Marvel Universe Cards
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Marvel Universe Cards were collectible trading cards based on the characters and events of the Marvel Universe.
The first series was published by Impel in 1990. The cards featured categories such as Super Heroes, Super Villains, Rookies, Famous Battles, and Team Pictures. The concept spawned several more series and imitations such as DC Cosmic Cards.
Each card in the 1990 series features a character or event on the front of the card, and a number of statistics (such as Real Name, Battles Fought, First Appearance, etc) and a short biography on the back.
[edit] Series I
In 1990, Series I of the Marvel Universe Trading cards were issued. There were 167 cards in the complete set, including five somewhat rare and highly coveted Holographic cards. The five Holograms, as they were called, were of Cosmic Spider-Man, Magneto, Silver Surfer, Wolverine and Spider-Man vs. the Green Goblin.
This series offered several things that future series would not include. Such features were the "Spider-Man Presents:" cards. In these cards, Spider-Man would conduct a humorous interview with other characters in the Marvel Universe such as Doctor Doom, Doctor Octopus, The Hulk, Silver Surfer, Thor, the Punisher, Magneto, Captain America, Dr. Strange, Iron Man, Wolverine and of course himself.
This is also the only of the mainstreams series that offered nicknames, win/loss records and a trading card of Stan Lee.
Other categories in the series included Super Heroes, Super Villains, Rookies, Famous Battle, Most Valuable Comics and Team Pictures.
In Series I, unique to the following series, Characters could have multiple cards in the same category. For example, Spider-man has three cards under the Super Hero category. Once card for each the Cosmic Spider-Man, Symbiote Costume and the Classic Spider-Man.
[edit] Series II
The following year, Marvel followed up with Series II. Once again there were 167 cards in total of this set, including five Holograms. This year's Holograms were: Spider-Man, Dr. Doom, the Punisher, Fantastic Four vs. Mole Man and The Hulk.
In this series, win/loss records were removed in favor of having Power Ratings. Each attribute, such as Speed, Stamina, Intelligence, Strength, Agility and Durability was rated for each character on a scale of 1 through 7. Series II also included three trading cards explaining what each rating meant. Later, these explanation were simply printed on the inside of the wrapper that the cards came in.
The Famous Battle category was now renamed Arch-Enemies. To highlight particular rivalries as opposed to single confrontations. Spider-Man Presents was also removed. Instead, two new categories were introduced, but would not appear again in the future. These one time only categories were Legends and Weapons. Legends paid tribute to characters that have died such as Kraven the Hunter or Bucky. Weapons gave a statistical look at weaponry such as Spider-Man's Web Shooters, Wolverine's Claws or Daredevils Billy Club.
[edit] Series III
In 1992 Marvel released Marvel Universe Trading Cards Series III. This year, there would be 205 trading cards including the traditional five Holograms. This year those most desirable cards would include The Hulk, Thing, Wolverine, Venom and Ghost Rider. All of which were now tinted a different color, like Wolverine in blue or Hulk in green.
This series changed things up a bit by several departures from the norm. Instead of having the "Did You Know?" fun fact on the back of each card, like series I and II both did, Series III had a quote from each character.
Several new Categories were also introduced. Team-ups (cards displaying interesting pairings of two particular characters), Cosmic Being ( Cards showcasing characters that hail from outer space.), the Origins card category that focused on specific character origins, and Milestones, which emphasized events in the Marvel Universe.
