Marvel is claiming that NCSoft is allowing players to create look-alike characters of Marvel superheroes such as Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk.

FORBES

Given that the Heat won the NBA championship last year, it's tempting to think that the secret behind Miami's success is a Marvel-Comics-type alliance of superheroes.

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After having success with DC comic book characters (a result of being owned by Warner Bros.), TT Games has partnered with its archrival, Marvel Entertainment, to give more than 100 superheroes such as Spider-Man, Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, Wolverine and Captain America the brick treatment.

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Part of that fascination with superheroes and their growing cachet in popular culture is why Marvel Entertainment, home to the Fantastic Four, the X-Men and the Avengers, among others, is making more than 700 first issues available to digital readers starting Sunday for free through the Marvel app and the company's website.

NPR: Marvel Releasing Some 700 No. 1 Issues Digitally

What Marvel has done is break the longstanding tendency of audiences to think of superheroes and superhero movies as basically the same in terms of hypothetical relationships to one another.

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