Marvel heroes and villains from different eras and realities come together for epic adventure!

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, TT Games, The LEGO Group and Marvel Entertainment today announced LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes 2, an all-new, original adventure and sequel to the smash hit, LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes. Bringing together iconic Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains from different eras and realities, along with signature LEGO humor, the latest epic adventure from TT Games transports players into a cosmic battle across a myriad of Marvel locations ripped from time and space into the incredible open hub world of Chronopolis. LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes 2 will be available starting November 14, 2017 for PlayStation®4, Xbox One®, and PC. The game will be released for Nintendo Switch™ later this year.

“With a completely original branching storyline, LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes 2  introduces amazing new gameplay features, including the ability for characters to manipulate time and a four-player competitive Super Hero battling mode,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games. “With a huge array of brand new characters from the Marvel Universe, including old favorites in new guises, this game is sure to thrill both LEGO and Marvel fans, as well as newcomers to the series.”

“The LEGO Group is delighted to continue the stories of the legendary Marvel characters in a new LEGO adventure,” said Sean McEvoy, VP Digital Games, The LEGO Group. “Fans young and old will love playing through this all-new cosmic saga spanning the Marvel Universe as seen through the LEGO lens.”

“As we look to bring amazing games to Marvel fans of all ages, we’ve teamed up yet again with our incredible partners at LEGO, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and TT Games,” said Jay Ong, SVP, Games & Innovation, Marvel Entertainment. “LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes 2 brings characters from across Marvel’s history into an original story told in a way that only LEGO games can, offering hours of epic gameplay.”

Players will go head-to-head with the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror in an epic battle across Chronopolis, from Ancient Egypt and The Old West to Sakaar and New York City in 2099. Along the way, gamers will be able to take control of a host of iconic characters, from Cowboy Captain America from the past to Spider-Man 2099 from the future along with Thor, Hulk, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Green Goblin, and dozens of other Marvel Super Heroes and Super Villains.

Packed with entertaining LEGO humor for fans of all ages, LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes 2 features a four player multiplayer mode, allowing friends and family to play competitively or cooperatively as a team.

Stay tuned to Marvel.com and @MarvelGames on Twitter for the latest on LEGO® Marvel Super Heroes 2!

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The sai-wielding assassin leads the street-smart team into MMO action!

The Defenders have taken over Netflix and now they’re bringing the fight to “Marvel Heroes Omega” on PS4 and Xbox One in their own unique event. Elektra joins in on the fun too—an all-new playable character, relentless and deadly, marking her enemies for lethal damage.

We talked to Gazillion Lead Designer Justin Bartlett to get the skinny on the Defenders Event and Elektra’s abilities!

Marvel.com: Street level villains and the Hand are in for some serious trouble with this Defenders Event coming up. What’s the team cooked up for us?

Justin Bartlett: We’re very excited that console players can finally check out our new Defenders Event on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One today. This event recently launched on PC and we want to continue bringing new themed events and content like this to “Marvel Heroes Omega” on all platforms. For now, players can expect a new Daily Defenders event mission and lots of great event exclusive gear as rewards.

Marvel.com: What can you tell us about the Defenders Event? What are we doing? Who are we beating down?

Justin Bartlett: The Hand has returned to New York City, and Misty Knight is on the lookout for heroes to help stop the ancient order. Players will find themselves facing off against the Hand incursion, collecting Orders from the Hand’s fallen foes. These items can be traded in for all kinds of event-exclusive prizes and rewards.

Marvel.com: And there are some new items we get to play with?

Justin Bartlett: You bet! We introduced a ton of new artifacts for this special event. One of my particular favorites is Elektra’s Mask. It has a great effect that summons Elektra. When it triggers, you’ll see Elektra in her new [costume from “Marvel’s Daredevil” on Netflix] jump into battle.

Marvel.com: But we also get Elektra now, the ultimate assassin herself! When I think about Elektra and her fighting style a few words come to mind: graceful, precise, deadly. What did the team focus on when bringing her to the game?

