The Marvel Super Heroes: The Heroic Role-Playing Game (MSH) original boxed set was the first roleplaying game licensed to use the Marvel Universe, it was known for its use of the term FASERIP (Fighting, Ability, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition, Psyche), named power levels (Amazing, Typical, etc), and the use of the acronym FEAT (a Function of Exceptional Ability or Talent), and its use of "karma" to reward PCs for acting in a heroic manner.

The original box set was a success, and an expanded version of the game was released in 1986 as the Advanced Set, and a revised version was released in 1991. With a product line of dozens of titles from the release of the original boxed set in 1984 until 1993, MSH was both longer-lived and more heavily supported than either of its successors (TSR's licensed Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game and Marvel's own Marvel Universe Role Playing Game).

The original MSH came in a boxed set that included 3 books. The Battle Book describes super heroes and their powers, how they fight bad guys, and how to play the first adventure. The book is written as a tutorial, not as a reference, and the very casual writing style reinforces this. The Campaign Book is more a of a rerence work, and describes secret identities, vehicles, super-societies, and even more about heroes, and lots of other stuff a costumed crime fighter needs to know. The final book is Day of the Octopus by Bruce Nesmith, pits a motley assortment of New York City heroes against Doc Ock's city-smashing robot.