Aside from the community vote winner, Angela, we currently have no idea what the roster of upcoming heroes will look like for Marvel Heroes in 2016. Gazillion has been mum so far on whether or not we’ll even have a third Advance Pack. I’ve even heard (assume these are just rumors for now) that an AP3 wouldn’t even consist of 12 total heroes, as Gazillion looks to shift to putting more time into each individual release.
The one thing we do know is that we’ll be finding out all of this information soon, probably this month, so why not have some fun and speculate on what an Advance Pack 3 could look like? Read on for eight of our most likely candidates.
#8 – ANGELA
Well, this one isn’t a likely candidate, but guaranteed. Heck, last I heard TheDink was already working on her model. I can’t say I was a huge fan of Angela winning the community vote, even if she is an interesting Marvel character. I have my favorites like anyone else, but when looking at that vote I was thinking about characters that could explore some new or interesting game design spaces that the developers haven’t been able to touch on yet.
For those of you who may be unfamiliar, Angela was a character from the Image Comics Spawn universe by Todd McFarlane. Neil Gaiman (her co-creator) eventually won rights to the character from McFarlane and sold those rights to Marvel. Marvel introduced her to fans as an Asgardian and sister to Thor. If you’d like to learn more about her, I’d recommend reading the 2013 Age of Ultron story arc and 2014 arc Original Sin. Last year, Marvel gave Angela her own solo book with Angela: Asgard’s Assassin, which like everything else, was interrupted by the big Secret Wars event (blech) after only six issues. Angela re-appeared during Secret Wars in 1602 Witch Hunter Angela, and now has a new ongoing series called Angela: Queen of Hel.
As for her kit, I really have no idea what to expect from her other than some flashy melee weapon moves and ribbons, ribbons everywhere. Sorry. She’s got a striking visual design, but that’s about it.
#7 – GREEN GOBLIN
The Green Goblin was my pick for the community vote and I feel that he’ll still make the cut this year even if he didn’t win. Players have been eager to see him added to the game, we could use another playable villain, and he’s got pretty interesting kit possibilities to boot.
I imagine Goblin as a permanently mounted movement based character a la Silver Surfer. It’s easy to imagine all of the things the Green Goblin could do in Marvel Heroes; the game’s designers would probably have to concern themselves more with things to cut than trying to figure out how to do him justice in the game. The glider itself comes equipped with a full arsenal of weapons, never mind the Green Goblin’s nigh-endless bag of tricks. Pumpkin Bombs, Razor Bats, Ghost Bombs, I want them all! Who isn’t excited for the possibilities?
#6 – ANGEL/ARCHANGEL
OK, OK. This one is my personal favorite. I will play this character until the end of time when he eventually shows up in the game and I’m really hoping it’s this year. Doomsaw did say he was highly likely to be playable in 2016 and they already have his model and I assume some powers done (for the existing and forthcoming Team Up). To top it off, Angel always comes in near the top of every player list, so he’s clearly popular with the community. I’m not actually sure why, though. I often get made fun of for my Angel fandom. I mean, he can’t really do a whole lot, but he looks really good doing what limited stuff he can do.
One thing is for sure, I’ve always been concerned for which version of the character we would get. There are fans of the standard Angel that want him represented well in the game, and if the team up is anything to go by (bugs aside), he should be pretty cool in his own right. But how do you make it so both Angel and Archangel work? Before specializations, I wasn’t sure, but at this point I imagine Gazillion will let players pick Angel or Archangel specializations, which should change the way some powers work and perhaps the availability of other powers altogether.
Personally, I’m hoping Archangel is a heavily movement based character. I don’t want to be planted in place spamming a single attack on a boss and tossing out cooldown abilities now and then. Angel needs to be all over the screen all the time.
