If you believed that D.C. was home to all the sinister, bloodthirsty baddies, boy, were you mistaken! This film is about a crazy, deranged antagonist who is well-known among fans as Marvel’s equivalent of none other than the Riddler from Washington, D.C. In fact, a lot of people even consider this character to be a D.C. antagonist in the Marvel Universe, but that is up to you to determine.
This red-haired bad guy, who runs his own murder-themed fantasy amusement park and is not afraid to slaughter people cruelly, has faced up against heroes like Spiderman. Who do you think this is? Arcade is the Marvel villain who made his debut in 1978 and has since been sufficiently explored, despite being a lesser-known figure. This is his narrative, and he is a very memorable guy.
Exploring the origins of this twisted villain
Arcade told numerous stories about his past, and none of them are supported by any evidence. Arcade allegedly made up details about his origins to confuse and trick his opponents for his own amusement. The following is a description of Arcade’s early years and how he grew to be the psychotic killer that he is known to be, as provided by Arcade himself.
According to Arcade’s own interpretation of events, he did not enjoy a comfortable upbringing. He was the sole kid of a very prosperous man. His father’s contempt for him and his childish infatuation with toys were the root causes of his awful childhood. Due to Arcade’s continued self-indulgence, his father cut him off from his trust fund on his twenty-first birthday, but this only served to further sever their relationship.
Arcade then killed his father in retaliation for severing his connection. He accomplished this by detonating an explosive inside his father’s car. This event gave Arcade a mental breakdown and effectively inspired him to kill people in order to further amass his already huge estate.
He decided that killing people was what he was going to do for the rest of his life after realising that it gave him a sickening sense of aliveness. Arcade travelled the world, committed pretty regular killings, and made more money than he previously had as a freelance assassin. But he did not want to be simply another murderer.
He eventually grew tired of the techniques he employed for his trade and made the decision to devise new ways to execute the targets he was ordered to kill. He realised that he had a knack for technology, and combined his two favourite pastimes. Arcade started creating facilities that catered specifically to the flaws and phobias of his targets, charging a million dollars for his services and rising to the top of the assassin market worldwide.
The reason he is considered to be twisted is because he pretty much mentally and physically tortures his targets before actually killing them. Arcade gave these creations the name Murderworld, recruited Miss Locke, a martial arts prodigy, and Mr. Chambers, an engineer, as his subordinates, and from that point on referred to himself as Arcade – the manic murderer.
Arcade was a technological genius who was largely self-taught and was alone in charge of designing and equipping each Murderworld he constructed. He would stay in his control room and tease his victims because he found it amusing to see them suffer. One of his “gimmicks,” nevertheless, was to always give each target a slim chance of surviving.
One time, his captive’s fiancée pleaded with him, saying that if he was going to kill them, at least he should have the guts and the courtesy to do it quickly, without agony. However, Arcade chuckled and retorted that decency was boring, and that they would die either way, and it made no difference. He believed that his victims deserved a chance to escape and that it was their responsibility to use that chance.
Their escape was a possibility, although a small one. This distinguishes Arcade from the majority of other villains that employ deathtraps because, in contrast to most villains, Arcade enjoys purposefully giving his victims a chance to evade their certain death for the sake of sport.
He thus thought it was sporting of him to give his captives a chance to escape, however little that chance was. He especially loved building places that looked like fun houses and watching his victims try to escape was one of his favorite pastimes. However, he was arrogant and people could read him extremely easily.
Arcade placed more value on the game itself than on the cost or even on the outcome. Arcade was also hired to assassinate a number of super heroes, including well-known opponents like Spider-Man and the X-Men, as well as less well-known targets like Puck and Northstar of Alpha Flight and Ghost Rider, but these endeavours were never successful. Arcade occasionally harboured personal grievances towards heroes, attempting to free-kill them like Captain Britain.
However, despite being well-known in the Marvel Universe and having encountered numerous superheroes, he never managed to kill any of them, as they always managed to elude his capture. Arcade’s reputation among villains has swiftly diminished as a result of his incapacity to kill anyone of significance and his flamboyant demeanour, and even younger superheroes like Hazmat have referred to him as “the worst bad guy ever.”
