The first Marvel’s Avengers game trailer shocked most Avengers’ fans. After its initial trailer reveal at E3, many fans had one persistent complaint—the characters just seemed to look a little off.
People couldn’t get over all the minor differences between the game’s version of the characters and what they had come to expect them to look like. Of course, the characters have evolved over the years, but there’s always been a persistent characterization for each of the main Avengers. In both the comics and the films.
Some said Captain America was sporting a “dad bod”; others thought Tony Stark winded up looking like a total bro and not a billionaire playboy genius.
Despite the seemingly unanimous aversion to the depiction of the heroes, we’ve yet to see much regarding the gameplay or the story overall. We do know, thanks to the trailer, that Captain America will likely die early on in the game. A fact generally ignored after the trailer’s release (because—dad bod).
Today, in a statement to IGN, Crystal Dynamics’ revealed the game will feature a five-year time skip as part of its plotline. Sound Endgame-esque to anyone? Lead Combat Designer, Vincent Napoli, and Creative Director, Shaun Escayg, both confirmed the Avengers will be incredibly shaken up by the experience of losing Cap. Iron Man, Thor, Black Widow, and Bruce Banner will be in an entirely different state of mind after the time jump. And we can expect that state of mind to change the characters in unforeseen ways.
Players can expect different costumes, personalities, and “game space” for the remaining characters as they try to deal with the guilt following Cap’s death. What this means practically is hard to tell, especially since we have still seen so little of the actual gameplay footage. But also, it’s hard to imagine these characters becoming even more different from the ones we’ve come to expect.
Escayg had already remarked previously that Marvel’s Avengers might feature the multiverse, which would make sense since the characters in the game don’t really look like the characters we’ve come to know in the comic and film franchises. Perhaps they will wind up being different versions of the ones we normally think of.
The multiverse theory also lines up with other facts. For example, despite Cap’s in-game death, we know players will be able to play as Captain America in Marvel’s Avengers. How the time jump will fit into this is anyone’s guess.
Marvel’s Avengers does not yet have a specific release date, but the game is scheduled to come out in May of 2020.
