Hit Monkey Game 2013 Screenshot Bananas

X-Men? Crossed out. The Avengers? Still needing to avenge our broken dreams after diverting to Kinect and the Wii U. Iron Man 3? That striking iron is subzero after the first two games, even as a potential movie tie-in.

No, despite heavy speculation on all three titles (with The Avengers procuring the most desire) after Marvel and High Moon Studios announced a partnership with Activision last week, teasing the reveal of a new game on July 14 at San Diego Comic-Con, the real identity of the project is one almost nobody saw coming: Hit Monkey, a video game adaptation of the young Marvel comic book series.

A teaser website has appeared in the name of hitmonkeythegame.com, which, in addition to supplying us with the fantastic plantain-punned picture above, reveals that Hit Monkey will be releasing in 2013 and is indeed in development by High Moon Studios, the highly reputable makers of Transformers: War for Cybertron.

Hit Monkey, the Marvel comic book series, was created in 2010 by Daniel Way and Dalibor Talajić and centers - hopefully you've figured it out by now - around an eponymous primate who traffics in the death-dealing business. A Japanese Macaque, he honed his lethal expertise as the understudy of a human hitman. After assassins claimed the life of his mentor, he donned his running alias - Hit Monkey - and devoted his work to the hunting of nefarious killers and their ilk.

Like another hit... individual we know, Hit Monkey is a noted practitioner of dual wielding pistols. With Marvel and High Moon accustomed to rendering the action around their heroes in third person, we could easily see the game taking on aesthetic designs analogous to IO Interactive's Hitman: Absolution or Rockstar's Max Payne 3. On the other hand, publisher Activision's first-person shooter-heavy oeuvre - think Call of Duty, James Bond, and now The Walking Dead) - can certainly prove a factor.

Caught off guard as we were by Hit Monkey's unveiling, our focus is now laserlike on July 14 - the date during San Diego Comic-Con when Marvel has promised an official announcement of the game. At the very least we'll likely learn about Hit Monkey's platforms and its basic concept, so be sure to check back with us for any new info.

Ranters, how sold are you on the premise of a Hit Monkey game? What sort of approach do you want to see Marvel and High Moon take with its gameplay, graphical style, and overarching story?

[Update] It would appear the teaser website has been pulled. Don't be surprised to see a more concrete site go up coinciding with Marvel's Comic-Con announcement.

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Follow me on Twitter @Brian_Sipple.

Source: hitmonkeygame.com [via Game Informer]