Marvel's Avengers (video game)

Marvel's Avengers features a roster of characters drawn from the Marvel Universe, including multiple playable heroes. The initial roster consists of Steve Rogers / Captain America (Jeff Schine), Tony Stark / Iron Man (Nolan North), Thor (Travis Willingham), Bruce Banner / Hulk (Troy Baker / Darin De Paul), Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow (Laura Bailey),[8] and Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel (Sandra Saad).[9][10] Following the game's initial release, more superheroes were made available for free, including Kate Bishop / Hawkeye II (Ashly Burch) being made available in December 2020,[11][12][13] and Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Giacomo Gianniotti),[12][14] and T'Challa / Black Panther coming in the future.[15] Peter Parker / Spider-Man will also be available, albeit exclusively on the PlayStation versions.[16] Crystal Dynamics studio head Scot Amos stated the exclusivity of Spider-Man came from Marvel and Sony's existing partnership, and clarified that this was the only character to be console-exclusive.[17]

The game's supporting characters include Hank Pym (Danny Jacobs),[18] Phil Sheldon (Walter Gray IV),[19] J.A.R.V.I.S. (Harry Hadden-Paton),[20] Nick Fury (Charles Parnell), Maria Hill (Jennifer Hale),[21] Dum Dum Dugan,[22] Jimmy Woo (Aleks Le),[23] Dante Pertuz (Michael Johnston), and Cerise (Cherry Thompson).[24] During the game, the Avengers and their allies come into conflict with the science corporation Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) and various other adversaries, including George Tarleton / MODOK (Usman Ally),[25][26] Monica Rappaccini / Scientist Supreme (Jolene Andersen),[27][28] Emil Blonsky / Abomination (Jamieson Price),[29] Tony Masters / Taskmaster (Walter Gray IV),[30] and Loki (Travis Willingham). The game's downloadable content introduces more villains, including the Super-Adaptoid,[31] Lyle Getz, and Maestro.[32]

On A-Day, five members of the Avengers — Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and Hulk — celebrate the unveiling of a second headquarters in San Francisco and their own Helicarrier, the Chimera, powered by a Terrigen Crystal. However, the ceremony is interrupted by a terrorist attack led by Taskmaster, resulting in most of San Francisco and the Chimera being destroyed and Captain America's apparent death. The Terrigen Crystal's destruction also produces Terrigen Mist, which turns countless people into Inhumans. Blamed for the tragedy, the Avengers disband.

Five years later, superheroes have been outlawed while a science-based corporation called A.I.M., led by former Avengers scientist George Tarleton, takes the Avengers' place in society. They establish a virtual police state in the country, promising to find a cure for what is dubbed the "Inhuman Disease". At her home in Jersey City, teenage Inhuman Kamala Khan discovers damaged video footage apparently revealing Tarleton locking Captain America in the reactor room before it exploded. She is soon contacted by "Tiny Dancer", a member of a Resistance movement against A.I.M., who warns her that A.I.M. has tracked her down. She attempts to meet Tiny Dancer at Heroes Park, but is captured by A.I.M. scientist Monica Rappaccini and brought to Tarleton, who was mutated following his exposure to the Terrigen Mist. Tarleton and Rappaccini try to convince her that A.I.M. wants to help her understand and control her Inhuman abilities, but Kamala escapes and makes her way to Utah to find the Resistance.

Kamala's search brings her to the Chimera's hidden wreckage, in which she finds Hulk, who attacks her before reverting back into Bruce Banner. She shows him the footage and eventually convinces him to assist her in proving the Avengers' innocence despite his reluctance. Traveling to a former S.H.I.E.L.D. compound to retrieve J.A.R.V.I.S., the two are confronted by A.I.M. and one of their operatives, the Abomination. Hulk defeats him before he and Kamala return to the Chimera to reactivate J.A.R.V.I.S. and set out to reunite the Avengers, starting with Tony Stark. While they find Stark at his family estate, he is reluctant to help as Banner's testimony of A-Day incriminated the Avengers. Upon learning of Kamala's evidence, Stark agrees to join them and works to restore the Chimera.