Justin Bartlett: Elektra really gave us a chance to show how an assassin can operate in the world of “Marvel Heroes Omega.” We really wanted to showcase how dangerous a hero can be when they focus on the most difficult of enemies. Players need to pick their targets wisely before executing critical strikes. So the team focused on making sure players have to make calculated choices.

Marvel.com: Can you talk a little about her skill trees? How are we going to be putting her sai and ninja skills to use?

Justin Bartlett: Elektra uses a wide variety of weapons and tools to dispatch her enemies. On one side, she utilizes the sais she is famously known for, as well as a segmented staff for players who like to get up close and personal with their victims. On the other side, she wields knife chains and poison darts to take out enemies from a distance. Whatever your playstyle, Elektra incorporates the use of stealth to strike unsuspecting enemies without them ever noticing.

What makes her truly unique is her Mark for Death mechanic. This can only affect high-value targets, like Elite enemies and Bosses, augmenting certain skills to be more effective, or enabling some of her highest damaging skills. For example, her Thrown Blade ability can only target a marked enemy to deal immense damage. If the enemy wasn’t a boss, they are instantly defeated.

Marvel.com: How does she fit into teams? What are we trying to do with her?

Justin Bartlett: Elektra is a highly mobile and evasive character who can deal damage up close or from a distance. She can also enlist the aid of Chaste Ninjas for a little added firepower. While she doesn’t boast much in the way of team-wide support skills, her value comes from high single-target damage.

Marvel.com: When does this event start and end?

Justin Bartlett: The event is going on now and will last for 14 days. So stop reading—Misty Knight is looking to hire some heroes to defend the world. Get out there and stop the Hand!

Stay tuned to Marvel.com for more “Marvel Heroes Omega” news and interviews and follow us on Twitter, @MarvelGames!

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The Man Without Fear and the Hand's ultimate assassin return once more!

Have you checked out “Marvel’s The Defenders” on Netflix yet? If not, what are you waiting for? If so, D3 Go! has more Defenders action for ya, with an all-new Daredevil and Elektra available in “Marvel Puzzle Quest.” We talk about the Man Without Fear and the Hand’s ultimate assassin and get the lowdown on just what they’re capable of.

Marvel.com: I’m really excited to see a new Daredevil coming down the pipe, but why make him a 5-star as opposed to a 4? What kind of things does the team look for in making a new 5-Star character? Or in making a new 3-star, like Elektra (Assassin) for that matter?

Josh Austin: Daredevil is an amazing character and the powers that were designed for the Matt Murdock version are more in line with 5-Star characters. And with the release of “Marvel’s The Defenders” on Netflix, we are excited to have our first 5-star Defender in the game. And the new 3-star Elektra is a great addition too.  We know many players are very interested in acquiring new 3-star characters so it seems like a good fit to have the combination of both these characters available at the same time.

Marvel.com: Daredevil (Man Without Fear) was one of my first PvE mainstays for his pure utility, getting rid of pesky enemy special tiles and with stuns for days. What’s different about this Matt Murdock?

Josh Austin: The 5-star Daredevil uses his sonar and his ability to damage multiple foes, but he does so with a lot more precision and really wrecks his opponents damage-wise. He also has an ability to gain health back based on each friendly strike tile on the board.

Marvel.com: Can you break down his kit for us?

Josh Austin: His first ability is called Fighting Spirit and it’s a passive yellow. When Daredevil gets below a certain health, he creates a strength 1,270 Yellow Strike tile that restores health for each friendly strike tile on the board (Max 5 tiles).

His second ability is called Hand-to-Hand and it costs 11 Green AP. This one can be devastating because it creates a countdown tile that deals damage each turn and if it’s matched away the player’s team gains 8 Green AP. However, if the tile is destroyed in any way other than being matched away, at level 5 it deals 15,525 damage and creates another Hand-To-Hand tile if one does not exist.

His last power is called Sonar Strike and it costs 9 Purple AP. Daredevil’s sonar vision helps him avoid enemy attacks and strike back by converting random enemy Strike, Protect, or Attack tiles to friendly Strike tiles and then stun the target. There is a Passive that while the enemy is Stunned, any damage dealt to that stunned enemy Daredevil deals extra damage on top of it.

