Much speculation concerning Marvel’s Avengers in wake of its official reveal has centered around its cast. It makes sense, after all. With super soldiers, billionaire scientists and literal gods forming the base playable group of Crystal Dynamics’ ambitious action-adventure, wanting to dissect every last detail there is to know about Earth’s iconic defenders is a given. Due in part to that obsession, however, one other key component of next year’s triple-A heavyweight has so far gone largely overlooked.
With a universe that spans multiple galaxies, timelines and supernatural realms, Crystal having potentially free reign to explore any corner of Marvel’s storied franchise has ginormous implications not just for gameplay, but story and exploration, too. No doubt in an attempt to keep the plot somewhat grounded, Marvel’s Avengers‘ narrative kicks off on planet Earth, though where the action moves to next is anyone’s guess.
As per a recent interview with VentureBeat, however, Crystal Dynamics creative director Noah Hughes says the trailer shown at E3 already provides several hints as to the visitable locales that will be present in Marvel’s Avengers.
We have a bit of a destroyed San Francisco. The game opens at the A-Day event. The Avengers are opening a west coast headquarters and showing off a new Helicarrier with some new technology. Things go terribly wrong, and that leads to the Avengers disbanding. We pick up the story five years later, and that journey will take them to many places. You can glimpse a few of them in the demo here. We see Tony in space for a moment. We see a snowy environment with Thor flying through it. We have a great diversity of locations, that sense that it’s not just one area that these Avengers protect. It’s an entire world.
Hughes’ closing statement seems to imply that the Avengers’ initial adventure will only encompass Earth but the context is extremely relative. After all, Hughes says just moments before, that Tony – as Iron Man – can be seen in the vacuum of space so, at the very least, one should expect the action to span as far as Earth’s atmosphere. Of note, too, is the specific mention of Thor flying through a snowy environment. That could simply be a nod to the God of Thunder visiting the Arctic during the story, or perhaps it’s a hint at something off-world?
Could it be that we’re looking at Jotunheim? The home of the Frost Giants is closely linked to Thor’s history and, as the original homeworld of Loki, would make the perfect fit. Ultimately, we’ll just have to patiently wait for Marvel’s Avengers to reveal itself further, but the discussion need not end there. Let us know which parts of Marvel’s universe you’d love to explore in the comments section below!
