Avengers
Full disclosure: I love the Avengers films. I have yet to see an Avengers movie that didn’t blow me away, which makes me pine for a quality Avengers game (the Lego Avengers game notwithstanding). I know Square Enix is working on its own Avengers title, but I still wish a spectacular Avengers video game had been released alongside the first movie. We almost received one.
Two years before Avengers hit theaters, THQ started a movie tie-in project, albeit one that followed a different continuity. Instead of the Avengers taking on an army of Chitauri led by Loki, this game would have pitted the Avengers against the Skrulls.
Unlike their portrayal in Captain Marvel, these would have been the evil Skrulls longtime Marvel fans know. The game’s title might have read Avengers, but the story would have been Secret Invasion.
To set the game apart from titles like Marvel Ultimate Alliance, THQ designed its Avengers game as a first-person shooter/puncher with an emphasis on co-op. Players would have been encouraged to use special skills that left enemies open to other players, as well as buff allies with certain abilities.
Much like The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive, THQ’s Avengers game was canceled due to problems that were out of the developers’ hands, not a lack of quality. THQ made numerous mistakes during its last few years, and the company was forced to cancel some in development projects to stay afloat. Avengers was one of those projects.
The team behind the Avengers game wasn’t about to give up, though. They tried to find a new publisher in Marvel Entertainment, but you can guess how that went. Still, here’s hoping Square Enix’s secret Avengers project is actually a revival of this unfortunately canceled gem.
