Arcade (Marvel Comics)

Arcade
Arcade as depicted in X-Factor vol. 3 #30 (June 2008). Art by Glenn Fabry.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Marvel Team-Up #65 (January 1978)[1]
Created by	Chris Claremont (writer) John Byrne (artist)
In-story information
Place of origin	Murderworld
Team affiliations	Crazy Gang
Notable aliases	Mister A, "Mad Monk," Pinball Wizard, A.R. Cadenski
Abilities	Genius intelligence Skilled inventor and engineer

Arcade is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in 1978's Marvel Team-Up #65, the creation of writer Chris Claremont and writer/artist John Byrne. The character is a combination of an evil genius and a hitman who carries out his assassinations via various elaborate traps, often referred to as Murderworld.

Arcade's first intended victims were Spider-Man and Captain Britain but since Arcade's Murderworld games always leave the outcome up to chance, the duo defeated Arcade and escaped with their lives. Over the years Arcade has targeted a multitude of Marvel heroes, often focusing on the X-Men and associated members of X-Factor, X-Force and Excalibur. In what is considered the "game changer" for Arcade, Avengers Arena,^[2] he managed to kidnap 16 superpowered teens and forced them to kill each other for survival in his latest version of Murderworld; unlike most Murderworld schemes, this endeavor yielded several casualties.

Arcade has appeared in a number of other Marvel properties outside of comic books, in X-Men: Evolution voiced by Gabe Khouth, and in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series voiced by Eric Bauza. The character made his live-action debut in the 20th Century Fox film Deadpool 2 (2018) portrayed by co-writer Paul Wernick. He has also appeared as one of the main villains in a number of video games, including X-Men: Madness in Murderworld, Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Spider-Man: Edge of Time and Marvel: Avengers Alliance.

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Arcade was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, and first appeared in Marvel Team-Up #65.^[3][4]

The same storyline was reprinted shortly thereafter in the black-and-white comic Marvel UK title Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain #248.^[5]

Arcade has regularly been a guest villain in the majority of Marvel comics appearances he has made throughout the years since his introduction. His earliest encounter with the X-Men team occurred in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #122–124. Some time later he would encounter the team again, this time partnered with Dr. Doom in issues #145-147. Arcade also makes an appearance in The Uncanny X-Men #197.

Arcade affects a manner of dress and speech that makes him appear to be a comedic character. This is part of his overall theme, which extends into his preferred method of murder, an underground funhouse of colorful deathtraps, usually decked out in cheery colors and disguised as an amusement park, which he has dubbed "Murderworld".

Arcade's background, up to and including his real name, remains largely unknown even to the present. He claims that he was born into a wealthy family and lived much of his early life, depending on the telling, on a ranch in Texas, or in a mansion in Beverly Hills.^[6] At the age of either eighteen or twenty-one, his allowance was cut off by his father, who declared that he did not deserve it. In retaliation, Arcade murders his father, thus inheriting his money.^[7]

Arcade became a freelance assassin, traveling across the world, killing people in rather mundane fashions, and amassing even more wealth than he already had. Discovering an aptitude for technology, Arcade designed and built his first Murderworld, a subterranean evil lair disguised as an amusement park. From this base, and with the help of two mysterious assistants named Miss Locke and Mr. Chambers, he reemerged as the world's most expensive hitman. For the price of $1 million, he would tailor Murderworld to exploit the specific weaknesses of his targets and then watch as they are killed by a variety of colorful deathtraps strewn throughout the facility.

However, one of his "gimmicks" is that he always deliberately leaves each target a small chance of survival. In one instance, when the girlfriend of one of his captives begged him "If you're going to kill them, at least have the decency to do it quickly, painlessly!" Arcade laughs and replied, "Decency's dull... besides, miss, your way, they're dead and that's that. My way, they've got a chance. Not much of one, but a chance."^[8] This sets Arcade notably apart from most other villains who use deathtraps; while most villains believe that their death machines are infallible, Arcade likes to give them a chance on purpose, for the sport of it.

Since his first attempt to slay the unlikely duo of Spider-Man and Captain Britain,^[9][10] Arcade has tangled, at one time or another, with a large number of heroes and teams of heroes. In addition to battling the X-Men, X-Factor, X-Force and Excalibur as groups, he has attempted to kill many individual members, usually in pairs. Examples of this include Gambit and Wolverine,^[11] Colossus and Shadowcat,^[12] Iceman and Angel,^[13] Nightcrawler,^[14] Northstar,^[15] Meggan,^[16] and Dazzler.^[17]

Other would-be victims of Murderworld have included Green Goblin (Phil Urich),^[18] Hercules^[19] Johnny Blaze,^[20] Patsy Walker,^[21] Gwenpool,^[22] Iron Man and The Thing^[23] and the Micronauts.^[24]

Courtney Ross is one of the few non-super-powered civilians to escape Arcade's attention alive. She survives for some time due to outwitting multiple opponents (such as the Crazy Gang) and discovers a talent for improvisational comedy. In the end, she is rescued by the superhero team Excalibur. The entire situation gives her a new outlook and appreciation for life (though she is soon killed by an unrelated villain after her escape).^[25]

