Not too long ago, I tried to sleuth what characters would be released as DLC for the upcoming Square-Enix Avengers game. A data leak from the pre-release Beta included a listing for clone characters, like Kate Bishop and War Machine. As the latter appeared in a Lego set that leaked in April, it seemed like these leaks confirmed some new additions. It also retroactively confirmed that Captain Marvel and Black Panther as the last two DLC characters. They would be joining the PlayStation exclusive Spider-Man and Hawkeye. Well, now it looks like there is more to this story. A recent update on the Beta gave the original leaker, who goes by “6plus4equals52” another chance to dive deeper into the code. This not only confirms one more DLC addition but adds some interesting tidbits to the game’s coding.Let’s start with what stands out the most. Last entries additions are still included in this list with War Machine, Kate Bishop, and She-Hulk. The biggest reveal is the confirmation that Captain Marvel will be added as a DLC character, as she is also attributed a Hero Card. Sadly, still no sign of Black Panther but this does give more credence to the Lego set including all playable characters.
[“name”: “AV1_HeroCard_CaptainMarvel”,“attributes”: [“Rarity”: “Common”,“Description”: “Captain Marvel hero card”]]
We also get our first look at Spider-Man in this code. He is included with his civilian name Peter Parker. This is important, as it follows the same formula that Hawkeye has. As there are multiple characters that carried this mantle, they are included with their given name to add a distinction. This also confirms that there are plans to include other versions of Spider-Man. Most likely, there are already plans to include Miles Morales in the game to coincide with the upcoming spin-off for PlayStation 5.
[“name”: “AV1_HeroCard_PeterParker”,“attributes”: [“Rarity”: “Common”,“Description”: “Peter Parker hero card”]]
The drawback of the last leak is that it only had these “HeroCard” elements named. At the time, it only included the addition of Clint and the clone characters. The dead giveaway that these Hero Cards aren’t just profile banners, but actual playable characters, was that a War Machine emote was also included in the leak. This helped make the connection with the Lego sets to confirm these additions. The latest leak also includes two ways to confirm they are also playable characters. First of all, the naming for the player cards within the code is confirmed as such. This highlights that the Hero Cards are in fact character-specific season passes.
[“name”: “PlayerInfoCard_Thor_048”,“attributes”: [“Rarity”: “Uncommon”,“Description”: “Cosmetic Player Card”]],
In addition, every playable character has one consistent element. They always include one “HeroCard” and a “HeroToken” element. These tokens also include the naming “AvengersCoins”. It is unclear what exactly these could be. My best guess would be that these are the symbols of the characters that are used heavily in the promotion. They even visually are showcased like coins, so they could have some significance in the game as a collectible confirming they have been unlocked. If the clone characters also have their own versions, they might be slight variations to still distinguish between them.
This leak includes multiple emotes that differ from the rest. Each existing playable character has the emote structure “AV#_Emote_Character_#” while War Machine’s naming is longer and includes different categories. These include celebration, social, intro, or victory. All of them are the rarity of “Legendary” and just have a placeholder description. This is rather strange, as characters like Thor, Iron Man, or Kamala all follow the same structure. There is a good chance that they just added placeholders to update once the character is finalized. Yet, there are no emotes added for Clint or Peter Parker as the only confirmed DLC characters.This opens up a very interesting can of worms. If we go by what is available, this would point out to War Machine being the first available character post-launch. Now, if we follow the logic of what was stated in the reveal for Hawkeye, he will be the first official DLC character. This could mean that War Machine and She-Hulk might already be available through playing the main story missions. It would make for a great surprise while playing the game to get access to variations of the main heroes with their own unique abilities.
There is just one thing going against this theory. If that were the case, She-Hulk would also have some emotes available in the Beta code. It would at least hint at her being further down in development. Most of these codes seem like placeholders, as they are in some step of development. There is a good chance that they are added as unlockable characters in the expansion of the story missions. They already titled a sequel to the main storyline as Avengers Initiative in the July War Table. The clone characters are probably easier to program so they can keep a consistent output post-launch. This way they can avoid long wait times between full-fledged DLC characters.Just an interesting addition. While playing the Beta, you tend to recycle through two or three different takedown actions. At one point, these would get rather tiring to watch consistently. Luckily, it seems that one can actually purchase or unlock up to five different takedowns in the game. This is a great sign that base characters won’t be left behind as some DLC characters are added throughout the game.
[“name”: “Marketplace_TD_CA_002”,“attributes”: [“Description”: “Takedown Unlock – Captain America 05”]]
This has become quite an interesting hunt, as we are about to enter the second Beta weekend. We still don’t know if an August War Table event is planned before the upcoming release. My guess would be after the upcoming early Beta that includes other consoles for a better summary of performance issues. They could use this opportunity to include player feedback, early plans after the launch, and build up some hype for the official launch of Avengers. Hopefully, we will also get more opportunities to uncover what secrets the code has in store for us in the future. Until next time future Avengers!Source: Reddit