Marvel.com: It seems like you’d want to pair Daredevil up with a teammate who can stun opponents, to get that juicy Sonar Strike passive damage, and someone who can easily get rid of his Hand-to-Hand tile. Anybody you have in mind?

Josh Austin: Depends on the strategy the player would like to utilize. Having characters that stun opponents to dish out the extra damage, heroes like some of the variations of Spider-Man, Thanos (The Mad Titan), Doctor Strange, Iceman, etc. Also if the player wants to use a character that fortifies the tile, that insures that the 5-Turn countdown tile will continuously damage the enemy team.

The player could benefit from using characters that create Strike tiles if they are worried about Daredevil receiving too much damage like The Punisher (Max), Rocket & Groot (Awesome Mix Volume 2), Blade (Modern). I know I’d personally use Grey Suit Black Widow for the Green AP generation and her abilities to help destroy the Hand-to-Hand tile for that extra damage.

Marvel.com: And Elektra looks like she’s keeping some of her old Unkillable tricks and learning a new one, Crippling Blow. What’s changed in this 3-Star variation?

Josh Austin: Elektra has some of the same abilities as her 4-Star counterpoint with the exception of Crippling Blow, which focuses on damage first, then leaves a 4-Turn Countdown tile on the board that deals damage to the enemy each time it counts down.

Marvel.com: How does Elektra (Assassin) fit on a team? Finding someone who can help her fire Crippling Blow seems like it would be a legit strategy.

Josh Austin: Finding someone gives her Black AP or fortifies her Countdown tile definitely works well. She’s also great with heroes that convert or destroy enemy tiles into friendly tiles like Loki, Bullseye (Classic), Daredevil (Man Without Fear) and She-Hulk (Modern).

Marvel.com: And when can we take these two ninja-trained fighters to the streets?

Josh Austin: They will debut in the Galactus Hungers event that starts today. Elektra is given out as round rewards while Daredevil can be earned in a special store called Hornhead with Legendary Tokens that can be purchased or earned as rewards given from the event. The Hornhead store runs from August 24 through August 28. There will also be a featured Elektra event called The Hunt that starts on August 27.

Be sure to check out all the Defender related Versus Tournaments including Assassin For Hire that is going on now, Cage Match that starts on August 24, and Blind Justice that starts on August 27. We are excited to share that those that earn 300+ points in these events will earn 10,000 Insider points at Marvel Insider. Visit Marvel Insider for all the opportunities to earn and redeem rewards for Marvel Puzzle Quest.

Pick up Daredevil (Man Without Fear) and Elektra (Assassin) here and stay tuned to Marvel.com for more “Marvel Puzzle Quest” news and interviews.

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Spider-Man’s most superior foe finds his way to Battlerealm!

Otto Octavius finds himself on Battlerealm, tentacles ready to cause as much chaos as possible—and knowing Doc Ock, Spidey’s in for a whole heap of trouble.

We talked to Kabam Designers Dominic O’Grady and Simon Cameron about Otto’s in-game abilities and what players can expect from the newest “Marvel Contest of Champion” villain!

Marvel.com: Doctor Otto Gunther Octavius—his name’s a mouthful and his tentacles a handful. How does the good Doctor Octopus find himself in the Contest?

Dominic O’Grady: The Grandmaster is not a fan of Spider-Man, particularly because his brother, The Collector, is so fond of him. For the Grandmaster it’s double-duty: He prefers villainous Champions to do his bidding, and ones that know how to fight Spidey are all the better!

Marvel.com: Doc Ock has had so many different outfits through the ages, what era or eras did the team channel for this particular iteration?

Dominic O’Grady: The main goal was to evoke a Silver Age feeling with his design, while not being tied to any particular era-associated costume of his. Of course immediate recognition is the most important detail, and we also wanted to pay homage [to] his scientific background; thus the lab coat and pocket pens!

Marvel.com: And you kept the bowl cut! How tempted were you to give players a more fashion forward Otto?

Dominic O’Grady: Not at all. Dorky haircut or bust.

Marvel.com: How do abilities like Power Lock, Heal Block, Fury, and  Armor Up help round out Octopus’ equation?

