Air out the tights, slip on the mask, don the cape, and prepare to flex some muscles in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, an action role-playing game featuring the largest cast of costumed crusaders and mutant messiahs in a video game to date. Twenty Marvel superheroes have joined forces to combat the diabolical Dr. Doom and his Masters of Evil. The action will take players to Atlantis, the Skrull home world, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Heli-Carrier, and more as they guide a four-person party through 17 comic book-inspired locales. Moves include a flurry of air and ground strikes, from grapples and blocks to chargeable powers and deadly combos. Objects within the environment can also cause damage, and a choice of one- and two-handed weapons can help less extraordinary heroes mete out justice against throngs of enemies.

As players decide on which heroes to enlist in their super group, including such iconic characters as Spider-Man, Wolverine, The Thing, Captain America, Elektra, and Thor, they can customize their team's name, icon, and vehicle. The party's reputation will increase over time through heroic deeds and by successfully completing mission objectives, allowing players the opportunity to further enhance the team's or a specific character's attributes. The cast includes more than 140 comic book characters in total, many of which are available in the single-player storyline and can be unlocked for multiplayer action. The latter supports both cooperative and competitive battles, with in-game statistics tracked for each team as they earn experience points and receive powerful new equipment. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance also features unlockable bonus content, such as alternate costumes that modify a character's base statistics in the areas of defense, melee damage, and so forth.