Marvel’s Avengers Game Shows Us That It’s Time to Move On

Let me be the first to say that I will never want anyone other than Chris Evans as Captain America. I will never want anyone other than Robert Downey, Jr as Iron Man or Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Honestly, pretty much every actor in the MCU was the perfect choice for their character, and to see another face in the role just feels wrong somehow. But the inevitable truth is that people age. Evans, Downey, and Hemsworth won’t forever stay hero-aged, and someone will have to take their place. That was my biggest take-away from the Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics presentation of their new Avengers game. My first reaction was shock. That wasn’t Captain America! That’s not Black Widow! Where’s the REAL Bruce Banner?

The costumes weren’t the style popularized over the last 10+ years. The voices weren’t the same. The stylization wasn’t the same. A part of me hoped that this game would be one more MCU outing, but that part of me was let down. But I can’t blame Square Enix or Crystal Dynamics. I have to blame Marvel’s Casting Director for setting the bar so high. To be fair, even going back and reading Pre-MCU comics is a little tough at times because I’m expecting to see a certain set of faces that just aren’t there.

It makes sense that there would be a little resistance to the change. No one likes change, especially when the norm is something so widely accepted and loved. But change, much like Thanos, is inevitable. Nothing stays the same. All things must pass, and it seems we’ve come to that point. The Marvel characters we know and love are changing. The heroes we know and love are changing. Or maybe they aren’t. Maybe it’s just their faces that are changing.

Because the truth is that those are still the heroes we know, they just aren’t the actors and actresses we’ve become accustomed to seeing portray them. And unlike Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, we do have to move on. We all do. We’ll have to get used to not seeing the iconic MCU portrayals in new adventures, and maybe now’s as good a time as any to start.