Simon Cameron: Doc Ock is a scientist; as such, he builds up a library of research on his opponent through observation and testing. In game this means Doc Ock has three Research Categories he builds based on his and the opponent’s actions; for example, he builds Physics research as his Opponent builds Power.

Each of his Research Categories gives him a passive bonus [that] scales as the category builds, and finally each category has a Breakthrough effect which [triggers] when a category reaches 100 lasting for a few seconds before resetting his Research to go again. The last variable in the equation are the good Doctor’s Special Attacks, all of which are based around him interacting with his Breakthrough.

Marvel.com: We all know Doc Ock’s a smart cookie, but how does his signature ability, Academic Background, help him lay his foes low?

Simon Cameron: Doc Ock’s Academic Background gives him two advantages. The first is starting all of his research categories at 60 instead of zero, and secondly it gives all of his Breakthrough effects an upgrade. For Biology, he gains Armor Penetration along with his Armor Up, and for Chemistry and Physics he gains the ability to steal a portion of the Health or Power blocked by his Heal Block and Powerlocks respectively. These effects do stack up to three times, though for the Heal Block/Power Lock on the steal portion of the effect stacks.

Marvel.com: Tell us a little about his allies and how they interact with the Doctor.

Simon Cameron: Doc Ock can bring a number of allies with him that enhance his abilities, as well as taking home a nice bonus for themselves. These effects target his Research Categories doing things like, preventing his Research from falling off over time, and having his Research Categories reset to 50 instead of zero.

Marvel.com: And finally, when will we get to lecture our enemies into oblivion with Doctor Octopus?

Dominic O’Grady: The diabolical doctor is available now in crystals and arenas! Get to work; there are experiments to be done!

Stay tuned to Marvel.com for more “Marvel Contest of Champions” news and interviews!

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Get ready to defend!

The Guardians flew back down, Spidey swung through again, and now the Defenders of Hell’s Kitchen return to Avengers Academy to battle a new threat in their neighborhood. Kingpin’s been imprisoned for nearly a year, and in that time Madame Gao stepped in to fill the power vacuum left in the criminal underworld of Hell’s Kitchen. The Defenders and the rest of the Academy students – with the help of a few new friends – need to dispatch Madame Gao and take back the neighborhood once more.

We grabbed a few minutes with Allen Warner, Lead Narrative Designer at TinyCo, to see what The Hand has in store for us at the “Marvel Avengers Academy”.

Marvel.com: The Defenders are making their way back to Avengers Academy! What’s bringing the team to campus once more?

Allen Warner: With the Kingpin imprisoned, Madame Gao has seized control of the Hand, and conquered Hell’s Kitchen.  The Defenders held her off as long as they could, but she countered by kidnapping some of their closest friends and allies, forcing them to regroup and call in reinforcements.  With a firm hold on Hell’s Kitchen, and the combined resources of both the Hand and Kingpin’s entire operation, Madame Gao sets her sights on retrieving a powerful artifact that Director Fury has locked away in one of his secret vaults, launching a full-scale assault on Avengers Academy.

Marvel.com: Will players be returning to Hell’s Kitchen with the new event district?

Allen Warner: Yes, we’ll be revisiting Hell’s Kitchen and all of its iconic locales like Alias Investigations, Josie’s, and the law offices of Nelson and Murdock.  We’ll also be bringing back the Academy Courthouse from our Daredevil event, and giving some new recruits fun courtroom animations.

Marvel.com: How will the Avengers battle Madame Gao and her Hand minions?

Allen Warner: The Defenders and Avengers will team up to battle Madame Gao and her special henchmen on campus, as well as traveling away from the school to stop the Hand ninjas from attempting to take over the world.

Marvel.com: As with the Guardians and Spidey events before this, will players once again be able to recruit Defenders heroes from the previous event?

Allen Warner: Yes, this is a similar structure where players will be given another opportunity to get characters from the original Daredevil event, as well as some other characters who weren’t part of that event, but make sense to be involved with the Defenders.  Players will have a chance to get Iron Fist, Daredevil, Hellcat, Elektra, Misty Knight, Punisher, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones.  They may also have an opportunity to get some characters who you wouldn’t associate with the Defenders TV show, but who have been part of various Defenders teams in the comics.  We’ll also be resurfacing all of the outfits from the Daredevil event, including what might be my personal favorite Avengers Academy outfit of all time, Lawyer Loki.  We learned in the original Daredevil event that Loki has a gift for lawyering, and a fondness for lawyers and the profession, and that will continue in this event with some fun results.

