Highlights
- Marvel games are breaking away from the traditional New York City setting and exploring Paris, France, in different time periods and continuities.
- Skydance's Marvel game set in Paris during World War 2 will likely feature Captain America and Black Panther fighting against Hydra.
- Arkane Lyon's Marvel's Blade is set in a dystopian, curfew-enforced Paris overrun by vampires, offering a distinct and dark take on the city.
One aspect of Marvel properties that’s either highly scrutinized or completely overlooked is the setting. There are obviously many locations and landmarks in Marvel’s pantheon now considering how many characters there are, and yet its most popular and frequented has been New York City. Because Marvel chose New York City to be a big hub world for a lot of its characters, it meant that they could all have interrelations and interact often. Unfortunately, that also meant that unless stories took them elsewhere, there wouldn’t be that much diversity in its chosen settings at any given moment.
Thankfully, two upcoming Marvel games are planning to turn that on its head. Skydance’s still-untitled Marvel game will feature four playable protagonists between Captain America, Black Panther, Gabriel Jones, and Nanali during World War 2; meanwhile, Arkane Lyon’s Marvel’s Blade seems set in a futuristic society that has been overrun by vampires. Both premises are authentic on their own due to the characters and eras they’re set in, but they interestingly share a setting even though neither is likely part of the same continuity: they both take place in Paris, France.
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Paris is About to Be a Popular Marvel Setting in Two Distinct Gaming Time Periods
Skydance’s Captain America and Black Panther Game is Set in WW2 Paris
Knowing hardly any details about what Skydance’s Marvel game will look like aside from swapping between protagonists, it’s difficult to assume what its depiction of Paris will be like. The clearest idea of how it could be portrayed is through a Hydra occupancy, considering that it’s a fictional WW2 with super soldiers and the like, and Captain America will probably be walking its streets wielding a vibranium shield.
Half of the game may take place in Wakanda, though, and center on Black Panther and Nanali’s own conflicts in a foreign land.
Either way, Skydance’s depiction of Paris has the opportunity to reflect romanticism as well as tragedy within its 1940s set dressing and it’ll be neat to see the legitimacy of its architecture and atmosphere inspired by that era, too. Unless Skydance decides to make its canon universe far more distinct from an artistic standpoint, the imagery of Paris it evokes should be fairly predictable and endearing while hopefully making for some sensational gameplay and storytelling backdrops.
Marvel’s Blade is Set in a Dystopian, Curfew-Enforced Paris
On the other hand, even though it was announced far more recently, Marvel’s Blade has already given a fairly plain look at what its Paris will look like. If it wasn’t for the French text and the Eiffel Tower, in fact, it might not be immediately associable with Paris, looking more like a dystopian setting from V for Vendetta or Blade Runner.
It appears as if there are surveillance hovercrafts and other security measures put in place to keep vampires out, or at least ward them off during the night, but Blade will still be needed to help purge this threat before and after buildings shutter at curfew. The art style alone in Marvel’s Blade will be enough to distinguish its Paris distinctly, but seeing how a Paris in WW2 could have possibly evolved into the one in Arkane’s futuristic dystopia is also fun to imagine, even if the two games aren’t connected at all.
Moreover, it’s unclear when either of these Marvel games will launch or how close to one another they’ll be when they do. It’s exciting that there will be two diverse takes on Paris that couldn’t be more different from a time-period or artistic perspective, offering a much-needed break from the imagery of Marvel’s Spider-Man’s New York City for a while.
Marvel's Blade
Marvel's Blade is in development at Arkane Lyon, which developed Deathloop and Dishonored. It is a mature single-player third-person adventure game set in Paris, where players take on the role of the titular and beloved comic book hero.
- Franchise
- Marvel
- Developer(s)
- Arkane Studios
- Publisher(s)
- Bethesda Softworks
