Spider-Man: Brand New Day just swung past Avengers: Endgame to claim the biggest domestic box office opening of all time, around $360 million in North America alone. If the movie left you wanting more web-slinging, the good news is that Spidey has quietly built one of the strongest board game rosters of any superhero.
The tricky part is that these games play nothing alike: some are cooperative, some are head-to-head duels, and one puts you on the villains’ side of the story. Here are the five best board games for Spider-Man fans right now, and exactly who each one is for. As an Amazon Associate, BoardGame Journey earns from qualifying purchases.
Quick Comparison
| Game | Players | Time | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marvel United: Spider-Geddon | 1–4 | About 40 min | Co-op & families |
| Marvel Champions | 1–4 | 45–90 min | Depth & solo play |
| Marvel Dice Throne | 2–4 | 30–40 min | Fast duels |
| Marvel Villainous | 2–4 | 40–80 min | Playing the bad guy |
| Unmatched: Brains and Brawn | 2–3 | 20–40 min | Tactical fights |
1. Marvel United: Spider-Geddon — Best Spider-Verse Co-op
If you want a box that’s Spider-Man from lid to bottom, this is it. Spider-Geddon is a cooperative game set squarely in the Spider-Verse: you play Spider-heroes teaming up to stop Morlun and his family from devouring the multiverse. The chibi-style miniatures are a joy, and the card-chaining mechanic, where each hero’s card builds on what the previous player did makes every round feel like a coordinated team-up rather than a series of solo turns.
Turns are quick, the rules are light, and losing never feels crushing, which makes it the best pick on this list for families and casual groups. One buying note: the exact hero lineup varies between Marvel United boxes and editions, so if you’re after a specific favorite (Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham), check the listed contents before ordering.
Check Marvel United: Spider-Geddon on Amazon
2. Marvel Champions: The Card Game — Best for Depth (and Solo Play)
Marvel Champions is the game people turn to when they want a Spider-Man experience with real strategic weight. Peter Parker comes ready to play in the core box: you juggle his hero and alter-ego sides, weave defensive webs, and build your own deck over time. It’s cooperative, it scales from solo to four players, and the villains genuinely fight back.
For Spider-Man fans specifically, the Sinister Motives campaign expansion is the natural next step: it brings Venom, Sandman, Mysterio, and the Sinister Six into the game, and adds Miles Morales and Ghost-Spider as playable heroes. Fair warning: this is a “living card game” with an ever-growing line of expansions. That’s either the best or the most dangerous thing about it, depending on your wallet.
Check Marvel Champions on Amazon
3. Marvel Dice Throne — Best for Fast, Loud Duels
Dice Throne is Yahtzee that went to superhero school: roll dice, chase combos, and unleash increasingly ridiculous attacks at your opponent. The Marvel 4-hero box includes Spider-Man (the Miles Morales version) alongside Scarlet Witch, Thor, and Loki, and each hero plays completely differently, with their own dice, board, and deck.
Games are quick, the table gets noisy, and the “just one more game” pull is strong, losing usually just means grabbing a different hero for the rematch. If your group liked the energy of the movie’s action scenes more than its plot, start here.
Check Marvel Dice Throne on Amazon
4. Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power — Best for Playing the Bad Guy
Every Spider-Man story is only as good as its villain, so why not see the Marvel universe from the other side? Full transparency: this is the least Spider-Man-focused pick on the list. The playable villains in the base box are Thanos, Hela, Ultron, Killmonger, and Taskmaster, while Spider-Man shows up among the heroes trying to wreck your plans through the shared Fate deck.
What earns Villainous its spot is the asymmetry: each player gets a private board, a unique deck, and a personal objective, and learning how your villain works is a game within the game. One caveat: turns can run long while players study their options, so it suits groups who enjoy plotting more than racing.
Check Marvel Villainous on Amazon
5. Unmatched: Marvel — Brains and Brawn — Best Tactical Showdowns
Unmatched is our favorite dueling system on this site: we reviewed the original Battle of Legends, Volume One, and it’s an easy recommendation. Brains and Brawn brings that same fast, dice-free, card-driven combat to Marvel: Spider-Man swings across the Sanctum Sanctorum using his spider-sense to dodge hits, while Doctor Strange casts spells and She-Hulk throws cars. Positioning and timing decide fights, though the card draw keeps any two matches from playing out the same way.
The catch: availability comes and goes depending on region, so check the current price before committing. If it’s out of stock, any Unmatched set teaches the same system, and every set is fully compatible, so Spidey can eventually fight King Arthur. Yes, really.
Check Unmatched: Brains and Brawn on Amazon
Looking for a Venom Board Game? Read This First
If you are searching for a Venom board game, the useful answer comes first: no complete board game is about Venom. Every box with his face on it is an expansion for a game you need to own already.
That is not a reason to give up. There are four real ways to get him on the table, and three of them run through boxes on this list. But before any of them, there is a question worth answering.
Which Venom do you actually want?
Three different characters get sold under that name, and buying the wrong one is the most common mistake here.
