Marvel's superheroes could get a hit inspired by Secret Wars. The Avengers was meant to be a striking FPP game

The Avengers was supposed to be, and also how the fate of this project unfolded.

Avengers FPP

The Avengers was a project created by THQ Studio Australia and Blue Tongue Entertainment, under the umbrella of THQ (not to be confused with THQ Nordic). THQ Studio Australia may be associated by players with games under the banner of de Blob series.

To make their game stand out from other superhero games, the creators decided to show the action from the character's point of view instead of the originally planned third-person perspective. This was supposed to give players a unique opportunity to see how Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, or Thor see the world. It was planned that, in addition to them, playable characters like War Machine, Ms. Marvel, Black Widow, and Hawkeye would also appear in the game over time.

Independent story

When it comes to the storyline of The Avengers, there were speculations that it would be an adaptation, as it was supposed to be released in 2012 alongside the first Avengers movie. However, as Jeremy Love, one of the artists working on this project, recalled years later (via Unseen64):

Instead of creating a film adaptation, the devs wanted to tell us an original story, inspired, among other things, by the comic Secret Invasion. Moreover, it was unofficially said that the writer of these stories, Brian Michael Bendis, was working on it. Our main antagonists would be the Skrulls, aliens trying to conquer Earth. Even though they operated in secret in the original, pretending to be world leaders, in The Avengers, they were supposed to attract much more attention by copying the powers of various Marvel characters.

Villains and heroes

During the game, we would have to face enemies imitating, among others, the X-Men (led by Wolverine) and the Fantastic Four. Clashes with them would be the spice of the game, and during these encounters, we would need to efficiently use the skills of individual superheroes, each of whom would play quite differently.

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Iron Man would bombard enemies with missiles and move through the air, Thor could throw Mjolnir and hurl lightning at enemies, Captain America would fight hand-to-hand and throw his shield, while the slowest of them all, Hulk, would at the same time be the strongest. The characters would have a wide range of attacks, including spectacular finishing moves. Unlike in Doom, we would watch the finishing moves from different cinematic angles, not just from the character's perspective.

As we progressed, we would develop the Avengers. For our actions on the battlefield (like taking out enemies or helping teammates), we would earn experience points, which we could use to unlock new skills over time.

Cooperation is the key to success

The Avengers was prepared from the beginning with the idea of the whole team working together. What's interesting, even though the co-op was supposed to be the highlight here, and we were supposed to be able to have fun with other players both online and on split screen, we wouldn't be forced into it. The devs did everything they could to make the AI-controlled companions behave in the most natural way possible, coming to our aid when needed and carefully selecting targets.

The presence of other team was also supposed to lead to the implementation of the ability to do combined attacks. One of the Avengers could stun the enemies, exposing them to an attack from another superhero. Experienced players were supposed to be able to create complex combos in battles, which would reward them with damage multipliers and other bonuses.

Good start and slippery slope

Work on The Avengers started in August 2010. At first, the game was being developed only by THQ Australia, but later on, Blue Tongue Entertainment ed the team to help them meet the deadline. The title was heading for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and rigs. A version for Wii U was also considered, and there were plans to incorporate Kinect (in a special Avengers Training Academy mode) for some time, but ultimately, both ideas were dropped.

Although initially things were going well for the developers, everything started to get complicated in mid-2011. THQ made some bad decisions, like the expensive project Homefront and the failed investment in the uDraw tablet, which caused the company to struggle. To make matters worse, the rising value of the Australian dollar has made maintaining teams located there too costly for the publisher. For this reason, in August 2011, a decision was made to close THQ Australia and Blue Tongue Entertainment and to lay off the people working there.

It was also decided that the Avengers project will not be continued. The developers tried to save their project by asking Marvel for financial help, but the company wasn't interested.

Not all of me will die

After The Avengers was canceled, Ubisoft acquired the rights to create a game based on the franchise. While their game The Avengers: Battle for Earth wasn't directly based on the described title, you can still find some inspiration from it in the storyline and gameplay elements.

However, it turns out that we have quite a lot left from it. On the aforementioned Unseen64 website, you can find a lot of screenshots and concept arts. Moreover, there are videos showing the game in action, which were used to illustrate this text.

The Avengers

cancelled

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• Overview

• THQ
• Marvel
• share-based FPP games
• Necro Gaming
• PC
• X360
• PS3