Instead, In-Universe Cards Will Head to ‘MTG Arena’; Potential Boon for Retailers
Wizards of the Coast announced that Universes Beyond Marvel sets for Magic: The Gathering will not be available on MTG Arena with images of Marvel characters.
One of the bigger questions hanging over WotC since the advent of Universes Beyond sets had been whether or not these sets would ever end up on MTG Arena with the licensed characters. As it turns out, the answer is that licensing can be a tricky thinga with some IPs and not others available on MTG Arena. For the 2025 Universes Beyond releases, the Final Fantasy and the Avatar: The Last Airbender sets will be available on MTG Arena, but the Marvel Spider-Man set will not. Marvel Spider-Man and other Marvel cards will instead be available as in-universe cards on Magic online platforms via WotC’s Through the Omenpaths digital sets.
The Universes Beyond cards’ availability on MTG Arena became a bigger issue in 2025 when WotC declared that future Universes Beyond sets would be legal in Standard (see “‘Universes Beyond’ to Be Legal in All Formats“). Prior to this announcement, Universes Beyond sets had been mostly Eternal-format legal with some sets being Modern-legal. So prior to this decision, Universes Beyond cards were not available on MTG Arena, which primarily hosts events for Standard, Draft, and various online-only formats. However, with three Standard-legal Universes Beyond sets on their way this year, WotC introduced Through the Omenpaths as a way to offer the cards online without the licensed characters.
This announcement presents a potential boon for brick-and-mortar and other cardboard-slinging retailers. The cards in Marvel sets will only have Marvel characters on them in their cardboard forms, which may add a boost to sales from digital players coming out of their houses for IRL sealed events; not that the Marvel sets need any extra hype to boost sales based on how well the Secret Lair X Marvel releases have done thus far (see “‘Magic: The Gathering’ ‘Secret Lair x Marvel’” and also, ” ‘Secret Lair X Marvel’s Deadpool’ into Retail“). Still, the cardboard-only availability of the cards with Marvel characters will provide one more sales catalyst for these sets.
Check out ICv2’s 2025 Magic: The Gathering product calendar for more information on future releases (see “‘Magic: The Gathering’ 2025 Release Calendar“).
Source: ICV2
