Marvel's Avengers game is officially out in
the wild, telling a charming story about Kamala
Khan and her journey from Avengers fangirl
to legit superhero. Now that we've played
Marvel's Avengers from beginning to end, here
are some of the key takeaways.
The Avengers are the quintessential example
of how very different people can come together
and rally around a cause.
Iron Man is a tech genius whose superpower
is his brain and the things he can create.
Thor is an actual god from another world.
Captain America is a supersoldier created
by the government. The Hulk is a scientist-turned-giant
monster, depending on his mood. And Black
Widow is a former spy who, like Iron Man,
has no superpowers herself, but uses her skills
in espionage and combat to contribute all
the same.
Throughout the Marvel's Avengers story, Crystal
Dynamics really hammers home just how different
the main characters are, and how they still
manage to unite in times of crisis. The treatment
Inhumans receive in the game further explores
this lesson. Inhumans are typical people who
were in the wrong place at the wrong time
on A-Day. The accident that took place granted
them superpowers, and for that, they're scapegoated
by A.I.M. and ostracized by others. But as
Kamala Khan so beautifully demonstrates, they're
still valuable people who play important roles
in society, no matter what the bad guys say.
Aside from Kamala Khan, two other characters
really get their time to shine in Marvel's
Avengers: Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Both
walked away from A-Day without hope, and spent
their days in solitude until Kamala came along.
Following A-Day, Bruce spent a great deal
of time as the Hulk hiding in the Chimera,
the Avengers' then-broken down helicarrier,
while the world outside changed drastically.
Similarly, Stark isolated himself in the desert
and seemed content to live in a reality where
the Avengers were gone forever.
Kamala brought the two back from the brink.
She managed to convince Banner there was something
worth fighting for, and that he could embrace
the Hulk once more to do it. And she got Tony,
ever the narcissist, to return and not only
be a team player, but even show some emotion
at times. The story in Marvel's Avengers just
wouldn't work without Kamala. She gets the
band back together, and ends up saving the
day for everyone else, too.
Another big story element revolves, unsurprisingly,
around Kamala and her place in the world.
As a Pakistani American girl from Jersey City,
Khan already felt like an outsider of sorts.
Add in her love of comics and her adoration
of the Avengers, and you can start to see
why she might have felt like she was different
than everyone else.
Being present on A-Day, and becoming an Inhuman
as a result, only exacerbated her feeling
of being an outcast. For a long time, she
had to hide who she was and the powers she
possessed. But upon meeting the Avengers,
she found purpose and a sense of belonging.
Kamala no longer had to keep her powers a
secret, or keep her childhood dream of being
a superhero limited to the posters on her
bedroom wall. With the Avengers, she found
a group of individuals committed to doing
good, just like her. With the encouragement
of her newfound friends, she's finally able
to come into her own and sort out her identity.
For a campaign story about a group of heroes,
the narrative really only gives you a close
look at three of them: Kamala Khan, Bruce
Banner, and Tony Stark.
Kamala is by far the most fleshed-out character
in the tale, but Banner and Stark get a large
share of the focus, as well. Unfortunately,
not all of the Avengers received the same
amount of love, which could make them harder
to connect with.
Black Widow reemerges part way through the
campaign, suddenly showing up to offer assistance
when A.I.M. captures Kamala.
The same goes for Thor, who is present for
a stretch while the group fends off an attack
on the Chimera, only to disappear until the
later parts of the game.
Captain America, too, takes a backseat, an
understandable choice as he seems to die at
the very beginning.
Captain America, Thor, and Black Widow, by
virtue of being brought into the fold later,
don't get as much screen time as Kamala, Bruce,
and Tony. Some may feel their character development
suffers as a result. Maybe in another adventure
to come they'll be more foregrounded; we know
we'd like to see them in action a little bit
more.
This twist may shock you, but here it goes:
Captain America didn't actually die in Marvel's
Avengers.
"You're alive! I knew it!"
Sure, the developers made it look that way
at the very beginning, and that early story
beat, which was revealed to help promote the
game about a year before its release concerned
some Cap fans. But Crystal Dynamics wouldn't
go through all the trouble of creating Captain
America just to kill him off, right?
