Winter Soldier
Marvel’s Avengers just launched its latest hero, Jane Foster’s Mighty Thor, who is a mirror of Thor and as such, not all that terribly exciting. But according to a longtime Avengers leaker, Miller, the next hero will be quite different than anyone we’ve seen before.
According to Miller, the next hero coming to Marvel’s Avengers is Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier. This was a surprise to some, given that most leaks about the next hero have been She-Hulk related, and the voice actress even confirmed she was playing the part, but something appears to have changed with the order, and now Bucky is coming first.
Bucky Barnes has been on a long-term leaked list of potential heroes coming to the game, where ones like Kate, Clint and Black Panther have already arrived. Some appear to have been shelved, like War Machine, and others pushed back, like She-Hulk. The Bucky news also fits with something Crystal Dynamics devs said recently, that the next hero would not be the one people were expecting (She-Hulk, who is effectively an open secret at this point).
Miller says that The Winter Soldier is not a clone of Captain America. Obviously he won’t have a shield, but he will no doubt have some level of firepower. I would imagine an assault rifle to differentiate him from the dual pistols of Black Widow. Three types of bullets or firing modes seems like a good guess, based on other kits.
We don’t know a timeline for Bucky Barnes right now, but probably a few months down the line, end of summer, early fall. We are not on a schedule in 2022 where Marvel’s Avengers will replicate what it did last summer with its massive August Wakanda expansion. A Captain Marvel/Kree expansion has been rumored for as long as we’ve been hearing about She-Hulk and Bucky, but it’s unclear when or if that may actually arrive. Right now it seems like the schedule is Bucky, then She-Hulk, then…?
One common question is how Marvel’s Avengers is still producing content, given that the game is not exactly a shining success story in the looter live service genre. But it has recent found a revenue stream in the form of MCU skins for its characters, which seems to have given it some extra life. Crystal Dynamics is being sold from Square Enix to Embracer Group, and they’ve already announced they’re working on a new Unreal Engine 5 Tomb Raider game, and they are lending support to Perfect Dark on Xbox. I remain impressed they are doing all this at once and still producing new Avengers heroes.
I did not return to play with Jane Foster as a Thor clone, but I would come back to play as Bucky Barnes, a wholly new character with brand new moves and a new playstyle. Again, this is just a leak for now with no confirmation, but at this point, I take what Miller says seriously.
Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Subscribe to my free weekly content round-up newsletter, God Rolls.
Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
