'Marvel's Avengers' Wants to Reinvent the Heroes You Already Love

Capturing the grace of Iron Man, the swift agility of Black Widow, the debonair aura of Captain America or the pure unadulterated power of Hulk isn't easy, but game developer Crystal Dynamics has taken on the challenge nonetheless. Marvel's Avengers lets players take control of these five classic heroes, piloting them through missions and upgrading their gear, to help save a world that's abandoned them.

"We are fans who love telling stories with iconic characters and an epic spirit" Crystal Dynamics Head of Studio Scot Amos told Newsweek. "We wanted a take on heroes you already know, paying tribute and homage, while still looking at it from an original lens."

The story of Marvel's Avengers begins on Avenger's Day, at a celebration on the Helicarrier of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. After a terrorist cell strikes the vessel and the surrounding city, the world is thrown into chaos as citizens question if a collective of super-powered individuals can truly protect them. Tony Stark wants no part in technology, Bruce Banner thinks heroes are unnecessary, Thor has chosen to live without Mjolnir and Captain America is presumed dead. In this vacuum, an organization called Advanced Idea Mechanics, or A.I.M. has risen up to protect humanity, but it may be doing more harm than good.

Onboard the floating ship that fateful day was Kamala Khan, a teenage superhero super-fan who ingested the Terrigen mist, granting her stretchy super powers. At the Marvel Games panel at New York Comic-Con, Square Enix announced that Khan's hero alter ego, Ms. Marvel, would be the title's sixth playable hero. According to Amos, when the game was still in very early development, they had decided the first playable character they wanted to include was Ms. Marvel.

Talks between Crystal Dynamics and Marvel started with equal admiration between both studios, and it was a "match made in heaven," Amos recalls. The studio didn't want to create a game based on a movie or a television show, rather creators strove to create a unique storyline using 80 years of Marvel history to build their own version of the characters leveraging an already established IP.

"New games have to educate on what the world is, what the story means and what's the jargon," Amos said. "A take like this has the power to get people immediately together as a community, and then we can give it a new flavor."

Similar to Lara Croft's transformation in the 2013 Tomb Raider from a polygonal acrobat to fleshed-out heroine, Marvel's Avengers seeks to redefine characters you think you already know. While ambitious, this stance is equally divisive for diehard fans who may already have preconceived notions about the cast. When the first trailer for the game was released at E3, online discourse focused on the characters' new voices and odd looks that bared little resemblance to Chris Hemsworth or Scarlet Johannsen.

"We want to create something that's fresh and still familiar," Amos said. "There's a refreshment to watching new actors take on roles; Daniel Craid and Sean Connery each interpret James Bond in their own ways."

Working with Marvel has been a collaborative process, with Bill Rosemann, Creative Director at Marvel Games, being heavily invested and involved in the project. With more than 26 years at Marvel under his belt, he's a walking encyclopedia of information and is able to help the developers create a narrative that works with each character. If the development team needs a location that would make sense as a base for A.I.M. or to speak with the creative talent behind a random story arc from "The Ultimates" comics, Marvel is willing to provide.

"Bill taught us to always ask why. You should never just do something without a reason," Amos said. "Changing the canon for certain heroes, that's not the problem. There needs to be a reason behind why these changes are made. It shouldn't be for fluff or just gilding the lily. That's not going to be worth anything."

When Marvel's Avengers gets in the hands of players later in 2020, he hopes fans will have their expectations exceeded. "I want them to sit down and fall in love with these heroes for the first time or all over again and then go on this ride with us for years," Amos said. There is no "pay-to-win" system, with the upgrades, skills trees and perks that give heroes customization being unlockable just by playing the game. There will be costumes available for purchase, but they won't have any in-game benefits.

Marvel's Avengers releases May 15, 2020, on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia and PC.