As it turns out, the A-Day explosion that
had reportedly killed Cap failed to do the
job. Instead, A.I.M. captured Captain America
and kept him prisoner in an outer space satellite
laboratory called Ambrosia. There, A.I.M.
scientist (and wannabe diabolical villain)
Monica Rappacci used Captain America's blood
to conduct experiments. Iron Man eventually
showed up to rescue Cap from A.I.M.'s clutches,
thus allowing him to become a playable character
again during the back half of the game.
In the aftermath of A-Day, George Tarleton,
one of the minds behind the new energy form,
Terrigen, decided superheroes should no longer
exist. Tarleton felt their powers could not
be controlled, and in A.I.M., he saw a vehicle
for delivering a cure to Inhumans that would
strip them of their newfound abilities.
"Come on Kamala. Let's do this. Yes? Let A.I.M.
help you."
When a cure didn't pan out, he turned to more
drastic measures: killing off Inhumans entirely.
When the Avengers reassembled to stand in
his way, he became M.O.D.O.K., or the "Mental/Mobile/Mechanized
Organism Designed Only for Killing."
At the end of Marvel's Avengers, M.O.D.O.K.
is seemingly defeated at the hands of an embiggened
Kamala Khan. But don't assume you've seen
the last of Tarleton's new form just yet.
During the game's credits, a scene shows a
small door on M.O.D.O.K.'s giant statue-esque
robot opening up. Based on the small pod that
shoots out of it like a missile, it seems
M.O.D.O.K. may not be done causing problems
for the Avengers just yet.
It's not an exaggeration to say the both the
Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. were crippled after
the events of A-Day. The Avengers believed
they'd lost a key member and disbanded entirely,
scattering to the wind. Fortunately, actions
taken during Marvel's Avengers helped bring
both groups back together again.
Kamala Khan, of course, helped reunite the
Avengers. In the early part of the story,
Kamala and Bruce Banner locate a S.H.I.E.L.D.
bunker containing protocols left by Director
Fury in the event of his demise. These protocols
are sent to sub-director Maria Hill. At the
end of the campaign, post credits, Hill informs
the group that "S.H.I.E.L.D. is still getting
back on its feet," and offers the Avengers
some field ops assignments to help the cause.
Some of these field ops can be taken on in
Marvel's Avengers' endgame, and there's a
chance you might see additional assignments
added in future content drops.
Though you may think the Avengers saved the
day, and thus are due some goodwill from the
world at large, it doesn't appear that will
be the case at first. As Stark mentions in
a post credits sequence, A.I.M. still has
the government on its side, as well as public
opinion.
How is that possible when, during the game,
A.I.M. forces were at a standoff with the
military? That is a great question. But as
it stands, the Avengers are still the bad
guys in the eyes of many, and they'll have
to do some work to get everyone feeling happy
to see them in action again.
The Avengers' redemption arc could continue
in further story packs released down the line,
or it could be implied over time that, by
battling A.I.M. and further uncovering its
secrets, you'll eventually reach a point where
the Avengers are considered heroes again.
You'll have to wait and see how Crystal Dynamics
plans to address this story element and what
new threats might emerge if the Avengers are
able to take out A.I.M. for good.
Monica Rappaccini's story in Marvel's Avengers
is full of twists and turns. At the start,
she appears to be Banner's love interest,
a fellow scientist assisting work on the Terrigen
project. After A-Day, she presents herself
as a key figure at A.I.M., where she is purportedly
working to develop a cure for Inhumans.
You eventually discover Rappaccini does not
have pure motivations. In fact, she wasn't
even developing a cure. Rappaccini wants to
harvest Inhuman powers for her own twisted
pursuits. She even went so far as to experiment
on Tarleton himself without him realizing
it. Tarleton eventually caught on, though,
and injected Rappaccini with the same Captain
America blood he'd been given repeatedly before
leaving Rappaccini to die.
Rappaccini does not die, however. In fact,
the end of Marvel's Avengers reveals her elevation
to the role of "Scientist Supreme" at A.I.M.
She has even bigger plans for the organization
now that Tarleton is apparently out of the
picture, including cloning, time travel, and
more. Marvel's Avengers players will undoubtedly
see more of Monica Rappaccini in the future,
as A.I.M., especially with her in charge,
is still a very big threat.
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