After months of speculation and waiting, Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics finally revealed the highly anticipated project, Marvel's Avengers. Since that reveal, players have seen initial gameplay of the five main Avengers going up against the forces of Taskmaster and the aftermath that follows. However, the five year time jump finds the super hero team scattered and disbanded, with a new enemy filling the gap left behind by the Avengers.
Revealed by the Marvel's Avengers Twitter account, Advanced Idea Mechanics is the new enemy that players will be facing off against. The corporation is using science to save the world and battle the newly outlawed heroes.
The decision to use A.I.M. is a bold one considering that an evil group like A.I.M. hasn't been featured in the mainstream like Thanos, Ultron, or Hydra has. Instead, Marvel's Avengers really does appear to be venturing off into uncharted territory instead of treading on familiar ground which should make most comic book fans very happy. Here's everything fans need to know about the shadowy organization.
Origins
The fictional organization that became known as Advanced Idea Mechanics started life during World War II, when Baron von Strucker gathered some of the worlds best scientists with a goal of gaining power through technology. The lofty ambitions didn't stop there however as ultimately, the group wanted the power in order overthrow governments across the world. Strucker would use the weapons and tech that A.I.M. created to supply and outfit his secretive organization called Hydra, a group which longtime comic and Marvel movie fans should be very familiar with by now.
The organization, which became well known for its beekeeper style outfits, went on to develop all sorts of technological breakthroughs in a number of fields like robotics, physics and others, quickly making it desirable and influential for powerful governments. During this time, people didn't realize that A.I.M. was secretly assisting Hydra until S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury exposed the organization after a failed attempt to force him out of his position.
While many members escaped capture and the group went underground in order to continue working with the shadowy group Hydra, things started to really go off the rails for the company once it was hired to create an item known as the Cosmic Cube.
M.O.D.O.K.
The Cosmic Cube is a device that is capable of controlling both matter and energy, basically allowing the user to change and alter reality as they wanted. While it's unknown where the energy was found, the containing cube device was manufactured by A.I.M., led by Dr. George Tarleton. Considering the device had nearly limitless power, the team created a device that would study and analyze the cube. Known as M.O.D.O.C. (Mental Organism Designed Only for Computing), the system would go on to improve the organization's productivity as well as analyzing what the cube could do while still obeying the A.I.M. leadership.
Unfortunately, Dr. Tarleton was selected to become the M.O.D.O.C., essentially making him a super intelligent being. His altered form gave him a massive head which became too much for his body to support, so he was placed in an object known as the Doomsday Chair. Which his greatly added intelligence, Tarleton's ambition led him to override his directives, kill A.I.M. leadership to become the new leader, and change his name to M.O.D.O.K. or the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing.
In addition to his superhuman intelligence, M.O.D.O.K. has the ability to generate mind bolts and force fields as well. He's a supervillain that isn't featured very often outside of Marvel vs Capcom games and considering that he's the defacto leader of A.I.M. likely means that players will face off against him at some point during the Marvel's Avengers campaign.
Other Breakthroughs
While M.O.D.O.K. and the Cosmic Cube may be the most notable A.I.M. creations, the group also is responsible for an enemy known as the Super Adaptoid. Using part of the Cosmic Cube, A.I.M. created this organism with the initial intention of copying and replacing Captain America. The android is not only able to copy powers, but it can mimic itself to look like the target as well. Over the years, Super Adaptoid has fought with countless superheroes from the Fantastic Four, X-Men, Captain America, and more.
At this time, players don't know what kind of A.I.M. Crystal Dynamics is going to feature in Marvel's Avengers. Fans have only been shown an image of what appears to be its base of operations and the promise that the corporation is attempting to use science, not powers, to keep people safe. On paper it all seems very by the books and definitely not sinister. However, with a history as maligned as theirs, this version of A.I.M. will no doubt have something shady going on behind the scenes.
Utilizing this villainous group also gives Crystal Dynamics some interesting options going forward. Obviously, M.O.D.O.K. would make for an interesting boss battle, though using the Super Adaptoid could be an interesting opportunity as well. Being able to mimic and essentially replace people would make for an interesting storyline, especially if it some how weaves into how Captain America somehow resurrected 5 years after the A-Day event.
Marvel's Avengers releases May 15, 2020 for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
Source: Marvel; Marvel Wiki