'Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes' Lets You Fly, Thunder, Smash — and Build

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By Josh Dickey2014-04-30 20:11:24 UTC

Disney unveiled its second-generation interactive video game Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes on Wednesday, an all-new toy-gaming hybrid platform that features six Avengers game pieces, with many more to come. It features a sprawling version of Manhattan and enhanced building tools that allow players to create bigger, more detailed environments.

“This is one of those moments, because right here, right now, all of you are at the precipices of one of those evolutionary leaps for Marvel,” Joe Quesada, Marvel’s chief creative officer, said at a presentation on Wednesday.

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Executives from Disney’s interactive unit showed off the new gameplay pieces, similar to those used in the Skylanders franchise, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye. Within the game, more Marvel characters appear, including Loki, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Patriot and even the Winter Soldier.

Game pieces from the new Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes.

Though there was no mention of a Star Wars version of Disney Infinity, there was a strong hint that something is on the way: Early on in the presentation, Rapunzel from Tangled appeared onscreen, wielding a light saber.

“The stuff they’re announcing today — that’s just the beginning. There’s so much more to come,” Quesada said.

Story lines were written by Brian Michael Bendis, a longtime veteran of Marvel Comics’ comic book division. The game will be available in the fall.

The first version of Disney Infinity , with players from across Disney’s vast intellectual property, including several Pixar characters and Captain Jack Sparrow, has sold more than 3 million units worldwide, with more than $500 million in global sales. Though those characters will be compatible with the Marvel expansion platform, Disney set out create something entirely new.

“It wasn’t about dropping Marvel’s super hero characters into Infinity, but creating a unique experience for them,” said Disney Interactive chief Jimmy Pitaro.

A scene from "Marvel Manhattan" inside Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes.

That includes “Marvel Manhattan,” a sprawling version of New York City that features the Avengers' tower, among other stylistic touches. The environment utterly dwarfs Metroville, the Incredibles’ city from the original Disney Infinity, which was that game’s biggest-footprint environment.

Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes also includes a host of new gameplay features, including advanced character controls and building abilities, many of which were shown onscreen during Wednesday's presentation at the ArcLight Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, Calif. While the original Infinity characters weren’t all that different from one another in terms of abilities, the Marvel characters’ powers are as different in the game as they are on the big screen.

Executives show off the figures from Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes on Wednesday in Hollywood.

The new game will work with next-generation consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as well as PlayStation3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC and iOS tablets and smartphones.

Out of the box, the Marvel Super Heroes starter pack includes the game, a base, three figures — Iron Man, Thor and Black Widow — two “toy box” (ready made story/environment) game discs and a web code card. Figures for Captain America, Hulk and Hawkeye, as well as additional toy boxes, are sold separately.

If all these hints are any indication, Marvel superhero characters will be introduced to the platform by the dozen in the coming months.

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Topics: disney, Disney Infinity, Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes, Entertainment, Gaming, Marvel