Lego Marvel's Avengers

Next week, Captain Marvel finally makes it into Lego Marvel's Avengers. Not only that, but unlike many of the characters already included in the massive roster for TT Games' latest Marvel adventure, she'll be getting her own level pack as well. If you count mobile titles, this is not the first time Carol Danvers will be a playable character in a video game, but her addition to the roster of Lego Marvel's Avengers is the closest thing many of us will get to a true Captain Marvel video game... at least until she finally joins the Avengers and someone figures out how to make a great movie-licensed video game again. The Captain Marvel level pack will also introduce the likes of Kang The Conqueror, Magnitron, Moonstone, Poundcakes, Tic, Warbird, and Wonder Man. This is quite possibly the only time characters like Poundcakes and Tic will ever be considered for playable characters in a video game, and again shows just how deep of a well TT is willing to dive into to bolster Lego Marvel's Avengers roster. Carol's skycycle and Helen Cobb's plane will be added too, vehicles all control like melty sticks of butter in the game. Why would I ever use one when I can just fly everywhere?

Earlier this year, TT Games announced the PlayStation platforms would be getting exclusive Lego Marvel's Avengers content based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While the game is already packed with most of the Phase Two films, Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy were left out of the loop, and it's almost impossible to get any Phase Three content in there before those movies actually arrive. That doesn't mean TT is giving up on including those things entirely though, and it all starts today with a free content pack based on Captain America: Civil War. The free add-on may not include any new missions, but it will add in nine new character skins for many of the Marvel heroes and villains making an appearance in the upcoming movie sequel. Not only will Iron Man get his new Mark XLVI armor, but Captain America will have a new, unmasked suit to tear around the game. Falcon will also get his revamped costume, as will Scarlet Witch and the Winter Soldier. Besides his new shock baton, I can't quite tell any discernible difference from this War Machine versus the last one. It's all about the spankin' new Black Panther and Agent 13 though.

While Marvel's had a tremendous amount of success at the box office over the last decade, the comic publisher has been relatively quiet on the video game front comparatively. There have been a few exceptions to the rule, but Marvel has been almost singularly focused on the mobile game arena. Over the last three years however, TT Games has managed to release two Marvel games under the Lego banner to sate fans hungry for Marvel action on a console. Though TT Games has been delivering licensed Lego video game adventures for over a decade, Lego Marvel's Avengers feels as fun and fresh as it has in years. It also gives Marvel fans a new spin on stories and characters they've spent a great deal of time with since The Avengers hit theaters in 2012.

Later this month, Lego Marvel's Avengers will let you play though brick-ified versions of almost all of the existing Marvel movies to this point (minus Thor, Iron Man and Iron Man 2). With six movies to cover, you'd think Lego Marvel's Avengers would be satisfied with content at the start, but that's just not the case. On day one, TT Games is already prepping two new downloadable content packs to add even more MCU action into the fold. Provided you're playing on a PlayStation console. There's a fair mix of Phase 1 and Phase 2 Marvel films included in the connecting story missions in Lego Avengers, but one curious exclusion was Ant-Man. As the final film of the second wave of Marvel movies, it made sense in a way that it wasn't part of the core game. Ant-Man wasn't actually a member of the Avengers like the rest of the solo movie stars, but as it turns out, Ant-Man will be included with Lego Marvel's Avengers after all, just as an add-on. And yes, that includes Ant-thony.

In a little over a month, Lego Marvel's Avengers will finally arrive, bringing the Marvel Cinematic Universe together with the comics in one gigantic package. The massive adventure will encompass a number of the MCU films, including The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Iron Man 3, and Thor: The Dark World. However, the game won't just be limited to those strict storylines, and will also feature a number of open world areas to explore. The latest trailer for Lego Marvel's Avengers shows off these numerous areas, which are all based on the movies, but will allow you to explore as any number of characters from the movies or comics. Plus, it will be the first time we ever get to see much of places like Barton's Farm, SHIELD headquarters, Sokovia, and South Africa beyond the movies themselves. Sure, we were there, but the quick glimpses and action sequences made it a bit of a challenge to really take in the areas as a whole.

