Developer Traveller's Tales may have just released LEGO Dimensions, but there was one major group of characters missing from the game's huge roster of diverse properties: Marvel.
This was likely because Warner Bros. Games (which is under the same corporate umbrella as DC Comics) would rather not have Marvel characters fighting alongside Batman and Superman. Not to worry, however. There is a new Marvel LEGO game on the horizon, and it is packed with enough content to have any comic book fan squealing with glee.
How much content, you ask? Well that's what this article is for. From all the Marvel Cinematic Universe films that are playable in the game, to the game's huge cast of playable characters, this is everything you need to know about LEGO Marvel's Avengers.
Plot
Despite bearing the name LEGO Marvel's Avengers, this isn't simply a LEGO video game adaptation of Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Rather, every Avengers-related MCU Phase Two film is included, along with Captain America: The First Avenger. In addition to both Avengers films and Captain America's debut, players can play through the events of Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
For those who lost count, that's a total of six movies for fans to re-experience with TT's signature brand of LEGO humor. Like LEGO The Hobbit and LEGO Jurassic World, LEGO Marvel's Avengers will lift audio and dialogue directly from the movies themselves. Several Shield characters, like Maria Hill, Agent Coulson and Peggy Carter, will each have new lines of dialogue just for the game, voiced by their film counterparts Cobie Smulders, Clark Gregg and Hayley Atwell, respectively. Stan Lee will also be returning to voice himself. Excelsior!
Characters
One of the major selling points for any LEGO game is being able to play as LEGO versions of all your favorite characters. As you might expect, all the big names in the Marvel universe will be playable here: Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, and that's not even mentioning the villains.
But LEGO Marvel's Avengers is much bigger than just including character's from the films. The game includes well over 100 playable characters, with many of them being playable for the first time in a LEGO game. Some of them are so obscure that only hardcore Marvel fans will have heard of them before. Devil Dinosaur, Moon Boy and Beta Ray Bill, anybody? They're all in the game, as are more recent additions to the Marvel comic world like Sam Wilson as Captain America, Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel, Jane Foster as Thor and many, many more. Oh, and Stan Lee is even playable is his new superhero form, Iron Stan. He's like Iron Man but with a mustache, and even comes with his own version of Iron Man's iconic Hulkbuster armor.
Gameplay
LEGO games all follow a familiar formula at this point, a unique combination of building, puzzle solving, combat and character-specific abilities. LEGO Marvel's Avengers is no different, but that doesn't mean there aren't a number of new features fans have never seen before. Each hero will have a powerful takedown ability that can be used once charged. If you're near a fellow Avenger, the two characters can partner to use both their special abilities for an explosive team-up ability.
In addition to playing through each of the films listed above, players can also explore large, open-world areas to interact with characters and discover unlocks. Washington D.C., S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, and the Burton family farm are just a few of the free-roam environments players will be able to explore in addition to the various areas featured in the LEGO retelling of the films. But none of those compare to the free-roam New York City. Almost a game in and of itself, all of the city is open for players to freely explore, with a number of activities available at any given moment. From rescuing citizens in peril to participating in races, there has never been a larger playground in a LEGO game.
LEGO Marvel's Avengers releases Jan. 26 on every platform imaginable (PS4, Xbox One, Wii U, 3DS, PS Vita, Xbox 360 and PS3).