Marvel.com: While those who missed out will be excited to try for all those returning favorites, what new faces join the mix?

Allen Warner: A cool and diverse group of characters who are often thought of as supporting players, but who will take center stage and show their heroic sides during this event: Foggy Nelson, Colleen Wing, Stick, and Claire Temple.  They each bring a really unique and fresh perspective to not only the events at hand, but the Avengers heroes and Avengers Academy traditions.  Our awesome art team did some really great and brand-new things with their various visual levels, and their animations are really fun, and play to their unique occupations, personalities, and talents.  I’m really excited about this group from a narrative perspective because there is so much unexplored territory.  These characters typically only interact with the characters in their respective spheres, so there’s a ton of opportunity to do things that no one has ever seen before.  Foggy will form relationships and go on adventures with Loki and Captain America.  Claire Temple will go on an intergalactic rescue mission with Cosmo the Spacedog.  Stick will butt heads with J. Jonah Jameson.  Madame Gao will match wits with Mephisto, and so on.  One of my favorite things about the world we’ve built in this game is having the opportunity to reimagine and expand upon existing characters and Marvel lore, and this event and this group of recruits provided an awesome opportunity to do a lot of things that have never been done before.

Marvel.com: What new ways will our heroes suit up to dispatch the Hand threat?

Allen Warner: In addition to the resurfaced outfits from the previous Daredevil event, there will be new outfits and stories for Hulk, Punisher, Elektra, Iron Fist, and Misty Knight.  We love coming up with new looks for our characters that are unique to the world of Avengers Academy, but we decided to take a different approach this time around and only include outfits that have appeared in the comics.  Some are very recent looks that fans may not even be aware of, while others are iconic looks that have been around for decades.  They all look incredible, are completely different from the characters’ usual outfits, and add a new angle to their personalities and powers that make for some really fun animations and stories.

Marvel.com: As excited as we are to dive back into Hell’s Kitchen and dispatch Madame Gao, there’s always one eye on the horizon. Can you tease anything coming down the line for the Academy and its heroes?

Allen Warner: One of our frequently teased schools will finally have to come out of hiding, and they’ll be bringing more recruitable characters with them than ever before.

For all the latest on “Marvel Avengers Academy,” stay tuned to Marvel.com and @MarvelGames on Twitter!

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Get your hands on this blue-skinned Ravager!

Hawkeye might be the greatest archer around, but nobody’s better with an arrow than Yondu. The blue-skinned Ravager’s ready to wreak whistling havoc on the enemy team and we talked to D3 Go! Senior Producer Josh Austin about “Marvel Puzzle Quest’s” newest alien addition to the roster.

Marvel.com: Yondu, don’t you mean Mary Poppins? Mary Poppins will be joining the “Marvel Puzzle Quest” roster?

Josh Austin: Yondu (Mary Poppins Y’all), I mean, Yondu (Awesome Mix Volume 2) is a 4-Star character coming to Marvel Puzzle Quest and is a celebration of the digital release of “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” movie. Since the film released in theaters, interest for Yondu has been incredible and we wanted to bring the old Ravager as a playable character to join in the Guardians festivities in “Marvel Puzzle Quest.”

Marvel.com: The blue-skinned Ravager and his arrow were my favorite part of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” bar none. What were some of the cool things the team wanted to bring to his “MPQ” version?

Josh Austin: What makes Yondu so awesome is not only his tough personality, but his Yaka Arrow and its uniqueness. So the team worked on bringing that out as much as possible in the game. He does damage and heals passively, and as someone on the team said, “why work when the arrow can do that for you?”

Marvel.com: Let’s talk about Yondu’s abilities in game. What’s he capable of?

