The Big Blue was at one point DC’s most recognizable superhero. Over time this changed as Batman became Warner Brothers’ bread and butter at a time when merchandising outside the comics became the most crucial thing. Still, even today Superman is one of the most popular superheroes of all time.
But just because people like him, doesn’t mean he needs to be DC’s main character all the time. Fortunately in video games a lot of times he doesn’t actually stand in the spotlight. From fighting games to side-scrollers, there are a lot of times when Superman isn’t in the lead role.
10 Justice League Task Force Was DC Comics’ First Fighting Game
Sunsoft developed DC Comics’ first fighting game back in 1995. Justice League Task Force shared a title with one of the Justice League comics of the ’90s, at a time when the League was experiencing something of a bloat of the number of comics it had on stands. The story of the title involved Darkseid attacking the Earth and capturing most of the Justice League aside from the one character the player controls to get through the story. This explains why the hero has to defeat every other member of the League. The roster included the classics everyone expects like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow, Aquaman, and Flash. In the end, this game is a far cry from something like Injustice.
9 Justice League: Injustice For All Put The Justice League Against The Injustice Gang
In the 2000s, the Justice League animated series had established itself as the gold standard for superhero cartoons. Plenty of video games came out surrounding the heroes, including the 2002 title Justice League: Injustice For All on the Game Boy Advance. It’s a straight-forward brawler that features the main roster of the Justice League against the Injustice Gang. This game at least gave villains like Ultra-Humanite and Star Sapphire a chance to be in a game, even though it’s not doing all that much with the genre.
8 Justice League: Chronicles Teamed Up Different Members Of The Justice League To Handle Threats
Developer Full Fat followed up on the Justice League: Injustice For All game with Justice League: Chronicles. For anyone getting this game for more adventures, they should do so being aware that it’s not nearly as fun. It’s got three episodes that each have their own members of the Justice League for players to use. Batman and Hawkgirl, Green Lantern and Flash, and Superman and Wonder Woman all get their moments to shine on different stages. But with poor controls and not much thought put into the content, this game is hard to hold up as an experience worth remembering.
7 Justice League Heroes United Was An Arcade Game Starring Five Different Members Of The League
Justice League Heroes United was an arcade game about the Justice League, released in 2009. Free from the shackles of the DC Animated Universe, they were able to make a game that resembled the comics instead of just the cartoon again.
Still, the game only has the Justice League cartoon’s roster, offering five choices in Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern. It’s a straightforward beat ’em up that only has the benefit of allowing players to play it in two-player mode together. The game has a handful of stages available, including a city, a ruined planet, and a starship. Most people will likely get bored of it before getting through a single stage though.
6 DC Universe Online Focuses On Tons Of Heroes Outside Of Superman
There’s no DC hero that’s the centerpiece of this story, largely because the hero in DC Universe Online is the player. DC Universe Online, as an MMO, invites the player to become the next hero that can help save the world. Players can set up in either Gotham or Metropolis at the start, but there are tons of other locations the player can explore across the DC Universe. The game releases new episodes seemingly every few months like clockwork, which can take players to far future or to new cities like Themyscira or Central City.
5 Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Puts Batman In Control While Superman Is A Supporting Star
The first Lego Batman game was a big enough success to start an entire series of them, and from the beginning, Traveller’s Tales began expanding Batman’s universe. In Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Batman and Robin team up with Superman to battle against Joker and Lex Luthor. While Superman is a playable character, most of the story is about Batman, and thus the game takes place largely in Gotham City. The cool thing about Legos is that at any moment other characters can be added, so plenty of new characters can be used to explore outside of the main storyline, like Nightwing and Katana or Captain Gold and Gorilla Grodd.
4 Infinite Crisis Has Dozens Of Heroes From Across The Multiverse
Infinite Crisis might have a little focus on Superman…it just depends on which version of Superman someone is talking about. The game is focused on getting players on teams to work together to take out both bots and the other team’s champions while draining the Power Core on the stage.
Players could enjoy four different stages, though three of them were just different versions of Gotham City and the fourth one was just Coast City. Still, there are only two variants of Superman in the game, but there are over two dozen other options for players to try instead.
3 Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure Features Nearly Every Character In The DC Universe
Developer 5th Cell released Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure in conjunction with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The game follows a player character who can make whatever he wants appear out of his trusty notebook. The player starts out working with Batman to recover the power of the starites, but the game gradually introduces more and more characters from the DC Universe. Because of the type of game it is, Scribblenauts is able to include nearly every character of the DC Universe, no matter how obscure they are. With a beautiful story and fun combat, this is one of the best DC games of the last generation.
2 Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham Sends Batman And The League Across The DC Universe
The third title in the Lego Batman series, as the name might suggest, takes the Caped Crusader out of Gotham. Instead, Batman and Robin travel across the DC Universe to different areas in the hopes of stopping Brainiac from shrinking the Earth. Because of the scale of Brainiac’s mission, both the Justice League and the Legion of Doom are forced to work together to keep Brainiac from capturing them. The cast of this game is positively massive, with 200 characters being added to the game from across the DC Universe. This is currently the biggest DC Universe game in which players get to play as the heroes.
1 Lego Dimensions Combines All The Lego Universes Together
Lego Dimensions taps into the wide array of properties that Warner Bros Interactive has access to. The story involves a powerful being known as Lord Voltech on a search for the Foundation Elements of the Lego multiverse. His goal is to find and collect them all so he can control the multiverse. This journey takes him into multiple worlds, but the DC Comics one is the one most worth talking about. With additional packs, the player can expand the playable DC characters, which includes adding Superman into the DC world.
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