Comics and video games are naturally intertwined, being that they're two cornerstones of nerd culture. So it's only natural that, for as long as video games have existed, there have been comic book characters with their own games. Dating all the way back to the early '80s with their Ataris, Intellivisions, and arcade cabinets, Marvel and DC were there.
But which comic book characters have been shown the most love throughout the decades? Let's list out the ones with the most solo games and appearances in other games (Like the shared Marvel Ultimate Alliance or Justice League titles).
10 The Punisher
You may be surprised to see The Punisher landing on this list. He's a popular character, but popular enough to have that many games? The answer is yes. The Punisher has games dating all the way back to the NES, Sega Genesis, and the Game Boy.
The only reason he doesn't land higher on this list is that he hasn't landed too many original titles in recent years, and he doesn't show up too often in group games, either (He's absent from the first two Marvel Ultimate Alliance games).
9 The Flash
Frankly, The Flash is sorely lacking in solo titles in the video game world. He only has three, and the last one came out in 2006 for the Game Boy Advance. It's more than a lot of heroes who didn't make the cut on this list have ever gotten, but still small considering how popular he is.
He makes the list primarily because he's never missing is from any of the Justice League games. From Justice League Heroes to the Injustice franchise to the old Justice League Super Nintendo game, The Flash always appears and is always playable. Combine that with his meager solo outings and it pushes him ahead of most of the other snubbed DC heroes like Wonder Woman and Green Arrow.
8 Fantastic Four
Like The Flash, the Fantastic Four's solo adventures are surprisingly lacking in the video game world. In both output and quality. They manage to squeeze a few more out than The Flash, mostly because of the movie-adaptation games but there's also an interesting Commodore 64 game featuring The Thing and The Human Torch.
For the most part, however, the only way you'll be able to play as Marvel's first family in a quality gaming experience would be to pick them in one of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games.
7 Captain America
Captain America hasn't gotten much love in recent years. His early MCU movies got some video game adaptations that are about as good as you'd expect a movie-game adaptation to be. He received a decent amount of support in the early years of gaming, however.
He has two games on the Commodore 64, one of which is a team-up game with Spider-Man. There's also a beat-em-up called Captain American and The Avengers that's probably one of the best retro titles on this list.
6 Hulk
The Incredible Hulk has a solid amount of titles out there, but a tragically small number of them are worth sacrificing your precious time over. The issue is that most Hulk games just can't manage to do the character's pure destructive potential justice. They all end up feeling lackluster or just plain broken.
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is the only game (Outside of the aforementioned team-up games like MUA) that can be truly recommended as a quality title. Do you want to smash and destroy everything in your sight? This is the game for you.
5 Iron Man
What many newer Marvel fans don't realize is that, while Iron Man is an original Avenger and has always been a well-known character, he was never the face of the Avengers, or even close to the most popular Avenger, until the MCU came along.
This is why Iron Man is actually the only hero on this list who's gotten more titles in recent years, rather than less. His only retro title is an interesting team-up game between him and X-O Manowar for the Sega Saturn and PS1. There's a little-known Gameboy Advance game out there, as well, but the bulk of Iron Man's video game titles have come in recent years.
4 Superman
Superman has the distinction of being the very first superhero in history with his own video game. Superman for the Atari 2600 came out in 1979 and is really only worth visiting if you want to experience the humble beginnings of superhero video games.
Since that time he's had many other titles, both solo and with the Justice League. Some of them are decent titles, like Superman: Shadow Of Apokolips, and then there's Superman 64 which is considered one of the worst games of all time.
3 X-Men
X-Men games have slowed down in recent years as the team's popularity has taken a backseat to many other Marvel characters present in the MCU. But in the '80s and '90s, the X-Men were juggernauts (pun intended). At one point in time, they had even surpassed the number one entry on this list.
They might have the most classics on this list, as well. From the amazing arcade fighting of X-Men vs Street Fighter to X-Men Legends, a game with a story good enough to make it into the MCU, to X-Men: Gamemaster's Legacy and so many more. The ratio of great X-Men games to lackluster ones exceeds any other heroes.
2 Batman
Batman is one of the only heroes that has never had a slow decade in video games. From the '80s to modern-day, there are always new Batman games coming out. The level of quality in his games is remarkably high, as well. Batman for NES is probably the best superhero game on that system, and everyone already knows about the fantastically gritty Arkham trilogy.
There's nothing officially on the horizon for Batman at the moment (not including Gotham Knights), but don't be surprised to see an announcement before too long. There's always a new Batman game coming out.
1 Spider-Man
Spider-Man is the undisputed king of comic book video games. At the time of writing this, he's appeared in nearly four dozen different video games. He also has the earliest Marvel game ever released, Spider-Man for the Atari 2600, along with one of the most hyped upcoming superhero video games, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 with both Peter Parker and Miles Morales.
Many of his games are all-time classics - like Maximum Carnage, Spider-Man 2000, and more. At the end of the day, he's Spider-Man. He'll always be at the top.