At Square Enix’s E3 2019 showcase, we finally got a real look at Marvel’s Avengers, the role-playing brawler that has been under wraps... until now. The game will come out on PS4, Xbox One, PC and Stadia on May 15, 2020.
The reveal trailer showed off a game that clearly takes inspiration from the wildly popular Marvel Cinematic Universe, but completely unique - it’s “Crystal Dynamics’ version of Marvel’s Avengers,” per the presentation.
These Avengers live on the West Coast, and five years after a tragic (non-Thanos, so we assume) disaster, Earth’s mightiest superheroes must regroup and face the challenge. Players will get to pick between Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Hulk and Iron Man in their adventures.
Players join up in teams of up to four, customize a growing roster of heroes and fight against updated threats. Whether this means the game is just a co-op campaign or has more replayable content is unclear at the moment. (Given how much time was spent developing the game and how valuable the IP is, we’d bet on the latter.)
The E3 keynote didn’t reveal much about the plot, aside from a short, heated conversation between Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Bruce Banner (The Hulk) about the disaster and its links to Terrigen - the volatile substance known in the Marvel universe to turn special humans into powered-up Inhumans (seen in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and that other show).
Marvel's Avengers, going forward
From the sounds of it, Marvel’s Avengers is in it for the long haul: expect “exciting new content on a regular basis,” per the presentation. All new heroes come free of cost as the company rolls them out: no random loot boxes or pay-to-win scenarios, the presentation assured.
Which heroes should we expect to join the game? That’s anyone’s guess - like previous Marvel games, Marvel’s Avengers might splice in a lot more comic book heroes than MCU fans are used to, but we did get one sneak peek: Hank Pym, aka the original Ant Man, shrinking an enemy megawalker.
One last note: it’s coming out for all the above systems, but PlayStation owners will get some extras, including early beta access. And so far, no-ones talking about it hitting Project Scarlett.
E3 2019 is the biggest gaming event of the year. TechRadar is reporting live from LA, telling you all about the biggest announcements of the week, from epic game trailers to shocking release date reveals. Follow our expert analysis of the keynotes and what we see on the E3 show floor.
- Everything we know so far about Xbox Project Scarlett
