Watch Footage From the Cancelled ‘Avengers’ First-Person Video Game

According to new details gleaned from Unseen64 and DidYouKnowGaming, this Avengers game was originally going to be a third-person action game when development began in 2010 at Studio Australia in Brisbane, with input from Blue Tongue. The game’s storyline does not tie-in to Marvel Studios’ 2012 film, and instead featured the comic book story of Marvel’s “Secret Invasion”.

I’ve heard about a first person Avengers game that was meant to come alongside the first uniting of the heroes on screen for years. Celebrated comic writer Brian Michael Bendis was even on board to pen the story.

The Avengers, or at least a video game project using that name, was looking like the last gasp of this era of expensive licenses, huge marketing and summer movie blockbusters forces that all conspired to take down publisher THQ. The game puts emphasis on cooperative gameplay as it would have allowed up to four players to team up. Hawkeye and Black Widow could be unlocked later on in the Avengers game alongside Captain Marvel and War Machine. The Avengers game was cancelled because THQ faced financial issues and not because of its quality. It is speculated in the video that Bendis – who has always expressed surprise at the game’s demise – owns a copy of playable code as a keepsake for his time working on the game.

New footage and concept art of the game released Saturday, reveal that contrary to most superhero video game adaptations, “The Avengers” would be played from a first-person perspective to give players a more visceral experience when smashing the ground as the Hulk or throwing Captain America’s iconic shield.

The game was scrapped and THQ eventually closed after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2012.