Summary
Though they’re all household names now, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye were all far from the top-tier of Marvel heroes back in the early 2000s. But somehow, against all odds, the Marvel Cinematic Universe managed to lift all of these characters up to the S-list of Marvel heroes, along with a multitude of others that have come in the decade and a half since the firstIron Man.Black Pantheris one such character, becoming an overnight sensation withthe release ofCaptain America: Civil Warand continuing to grow in popularity with his very own movie in 2018.
It’s only natural, then, that Marvel would want to capitalize on the success of Black Panther as much as it possibly could, and that’s taken the hero over to the gaming landscape. But one Black Panther game apparently isn’t enough for Marvel, as two games featuringBlack Pantherare currently in the works. And if both games are successful, then this could set an interesting precedent for Marvel games moving forward.
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The Same Heroes Might Start Appearing Across Multiple Marvel Games
Set in World War 2,Skydance’s still-unnamed Marvel gamesees players take control of four playable characters. Along with a member of the Howling Commandos, the Wakandan Spy Network, and Captain America, players will get to play as this era’s Black Panther, Azzuri, T’Challa’s grandfather. While Black Panther isn’t the only playable character in Skydance’s game, he’ll still presumably play a vital role in the game’s story, as will Wakanda itself, and the ability to play as him will undoubtedly be used as a major selling point in the game’s eventual marketing.
Announced a bit more recently, EA is also working on its own Black Panther game. Being developed by a brand-new studio called Cliffhanger Games,EA’s Black Panther will apparently be a third-person open-world gamethat sees players protect their home city of Wakanda solely as the Black Panther. While both games definitely have their own unique selling points and will stand apart from one another in some presumably big ways, it is interesting that two AAA Black Panther-led titles are slated to release in quick succession of one another, and it could be a sign of things to come.
The existence of thesetwo Black Panther gamesseems to suggest that Marvel isn’t afraid of doubling down on its most popular heroes, and producing more than one game at a time that focuses on them. If these two Black Panther games end up being successful and don’t end up overshadowing each other, then it could be the start of a new phase for superhero video games, where multiple games featuring the same hero can release around the same time, all from different developers and publishers, and all with a unique hook.
While Spider-Man has appeared across multiple video games in the last few years likeMidnight Suns,Marvel’s Avengers, and evenFortnite, he hasn’t really been the leading character in any of them. Instead, Insomniac gets to keep Spidey largely to itself. But that might be about to change. It seems as though Marvel is keen to really push its most iconic heroes, and while it’d be great to see characters like Spider-Man, Black Panther, and the Avengers appear in more titles, Marvel needs to ensure that each has its own unique selling point, distinguishing it completely. For instance, if Insomniac continues to release third-person open-world Spider-Man games, then Marvel can’t release another one like it soon after, but could instead do some kind of Spider-Verse multiplayer game. If this is indeed the plan, then the future is bright for Marvel’s biggest names in the world of video games.
