How much do you want to be a Marvel superhero? Which one? Better still, which version of that hero would you want to be? You can get to do all that with Marvel Entertainment and Netmarble Corp.’s new free-to-play mobile game Marvel Future Revolution, a multiversal battlefield unlike anything mobile gamers have seen before. “Being an open world 3D acting game, you are able to fulfill your superhero fantasy, as authentic as possible,” says game designer Danny Koo via Zoom. “Heroes are able to fly, he was able to swing, they can do all that. Now with all these pieces put together, you’re able to enjoy an epic campaign story in this game. There’s tons of missions and quests you’re able to do.”
The game has a storyline that may remind one of both Jonathan Hickman’s recent “Secret Wars” crossover event as well as the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) multiverse hinted at on the shows “Wandavision” and “Loki” as well as in the upcoming “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness.” This premise is written by comic scribe Mark Sumerak (“The Avengers”): different versions of Marvel’s Earths become a single “Primary Earth” divided into zones such as the technologically-oriented New Stark City, the terrifying Hydra Empire, the wild Saakar, cosmic Xandearth, mythical Midgardia, among others. Players are part of a team code-named Omega Flight and must combine their abilities to somehow defend the Primary Earth from a horde of familiar Marvel villains.
It’s like the Iron Man armor of Marvel mobile games; an open-world role-playing game powered with AAA-quality, 3D graphics available for iOS and Android devices alike, supported in 12 languages.
Playable characters assemble! There are eight playable heroes: Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Star-Lord, Doctor Strange, Star-Lord and Storm. But get this: Each character’s costume is customizable from head to toe—there is a mind-boggling arsenal of over 400 million costume combinations for each hero.
All this comes from the minds of Koo and Joe Lee, who worked on the previous game, Marvel Future Fight, and combined, have logged more than 30 years working on video games. Koo is director of Product Development for Marvel. Lee is a production for Netmarble, and Marvel Future Revolution is their step into the future. “Every game is very exciting to me, because we we are able to work with great collaborator and partners like Netmarble and Joe,” Koo says. “Of course, I’ve worked with Joe for a longest time and it is always exciting to be able to work with him and his team on this big app. This is probably one of the biggest deals for sure. So, when we actually put ‘revolution’ on the title, that means business. So, we are trying to be innovative and revolutionary. Actually, we actually kind of had to wait for the world for to be prepared for this game.”
They’re not kidding about the open world aspect either, the first time Marvel has done this for a game. “The traversing and exploration for this game is as superhero it as it can be,” Lee says. “Because there are superheroes that is allowed to fly around. And there are other heroes that has like, super speed it so you can imagine that method of moving around.” Like other RPGs, players will have to progress, level up and unlock things as they work their way through it. The different modes (Player Vs. Player, Blitz, Special Operations, Raids, etc.) and multiplayer mode will expand this experience even more. Koo and Lee were cagey about whether there would be unlockable characters or playable villains in the future. “You’ll just have to find out,” Lee says with a smile. “To be continued,” Koo says.
Marvel Future Revolution is also intended to be accessible to all. “We didn’t want this to be for elite players only,” Lee said. “We want this game to be a welcoming experience to the broader audience. That’s why we actually, you know, if it is Marvel on it, that means you know, we have to deal with fans all around the world, no matter you’re a gamer or not, and also, just making sure that everything is intuitive, and fun intrinsically as much as possible.” The Marvel Universe in all its fantastic, uncanny, mighty forms has never been bigger or more advanced, and Marvel Future Revolution is proof of that. “It’s a gift from a Marvel fan to all you Marvel fans,” Lee says.
Marvel Future Revolution will be available from the App Store and Google Play starting August 25.
