How We Almost Got an Avengers First-Person Shooter
Before Marvel's Avengers assembled on the big screen, plans were in place to create an all-new Avengers video game to launch alongside the blockbuster film.
In the lead up to the big crossover film, Marvel heroes like Iron Man, Captain America and Thor had all starred in their own movie tie-in games. Reception to the individual games was mild at best, and Marvel was looking to partner with a new publisher to bring the Avengers to life. In 2010, Marvel tapped THQ to do just that.
Before taking on the Avengers, THQ had developed and published a few Marvel Super Hero Squad video games, which helped land them the honors of bringing a more mature-themed Avengers game to the masses. Production began at THQ Australia, with the intent to crate a third-person action title starring the same characters we'd see on the big screen when The Avengers released in 2012. However, early in development, the studio shifted its focus, and The Avengers transformed from a standard action game into a cooperative first-person shooter styled game, complete with a leveling system and class-based abilities.
Though it was planned to release in conjunction with The Avengers film, the story would instead be based on the comic book event, Secret Invasion, and would include a narrative written by Brian Michael Bendis. Players would take part in a very similar story to the comic crossover, with the Skrull invasion being the central focus. While the main playable characters would have been the big four (Iron Man, Cap, Thor and Hulk), Black Widow, Hawkeye, War Machine, Captain Marvel and more Marvel heroes would have had appearances as well.
Sadly, in 2011, THQ was under tremendous financial distress, and one of the first studios closed in order to try and save money was THQ Australia. It didn't help much though, as THQ went bankrupt the following year. The studio tried to pitch the game to Marvel, but Marvel didn't want to continue development, and thus, The Avengers FPS was shelved indefinitely.
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