Arcade has given differing accounts of his past life, and as yet there is no evidence to substantiate any of these accounts. Apparently Arcade will tell falsehoods about his past to mislead and confuse his opponents for his own amusement.
One of Arcade’s accounts states that he was the spoiled son of a millionaire living in Beverly Hills, California. When Arcade turned 21, his father cut off his allowance, claiming the Arcade did not deserve it. The next day Arcade killed his father in an explosion, and as a result, he inherited his father’s vast wealth. In killing his father, Arcade discovered that he had a talent and liking for murder. He therefore became a “hit man” (an assassin for hire), and within a year became in his own view the best in the United States. However, Arcade became bored with killing by ordinary means, and so he used his great wealth to construct his first “Murderworld,” a hidden complex of high-tech death traps designed in the manner of an amusement parks.
Whatever the truth may be about his life to this point, the story of his life after he began using Murderworld is clear. Arcade now kills victims for money by trapping them within a Murderworld complex. He designs constructs special traps within Murderworlds for individual victims after studying those victims’ specific weaknesses. Arcade’s customary fee is one million dollars per a victim, which is a token fee, as his expenses incurred are often higher. To Arcade the game itself is more important than the expense or even the winning. Arcade employs two assistants, known only as Miss Locke and Mr. Chambers. Recently seeking new challenges, he has attempted to kill various superhuman beings in his Murderworld, including the X-Men, Spider-Man, and Captain Britain, but so far without success.
NOTE: Information from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition (Vol. 2, No. 1 August 1985).
