Marvel's Avengers: Cancelled first person game revealed with concept footage

A first person action game starring Marvel's Avengers was once in the works at THQ before it was canned during the company's prolonged demise. The game was targeting a release on PS3 and Xbox 360 alongside the first Avengers film, released in 2012, but it wouldn't have been an adaptation of that movie.

The game started out as a third person action game being developed at THQ's Studio Australia, but eventually shifted its player perspective to first person to differentiate itself from other third person games based on Marvel properties.

Unsee64 and DidYouKnowGaming teamed up to investigate the failed project, presenting their extensive findings in the video below.

The story would have been similar to the comics' Secret Invasion plot, featuring a Skrull invasion of Earth. That comics' writer Brian Michael Bendis was hired to write the game – essentially making it an adaptation of his famed storyline. The plot would have seen the shape-shifting Skrulls hoping to capture Earth's mightiest heroes, enslave them and feed off their power to rule the galaxy.

The game was also set to feature heroes not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like Spider-Woman and Fantastic Four, the latter of which Marvel Studios don't have the big screen rights to, as is the case with the Skrulls too. However it would focus on Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk – who are central to the film's Avengers line-up.

Hawkeye and Black Widow would become unlockable playable characters in addition to those four, then later on War Machine and Ms Marvel. Ant-Man, Ultron and Vision were also toyed with but may not have made it to the final game – which was believed to be fairly close to completion.

What eventually killed the game was THQ's final few months as a company, as they desperately cut spending to keep themselves alive after a string of failures. 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.

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