He made his debut in Marvel Team-Up #65 that was released in 1978. This comic was written by Chris Claremont and illustrated by John Byrne and Arcade has carried on his killing spree ever since. Shortly later, the same plot as his debut appearance was reproduced in the Marvel UK black-and-white comic Super Spider-Man & Captain Britain #248.
In the majority of the Marvel comics appearances Arcade has made since his debut over the years, he has frequently appeared as a guest villain. In the pages of Uncanny X-Men #122–124, he first encountered the X-Men squad. Later on, in issues #145–147, he would run across the gang once more, this time working with Dr. Doom. The Uncanny X-Men #197 features an appearance by Arcade as well.
Arcade has been under-utilized in Marvel animated shows
He has appeared mainly in three Marvel Animated Shows; however, in none of them is he the ruthless villain as shown in the comics. His appearances are, unfortunately, few and far between.
The animated X-Men: Evolution episode “Fun and Games,” features a variant of Arcade that Gabe Khouth voices. The character in this rendition is Webber Torque, a high school gamer who goes by the name “Arcade.” Risty Wilde dupes him into thinking the security console for the X-Mansion is an intricate video game, which he then uses to assault the X-Men since he thinks they are simply video game characters. He later apologises for playing the “video game” without their permission despite almost killing the X-Men. This one is clearly a watered-down version of the manic murderer.
As for his second T.V. appearance, Alan Tudyk voices Arcade in the animated series M.O.D.O.K. He is enlisted by a former M.O.D.O.K., afterwards known as the Anomaly, to help the latter exact revenge on the current M.O.D.O.K. in the episode “This Man… This Makeover!”. Arcade imprisons M.O.D.O.K. and his family in Murderworld alongside robotic replicas of them in the episode “O, Were Blood Thicker Than Robot Juice!” Arcade later becomes furious with the Anomaly and flees when they realise the trick and destroy the majority of the robots.
Lastly, Eric Bauza voices Arcade in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series episode “Game Over”. This incarnation is an Asian American technopathic mutant who, heedless of the potential repercussions of his actions, is prepared to use his powers to entice superheroes to Madland for his own juvenile fun. He intends to break nuclear missile codes to trigger World War III, and he will first employ L.M.D.s to attack S.H.I.E.L.D. and declare his intentions. Nick Fury orders Captain America and Spider-Man to stop Arcade after tracing his transmission to Madripoor.
Before reaching Arcade, who only anticipated Captain America and Wolverine, the two heroes battle through several “levels,” face Wolverine and then finally reach Arcade. Arcade uses a massive robot that resembles his head in a desperate attempt to destroy the heroes. Before the three superheroes can face Arcade and persuade him to revoke the codes and have him captured by S.H.I.E.L.D., Spider-Man disables the laser cannon. This one is still a respectable depiction of Arcade and fans want to see more of him.
Looking into some of his most crucial story arcs
One of his main story arcs is one involving Spiderman and Captain Britain. According to this plotline, it wasn’t long before Arcade lost interest once more despite his unique theme and fun method of murdering. He finally found the entertainment he had been seeking when he signed a deal with Captain Britain, better known as Brian Braddock. Both Captain Britain and Spider-Man were imprisoned in his Murderworld, but they managed to escape the deathtraps. Arcade had found the adventure he was looking for by kidnapping and killing superheroes, but they subsequently also became the first humans to ever escape Murderworld.
The story arc that follows revolves around his new career. Understandably, Arcade had a terribly terrible career after deciding to try to kill Marvel Universe heroes. Arcade ultimately turned into the main foe of the mutant teams X-Men, X-Factor, and Excalibur. The X-men forced Arcade to apologise to Doctor Doom after he managed to turn his castle into a Murderworld and sell it to the mutant known as Toad. This forced Doctor Doom to catch Arcade after regaining control of his castle. Subsequently, Arcade made the decision to alter their strategy for capturing unimportant heroes like Ghost Rider, an Alpha Flight member, Puck, and even the Green Goblin.
Nevertheless, Arcade never succeeded in his mission to assassinate a costumed hero in Murderworld. His attempts to work with different Marvel Universe villains to further his objectives have so far failed. Even though Arcade has a poor reputation as a murderer, the Marvel Universe’s heroes still face a real threat from him.
