Marvel Universe Cards

Marvel Universe Cards
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 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.

Series I (1990)
Series I featured 167 cards including 5 holographic Cards. The front of each card depicted either Super Heroes, Super Villains, Rookies, Famous Battle, Most Valuable Comics or Team pictures, while the back included a small fact file, including Wins and Losses.

Spider-Man Presents:
This set also included a dozen, "Spider-Man Presents:" cards, in which Spider-Man would conduct a humorous interview with other characters in the Marvel Universe.

Series II (1991)
This set contained 167 cards in total of this set, including five Holograms. The win/loss records were removed in favor of having Power Ratings. Each attribute was rated for each character on a scale of 1 through 7. Famous Battle category was now renamed Arch-Enemies and Spider-Man Presents was also removed. Two new categories were introduced, but would not appear again in the future. These one time only categories were Legends and Weapons.

Series III (1992)
Series III featured 205 cards including 5 holographic Cards. Series III featured a quote from each character instead of a piece of character trivia. Several new categories were also introduced. Team-ups, Cosmic Being, Origins and Milestones. The background of each card was a space scene which overlapped with surrounding cards.

Series IV (1993)
This set featured 179 base cards plus the checklist. A sub-set was also made featuring characters from 2099 line of comics. The first 135 each were grouped into a set of 9 which formed a large picture then could be viewed in 9-slot card holders. Along with heroes, villains and events, there were also "Unsolved Mysteries" such as the face of Doctor Doom or the origin of Cable. The remaining cards featured famous battles of the Marvel Universe.