In recent years, Marvel has been proving that its characters, from Spider-Man toThe Avengers, have what it takes to leap from comic pages to consoles and PC. With all this success, then, it’s surprising that the MCU’s version ofThe Avengersare mostly absent from the gaming scene.
In the early days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, some movies were released alongside tie-in games. These non-canon, loosely adapted titles failed to take off, however, ending the practice before 2012’sAvengers. So, with years of no movie-based Marvel games, fans were surprised to hear that the Russo brothers, directors of the upcomingAvengers: DoomsdayandSecret Warsmovies, are interested in translating them into a game. Plenty of games have attempted to get the Avengers formula right with varying degrees of success, but withthe Russo brothers at the wheel of an MCU game, another attempt has the potential to be the best Avengers game yet.
Why a True MCU Avengers Game is Worth a Shot
The most recent attempt to bring The Avengers to consoles was Crystal Dynamic’s 2020 release ofMarvel’s Avengers. Unfortunately, the game suffered from repetitive combat and lackluster gameplay, which, combined with the business model of the live-service game, saw many fans disappointed in the final result. Some weren’t surprised that the game didn’t work out though, as even from the reveal trailer, the character designs of the heroes were off-putting to many. It seemed like Crystal Dynamics wanted the characters to resemble their on-screen counterparts, but couldn’t model them after the actors for legal reasons. The result was an uncanny feeling that scared some players away from the start.
Despite the performance of Crystal Dynamics’Avengersgame, there were recent rumors thatanother Avengers game might be in the works, but they remain unconfirmed. Ideally, a game along these lines would be backed by the Russos and affiliated with the movies, finally giving fans movie-accurate versions of their favorite heroes.
How Would an MCU Game Feel?
Part of why the Crystal DynamicsAvengersgame failed was the game’s inability to accurately capture the feeling of playing in a team of heroes. Oddly enough, this is one of the strongest aspects that drives themassive success ofMarvel Rivals. InMarvel Rivals, each player is in control of one hero, but through team-up moves and different hero classes, each player feels like they have their own role to play in a cohesive squad. BecauseMarvel Rivalshas handled the team-based gameplay so well, any new Avengers games should be single-player, which would probably be a better fit for a story-heavy game like one based on a blockbuster movie.
Marvel Rivalscan also act as a gauge of what characters players want, and how they should play. With the variety of different abilities and powers each hero can use, the execution of the heroes inMarvel Rivalscan be a great basis for the same characters in another game. Obviously, even if an MCU game’s characters overlap withMarvel Rivals, each game’s version of the characters would need to be distinct, but abilities like Iron Man’s flight or Hulk’s transformation could remain similar. It’s also worth noting that not every MCU hero has appeared inMarvel Rivals, so at least for now, the two games would have different enough rosters to keep their own identities. This might not last long though, asMarvel Rivalsis adding new characters quickly.
Of course,Marvel Rivalsis just one example of a stellar superhero game in recent memory. Games likeMidnight Suns,Guardians of the Galaxy, andInsomniac’sSpider-Mangamesprove that superhero games can offer rich stories and deep gameplay just as much as any other genre. There are even other Marvel Comics games in the works, likeMarvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, set to release later this year. Still, despite this success, no games have been directly linked to the MCU’sAvengersyet, leaving a hole in the market that the Russos should fill in the near future.
