Marvelous

4 Marvel heroes who could star in Naughty Dog writer Amy Hennig's next game

Shang-Chi? The Fantastic Four? The Defenders?

The writer that brought Nathan Drake to life is making a Marvel game. Amy Hennig is a video game writer who raised the bar for cinematic storytelling in games with series like Legacy of Kain and Uncharted. After the cancellation of an ambitious Star Wars game, she was hired by Skydance New Media in 2019. On October 29, 2021, the fledgling developer revealed its partnership with Marvel for its first game with Hennig as lead writer on the project.

The blog post announcing the deal calls this Marvel title a “narrative-driven, blockbuster action-adventure game, featuring a completely original story and take on the Marvel Universe.” Amy Hennig’s comments in the post also give an idea of her broader vision for the project.

Amy Hennig at the BAFTA LA in 2016.

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

“The Marvel Universe epitomizes all the action, mystery, and thrills of the pulp adventure genre that I adore and lends itself perfectly to an interactive experience,” she says. “It’s an honor to be able to tell an original story with all the humanity, complexity, and humor that makes Marvel characters so enduring and to enable our players to embody these heroes that they love.”

We do know that actress Janina Gavankar — who plays the villain in the upcoming Forspoken game and played Star Wars hero Iden Versio in Battlefront IIconfirmed her involvement in the project as of October 29, 2021. But beyond that, we know very little about the project at large.

Skydance and Marvel have not confirmed which heroes will take center stage in this game, but four heroes have risen to the top of our wishlist.

4. Fantastic Four

While this superhero team put Marvel on the map, they’ve never had a great game to their name.

Marvel Comics

Unlike the Avengers and even the X-Men, Marvel’s first family never starred in a great video game. As the team of Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and Thing is about to make its grand return in the MCU, it would make sense for Marvel to deliver a video game featuring the team around the same time.

There’s a lot of drama and story potential to mine from the team’s familial structure, their sci-fi adventures, and iconic villains like Dr. Doom. As such, we could see Amy Hennig and Skydance New Media being up for the challenge of making the first fantastic video game featuring these characters. Would this mean Gavankar could be Sue Storm?

3. Shang-Chi

Shang-Chi was an important but relatively obscure character until his September 2021 movie broke records.

Disney

We want more Shang-Chi following his MCU debut. The father-son dilemma at the core of that movie could make for a very compelling game narrative, and Shang-Chi’s powers would fit well in an action game that played similarly to something like Sifu.

This character only recently became prominent, so he might not have been an option when Skydance’s game entered production. Even if Amy Hennig ends up working with another character, we hope Marvel Games creates a Shang-Chi game one day.

2. Hawkeye

Matt Fraction’s Hawkeye comic inspired the upcoming Disney+ show, and would also serve as a great basis for a game.

Marvel Comics

While he’s already in Marvel’s Avengers, Hawkeye could still support his own solo game. Looking to Matt Fraction’s comic book run on Hawkeye, we see a snarky hero with a heart of gold that isn’t too far off from Nathan Drake.

It might retread some familiar ground for Hennig but would also provide a clearer place to start from. If Amy Hennig taps into the complexity of that character and his relationship with people like Kate Bishop and Swordsman, a really personal and compelling game could emerge.

1. Daredevil

Daredevil has had a great TV show. It’s time for him to get an amazing game.

Netflix

We can’t think of a better fit for Hennig’s cinematic writing than Daredevil. Matt Murdock has never had a AAA game of his own as a previous attempt was canceled. You could create an open-world game similar to the Arkham Batman titles with this hero and tell a captivating story that includes characters like Kingpin, Bullseye, and Elektra. (And for what it’s worth, Janina Gavankar would make a great Elektra!)

Last year, a 4Chan leak that also mentioned a Wolverine game which turned out to be true said a Daredevil title was in the works as well. While that leak might have just had a lucky guess with Wolverine, we can’t deny a Daredevil game from Amy Hennig would be a best-case scenario.

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