Arcade’s odd conduct and thinking were highlighted by Miss Locke’s repeated failures in her attempts to take Arcade’s life on her birthday. What is odd about this you ask? Well, turns out that these attempts on his life had been pre-planned and discussed between the two, so it was some sort of a game to him. But one day, she was so close to killing him that it left a scar across the left side of his face. After killing Miss Locke in a fit of wrath, Arcade realised he still needed a woman like her, so he started turning replicas of Miss Locke into robots. Arcade later underwent facial surgery, regaining his previous appearance and leaving no scars on his face.
His next story arc includes one of Marvel’s most beloved characters – Deadpool. Soon Arcade became aware that he had lost the majority of his clients, was going broke, and was weak while Deadpool quickly rose to become the finest mercenary in the world.
One day, the demon Nightmare came up to him and suggested that they work together to defeat their common enemies. Nightmare had discovered a method to employ his supernatural abilities so that Arcade could use machines and sorcery to bring his vicious video games to life. Arcade agreed, and it seemed the only thing he had to give in exchange was to aid Nightmare in defeating Hercules. Arcade may have been kept in the dark about any additional costs associated with his newly acquired power, but he persisted in carrying out the plan and choosing to use a single nasty trap to kill both of their enemies.
Nightmare penetrated the dreams of Hercules and Deadpool and enticed them into a large structure where Arcade had constructed his most recent Murder-world. The victims suffered horrors from the bottom of their hearts after entering a labyrinth from which there seemed to be no way out. While Deadpool faced his multiple selves, Hercules saw a legion of everyone he had ever murdered (including his own sons).
Before Deadpool was able to regain control of himself and explain to Hercules how to escape, the villains came dangerously close to killing the heroes emotionally. After then, Nightmare vanished, leaving Arcade alone with the two heroes. The pair left Arcade tied up for the cops after quickly defeating him. Regardless of the country he was in, unless he made a deal with Norman Osborn, the guy in charge of the U.S. super-troops at the time, it is likely that he was caught.
Even after the incident and subsequently after the Initiative vanquished Nightmare, it is doubtful but not impossible that Arcade and his machines retained their magical abilities. Furthermore, it is unknown if he still owes Nightmare a debt of any kind.
One of his most recent and most influential plotlines is the Avengers Arena story arc. When Arcade celebrated his 29th birthday at his mansion, he discovered that the super-villain community was making fun of him. Arcade lost all hope and allowed his new assistant Miss Coriander to assault him, forgetting that he had asked her to murder him as a “birthday gift.” Arcade then told Miss Coriander in the hospital that he was no longer content with only playing since he had come to the realisation that “winning is everything.”
Arcade retreated to his pub, The Hole in Central Bagalia after recovering and handing Miss Coriander his Murder Island as a parting gift. Constrictor, one of the criminals who had made fun of him, broke into his home while he was drinking, but Arcade deceived Constrictor, making him fall into one of the bar’s concealed booby traps. As a result of this occurrence, Arcade rehired Miss Coriander to assist him in developing a new Murderworld in Antarctica because it once again rekindled his interest in killing in creative ways. Arcade was also given a special outfit by Miss Coriander, which gave him the ability to mimic many other superpowers while inside Murderworld.
Sixteen young superheroes, including students from the Avengers Academy, Braddock Academy, as well as lone teens like the Runaways, were then kidnapped by Arcade and sent to a new Murder World that he constructed in the Antarctic. When he arrived, he made the announcement that a death match would take place, with a winner determined after 30 days. The game was subsequently stopped in an attempt to prevent injuries by some of the teenagers attacking Arcade. Using abilities he had never demonstrated before, Arcade effortlessly overcomes the teenagers.
Then, after blasting Hazmat out of the group and sending Mettle after her, he offers to make the first murder of the game and invites the gathering youths to choose who they believe to be the weakest. Hazmat, not one to give up so lightly, attacked Arcade once more, which infuriated him. He started killing her because he wanted to use her as an example. Before he could do any lasting harm, Mettle intervened and offered to take her place. To Hazmat’s horror, Arcade complied and murdered Mettle before anybody else could respond.
