Comic for Friday 5/21 (Early High Res) (Patreon)

From the get-go, the Avengers game heroes were clearly not the MCU versions. I know a lot of people struggled to accept that, but I was always content to simply let them be a separate thing and tell their own story; after all, we've had countless versions of these characters across different media, so why not one more? And the game's campaign did a pretty good job of solidifying an original take on the team.

Now the game is introducing MCU costumes from Endgame, and as an MCU fan I am thrilled. From day one I have loved the combat mechanics in this game, and now being able to bring in some incredible looks from the MCU while I smash robots is even better.

At the same time though, it's hard to ignore that it directly challenges my attempts to view these heroes as separate iterations. While once Avengers-game Hawkeye was just a version of Clint Barton doing his own thing, wearing Jeremy Renner's Ronin costume suddenly makes him an imposter, a cosplayer doing a bad impression of Jeremy Renner.

I find myself in the middle, stuck between loving the MCU costumes, and being unable to ignore how much they single-handedly make the game characters feel like Times Square Mascot versions of the cinematic heroes.

It doesn't help that the developers are only partially being faithful to the MCU outfits. Clint and Natasha both have their costumes from the film, but neither game character has the hairstyle to match. This hesitance to tackle the details makes me question how they'll handle Thor's thicc Endgame look.