An unlikely partnership has been announced between Electronic Arts and Marvel Entertainment. The duo decided to work together to turn football’s legends into Marvel-style superheroes.
Related: EA hits its financial targets this quarter thanks to FIFA and F1
This new collaboration will have FIFA 23 Ultimate Team World Cup Heroes cards illustrated like Marvel’s superheroes, and EA says there’s even going to be an actual comics storyline covering the partnership.
FUT cards are in-game items that represent a football player in the Ultimate Team. FUT Heroes is a new concept that first appeared in FIFA 22 and the special cards will be back for FIFA 23. Hero cards are based on retired football legends and the idea is to celebrate the iconic moments that cemented them as heroes of the sport.
The partnership makes sense, but of course, even if it didn’t there would be no stopping two entertainment giants from joining forces together and coming up with new ways to monetize their existing IPs. EA Sports expects to see a massive boost in FUT pack sales and given Marvel superheroes’ unmatched popularity in recent years, this collaboration will most likely prove fruitful.
The artwork for player cards will be done by Marvel’s talented artists, According to the official press release, “Each FIFA World Cup FUT Hero will receive a special illustrated FUT item,” once FIFA 23’s World Cup game mode launches this winter. Base versions of FUT Heroes will be available at the launch of FIFA 23. EA adds that other vanity items such as tifos, kits, and balls.
At the moment, EA and Marvel showed five football icons as Marvel-style superheroes, but there’s more to come. The announced FUT WC Hero cards are:
- USA’s London Donovan as The Brave
- Portugal’s Ricardo Carvalho as The Anticipator
- Italy’s Claudio Marchisio as Il Principino (The Little Prince)
- Ivory Coast’s Yaya Toure as The Citadel
- South Korea’s Park Ji-Sung as the Tigerheart
You can tap on the images to see them in full size on mobile.
EA Sports will launch FIFA 23 on September 30 across PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Google Stadia, and Nintendo Switch. However, the Switch version of FIFA 23 will be once again a “legacy edition” meaning this version won’t get any new development or significant enhancements.
Despite a steep decline in video game sales in July 2022 and with an upcoming new title on the horizon, FIFA 22 continues to sell strong.
NEXT: EA Sports and FIFA end the long-running video game partnership