In another confrontation with Excalibur, Arcade trapped the team in a Murderworld programmed as a Looney Tunes parody, called the Loonies. He was revealed to be the "Wizard of Oz" of this world after Excalibur had to go down the yellow brick road.^[26]

At one point Arcade entraps the two otherworldly warriors, Adam X and Shatterstar, who team up to survive his plans. Arcade finds himself astonished as the two (mostly Adam) literally kill several of his employees. This causes him to state that the clients will be receiving a refund and the two are not to be dealt with in the future. Shatterstar attempts to kill Arcade, but he only destroys a robotic double.^[27]

The battle with Ghost Rider came when Arcade, having taken his show on the road, joins up with Blaze's Quentin Carnival; his Murderworld folded out from the back of a semi. Blaze rampages through the fold-out Murderworld, which he discovers is infested with demonic beings, destroying all the obstacles in his sight and killing what he can. He then leaves Arcade trapped in its depths. Arcade's trailer, now more normal-shaped, is driven out into the desert and abandoned.^[20]

Prior to a confrontation with Wolverine and Gambit, he murdered his assistant Miss Locke in a fit of rage.^[7] During the struggle, she wounded him with a carving knife and scarred much of his face. Over time, Arcade recovered from the physical trauma (presumably through facial surgery, though that has never been confirmed or even addressed in future stories) and even built android replicas of Locke to replace her.

In the three-part miniseries called "Claws", Arcade secretly creates a Kraven the Hunter robot, with the "assistance" of White Rabbit, in an attempt to kill both Wolverine and Black Cat. The two heroes overwhelm Arcade and the White Rabbit and strand them in the dinosaur-filled wilds of the Savage Land.^[28]

During the "Dark Reign" storyline, Quasimodo researched Arcade for Norman Osborn and states that he would be a good distraction.^[29]

Arcade is responsible for the destruction of Mutant Town, as part of a botched plan to kidnap X-Factor's Rictor.^[30][7] He later resurfaced, confronting Deadpool and Hercules,^[19] Dazzler,^[17] Human Torch and the Impossible Man.^[31] and the Young Allies and Avengers Academy.^[32]

In a shift from his usual modus operandi, Arcade is responsible for the "Avengers Arena".^[10][7] He and a new associate named Miss Coriander abduct 16 teenage superheroes (several with ties to the Avengers, including several members of Avengers Academy) and strand them on a deserted island, re-modified as an elaborate Murderworld location, forcing them to fight to the death.^[33][34] The heroes Mettle, Red Raven, Kid Briton, Juston Seyfert, Apex, and Nara do not survive this Murderworld encounter. Nico Minoru of the Runaways is also killed, but is eventually resurrected by the Staff of One.

Months later, in the pages of Avengers Undercover, Arcade cashes on the success of Avengers Arena in the villainous underground nation of Bagalia. Several Murderworld survivors reunite and are convinced by fellow hero Cullen Bloodstone to kill Arcade at the Massacre Casino in revenge for his actions.^[35] After a chaotic battle, Hazmat finally kills Arcade by destroying him with a concentrated radiation burst.^[36] However, it was later revealed that Arcade was actually alive the entire time, imprisoned in a Masters of Evil cell (by Baron Zemo, with assistance from his now former comrade Ms. Coriander) and that Hazmat had in reality killed a clone made by members of the Masters of Evil; all revealed as an effort to coerce the heroes to turn against the Avengers and to join them.^[37] The Masters of Evil escape on a hijacked Helicarrier, strapping Arcade to the front.^[38]

Arcade later encountered Gwenpool at a time when Arcade had trapped members of the MODOK organization and Walrus in his latest Murderworld. With help from Deadpool, Gwenpool rescued the captives and assisted Deadpool in defeating Arcade.^[22] Arcade later set a trap for Hellcat and She-Hulk on Coney Island.^[21]

He had most recently moved his enterprises to Las Vegas and was embroiled in his usual games of life and death with Elektra. In addition, he collaborated with Screwball where he gave her the training, equipment, and exclusive streaming rights that she needed.^[39] During this encounter he revealed that he'd partnered with Wilson Fisk to eliminate certain heroes "from the board," such as Elektra, Hellcat, Gwenpool, Deadpool and others, explaining their previous encounters.^[40] After Elektra ends his Vegas operation, Arcade travels to Madripoor and encounters Spider-Man and Deadpool.^[41] Additionally, he vows to no longer target mutants in his endeavors.^[42]

In the prelude to the "Hunted" storyline, Arcade and his company Arcade Industries assist Kraven the Hunter in hunting various animal-themed villains.^{[7][43][44][45][46][47][48]}

Spider-Boy villain Killionaire later hires Arcade to abduct Spider-Boy and take him to Murderworld before he eventually escapes.^[49]

One of his old facilities was used as a headquarters by the superhero team X-Force.^[50] They planned to use it as a base for crimefighting and even attended a nearby college out of it. Arcade later destroys the base remotely; X-Force barely escapes with their lives.^[7][51]

