Imagine these guys showing up to stop Thanos (pic: EA) Marvel has made special new superhero designs for FIFA 23’s FUT Heroes cards rather than dress the players up as its own characters. Remember those rumours of a FIFA 23 and Marvel Comics crossover? Well, EA has now announced what it is and it’s nothing as bizarre as adding Spider-Man and Iron Man as playable footballers. Instead, it’s less of a crossover and more of a partnership, with Marvel contributing original artwork for FIFA 23’s FUT Heroes cards, for the game’s Ultimate Team mode. As a reminder, FIFA 22 first introduced FUT Heroes, which are essentially alternate cards for players with artwork meant to evoke superhero comic covers. FIFA 22’s cards were presumably handled internally at EA, so it enlisting Marvel to do the artwork for FIFA 23 is perhaps meant to add a bit more prestige and authenticity to the whole thing. So far, EA has revealed FUT Heroes cards for five players – America’s Landon Donovan, Portugal’s Ricardo Carvalho, Italy’s Claudio Marchisio, Ivory Coast’s Yaya Touré, and South Korea’s Park Ji-sung. ‘EA Sports and Marvel are uniting to bring more of football’s fan favourites back to the pitch in FIFA 23, transforming FUT Heroes into Marvel Super Heroes,’ reads the official website, where you can see all five designs. That statement suggests that the players are meant to resemble specific Marvel heroes but, as far as we can tell, they’re essentially original designs. Donovan’s design clearly evokes Captain America, but he’s not wearing the mask or even holding the traditional circular shield. Ji-sung’s look may be Iron Man inspired, considering he’s wearing power armour, but the name is closer to the character Ironheart, who will be making her movie debut in the Black Panther sequel Wakanda Forever. We have no idea who the other three are meant to be. In fact, the orange and green colour scheme for Touré’s outfit reminds us more of DC superhero Aquaman’s classic attire. More: GamingThe death of video game consoles will sideline Sony and Nintendo - Reader’s FeatureElden Ring is not Game of the Year but Xenoblade Chronicles 3 is - Reader’s FeatureGames Inbox: Which is the best free-to-play video game? The plan is to have these superhero designs replace the actual player photos in-game for FIFA 23’s World Cup mode, which will arrive after launch at an undisclosed date. This may not be the only collaboration between the two companies either. It’s been rumoured that EA is working on both an Iron Man game and a Black Panther game. Which are certainly more exciting prospects than whatever this FIFA collab’s meant to be. FIFA 23 releases for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC, and Stadia on September 30. Did EA pay Marvel to draw these? Because… wow, these are terrible (pic: EA) Email gamecentral@metro. co. uk, leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter. MORE : FIFA 23 will still have loot boxes as new FUT Moments mode revealed MORE : FIFA 23 career mode lets you play as the managers MORE : Is FIFA 23 the last FIFA game and when is it released? Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at gamecentral@metro. co. uk To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. .