Josh Austin: Yondu (Awesome Mix Volume 2)’s first ability is a Passive Yellow. “Mary Poppins Y’all!” Yondu uses his Yaka arrow like a parachute, cause, “Yeah, he’s cool.” If the player makes a match-4 or greater and Yondu is below 50% health, a Yellow Countdown tile is created that restores health each turn if one does not exist already.

His second ability is Ravager’s Ruse and it costs 7 Black AP. For this power, the Yondu looks out for his own best interest by destroying AP from the enemy’s highest colored AP pool, then creates a Strike tile for each AP destroyed.

Yondu’s last ability is called Centaurian Archery and it costs 10 Blue AP. Here’s where the Yaka Arrow comes in, as Yondu starts whistling and at level 5 damages the enemy for 9,698 damage and transforms this power to Yaka Assault.

Yaka Assault is a PASSIVE blue where the Yaka Arrow deftly flies across the battlefield damaging the enemy with the lowest health. At level 5 this means 1,592 damage at the start of the turn to the weakest enemy. The power becomes Centaurian Archery if Yondu receives damage past the power level’s threshold (at level 5 that’s 992 damage).

Marvel.com: I’m really interested in Centaurian Archery and Yaka Assault. Basically it’s a bunch of burst damage for 10 AP, then free, unavoidable damage afterwards? Is it balanced around the fact that if you commit to this, you lose his burst in favor of sustained damage over time?

Josh Austin: That’s correct in that you lose the more heavy damage attack, but the good thing about this is since it is 10 AP to trigger, the power continues to damage the weakest enemy while you can gather more Blue AP, however of course if Yondu receives enough damage, this power will then revert back.

Marvel.com: And how well does using allies like Carnage, that damage their teammates, work in reloading Centaurian Archery?

Josh Austin: Actually with the ability to create a bunch of strike tiles with Ravager’s Ruse for 7 Black AP, he works well with characters that create Strike tiles like The Punisher (Max), Rocket & Groot (Awesome Mix Volume 2) and Blade (Modern) or with characters that strengthen his Strike tiles like Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Sam Wilson (Captain America), Professor X (Charles Xavier), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), and/or Medusa (Inhuman Queen).

Marvel.com: And Yaka Parachute a permanent heal, or just for the current fight? Because then I can see my Carnage/Yondu team working even better!

Josh Austin: Haha, if you want to damage him to trigger his Yaka Parachute, then match 4 or greater, then of course you will get the Yaka Parachute Countdown tile which is a Permanent heal! That’s right, not burst, but permanent for Yondu only!

Marvel.com: When do we get to experiment with ol’ fin head?

Josh Austin: Yondu is releasing on August 10. He will be a placement Reward in a revamped Guardians event titled Honor Among Thieves that starts on August 10 and ends August 14. He will be a featured character in Thick As Thieves (of course right?) starting August 13 and ending August 18 where he will be available in the Vault. Lastly, his versus tournament will be called Ravager Clan and it starts August 17 and ends August 21 where he will be featured and available at best odds!

Whistle while you match with Yondu here (http://bit.ly/2ve1lKE) and stay tuned to Marvel.com for more “Marvel Puzzle Quest” news and interviews.

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Spidey's number one foe enters the Battlerealm!

Who flies through the air with the great of ease, and throws pumpkin-shaped munitions on unsuspecting heroes until they’re deceased? Why Norman Osborn aka the Green Goblin obviously! The deranged aerial ace soars into Battlerealm this week and we talked to Kabam Art Director Gabriel Frizzera and Champion Designer Piero Herrera about “Marvel Contest of Champion’s” newest combatant.

Marvel.com: Is this the classic Norman Osborn Green Goblin we all know and love? There’ve been so many glider-riding Goblins in the past it’s hard to keep track of them all!

Gabriel Frizzera: Yes, the psychopathic CEO with a Halloween-inspired arsenal! Osborn has been wearing his Iron Patriot armor to fight in The Contest for a couple of years now, but thanks to the Grandmaster we’ll finally see ol’ Norman in classic green-and-purple glory. The Grandmaster wants to make Spider-man’s life miserable (he hates that the web-head is his brother’s favorite), so he started to recruit some of his most sinister foes. Check out who they are in our brand new motion comic!