The roster for Lego Marvel's Avengers is going to be one of the largest yet for TT Games' Lego series. With each passing entry, the developer tries its hardest to outdo itself, and it's not all that hard when you have as vast a catalog of heroes and villains as Marvel has built up over the years. TT Games has also always prided itself in being able to mix in a lot of the more popular characters, such as your Iron Mans and your Captain Americas, with some lesser-known deep cuts like Damage Control and Mastermind in the previous game, Lego Marvel Super Heroes. With this upcoming entry, that same attention to detail on both sides of the character coin is returning. A lot has happened in the Marvel Universes, both comic and cinematic, since TT last dabbled with the brand, and today's new character reveals show that there's not a single stone the developer won't unturn if it makes for a fun new addition to the roster.

We already knew Lego Marvel's Avengers would have the biggest roster of any Lego game developed by TT Games to date, but we still don't know the exact character list. During Gamescom this week, TT revealed a few of these new cast members with in-game models for the first time, giving us a better idea of who and what to expect. While your standard Avengers have all but been confirmed (at least as far as the movie roster is concerned), there's a whole lot of Marvel heroes and villains that have yet to have their shot at Lego fame and glory. During San Diego Comic-Con, TT actually teased a few of these characters, including Kamala "Ms. Marvel" Khan and the Jane Foster Thor, but this is the first time we've seen Squirrel Girl and the Young Avengers' Speed. Most importantly, Ms. Marvel's Lego-fied version actually looks like Kamala Khan. After the America Chavez incident, it's good to see TT Games is actually on point with its representation of the character, and fans won't have to cry out in hopes of having Ms. Khan recolored.

This year, TT Games continues its brief tradition of rotating comic book Lego game releases from Marvel and DC with Lego Marvel's Avengers. Based on the two Avengers films, Lego Avengers will allow you to play through both movies with the actual cast doing the voice overs. No new audio will be recorded of course; like Lego The Hobbit, this game will reuse the dialogue from the films in place of having actors like Robert Downey, Jr or Chris Hemsworth reprising their roles. TT Games held a small interview session before the panel at San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend, and we spoke with producer Matt Ellison about the upcoming action game. As the third Lego game TT will be releasing this year (Lego Jurassic World is available now, and Lego Dimensions arrives this fall), we discussed what makes Lego Marvel's Avengers different and what new elements would be incorporated, from characters to mechanics, to keep the Lego experience fresh.

Since launching in 2005, the Lego [Insert Video Game License Here] series has stayed true to its roots, while offering incremental improvements with every iteration. The earliest games relied heavily on sight gags, while later additions were able to incorporate full voice over tracks to great effect. While we've seen Lego Marvel Super Heroes in action before, Lego Marvel's Avengers is the first superhero license to be based on a film. We've gotten a handful of Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings games, as well as other comic-based titles, but even the previous Marvel Lego game was an original tale. With this retelling of The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron, Lego will let us relive the movies as they happened, including voice tracks taken straight from the cinematic cuts of the two blockbusters. That means, yes, Scarlett Johansson will voice Black Widow and Samuel L. Jackson will be Nick Fury, but you shouldn't count on hearing them say anything you haven't already heard from the dozens of times you've watched the films themselves. That doesn't mean there won't be some new tricks up TT Games' sleeve. In fact, in our short time with the demo, there were some nice new touches already in place.

In case you forgot, there's a Lego Marvel video game still on the docket this year. That's on top of Lego Jurassic World, Lego Worlds and Lego Dimensions, all of which are either currently available or coming very, very soon. Though we haven't had a Lego Marvel game proper since Lego Marvel Super Heroes in 2013, we have had one of the biggest Marvel movies of all time release this year. Guess that makes it perfect timing for a new adventure in the Lego Marvel world. The first full trailer for Lego Marvel's Avengers arrived today, just ahead of its gameplay debut at E3 2015. Like Lego Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings before it, Lego Avengers will combine the cinematic heroics of Marvel's most well-known team of heroes into one game disc. While it is a bit of a shame we won't have quite as big a look into the Lego Marvel U as we did with the previous game, this trailer does bring back fond feelings for Lego Hulk.