Marvel's Avengers datamine reveals at least 16 more heroes slated for post-launch

When a game as big as Marvel’s Avengers goes into open beta, it’s inevitable for it to be cracked open and examined like a frog carcass in science class to see just what goodies one might find inside.

The beta of the game by Crystal Dynamics recently launched on PC last week, and already dataminers were crawling over it, hoping to uncover any potential code that teased what the developer might have planned in future.

And, as Borat would say, they enjoyed great success to that end.

Thanks to 6plus4equals52 on Reddit, we got a taste of what’s to come in the form of five more playable heroes planned to be release at some point after the launch of Marvel’s Avengers on Sept 4.

The initial list included Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, Kate Bishop, War Machine, and the PlayStation 4/5-exclusive Peter Parker a.k.a Spider-Man.

A few days later, that list was expanded to a whopping 24, courtesy of Sanders Presents on YouTube, who also goes by RoboMatters on Reddit (via Eurogamer). The updated roster as mentioned in the datamine includes:

1. Ant-Man
2. Black Panther
3. Captain Marvel
4. Captain America*
5. Doctor Strange
6. Falcon
7. Hawkeye
8. Hulk*
9. Hulkbuster*
10. Iron-Man*
11. Kamala/Ms. Marvel*
12. Kate Bishop
13. Mar-Vell
14. Mockingbird
15. Quake
16. Scarlet Witch
17. She-Hulk
18. Thor*
19. Vision
20. War Machine
21. Wasp
22. Black Widow*
23. Winter Soldier
24. Peter Parker (if you include the previous datamine done by 6plus4equals52 above)

That’s some SHIELD-level digging right there. Nick Fury would be impressed.

Of course, the 24 includes those that are already in the base game (marked with an asterisk*).

Interestingly, Hulkbuster is also part of this datamine, which raises questions to whether it would be released later on as its own standalone playable character, rather than as an ultimate ability under Iron Man.

Another point of contention includes Mar-Vell, whom many would associate with Captain Marvel. But the question here, then, is: which Captain Marvel?

As many would know, there are various characters across Marvel Comics’ storied history to have adopted the moniker, with the most notable of these being Carol Danvers, who also happens to have a Marvel Studios movie under her belt.

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However, the name Mar-Vell suggests that Crystal Dynamics could be using the original Kree superhero that first came to Earth at behest of the Kree Empire.

But only time will tell exactly which version of the hero the dev would be using (given Kamala Khan is already using the Ms. Marvel alias, a title that Carol Danvers originally used before becoming Captain Marvel).

And as with all datamined content, the above names are still ultimately speculative and may not be used by Crystal Dynamics at all.

Of course, we’re hoping to be proven completely wrong, and even given a couple more surprises when the game eventually launches and goes into post-release content.

Marvel’s Avengers launches on Sept 4 for PS4, Xbox One, PC and Google Stadia.

This article was first published in Geek Culture.