Marvel.com: It’d be easy to have the Green Goblin duking it out on the ground with the other combatants and only use his glider for special moves. What kind of challenges went into making his move set work while airborne?

Gabriel Frizzera: Oh, he’s definitely airborne all the time. That was condition #1 to create an authentic Green Goblin experience for our players. In Norman Osborn’s mind, walking is for lesser villains! There’s a bunch of technical challenges in making a gliding character, but we’ve had a lot experience with floating characters like Dr. Strange and Rogue, so we knew what to expect. We also have a wealth of reference to draw from: at this point people have a pretty good idea of how the Goblin moves around (thanks to previous movies, games and animation), so we looked at a lot of previous work to make sure we got his manic personality right.

Marvel.com: And he’s sporting a classic look here. Where’d the team find their inspiration?

Gabriel Frizzera: Straight from the source! Steve Ditko, John Romita, and many other awesome classic Spider-Man artists. Like we usually do, we tried to add our own “Champions” twist: We made some of the cloth pieces more ripped and haphazardly put together, and added metal bits here and there for that extra gothic flavour. But our job here was to keep that classic look intact, and just update it with very subtle details to make it shine.

Marvel.com: Let’s talk a little about his kit. What’s up with Oscorp Weaponry?

Gabriel Frizzera: Laser fingers! After-burner black smoke! Lots of Oscorp-patented Pumpkin Bombs! And who knows what else he keeps in his big saddlebag of tricks…

Marvel.com: And what else is in his deadly bag of tricks? Maybe a can of Raid for all those pesky spiders hopping around Battlerealm?

Piero Herrera: Green Goblin’s ability “Bag of Tricks” allows him to Inflict Power Drain, Poison, Incinerate and Weakness Debuffs through his Special Attacks. The real power comes when you unlock his Signature Ability, which allows for ALL of the effects on his Bag of Tricks to activate at the same time, instead of just one per Special Attack.

He also has two mechanics called Cunning and Madness, which are basically his offensive and defensive stances, one allowing him to deal more damage while disrupting the opponent’s flow of Power and the other allowing him to Regenerate Health and also take less damage from the opponent’s Special Attacks.

Marvel.com: How do we get the most bang for our Green Goblin buck? Who do we team him up with to really bring the pumpkin pain?

Piero Herrera: Pairing him up with Iron Patriot enhances both of those Champion’s Signature abilities through his unique “Split Personality” Synergy Bonus. To maximize Green Goblin’s powers, you will also have to pair him up with Electro and a Spider-Man Champion. Those Synergies will provide him more damage on his Pumpkin Bombs based on how many active Cunning and Madness charges Green Goblin has and the other will grant increased Potency to his Bag of Tricks abilities.

Marvel.com: When can we harness the Green Goblin’s insanity for ourselves?

Piero Herrera: Everybody can try to get  Green Goblin right now! This exclusive Champion will also be a prize in the Arenas, be sure to log-in and check him out.­­

Stay tuned to Marvel.com and follow us @MarvelGames on Twitter for more “Marvel Contest of Champions” news and interviews!

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The Academy and Avengers can't escape Vulture's tech!

With Vulture defeated and the Midtown Sci-Tech Homecoming dance saved, Spidey and the rest of the students at the Academy might have thought they’d have some time to relax. Unfortunately, a few new foes with a shared grudge against Tony Stark have gotten their hands on Vulture’s tech and started building their own suits of power armor. Their new factory can be seen from the Academy and the Avengers need to band together (along with some new friends) to tackle this new threat.

Marvel.com: Vulture’s been dispatched, but everyone at Avengers Academy is still feeling the effects of his tech. What do these familiar villains have in store for our heroes?

Allen Warner: At the end of the ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ event, we found out that Vulture had been selling some of his scavenged tech and weapons to clients across the globe.  A few of these buyers are known enemies of Tony Stark who are using these materials to create new armor and weapons based on his designs.  Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash have personal vendettas against Iron Man while Yellowjacket orchestrates everything in an attempt to finally get Cross Technologies out of the shadow of Stark Industries.  They each have powerful armors of their own, but Crimson Dynamo is also attempting to build the most powerful armor that’s ever existed based on a stolen Hulkbuster prototype.

