Marvel’s Avengers is only a day away from its early-access launch, which hits three days before its standard launch on Sept. 4. But in recent few weeks, players have data-mined numerous (unconfirmed) secrets from the Marvel’s Avengers’ Windows PC and console beta, including new heroes and a location for an upcoming raid. With some recent confirmations around Crystal Dynamics’ post-launch plans, the leaks are looking more likely than before.
[Spoiler warning: This post contains partial spoilers for the Marvel’s Avengers campaign and post-launch plans]
On Sunday, Crystal Dynamics published a blog post previewing its War Table livestream on Tuesday, Sept. 1. The studio said it will announce a new weekend-only co-op game activity during the stream, and give some details on Operations. Based on the blog post, Operations sound like Marvel’s Avengers’ versions of raids, something the studio has mentioned before, but only in passing. In the blog post, the studio announced its first Operation will launch alongside a new hero.
Based on a developer AMA from late July (mentioned here by Osterberg501 on YouTube), we know that Marvel’s Avengers’ first raid will launch within weeks — the AMA originally appeared on the game’s old subreddit, which the mods have since made private. With a new hero launching alongside the Operation, this gives fuel to the long-rumored, seventh launch hero. Thanks to leaked details, we can put together a solid guess of who the first new hero will be, and where the raid may take place.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y9PZSOKPs2E%3Frel%3D0
A YouTube video from the channel Sanders Presents shows them combing through the game’s code earlier this month. Along with other data-miners, they discovered a list of heroes mentioned in the game files, including:
- Ant-Man
- Black Panther
- Black Widow
- Captain Marvel
- Captain America
- Doctor Strange
- Falcon
- Hawkeye
- Hulk
- Hulkbuster
- Iron-Man
- Kamala
- Kate Bishop
- Mar-Vell
- Mockingbird
- Quake
- Scarlet Witch
- She-Hulk
- Thor
- Vision
- War Machine
- Wasp
- Winter Soldier
At launch, Marvel’s Avengers offers Black Widow, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Kamala (aka Ms. Marvel), and Thor. Hulkbuster is also featured in the game as Iron Man’s ultimate ability. We also know that Hawkeye will come to Marvel’s Avengers shortly after launch.
Some of the heroes on this list suggest that Marvel’s Avengers may have some kind of “echo fighter” system, similar to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. For those unfamiliar, echo fighters in Smash look different and may have some slight tweaks, but essentially function the same way as their non-echo counterparts — the difference between Princess Peach and Princess Daisy, or lack thereof.
Marvel’s Avengers may have a similar system, with characters like War Machine stepping in as the Iron Man substitute, or She-Hulk for Hulk. While it’s possible these could be completely new heroes, with unique styles of play, it’s also likely that they’re near-exact replicas, or have slightly different abilities.
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There are a few reasons for this, mainly that it would allow players to play the same hero as a friend — Marvel’s Avengers only allows one of each hero per team in co-op play. If some of these characters truly do work like echo fighters, then two friends who both love Hawkeye could play as Clint Barton and Kate Bishop on the same team. If echo fighters are mostly a cosmetic difference, it presumably makes it easier for Crystal Dynamics to publish them frequently, giving players access to fan-favorite heroes like War Machine much faster.
For all the echo fighter heroes on the list, there are also several notable new heroes. Some of them, like Vision and Doctor Strange, we know almost nothing about. But there are reasons to believe that some heroes may come sooner rather than later.
The three primary heroes worth speculating about are Ant-Man, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel, with each having a good chance to appear close to launch.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=4pZoPjMY3Ws%3Frel%3D0
We’ve seen Hank Pym (aka Ant-Man) in his own mini-teaser trailer, when Crystal Dynamics first announced the game last year. We also know he’ll feature in the game’s story. Players will spend some time in a base called the Ant Hill, presumably Hank Pym’s base of operations. But there hasn’t been any data mine that we know of for Pym’s Ant-Man abilities, or a raid centered around the Ant Hill. Ant-Man seems to be the least likely of the three to launch alongside the raid, but he’s worth including since we’ve seen Hank Pym in-game.
Black Panther has one of the strongest cases. In the PC beta files, players found reference to Wakanda, as well as Klaw, a villain who has strong ties to Wakanda in the comics and MCU. More interestingly, the Klaw file specifically calls out “Klaw Raid” and Klaw boss fight only — just because it refers to it as a raid in the files, doesn’t mean Crystal Dynamics will call it a raid.
Wakanda appears to be a new region for the game, complete with new missions and objectives. A questionable story leak for Marvel’s Avengers also suggests an embassy opens up for Wakanda after players finish the base game. If Crystal Dynamics was to launch a hero alongside a raid and region, Black Panther would fit naturally with Wakanda.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=1zgtZzPNdeY%3Frel%3D0
Captain Marvel seems to be a strong candidate for the game’s seventh hero. One of the game’s PlayStation trophies, called “New Girl Makes Good,” describes defeating MODOK (the game’s primary villain) and the Kree. The Kree are militaristic aliens with strong ties to Captain Marvel. The Kree also haven’t appeared in the marketing for the game, suggesting they’re a secret, endgame enemy type introduced near the final boss fight with MODOK. There are also files in the game that refer to a Kree boss, similarly to the Klaw boss files.
Kamala Khan is a huge fan of Captain Marvel. We’ve seen images of her childhood bedroom, complete with a massive Carol Danvers poster. And during the A-Day mission, Kamala wears a Captain Marvel T-shirt. While Kamala’s style choices confirm nothing, it would make for some pretty clear foreshadowing.
Based on the information we have, it’s possible that Captain Marvel and a Kree-centric raid will likely appear a few weeks after launch. Shortly after that, Hawkeye will appear — possibly alongside Kate Bishop, his echo. Then Wakanda, Black Panther, and a Klaw-centric raid may appear as the game’s first major content update.
However, all of this information comes from data mined from the Avengers beta. With how out-of-date betas can be, it’s possible that little of this is accurate. Players should find out more information during the Marvel’s Avengers War Table stream on Sept. 1.
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