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,[3] he kidnaps 16 superpowered teens and forces them to kill each other for survival in Murderworld; unlike most Murderworld schemes, this endeavor yields several casualties.
Arcade was created by Chris Claremont and/or John Byrne, and first appeared in Marvel Team-Up #65.[4][5] Claremont said in 2025 that he could not recall whether Arcade was created by himself, Byrne, or both jointly.[2] Few details about Arcade are given in Marvel Team-Up #65, and his face is never shown to readers, leaving him to be more fully revealed in Marvel Team-Up #66.[2]
Arcade's nature meant he was not confined to any specific series.[2] Nonetheless, nearly all of his appearances have been in the X-Men family of titles. His earliest encounter with the X-Men occurred in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #122–124. Some time later he would encounter the team again, this time in a male damsel in distress role as the X-Men fight to save him from his captor Doctor Doom in issues #145-147.[2] Arcade also serves as a victim in need of rescue in The Uncanny X-Men #197 and the one-shotColossus #1.[2]
In the 1995 limited series Wolverine/Gambit: Victims, Arcade was redesigned as heavily deformed with an elongated grin.[2]
Fictional character biography
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. 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.[7] 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.[8]
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 tailors Murderworld to exploit the specific weaknesses of his targets and then kill them with a variety of colorful deathtraps.
Since no one in their right mind would enter Murderworld willingly, Arcade must first capture his targets so that he can place them within Murderworld. This raises the question of why he does not simply kill them once he has captured them, and not bother with the expense of building and maintaining Murderworld. An answer is provided in the twist ending of Marvel Team-Up #66: Arcade's primary interest is in the fun and excitement of taking on worthy opponents, and he is indifferent to whether he actually succeeds in killing his targets.[2] Because of this, he always deliberately leaves each target a small chance of survival, and sets them free without a fuss if they find it.[2] This sets Arcade apart from most other villains who use deathtraps; while most villains believe that their death machines are infallible, Arcade gives them a chance on purpose, for the sport of it.
Courtney Ross is one of the few non-super-powered civilians to escape Arcade's attention. 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 killed by an unrelated villain after her escape).[20]
In another confrontation with Excalibur, Arcade traps the team in a Murderworld programmed as a Looney Tunes parody, called the Loonies. He conducts this operation while in prison.[21]
At one point Arcade entraps the two otherworldly warriors, Adam X and Shatterstar, who team up to survive his plans. Arcade is astonished as the two (mostly Adam) 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.[22]
Arcade, having taken his show on the road, joins up with Johnny 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.[23]
Prior to a confrontation with Wolverine and Gambit, he murders his assistant Miss Locke in a fit of rage.[8] During the struggle, she wounded him with a carving knife and scarred his face. Arcade builds android replicas of Locke to replace her.
In the three-part miniseries "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.[24]
In a shift from his usual modus operandi, Arcade is responsible for the "Avengers Arena".[10][8] 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.[31][32] 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 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.[33] After a chaotic battle, Hazmat finally kills Arcade by destroying him with a concentrated radiation burst.[34] 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.[35] The Masters of Evil escape on a hijacked Helicarrier, strapping Arcade to the front.[36]
Partnership with Wilson Fisk
Arcade traps members of the MODOK organization and Walrus in his latest Murderworld. With help from Deadpool, Gwenpool rescues the captives and assists Deadpool in defeating Arcade.[37] Arcade later sets a trap for Hellcat and She-Hulk on Coney Island.[38]
Arcade 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]
Arcade Industries
In the "Hunted" storyline, Arcade and his company Arcade Industries assist Kraven the Hunter in hunting various animal-themed villains.[8][43][44][45][46][47][48]
Spider-Boy villain Killionaire later hires Arcade to abduct Spider-Boy and take him to Murderworld before he escapes.[49]
Arcade's other impacts
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.[8][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]
Powers and abilities
Arcade has no superhuman powers but has knowledge of technology far ahead of conventional science, particularly in the fields of robotics and mechanical and electrical engineering. How he acquired this knowledge is never revealed.[2] 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.[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. 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.
Associates
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. This directly contradicts the original depiction of Locke's death, in Wolverine/Gambit: Victims #4 (December 1995), which shows that Arcade killed her in an uncontrollable fit of rage in reaction to her slashing his face with a carving knife.
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 betrays Arcade after his supposed death and joins up with Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil.
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-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]
In other media
Television
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 received an action figure in the Marvel Legends line in June 2021.
Notes
↑ Published stories are inconsistent as to whether Arcade's base of operations is spelled as one word ("Murderworld") or two words ("Murder World"), but the one word spelling is the more common one.[2]
↑ Marvel Team-Up #65 bears a cover date of January 1978. During this period, comic books published by Marvel Comics U.S.A. carried a cover date three months in advance of the actual date of publication. This means the actual publication date of Marvel Team-Up #65 was October 1977. The first issue of Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain to feature the Arcade storyline was published in England on November 8, 1977.
↑ All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update #1. Marvel Comics.
1 2 "Arcade Voices (X-Men)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved September 26, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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