Another old Murderworld location was converted into a training room by an incarnation of the New Warriors.^[52]

Madripoor Island-ruler Viper had bought one of Arcade's Murderworld facilities and used it to deceive the X-Men, threatening the city of London with nuclear weapons.^[53]

On one occasion, Arcade experimented with what he called "Video Murder Machines", using a laser-like beam to abduct targets into a virtual environment where the victims would engage in deadly video game type scenarios. He intended to abduct the X-Men but accidentally captured the Micronauts with whom he was unfamiliar. The Micronauts (Arcturus Rann, Devil, Microtron, Nanotron) were able to eventually escape the virtual environments through Microtron's hacking into the system. The premise was inspired by the then recent 1982 Disney film Tron.^[54]

Arcade has no superhuman powers but has absolute genius-level knowledge of technology far ahead of conventional science, particularly in the fields of robotics and mechanical and electrical engineering. Usually when he appears to be captured, it turns out to be a robot. It is implied that he is an expert in conventional assassination, including ranged weapons, poison, and sabotage, all of which became elements in Murderworld.

In Agent X #5, it was revealed that Arcade also has some medical skills which he uses to save Agent X's life.^[55]

In the Avengers Arena series, Arcade easily held back a cadre of 16 high-powered teenage superheroes seemingly without having to resort to mechanical or technological devices of any sort. He displayed the ability to create force fields, proved to be nearly invulnerable to energy blasts without the force field, controlled the motor functions of his 16 captives all at the same time, employed telekinesis, caused nearby matter to form into a throne for him to sit on, and effortlessly blew apart an almost-invulnerable mutant with a simple gesture. However, these abilities are the result of technology provided by his henchwoman, Miss Coriander, and can only be manifested within the confines of the Antarctica Murderworld.

• Miss Locke – Arcade's bodyguard and chief enforcer, is an expert in martial arts and gun combat. According to a flashback sequence in Avengers Arena #7 (2013), he murdered her in cold blood despite her years of faithful service once she, in Arcade's mind, had tried to get "too close" to him by having an emotional and physical relationship.
• Mr. Chambers – Arcade's henchman who has displayed electronic and mechanical skill and is thus in charge of Murderworld's system operations and maintenance. In several appearances he is the driver of a vehicle (disguised as a garbage truck) that would often capture Arcade's victims for transport back to Murderworld.
• Miss Coriander – Arcade's latest henchwoman, she claims to be responsible for the vast array of powers that Arcade currently employs in his underground base seen in the "Avengers Arena" storyline. She appears to far surpass even Arcade in terms of knowledge about superhuman powers and how to counter them, and has gifted Arcade with a vastly powerful set of abilities that she has purloined from cutting-edge technology, exotic energy sources, and magical power. She later betrays Arcade after his supposed death and joined up with Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil.

• An alternate universe variant of Arcade from Earth-295 appears in Age of Apocalypse. This version is a member of the Marauders before being killed by Gwen Stacy and Clint Barton.^[56]
• An alternate universe variant of Arcade from Earth-11326 appears in Age of X. This version is Harcourt Teesdale, the prison governor of the Alcatraz Island mutant prison, before being killed by Basilisk.^[57]
• An alternate universe variant of Arcade from Earth-12101 appears in Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe.^[58]
• An alternate universe variant of Arcade from Earth-20051 appears in Marvel Adventures.^[59][60]
• An alternate universe variant of Arcade from Earth-15513 appears in Secret Wars as a resident of Battleworld and the master of ceremonies at the Killiseum arena before being killed by the Ghost Riders.^[61][62][63]
• An alternate universe variant of Arcade from Earth-1610 appears in Ultimate X-Men. This version is a gaming prodigy and skilled hunter who possesses a hatred of mutants due to Magneto killing his sister.^[64]
• An alternate universe variant of Arcade from Earth-2988 appears in What If? #111 as one of several villains killed by Wolverine.^[65]

• Arcade appears in the X-Men: Evolution episode "Fun and Games", voiced by Gabe Khouth. This version is identified as Webber Torque, a high school student and gamer.^[10]
• Arcade appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Game Over", voiced by Eric Bauza.^[66] This version is an technopathic Asian-American mutant who uses his abilities to lure superheroes to Madland for his own amusement, regardless of his actions' possible consequences.^[10]
• Arcade appears in M.O.D.O.K., voiced by Alan Tudyk.^[10]

• Arcade appears in X-Men: Madness in Murderworld.
• Arcade appears in Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade's Revenge.
• Arcade appears as a boss in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, voiced by Quinton Flynn. This version is a member of Doctor Doom's Masters of Evil. Additionally, Murderworld appears as a stage.
• A Marvel 2099-inspired incarnation of Arcade appears in the Nintendo DS version of Spider-Man: Edge of Time, voiced by Jim Cummings.^[67][66] This version controls a cyber-arena game called Murder Galaxy to hunt heroes in front of a live audience.
• Arcade appears in Marvel Puzzle Quest. This version is identified as Edward Acra.
• Arcade appears in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.

Arcade received an action figure in the Marvel Legends line in June 2021.

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