This past weekend's beta for Marvel's Avengers offered fans their first chance to play the game themselves. Yet hidden in the beta's files was a surprise -- references to currently unconfirmed playable superheroes, including War Machine and Hawkeye's protege Kate Bishop. Now, with the Marvel's Avengers beta down in preparation for this weekend's next beta phase, Crystal Dynamics has issued an update. Dataminers were surprised yet again, as the updated files appear to reveal even more characters.
War Machine, Kate Bishop, and She-Hulk were revealed in the first datamine, with the leaker confirming their data with Game Rant. Now another leaker is claiming to have scraped the 1.03 update for the Marvel's Avengers beta, revealing two more characters. One is no surprise. It's Peter Parker, the real name of Spider-Man, who has already been confirmed as a PlayStation exclusive DLC character. The second new character is Captain Marvel.
Captain Marvel is not yet confirmed by Square Enix or Crystal Dynamics, but makes a lot of sense as a potential DLC character. The somewhat recent Captain Marvel film was a huge success and a Captain Marvel sequel is in the works. Further, Captain Marvel is said to be taking a much more prominent role in the Marvel universe as a whole.
That said, Captain Marvel does seem like an odd inclusion at this point. War Machine, Kate Bishop, and She-Hulk are notable additions in that they seem like they could be "clone" characters, characters that take their gameplay from other characters like Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Hulk. Captain Marvel, and Spider-Man too, would likely have to be entirely original and don't really fit with the other leaked characters. That said, that doesn't mean the leaked characters can't be both.
The question becomes how reliable the newly leaked information is. Game Rant was provided evidence that the initial leak was valid directly from the leaker. That isn't the case with the new leak. The new Marvel's Avengers beta leak seems consistent with the previous leak, but could certainly have been faked. The screenshots provided in the leak would only require a text editor to create. That doesn't mean it is fake, but it does mean the leak should be considered with some skepticism until further evidence is provided.
Only two post-launch characters have been confirmed for Marvel's Avengers so far, Hawkeye and Spider-Man. If the leaks are accurate, Crystal Dynamics could have as many as four other playable characters in the works. Even if the leaks are accurate, those plans could change, of course. Perhaps Crystal Dynamics is building up to the reveal of a Marvel's Avengers post-launch Character Pass.
Marvel's Avengers releases September 4 on PC, PS4,