Marvel's Avengers Roadmap Includes Black Panther, Black Widow Event, New Story, And More

Crystal Dynamics has delivered its long-term roadmap for Marvel's Avengers, laying out the upcoming content so that players have more of an awareness and understanding of what the future of the title will entail. The details were revealed publicly during publisher Square Enix's showcase and confirmed character additions such as Black Panther.

The roadmap includes a range of new gameplay options, cosmetic updates, in-game events, and big story-driven content. The first of these drops arrives today, with Operation: Hawkeye Future Imperfect, which introduces Clint Barton to the game, as part of a new story beat. A new villain, Maestro, will also be added. On top of that, the main campaign will become replayable and the HARM room will be customizable. For those with a PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, the free upgrade to next-gen versions will also be available.

The Tachyon Anomaly

In spring, there will be the Tachyon Anomaly, the first of Marvel's Avengers' new events. During this event, the restriction that prevents more than one of the same hero from being on a team will be lifted, so you can have, as an example, four Hulks working together if you're into that sort of thing. There will be daily and weekly missions that will give rewards to players that match up with multiple versions of the same hero. A Tachyon mission will be added to the War Table, while other Tachyon missions will become available more frequently and they'll scale for power levels ranging from 1-100. A new animated nameplate will be added as a reward for these missions.

Black Widow

In May, Marvel's Avengers will celebrate the release of Marvel's Black Widow movie by focusing on the character in the game. This will materialize in the form of quests for each hero which, when completed, will give players an animated Red Room nameplate. The crux of the content will be an event where Yelena Belova hacks the HARM room to unleash a Red Room trap that captures the Avengers. There will also be new hero outfits during this event.

The Cosmic Cube

In the summer, things will ramp up with the release of The Cosmic Cube, a Villain Sector that features Scientist Supreme. This picks up the story from where Future Imperfect leaves off and

whisks away the Avengers to the Frozen Tundra, where a Cosmic Cube is being constructed. Crystal Dynamics describes the villain fight as a "totally new experience," which will certainly be welcome to players that have been repeating the same kind of boss fight for months now.

Patrol Mode And Omega-Level Threat Missions

Also this summer, players will get to go back to the Wasteland, which was introduced through the Hawkeye content. There they will be able to take on a new War Zone mission type called Patrol Mode. This was described as "one large overland map where players can move from one area to the next. Enemies and activities will spawn continuously across the map, and there is not a set objective--the player gets to choose what they want to do. The Wasteland is split up into three key areas: Kree Sentry graveyard, ruined city, and SHIELD stronghold.

Although they don't have a release window yet, Crystal Dynamics is also working on two Omega-Level Threat missions. The studio says these will be released "as soon as possible." These missions are focused specifically on multiplayer and demand coordination. The first of these, titled Resolution, is a fight against the Super Adaptoid and will reward Super Adaptoid gear.

The second, Cloning Labs, is a four-player mission and will be the longest mission in the game upon release. The climactic fight is against four Abomination clones.

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Black Panther

Beyond this is the War for Wakanda expansion, which will introduce Black Panther as a playable hero, new hero outfits, increase the power level cap, add new villains, and a new faction. Naturally, it will also expand the story, deliver the Wakandan Jungle biome, and a new outpost.

In the teaser, a voice can be heard delivering a reply to Monica Rappaccini, better known in the game as the villain Scientist Supreme. The person says that she has the men and the tech, and that he will lend a hand with a full-scale invasion to acquire Vibranium.

The environment being shown on screen is Wakanda and the voice is revealed to be belonging to Ulysses Klaw, another Marvel villain. Black Panther is shown landing in a heroic pose, before standing up to survey Wakanda and saying, "Avengers, with me." The expansion doesn't have a specific release date and is only listed as "coming later this year."

Future Updates

Other things on the roadmap that don't currently have a release date include multiplayer Megahives, post-level 50 progression, and outfits that are inspired by the MCU movies. As for ongoing improvements, Crystal Dynamic is working on tuning in-game balance, gear progression, the collectible comics system, and matchmaking.

For those interested in the changes being made to Marvel's Avengers on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, you can check out our post detailing the improved textures, lighting effects, and much more.