As the game went on, the trapped heroes gradually started to kill one another as Arcade had anticipated. This was partly because Apex controlled Death Locket, making her attack a number of other players, and X-23, who Arcade exposed to Trigger 42, which made her attack anybody in sight.
In the end, many of them perished. Arcade kept observing his Murderworld competitors up until Christopher Powell, Apex, and Death Locket ambushed him in his command centre, causing him to leave and giving Apex power. Later, he persuaded Apex to carry out his murderous plot in exchange for a promise that, by manipulating the evidence left behind, he would ultimately portray her as a victim and a hero. However, it was later discovered that he posted the unedited video on Youtube, destroying the candidates’ reputations and broadcasting the events to the world.
Hazmat assassinated Arcade in Bagalia after the teenage heroes had been freed, while she and other Murder World survivors were attempting to penetrate into an organisation called the Masters of Evil. It was later discovered that he was genuinely alive and being held captive in a cell next to Cammi. Created by the Masters of Evil, the one Hazmat destroyed was a clone. Finally, to torture him while they were in the air, the Masters bound him to the front of a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier that they had stolen.
He has appeared in a couple of other story arcs but definitely has been under-utilised. In every appearance he has been a thoroughly entertaining villain.
What makes him so powerful?
Arcade is a specialist in robotics, electronics, engineering, and technology-related topics. He is largely self-taught but also has official training in these areas. Arcade is an excellent computer hacker who is skilled at using alien Shi’ar technology, which helps him create situations that appeal to his victims’ anxieties. Despite being skilled in hand-to-hand combat, Arcade makes it a point to stay away from violent confrontations.
Arcade lacks superhuman abilities, but he has a genius-level I.Q. and a natural talent for applied technology, architecture, and mechanics. Arcade, a talented self-taught designer, uses his skills to create “Murderworlds,” which are mobile deathtraps that resemble amusement parks. Thus, Arcade’s most formidable trait was his ability to create environments that were suited to his victims’ vulnerabilities. These murderworlds can range in size from the that of a semi-truck to that of an island, and thanks to Shi’ar technology, Arcade was also able to put his victims in environments resembling those found in video games.
His method of killing is gruesome and simply deranged. Even the Joker does not take this much time and pleasure in his killings. It seems like watching his victims writhe and lose their minds in panic and agony is something he adores. He gets this mad rush of pleasure knowing that he controls everything, right down to the way a person will die, when he decides it is time. This makes him a dangerous villain for sure.
Arcade doesn’t possess any special physical prowess or powers, as we have already established. However, when Nightmare and Arcade joined forces for a while, this may have resulted in Arcade retaining some of the demon’s magic and ability to instil fear. His lunacy also appears to give him a certain level of comic awareness because he can, for instance, grab and eat the tiny angel and devil perched on Deadpool’s shoulders.
Worthy of mention is that in the Avengers Arena series, Arcade held back 16 powerful teenage superheroes with ease, ostensibly without the use of any kind of mechanical or technical gear. He demonstrated the ability to produce force fields, demonstrated that he was almost impervious to energy blasts when not protected by one, controlled the motor functions of his 16 captives simultaneously, used telekinesis, caused nearby matter to transform into a seat for him, and effortlessly dismantled an almost invulnerable mutant with a single gesture. These skills, however, were created using technology that Miss Coriander, his henchwoman, provided, and they could only be used within the walls of the Antarctica Murderworld.
Further, Arcade defends himself and captures his prey using personal weapons and a variety of transportation methods. He has often been in danger of dying due to his overwhelming need for entertainment, which has caused him to become negligent and lose focus.
Arcade has the potential to feature in a movie as an extremely demented villain. Imagine how much can be done with his trademark ways of killing – we think it would make for one hell of an entertaining movie. His insane personality coupled with his fascination for death and deathtraps could very well make for an iconic Marvel villain to introduce to the current generation of Marvel fans and moviegoers. It is truly a shame that Marvel never utilized him properly. Villains with something special always stick with audiences – maybe it is time for a little fun in the Arcade? What do you think – is he good enough to appear on the silver screen? Let us know in the comments section below!