Amidst their search for parts to help him, Kamala and Banner stumble upon the Ant Hill, an Inhuman sanctuary and the Resistance's headquarters run by Dr. Hank Pym. While assisting them, Kamala disobeys orders and attempts to raid an A.I.M. prison on her own to rescue Inhumans, but is captured. While in custody, she learns Rappaccini's efforts to make an Inhuman cure were unsuccessful, leading Tarleton to prioritize the manufacturing of Adaptoids. Having worked undercover within A.I.M., Romanoff infiltrates the facility, captures Rappaccini, and frees Kamala, revealing she is Tiny Dancer. Banner attempts to interrogate Rappaccini about the Adaptoid lab's whereabouts, but she resists before A.I.M. forces attack the Chimera and retrieve her. Witnessing the attack, Thor intervenes and rejoins the Avengers. However, J.A.R.V.I.S. restores the footage, which shows Captain America ordering Tarleton to seal him inside so he can destroy the reactor, apparently causing the explosion. Believing A-Day really was their fault, the Avengers fragment.

While reviewing the interrogation, Kamala realizes A.I.M.'s Adaptoid lab is on their satellite and relays this information to the Avengers, rallying them with a heartfelt speech. Stark upgrades his suit to achieve space travel and infiltrate the satellite, where he discovers Rappaccini put Captain America in suspended animation so she could harvest his blood and use it to power the Adaptoids and covertly accelerate Tarleton's mutation. Thor helps his fellow Avengers escape, during which Captain America reveals he destroyed the reactor because it was unearthing something underneath the bay that threatened to destabilize the San Andreas Fault and destroy California. Meanwhile, Tarleton discovers what Rappaccini has done to him and seemingly kills her.

Reassembled, the Avengers deduce Rappaccini hired Taskmaster to hijack the Chimera and steal the Terrigen Crystal, which unearthed the unknown object. They soon learn that Tarleton, now calling himself "MODOK", plans to exterminate Inhumans and any other superpowered beings around the world, including MODOK himself afterwards. The Avengers storm his San Francisco fortress, but MODOK activates the buried object in the bay - a massive Kree Sentry - and overpowers them. Kamala grows to giant size and destroys it, sending MODOK falling into the bay. With the Avengers reunited and MODOK defeated, Kamala returns home and rejoins her father, who secretly allows her to join the Avengers.

In a mid-credits scene, a still-living Rappaccini becomes A.I.M.'s new Scientist Supreme while the Kree Sentry launches a pod into space. In a post-credits scene, Maria Hill informs the Avengers that S.H.I.E.L.D. has discovered A.I.M.'s activities. Upon completion of the "Reigning Supreme" campaign, a cutscene will play, wherein Kamala is officially named an Avenger.

Taking AIM

After a series of tachyon storms occur across the world, the Avengers investigate and discover their relation to A.I.M.'s experiments. Whilst investigating an A.I.M. facility, they encounter Kate Bishop, Hawkeye's protégé and their former member in training. Meeting with her at a S.H.I.E.L.D. outpost, the Avengers learn that Hawkeye had been captured by A.I.M. while investigating Nick Fury's disappearance and its relation to the tachyon storms. Capturing A.I.M. scientist Lyle Getz, they interrogate him and learn that Rappaccini is attempting to master time travel for uncertain purposes. After Captain America offers her a chance to join the Avengers, Kate leads the team on a raid, during which they discover Rappaccini is in contact with a future version of herself and that Hawkeye is apparently working with her.

Consulting Pym, the Avengers agree to travel back in time to rescue Hawkeye and put an end to Rappaccini's experiments before they tear reality apart. With help from the Resistance, they construct their own time gate and go back to before Hawkeye initially went through A.I.M.'s version and rescue him, whereupon he reveals that he was attempting to contact Fury, who is with the future Rappaccini, and that they are working together to avert a future apocalypse. Agreeing to let Hawkeye travel to the future, the Avengers return to the present to ensure he succeeds and take control of Rappaccini's time gate after defeating a Super-Adaptoid created by her future self. Once Hawkeye returns to the present, Kate destroys the gateway, and agrees to join the Avengers as a full-time member.

While debriefing the other Avengers, Hawkeye reveals that Rappaccini was trying to thwart a Kree invasion with Fury's help. However, the latter realized the battle was a lost cause, so he sent Hawkeye to the past to prepare the Avengers for the invasion before it occurred. Hawkeye starts to continue, but falls unconscious due to the effects of time travel.

