If there’s one thing Marvel’s Avengers fans needn’t have any concern over, it’s a lack of ideas when it comes to adding post-launch DLC.
Crystal Dynamics, after all, is in the unique position of being able to draw from over 80 years of superhero history as far as viable material goes, though there’s one particular group of heroes that many have assumed would always be off the table. Thanks to its acquisition of 20th Century Fox last year, Disney – and by extension, Marvel – now have full ownership of the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises across all types of media, though due to years of separation on the big screen, there exists a massive thematic and narrative gulf between the two.
With that said, however, Marvel’s Avengers, as its developer is keen to stress, exists in its own universe outside of the MCU, meaning the rules on who can and can’t show up aren’t set in stone. The hope, then, is that the likes of Wolverine, Storm and Gambit could one day make an appearance in-game, an outcome that creative director and writer Shaun Escayg says isn’t unrealistic to imagine.
When asked specifically if Xavier’s gifted students could be a possibility and just how much creative freedom Crystal has with Marvel’s massive character catalogue, Escayg stated the following to PlayStation Trophies:
It extends to all of the 80-year history, and the process of choosing these characters is ‘can we ground it in this world and can we make a real argument to Marvel that this character belongs here?’ — this character will move our story forward or take us into new stories. It’s all about how we write it, how we sell it, how we situate it, and how we then bridge that into a new threat or new escalations of threats.
In other words, then, the likelihood of X-Men or Brotherhood of Mutants members making the jump to Marvel’s Avengers rests on whether their inclusion would feel natural and/or justified in relation to the ongoing story that the folks at Crystal intend to tell. Which is certainly fair enough. For now, though, we’ll just have to wait and see if this ever comes to fruition.
Marvel’s Avengers is out September 4th for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC and Stadia.