngest and least experienced. She wasn’t just happy to be there. Rather, she was growing her own legend.

Bonus: Most Fun Team

The Brute Squad

When you want to absolutely wreck a room full of baddies, treat yourself to the Infinity Stone smashing insanity of the Brute Squad. This team is perfect for any of the wave-based Inifinity Trials (which were my personal favorite) as their combined power and synergy attacks are sure to leave a hefty repair bill in record time.

Now enough of what I think. Go experiment and find out which heroes you find the most fun. Let me know who I should give another shot in the comments.