In June 2020, it was revealed that Hawkeye (Clint Barton) would be a playable character in a free post-launch DLC.[40] Later, in July, Spider-Man was announced as a playable DLC character, exclusively to PlayStation.[16] On September 1, the third announced playable DLC character was revealed to be Hawkeye (Kate Bishop).[12]

In October, it was announced that the Kate Bishop expansion was delayed.[41] The DLC, titled "Operation: Kate Bishop - Taking A.I.M.", was eventually released on December 8, adding Kate as a new playable character, and a story campaign with six missions. The next expansion, "Operation: Hawkeye - Future Imperfect", which will add Clint Barton and his own series of missions, is set to release in Early 2021.

Marvel Comics has published five tie-in prequel comics for the game in a collection called Marvel's Avengers: Road to A-Day.[42] Each comic focuses on one of the five playable characters available at launch, excluding Ms. Marvel.[43] The first comic to be released was Marvel's Avengers: Iron Man #1 on 11 December 2019,[44] followed by Marvel's Avengers: Thor #1 on 8 January 2020,[45] Marvel's Avengers: Hulk #1 on 5 February 2020,[46] Marvel's Avengers: Captain America #1 on 18 March 2020,[47] and concluding with Marvel's Avengers: Black Widow #1 on 25 March 2020.[48]

Titan Books published two tie-in books for the game on 1 September 2020. The first book, titled Marvel's Avengers: The Extinction Key[49] was written by best-selling author Greg Keyes, is a prequel focused on the events that take place prior to the A-Day, which also sets the game's events in motion. The novel follows the Avengers as they try to prevent an ancient organization called the Zodiac from acquiring an infinitely powerful weapon capable of warping the very fabric of time and space — the Zodiac Key. The Extinction Key also introduces the game's versions of Doctor Strange and Brother Voodoo, as well as specific members of S.H.I.E.L.D.[50] The second book, Marvel's Avengers: The Art of the Game contains concept art, storyboards and artist commentary, an intimate study of the Avengers, plus a detailed view at the different environments and missions in the game.[51]

Funko released a set of Pop! Vinyl figures based on the playable characters in the game that are available at launch, in addition to figures based on Taskmaster and Abomination. Black Widow received a glow-in-the-dark chase variant, with the stock of this variant being at a rate of one in every six Black Widow figures. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk also received alternate designs exclusive to certain retailers, with the first two being glow-in-the-dark variants.[52] The designs for the characters were also loosely adapted for Lego Marvel Avengers sets releasing in 2020, though the events depicted are not from the game itself.[53]

Marvel's Avengers received "mixed or average reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[54][55][56]

Destructoid summarized its 6/10 review by calling the game "Slightly above average or simply inoffensive. Fans of the genre should enjoy it a bit, but a fair few will be left unfulfilled."[57] Shacknews praised the campaign and unique character abilities, but noted the "convoluted and uninspired" menus and bug issues.[64] USgamer scored the game 2.5/5 stars and wrote: "If Marvel's Avengers was just the single-player story campaign, it would be amazing. There, Crystal Dynamics sells you on its version of the Avengers and introduces the charming and endearing Ms. Marvel to players everywhere. Combat has depth to it, and each hero truly feels distinct. Unfortunately, the endgame is where our heroes falter, with broken matchmaking, rough options in terms of progression, and endlessly reused environments and enemies."[65]

Electronic Gaming Monthly said "Marvel's Avengers squanders the potential of what might have been a fun superhero romp by grafting on an annoying, overly repetitive games-as-a-service component. Playing as the cast of heroes offers decent thrills, and the campaign tells an enjoyable enough story, but odds are good you'll get bored long before you grind your way to the top."[58] Game Informer gave the game an 8.75/10, writing: "Developer Crystal Dynamics delivers a powerful superhero showcase that taps into each Avenger's unique abilities to light up the battlefield in thrilling ways, but when the dust settles, it slows down to show a softer, human side that is every bit as engaging, placing a character you wouldn't expect in the central role."[59] IGN gave the game 6/10, praising its combat, superhero flavor and campaign, but criticizing its technical issues, loot system and recycled, repetitive end-game.[63]

