Comics / Spotlight

Whatever Happened to Arcade?

By Mark Peters
July 10, 2013 - 12:22

In 1978, long-time X-Men writer Chris Claremont and popular comic book artist John Byrne teamed up to create a new Villain called Arcade. In his first appearance in Marvel Team-Up #55, Arcade captured both Spider-man and his new roommate Captain Britain and put them through the ropes in a gigantic arcade game that pitted the heroes against threats they had to overcome before they could even reach the villain.

In the 1980s, Arcade appeared in several other Marvel Comics super hero stories, like the X-Men where he continually tried to capture his opponents using casino styled-tricks that even the Daredevil villain The Jester would have found funny to look at. Arcade looked like Elton John with red hair and a bigger smile. We caught up with Arcade to ask him what he has been up to since he was last seen in comics.

When asked about his latest activities in the Marvel Comics universe, Arcade mentioned his latest appearances in the new Avenger Arena series where he held several junior Avengers in his new secret air in Antarctica. He says “I find the neighbours in the Savage land quite noisy but I don’t complain too much as I get to refill on basic stock while exploring their jungle from time to time. When asked why he took such a long time to reappear in comics, he mentions that “I was involved in several casino ventures but none of them were popular so I just gave up and went back to villainy. Although I have a lot of knowledge on online games, my first love will always be building robotics using basic technology such as Arduino to challenge those pesky super heroes at Marvel.”

When asked about his recent change in looks, Arcade answered “Yeah, I know, I went from Elton John to suave. At one point during the late 1980s, during the crazy popular years for my fellow peer at DC Comics, the Joker, I even borrowed from his looks a bit with the whole wacko grin and all. You’ll find that several villains, like the Trickster also tried to look like the Joker. But I think the Joker gets way to many credits, the whole shtick with the female assistant was my idea. I had that before there was a Harley Quinn and before there was a Prank.”

When asked what he will do next, Arcade responded “I’ll try to remain relevant in this new economy of online gaming and show that good old parlour tricks and poker games still have a place in this digital age.”

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12