Skydance New Media's new Captain America and Black Panther game, helmed by the award-winning writer and director Amy Hennig, was recently revealed at the 2022 D23 Expo. This was the first time the premise and setting of the game were officially revealed, with fans speculating for months what the new game could potentially be, even circulating rumors that a Daredevil game was likely the project.
The partnership between Skydance New Media and Marvel was first announced on the Skydance website on October 29, 2021, with the yet-to-be-titled Marvel game being the first project that the studio handles. Hennig was previously a part of Naughty Dog as creative director and head writer for the first three games in the Uncharted series, which achieved critical acclaim, and she's bringing that expertise to this Marvel game, obvious by the number of Easter eggs in the trailer.
Skydance's Marvel Game: Full Trailer Breakdown
A brief teaser trailer for this untitled collaboration was released at the D23 Expo showcasing the setting and premise of the game revolving around Black Panther and Captain America combating Hydra during World War II. The teaser trailer begins with the 1939 song "We'll Meet Again" by Vera Lynn playing over the Skydance New Media and Marvel logos, before an opening shot of Paris, France is shown with chimneys billowing smoke out from the various buildings against a drab looking sky.
This may seem very inconspicuous of a shot, but the next scene shows what appears to possibly be a Mercedes-Benz W31 G4 or possibly even the Mercedes-Benz 770K Grosser Offener Tourenwagen, both of which were used by the upper echelon of Nazi officials, with the 770k Grosser Offener Tourenwagen being the personal choice of Hitler himself. Given this context, it is safe to suspect that this game will take place during the German occupation of France following the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne on June 22, 1940, which established the Vichy (or French State) government in France. This was often seen as a puppet state of Nazi Germany due to its collaboration with the Nazi regime despite France still technically being at war against Germany.
The next shot pans over various posters, photographs, and documents; the first newspaper reads Das Deutsche: (The German) Soldaten Magazín (Soldiers Magazine) and the booklet on top of it is titled "Wohín in Paris?" which translates to "Where in Paris?" The German-occupied Paris still had quite a night-life, so these two documents may be more entertainment in nature, while also still promoting national socialist sentiment through propaganda due to the Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda; RMVP, or the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda controlling the contents of the press, literature, film, radio, etc. under propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.
These are followed by an indistinct pile of pictures and what appears to be a belt buckle, pin, or badge before it pans over to a jazz poster that advertises a show by a "famous jazz singer" with the somewhat distinguishable name of Nanette or Janette. An inscribed knife, a common part of an SS officer's arsenal, and a book with an oil lamp on the front that is covering some blueprints are shown next.
The Highlight of the Trailer: The Reveal
The teaser trailer then moves on to show the most revealing aspects of the upcoming Skydance game. A Luger P08, which was widely used during World War II by German soldiers, is briefly seen before the reveal of Hydra documents with the words "Geheím," which translates to "secret," and "Hydra Abteilung," or Hydra Department." A Hydra officer's hat is seen on top of this folder of documents, further confirming a Nazi German presence in Paris, as well as potentially confirming that the car in the previous scene was that of the Red Skull, Johann Schmidt.
For fans of the MCU, the Red Skull was introduced as the main antagonist in the film Captain America: The First Avenger and was seen on the planet Vormir in Avengers: Infinity War as the guardian of the Soul Stone. This was his punishment for abusing the Space Stone when it was housed in the Tesseract.
Finally, the camera pans over Captain America's shield with five slashes in it, indicating that Cap and Black Panther fight at some point during the game's events. The final shot of this trailer reveals that there will be four playable characters with the words "Four Heroes, Two Worlds, One War" as a tagline, with war-torn Paris and the Kingdom of Wakanda behind both pairs of protagonists. The other two playable characters are Gabriel Jones, a United States Soldier and a member of Steve Roger's Howling Commandos, and Nanali, the leader of the Wakandan Spy Network.
It is worth noting that this Black Panther is not T'Challa, the most well-known Marvel character to hold the mantle, but rather his grandfather Azzuri. In the comics, Azzuri was king of Wakanda during World War II as well as Black Panther at the time. He did not initially trust either the Germans or the Americans because both powers wanted the metal Vibranium, a very rare and particularly strong material that had only been discovered in the nation of Wakanda at the time. However, after refusing to work with Captain Rogers at first, the pair had a fight before eventually trusting one another and defending Wakanda from a Nazi invasion.
Skydance's Black Panther and Captain America game is currently in development.