Rumoured Marvel XCOM game might not feature Marvel superheroes

Marvel's Avengers
(Image credit: Square Enix)

The rumoured Marvel strategy game from XCOM studio Firaxis will reportedly let players create their own superheroes instead of using established characters.

This is according to details shared by Venture Beat journalist Jeff Grubb during a recent Giant Bomb livestream (via VGC). Grubb claimed that the rumoured Firaxis project won't use any established Marvel characters, and will instead let players assemble their squad of superheroes entirely using player-created characters.

According to Grubb, this will function in a similar way to XCOM's soldier customization, which allowed players to change the identities and looks of any soldiers they control. This time though, the new Marvel game from Firaxis will go a step further, letting players customize the superpowers of the characters they recruit to their XCOM-like squad.

The existence of this unannounced Marvel game was first revealed earlier this year. At the time, it was expected that the project would be unveiled at E3 2021 in June, but new comments from Take-Two Interactive's president earlier this month indicated that the game could be revealed later this month at Gamescom 2021.

In fact, Firaxis revealed earlier this year in May that they would be revealing "several" new games later this year in 2021. It's anyone's guess what the XCOM and Civilization developer could be working on outside of the Marvel game, but here's hoping we won't have too long to wait until we find out more about any projects.

For a full list of all the games confirmed to be launching over the remainder of the year, head over to our new games 2021 guide for more.

Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.