City of Heroes is a superhero MMORPG where you create custom heroes (or villains) and fight crime across a persistent online city. Originally ran 2004-2012 before shutting down. In 2019, leaked source code let fans spin up unofficial servers, bringing the game back from the dead. You design your character's powers, costume, and origin story, then team up for instanced missions or street-sweeping patrol. Combat's tab-target with power cooldowns. The game's known for deep character customization—hundreds of power combinations across archetypes like Tanker, Blaster, and Controller. As of 2024, NCSoft hasn't shut these community servers down. One group, Homecoming, even got an official license to operate legally. If you want a superhero MMO where you're not playing someone else's IP character, this is it.
