Marvel’s Midnight Suns already feels like it could not have packed in any more content than it managed to. On top of massively entertaining tactical combat—which Firaxis is well-known for with XCOM—Marvel’s Midnight Suns also has a rich social system and extracurricular exploration activities to indulge in at the Abbey. These engaging features all work together to make Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ runtime worthwhile throughout, and it will inevitably be difficult to expand much further on what Firaxis has already achieved. The way forward may be paved with other comic stories like "Carnage, USA".
There should not need to be extensive overhauls to the formula introduced in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, given its success. It may be sufficient to have a location change. Players might move out of the Abbey and into the Baxter Building, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, or another iconic setting from Marvel lore where a new batch of characters can all live together and interact with one another. But if a sequel’s approach to bosses and enemies remains the same, Marvel’s Midnight Suns could adapt the popular “Carnage, USA” run from the comics.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns Establishes a Fun Way to Turn Heroes into Enemies
Considering all the bosses and enemies in Marvel’s Midnight Suns, there are only a couple iconic supervillains that players face. Otherwise, players spend a lot of time trying to find Wanda Maximoff and Bruce Banner, who are corrupted by Lilith and serve as mid-to-late-game bosses.
This ensures that all bosses are narratively significant, but it is also interesting to see omnipotent superhero characters become enemies that players must encounter, especially with characters as formidable in the Marvel universe as Wanda Maximoff and the Hulk. Both of these characters are eventually subdued and redeemed as playable characters added to Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ roster, and knowing that these characters would be earned and unlocked in this way was a fun part of the narrative.
For any Marvel fans who are unaware, “Carnage, USA” is a short five-issue special that sees serial killer Cletus Kasady taking over a small town in America’s heartland using the symbiote Carnage. In Marvel’s Midnight Suns, Spider-Man is found fighting Venom while Wolverine is found fighting Sabretooth. In a sequel, it would be fun to find more playable characters through other means. Because Lilith’s Lilin and corrupted superheroes echo the same premise, “Carnage, USA” would have wonderful adaptation potential and let players battle superheroes who are subsumed by Carnage.
‘Carnage, USA’ Could Be a Great Side Quest in a Marvel’s Midnight Suns Sequel
Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ post-credits tease suggests a new villain for its sequel, and as a result it seems as though Carnage may not be considered as the main antagonist. However, “Carnage, USA” would be a great adaptation in a Marvel’s Midnight Suns sequel due to how closely it resembles this same enemy formula. Players could be flown to Doverton, Colorado and encounter Captain America, Wolverine, Hawkeye, and the Thing while they are all under Carnage's control. This could lead to four individual boss fights across a short questline that concludes with a boss fight against Carnage, and recruits each defeated superhero back onto the team as a playable character.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns does not have side quests, but rather players can elect to go on main missions exclusively or gain more resources by going out on general missions without any ties to the narrative. If Marvel’s Midnight Suns’ potential sequel has side quest chains that are marked as such, “Carnage, USA” would be an incredibly fun way to earn these characters and encounter Carnage as an optional antagonist.
Marvel’s Midnight Suns is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, with PS4, Switch, and Xbox One versions coming later.
