A Side Of Captain America We Haven’t Seen: New Details On Skydance’s Marvel Game

The word ensemble is often associated with Marvel Comics’ world. It conjures up images of the Avengers and X-Men or the Fantastic Four. We were informed recently by Skydance New Media, Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Entertainment that they were developing an ensemble Marvel videogame. According to internet rumors, this game would be about Reed Richards and his amazing family. Yesterday, during the Disney & Marvel Games Showcase, we learned this ensemble wasn’t Fantastic Four, Avengers, or any known Marvel team whatsoever. Skydance has created its own team with four heroes set against the background of World War II.

Captain America is front-and center in the fight against Nazi troops and Hydra during this timeframe. Wakanda is involved in the story, so players take control of Black Panther. But not the one they know. Azzuri, T’Challa’s grandfather is this Black Panther. The other characters, however, are less well-known. Players will be able to dress up in Howling Commandos as Gabriel Jones. He is a great trumpeter and can be found in comics. Nanali is the fourth character. She’s the leader of a Wakandan spy group and has appeared in only a handful of comics.

This game’s most surprising aspect is its lack of name. After the announcement I met with Amy Hennig (Skydance New Media president) and Marc Bernardin (Skydance’s story consultant). They explained why they chose to not give a name to the project.

Hennig smiles and says, “Names take some time.” We want to take our time and do it right. Because we are creating an original story, there’s no book, title, or team that can be immediately referred to. Finding a title to be original and land like a Marvel title is no easy feat. Marvel is an established brand and has probably used every word that you could think of. “We let ourselves go and focused instead on the tagline.

Four heroes. Two Worlds. One war.

Skydance’s focus is to make this superhero experience as widely accessible as possible, hoping that anyone can play it from start to finish. Hennig was asked for inspirations, citing films that featured men in missions, like Dirty Dozen. “Marvel characters in that time period felt immediately appealing,” she adds. “We love the idea of exploring the Black Panther of that era. Wakanda was a hidden nation in 1940s Africa. What would their reaction be to the World Wars on their continent and borders? And the debate of whether they can remain neutral and sit on the sidelines when the entire world is at war.”

Bernardin also says that we’ll see different sides of Steve Rogers, who is just learning to be a leader. “We haven’t seen who Steve Rogers is in the bulk of World War II. The comics dipped into that territory a bit, but we haven’t seen that onscreen. Is that what makes them heroes? And how do we comprise that and continue kicking them in the shins and force them into places they don’t want to be operating from.”

Jones and Nanali give non-superheroes a glimpse into both worlds. The story is divided into four parts, and each character can be used at specific times. Hennig clarifies, however, that there will only be one player in the game. “That’s why the Uncharted shorthand is helpful,” she says. It means chapters based using cinematics. It won’t be designed exactly like the Uncharted games. It is an experience unlike any other, offering four perspectives on Marvel’s past.

When asked if this Marvel story would give us different takes on the heroes like Insomniac’s  Spider-Man games, Hennig said they are pulling for all existing Marvel lore. “We want it to feel true to all of it, but not adhere to a specific one,” she says. “We haven’t gotten the chance to get to know Steve Rogers as a young man, freshly transformed and freshly in uniform.”

“Whenever we have seen Steve Rogers at this point, he’s been pure of heart,” Bernardin adds. “He’s a knight on a steed, but we didn’t get the sense that he went through officer training school. He was not taught how to lead. He has natural gifts, but there’s a learning process. He is able to build teams. We’re finding ways to push him.”

Hennig and Bernardin didn’t reveal much about Azzuri but did say he’s older than the version of T-Challa comic and movie readers know.

“I’m excited about this studio,” Hennig says. “I’m excited about this game. We’re building on our experiences of telling action-packed cinematic adventures. We’re changing things within the mechanics and controls that will feel fresh for long-time players and welcoming to people who have always wanted to pick up a controller but may have felt intimidated that a game wasn’t for them. We’re trying to crack that problem of creating a game where you feel like you are embodying these characters and choreographing the experience from moment to moment, instead of feeling like a logistical, tactical game that you have to beat. Instead of trying to manage skill trees, we are interested in games that allow you to enter an experience flow state. People who have played it have said they’ve lost themselves in our experience because the game was doing what they intended instead of fighting them.”