In the weeks following its launch, Avengers saw a large player drop due to audiences frustrated at the game's current problems, such as bugs, repetitive gameplay, and lack of content in the base game. One update included a patch that fixed over a thousand player-reported issues in the game.[67] Shreyansh Katsura of Game Rant reported around 1,190 players on Steam during a weekend in November 2020, which they saw as a 96% decline since the game's debut.[68] Gene Park of The Washington Post noted that only over a thousand players were playing Avengers on PC, which he described as "an early and worrying symptom of a dying live service game."[69] The dwindling number of players, which Paul Tassi of Forbes observed as falling below 500 players at one point, have begun causing problems with matchmaking multiplayer games on PC.[70][71]

Mike Fahey of Kotaku noted that players such as himself were growing bored with the game's repetitive features and lack of content, saying, "We need new content. New enemies. New game mechanics...The initial excitement over playing beloved superheroes has dulled, thanks to a lack of variety in late-game content," and after receiving a statement from Crystal Dynamics, he advised players, "There are plenty of other games out there to play, and as much as I would love to engage my superhero fantasies on a daily basis, nonstop for weeks on end, it’s not currently happening in Marvel’s Avengers."[72] Thomas Carroll of Comic Book Resources felt that the game had "plenty of bugs and crashes and a severe lack of content and customisation" alongside a large $60 price tag for a live-service game. He believed that Square Enix relied too much on the established Marvel brand in marketing, instead of "bothering to create a quality experience people would pay for once, then continue to pay for whenever new content was released."[73] Paul Tassi enjoyed his initial experiences with the game,[74] but over time grew frustrated over the game's bugs and underwhelming, grind-heavy loot system, concluding that it was "too broken to effectively play right now."[75] Although Gene Park commended Crystal Dynamics for listening to feedback and implementing fixes, he felt the game's lack of content in the base game highlighted that it "didn’t need to be a live service game, and it’s become increasingly clear that it shouldn’t have been in the first place."[69]

The Kate Bishop downloadable content was praised for its gameplay, voicework, and story, but some felt the added content was lacking. Fahey stated, "It’s not her powers and abilities that make Kate Bishop great in Marvel’s Avengers. It’s a combination of [whoever] is writing the game’s hero banter and the voice acting of Ashly Burch. Burch is a sassy voice actor given incredibly sassy superhero banter and she just eats it up."[76] Dave Trumbore of Collider felt it was a "too-short introductory outing" for Kate, whom he described as "[bringing] an energy on par with Kamala Khan's youthful spirit and Tony Stark's sharp wit to the team, though it's her tool kit of melee/ranged/teleporting skills that are a cut above on the battlefield."[77] Tassi was "deeply impressed" by the update's expansion on the campaign, voicework, and satisfying gameplay as Kate, but noted that this would do little to expand the game's current playerbase unless a large-scale expansion would be added.[78][79]

Avengers was the bestselling retail game during its first week on sale in the U.K.[80] In the U.S., the game was the top-selling title for the month of September, and second highest launch-month dollar sales of all-time for a superhero game behind Spider-Man.[81] The PlayStation version sold 42,979 physical copies within its first week on sale in Japan, making it the second bestselling retail game of the week in the country.[82] While the game had a strong start, the momentum was apparently difficult to sustain; according to Steam's public data, the game is not even in the top 100 most popular titles based on players, so its daily player count is likely only around 6,000.

Marvel's Avengers is also coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but those versions have been delayed to 2021. Additionally, the game's first DLC character, Kate Bishop, was delayed until December 8.[83]

Marvel's Avengers was one of Square Enix's biggest releases in years, but the game's sales were not enough to help Square Enix's HD Games business turn a profit for the latest period. Including this game and others, such as Final Fantasy VII Remake, Square Enix's HD Games business unit posted an estimated loss of 6.5 billion yen for the latest period, which works out to a loss of around $63 million USD.[84] Net sales jumped significantly to 23.7 billion yen ($~230 million USD), but the cost of goods sold was more significant, leading to a loss. Square Enix also reported that it saw greater digital sales of catalog games during the period, but again, not enough to turn a profit overall. The HD Games business is just one of Square Enix's many categories; overall, the company posted sales of 172 billion yen (up 43 percent) and a profit of 16 billion yen (up 46 percent) for the latest period; so the downturn in the HD Games business was not enough to impact the company's overall bottom line.[85]