Marvel’s Avengers Beta Impressions – Avengers In Name Only?

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Ever since its initial reveal at E3 2019, I have wanted desperately to like Square Enix and Crystal Dynamic’s Avengers game. Unfortunately, nearly everything about it seemed to be forcing me to be sceptical about it.

The plot was uninteresting and a culmination of some of my least favourite ‘event comic’ superhero tropes, the gameplay appeared average at best and monotonous at worst, the hyper realistic graphics made for a grey and bland-looking world, and its mere existence as a service title akin to something like Destiny meant that this was Square Enix attempting to capitalise on a trendy market by using already existing characters as the poster boys to help push it.

I wanted to give the game a chance, though, so when I was granted the opportunity to try out the game’s beta, I took it. Sometimes, you really do need a hands-on approach to better judge a product and I’ll be detailing my experiences and first impressions here. Continue reading

Five Ideas for MCU Team-Ups

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One of the best things about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is seeing all our favourite comic book heroes recreated on the big screen. But one thing that’s better than that is seeing them all interact with each other. After all, when you have a universe filled with such a colourful cast, not having them hang out is just a waste. Why have all these characters in a shared universe if they’re not gonna team up once in a while? And Disney and Marvel clearly know this. The Avengers movies were all huge successes primarily for this very reason. But while we’ve enjoyed these awesome cross-overs, we’ve never had any proper team-up movies.

Sure, Black Widow helped out Captain America in The Winter Soldier, but that was still Steve’s movie. And while Hulk showed up in Thor: Ragnarok, it wasn’t really a Thor/Hulk movie; just a Thor movie that the Hulk happened to be in. We’ve had “team-ups,” but no movies where two characters get to enjoy equal footing, and I feel this is something Marvel should do more of. The big crossovers are great but they run the risk of some characters having less to do than others. Focusing purely on two individuals can lead to stronger interactions and a tighter narrative. There was even a whole series of comics called Marvel Team-Up that explored this very concept. Imagine a series of movies like this.

So, purely for my own enjoyment, here are five ideas for team-up movies that I’d love to see be made for the MCU. Continue reading