- Eddie Brock. The classic symbiote, and a villain. This is who most people mean.
- Flash Thompson, as Agent Venom. The same symbiote bonded to a soldier, and a hero rather than a villain.
- Venom Goblin. The symbiote bonded to Norman Osborn, and a late-campaign boss.
All three are buyable right now, in different boxes, and the covers do not make the difference obvious.
Route 1: Fight him, in Marvel Champions
The Sinister Motives campaign expansion brings Venom, Sandman, Mysterio, the Sinister Six and Venom Goblin into Marvel Champions, and adds Miles Morales and Ghost-Spider as playable heroes. You need the core set first, which is pick number two above.
This is the route that gives Venom the most weight. He arrives as a campaign antagonist in a game built around villains who fight back, and the campaign ends with Venom Goblin rather than with him, so you get two versions of the symbiote out of one box.
One practical warning: this expansion has been harder to find than the core set, and availability moves around. Check what a seller is actually offering before committing.
Route 2: Play as him as a hero, in Marvel Champions
The Venom Hero Pack puts you in the symbiote suit, but as Flash Thompson, not Eddie Brock. It comes as a ready-built deck built around the Justice aspect, so it plays straight out of the pack, and it needs the same core set as Route 1.
If what you pictured was a snarling villain, this is not it. If you want to wear the symbiote and still be one of the good guys, it is the smallest addition on this page in terms of what else you have to buy, because it shares a core set with a game you may already own.
Route 3: Play as him as the villain, in Marvel Villainous
Ravensburger’s We Are Venom lets you play Venom as the villain, with his own win condition:, with his own win condition: you succeed by bonding with Spider-Man rather than by defeating him.
The catch is the one this whole section is about. It is a single character expansion, and Ravensburger is explicit that it does not play alone. You need either Marvel Villainous: Infinite Power, which is pick number four above, or the Mischief and Malice expansion, which Ravensburger also treats as a valid starting box. Either way, We Are Venom on its own is a stack of cards and a figure with nothing to play them on.
Route 4: The deck-building route, which we do not recommend starting here
There is a Venom expansion for Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game, and it is a substantial one, adding heroes, villain groups, masterminds and schemes rather than a single character. If Legendary is already on your shelf, it is a good buy.
We are not recommending it as an entry point, because it means learning and buying a whole system to reach one character. If Legendary is not already yours, the three routes above get you there faster.
How to not get caught
Search results for “Venom board game” return expansions with covers designed to match their base games, because that is how publishers signal which line a box belongs to. Two checks before you buy:
- Look for the words expansion, hero pack or requires base game in the product title. Publishers usually put them there. Retailers sometimes drop them.
- Check the player count. A single character expansion often lists a narrower range than the base game, which is a tell that the box is not complete.
The same trap runs through most of this licensed corner of the hobby. We hit it again writing about the X-Men, where the character everyone searches for turns out to be a hero pack rather than a game, and it is why our X-Men board games guide is organised around what actually comes in a complete box.
Which One Should You Get?
Playing with kids or mixed groups? Spider-Geddon. Want the deepest Spider-Man experience, including solo nights? Marvel Champions. Loud game nights with friends? Dice Throne. Always root for the villain? Villainous, knowing it’s Marvel-wide rather than Spidey-specific. And if you love tight, chess-like duels, hunt down Brains and Brawn.
New to modern board games entirely? It’s worth starting with something simpler first, and our Top 10 entry-level board games has picks that teach in five minutes. We did a list like this one for Stranger Things fans too: the best Stranger Things board games. And if you want the wider Marvel picture, we rounded up the best Marvel board games to play before Avengers: Doomsday.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which of these games is best for kids?
Marvel United: Spider-Geddon. The cooperative format means nobody goes home upset, and the colorful miniatures make it instantly appealing. Age recommendations vary by edition and market, so check the box you’re buying. Younger kids usually do fine with an adult at the table helping with villain effects.
Can I play any of these solo?
Marvel Champions is the standout for solo play, a huge part of its community plays exactly that way. Marvel United also includes solo rules if you want a lighter option.
Which game has Miles Morales?
Marvel Dice Throne features Miles as its Spider-Man. In Marvel Champions, the Sinister Motives expansion adds him (and Ghost-Spider) as playable heroes. Marvel United’s Spider-Verse boxes cover the wider web of Spider-heroes, with lineups varying by edition.
Which is best for exactly two players?
Unmatched: Brains and Brawn, which is built for head-to-head duels. Prefer working together instead? Marvel Champions plays excellently as a two-player co-op.
Are these games based on the new movie?
No, they’re licensed from the Marvel comics universe, not the films. That’s arguably a plus: no spoilers, and you get versions of characters the movies haven’t fully explored yet.
Where to Buy
All five games are linked above through Amazon, and most are also available at your friendly local game store.
As an Amazon Associate, BoardGame Journey earns from qualifying purchases. This comes at no additional cost to you and helps support more in-depth board game reviews and guides.
Product images courtesy of Restoration Games.
