The wait to see the Marvel’s Avengers version of Black Panther in action is almost over. At Square Enix’s E3 conference on June 13, gamers will be seeing the War for Wakanda expansion in action. While there has been no confirmation on what will be shown for the DLC, fans are expecting to see everything from a release date to a deep dive into Wakanda. However, the most likely reveal of all is the most exciting, and it is gameplay of the King himself.
With Marvel’s Avengers succeeding at making its heroes fun to play, as Black Widow is just as fun as Iron Man, fans should be confident in Crystal Dynamics’ ability to make Black Panther’s gameplay enjoyable. With such a storied comic book history to pull from, as well as the award-winning MCU movie, there should be no difficulty choosing abilities for Wakanda’s king. However, there are some specific skills that should absolutely feature in T’Challa’s kit.
Black Panther’s Melee Attacks And Intrinsic Ability
If Marvel’s Avengers fans can expect anything from Black Panther’s moveset, it is a focus on close quarters combat. T’Challa’s Vibranium claws are one of the coolest things about him, as they can shred through foes with ease. As such, giving Black Panther some awesome combos is a must, as his punches and kicks need to feel fast and deadly. It would also be neat to see T’Challa get some kind of takedown ability, with the character able to pounce on large foes to claw them and do more significant damage.
With the Black Panther MCU film making the character more popular than ever before, acknowledging the live action character’s moveset seems like a no-brainer. One excellent way to do this would be to give his suit Kinetic Energy absorption. In the film, this attack sees T’Challa taking serious damage, ranging from bullets to blunt force hits. While it cannot protect from everything, it does absorb a majority of the damage, and Black Panther can then redistribute the Kinetic Energy into an attack of his own.
The game could easily include this system via the Intrinsic Energy mechanic. While characters like Black Widow and Kate Bishop build up this energy by avoiding damage and dishing it out quickly, T’Challa can build up his energy by taking hits. This would add a new layer of strategy to combat, as players would want to take a beating without being hurt so much that they enter a downed state. Once T’Challa fills his Intrinsic Energy bar, he could unleash the same kind of blast from the movies. Upgrades could make this attack even more powerful, with the ability for two blasts, a larger blast, or a quicker charging blast to be unlocked.
Black Panther’s Ultimate, Heroic, And Support Abilities
Gamers should expect some awesome abilities from the Black Panther DLC, as T’Challa could have an Ultimate that sees him wreaking havoc in any Warzone. While it would be easy to give him a skill that sees him dealing more damage and some new strikes, this has already been used with Captain America and Kate Bishop. As such, his Ultimate ability should be special, and one great way to make him stand out would be to give him something that sees him chaining attacks between enemies.
Marvel’s Avengers’ version of Black Panther might be an experienced ruler, and if he is, he should be an expert at combat. This time as the country's protector could show whenever he activates his Ultimate, as the ability could let him insta-kill foes for a short period of time. The King of Wakanda could enter a frenzied state, taking out small foes with precise strikes. Slicing AIM bots in half while cutting off the heads of others, T’Challa could eliminate small targets in seconds. This could allow his squad mates to focus on larger targets, with Black Panther being focused more on crowd control.
Black Panther’s Heroic ability could see him using his Kimoyo Beads, tossing groups of the the miniature devices on enemies. Specializations could see these triggering a massive explosion or electrocuting enemies, with the latter leaving them stunned in place and removing their shields. T’Challa’s Support ability could see him using his heightened senses, a power that has been downplayed in the films so far. When doing so, he could highlight every enemy on the battlefield, giving his teammates the same boost. Similar to the Infra-Sight skill used by Widowmaker in Overwatch, this skill could be specialized to have tagged enemies drop energy or healing orbs.
Black Panther’s Traversal And Ranged Attacks
Black Panther’s traversal needs to avoid the mistakes seen with Hawkeye’s movement, as the character has to feel fun to explore with. One way to do this would be to give Black Panther a quicker sprint than the other heroes, as he lacks the ability to fly like Thor or Iron Man. To accomplish this, he could run on all fours, pouncing forward for larger jumps to go even faster. With Captain America’s sluggish movement being one of his only downsides, traversal is an important thing to get right with T’Challa.
Finally, there is T’Challa’s ranged attack. Given that he really has none of these moves in the comics, Crystal Dynamics will have to get creative to make this work. With every Marvel’s Avengers character needing a ranged move in the game, it cannot be avoided, so an off-the-wall approach will be needed. One possibility would see T’Challa throwing Vibranium spears at his foes. A combination of nanomachines and Wakanda’s precious resource, these could form whenever T’Challa requires them too. Each one could impale enemies to walls, with similar controls to Thor’s hammer Mjolnir.
With elemental damage, faster spears, and headshot bonuses possible, the spears could be a way around T’Challa’s ranged limitations. Much like Marvel’s Avengers take on Spider-Man, there are things about Black Panther that are going to make him a tough fit for the game. That said, if Crystal Dynamics can find a way to give him fun traversal and a ranged attack that makes sense, there is a lot of upside to adding Black Panther. With his other abilities being easy enough to pin down, Crystal Dynamics’ take on Black Panther could be a ton of fun. With the War for Wakanda expansion also introducing a new story, new enemies, and a fresh region to the game, it certainly seems like Black Panther will be Marvel’s Avengers best chance for a comeback.
Marvel’s Avengers is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.