Marvel vs Capcom 3 adds Akuma and Taskmaster to its substantial roster

Akuma was first introduced as the hidden, ultimate boss of Super Street Fight II Turbo, and quickly became a playable regular in the Alpha games. Like most SF characters his background is pretty vague, but he’s normally out to challenge Ryu, he’s the younger brother of Ryu and Ken’s trainer Gouken, up until SFIV it was assumed Akumu had killed Gouken, and perennial loser Dan is pretty mad at him, though Akuma doesn’t really care.

Akuma’s inclusion isn’t a huge shocker, as he’s been a constant in Capcom’s history with Marvel. Not only did he appear in MvC and MvC2, but he was also in their precursors X-Men vs Street Fighter and Marvel vs Street Fighter (where he doubled as Cyber Akuma). Hell, Akuma even appeared in the first Marvel fighting games, X-Men: Children of the Atom and Marvel Super Heroes. It’d be a bigger shock if Akuma wasn’t in the game.

And then there’s Taskmaster. Sure he looks like some lame Skeletor rip-off or something. Well you are so wrong Mr. Judgementalpants! First of all, Taskmaster predates Masters of the Universe by like a year and he’s one of the top Avengers villains of all time. And he’s one of the top five human fighters in all of the Marvel Universe, which makes him a perfect fit for this game.

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That’s right, on any given day Taskmaster could give Captain America, Daredevil, Wolverine, or Batman a run for their money in a one-on-one brawl. Now Taskmaster has no real super powers, like enhanced strength or speed, but in addition to being in great shape, he has photographic reflexes, meaning he can copy the movements of any person he sees. Were he to watch Batman throw a Batarang, he can do it just as well, and he’s studied any hero he could get his eyes on, so he knows a lot. He can’t jump as high as Spider-Man, nor does he have a Spider Sense backing him up, but he can be just nimble when he needs to be. This villain may not be as well known as he should be, though maybe MvC3 will change that.

With the release date less than a month away, we’ve got to wonder just how many unknown characters are left, and just who they could be. Will the final roster be more than 40 fighters deep? We’ll let you know when we do.

Jan 18, 2011

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