Marvel's Avengers (opens in new tab) Black Panther reveal has been delayed following Chadwick Boseman's passing (opens in new tab) last week.
In its launch War Table (opens in new tab) stream yesterday, Square Enix opened the showcase with a tribute to the Black Panther (opens in new tab) star, explaining that they had "altered what we are showing today" out of respect to his memory. You can see the full sequence that played out below.
So the Avengers War Table had this at the beginning of the stream...Looks like Black Panther's gonna be in the game at some point as a tribute to Chadwick Boseman. Love to see it. pic.twitter.com/3JFAEOAqzqSeptember 1, 2020
We talked to the star-studded voice cast of Marvel's Avengers about putting their own spin on these well-known characters (opens in new tab).
The tribute suggests that Square Enix had intended to use yesterday's War Table as the platform to reveal Black Panther as a new playable hero coming to Marvel's Avengers after launch, evidenced by the iconic panther logo that closed out the commemoration.
Instead, Kate Bishop was announced as the next character to join the roster ahead of Hawkeye later this year, with the two arriving as part of Marvel's Avengers first new major story update, which will be free to anyone who owns a copy of the base game itself.
It's unclear when Black Panther was expected to join Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and when we can expect his amended reveal in the future, but I think we can all agree that this was the right move on Square Enix's part, and a graceful way to pay respects to the man who made King T'Challa mean so much to so many.
The Marvel's Avengers beta was played by 6 million people for a total of more than 27 million hours (opens in new tab). Check out our initial impressions from the beta in the video below.