With the War Table livestream for Marvel's Avengers fast approaching, which is set to show off new gameplay from the title, it's no surprise that the developers are starting to ramp up marketing for the game, especially on the game's Twitter account. As a part of that campaign, earlier today, the Twitter account released a tweet highlighting a defaced statue of Captain America, which many saw as out of touch and in poor taste with all the social issues going on in the world right now. Now, the developers have taken down the tweet and posted a response in its place.
The tweet of the defaced statue was only up on the Marvel's Avengers Twitter account for around five or six hours before fans started pointing out how out of touch it felt. The tweet itself featured a Zoom conference call background centered on a defaced statue of Captain America, with police drones buzzing around protecting it.
After the backlash, the official Twitter account released a statement, apologizing for being "insensitive." The original Zoom meeting background tweet is no longer on the Twitter account, however, it does still show up in Google. The original tweet said "Heroes Park once celebrated the Avengers, but has since been defaced. Despite the AIM drones that survey the area, there are still people who believe and pay respects to Captain America." That, alongside the image itself, makes for a pretty dystopian picture and because of its nature, it's no surprise that the account took down the tweet.
For those that don't know, statues of racists, Confederate leaders, and generally horrible people are being defaced and torn down by protesters, not just in America, but around the world. There's really no denying that the tweet itself was certainly in bad taste and incredibly tone-deaf, which is a bit surprising considering how progressive the developers have been with the game so far, including both Kamala Khan, the first Muslim Marvel character, and Cherise, a disabled character, in the upcoming title.
While Square Enix almost certainly didn't mean anything nefarious by the tweet itself, and the developers deserve credit for taking down the tweet and issuing an apology, it's a bit disappointing to see the tweet and a bit shocking that the developers didn't read the room, especially with a game as high profile as Marvel's Avengers.
Marvel's Avengers will release on September 4, 2020, and will be available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