Marvel.com: Where are they going to hole up to launch their attacks on the campus?

Allen Warner: The armored trio have built a massive factory turned fortress where they each have their own work areas, and Crimson Dynamo is constructing her armored behemoth.  It’s really cool-looking structure where everyone has a section that fits their personality and skillset.

Marvel.com: With their foes decked out in new armor, surely some of the students will don new armor of their own?

Allen Warner: Yes!  There are new outfits for Wasp, Captain America, Enchantress, and Iron Man, including the debut of Tony’s iconic Hulkbuster armor.  I’m really excited about getting armored outfits for Wasp and Cap as Tony’s best friend and best frenemy.  It made too much sense that he would want to design custom armors for each of them, and the art team knocked it out of the park with their designs.  Enchantress has her own very Enchantress take on Iron Man armor, and we’ll also be bringing back one of Loki’s coolest armored outfits.  As anyone who plays the game knows, Tony is always eager to outfit his fellow heroes in customized armor, so we’ll also be bringing back some of our awesome armored outfits and characters from previous events.

Marvel.com: And who can players expect to join the fight (and the Academy) in the effort to stop Whiplash, Yellowjacket, and Crimson Dynamo?

Allen Warner: Iron Lad and Ironheart will be coming to the Academy to join the fight.  Iron Lad is a really interesting character who continues to build our roster of ‘Young Avengers,’ and of course couldn’t be more closely tied to one of our previous villains, Kang the Conqueror.  We’ll learn that Kang is more involved in these Armor Wars than you might expect.  Everyone is really excited about bringing Riri Williams to Avengers Academy.  She’s such a cool new character, and while her dynamic with Tony in the current comics is really interesting, her relationship with this younger version of Tony is something different altogether.  Both of these characters look great, and have some really fun animations, and I think people will be really pleased to make them a part of their campus.  As the Armor Wars are waged, Iron Man’s enemies will begin to see the error of their ways, and players will also be able to recruit Yellowjacket, Whiplash, and Crimson Dynamo.  They all turned out awesome.  Crimson Dynamo will be an early access character who will later be available as part of the main game, and I honestly believe she’s one of our coolest reimagined creations in this world.  I love her personality, and all three of her visual levels are some of the best we’ve ever made.  She’s no doubt one of my favorite characters in the game.

Marvel.com: The Armor Wars will end a little more swiftly than the last few events, so players are certainly eager to know what’s coming next. What can you tell us about the myriad threats on the horizon for Avengers Academy?

Allen Warner: We’ll be returning to Hell’s Kitchen to meet some new recruits, make some new enemies, and bring some iconic outfits to some old friends.

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Spidey goes up against a classic super villain in the Battlerealm!

Soaring above Battlerealm the Vulture picks his targets with a bird of prey’s ruthless precision, and with all that alien tech at his disposal, takes them out with brutal efficiency. Coming off the success of “Spider-Man: Homecoming”, Vulture’s found a place to roost in “Marvel Contest of Champions” and Kabam Art Director Gabriel Frizzera and Character Designer Simon Cameron chatted with us about all his in-game goodies.

Marvel.com: You know at first I was wondering what the Collector would want with a guy in a bird suit, but then I remembered all the people in spider suits he’s wrangled in the past. He’s building a regular menagerie isn’t he?

Gabriel Frizzera: The Collector wants to catch them all! His favorite Champion is Spider-Man, and he wouldn’t miss on having the web-head’s awesome gallery of rogues. A complete set is much more valuable, and that includes the Vulture and his crazy mechanical wings. But he’s just the beginning. More Super Villains are coming soon…

Marvel.com: I have to admit, the Vulture and his killer outfit were the highlight of “Spider-Man: Homecoming” for me, mostly because his getup was just so awesome! What was it like translating it for the contest?

Gabriel Frizzera: To be honest, we had our doubts in the beginning. Initially, all we could see from the trailers was this crazy-looking dude with wings much bigger than we could ever fit on screen! But then we got some very detailed reference material from our friends at Marvel Studios, and we saw great gameplay potential. We still had to reduce those wings a bit to make them fit our maximum size rig, but the rest is pretty close to the movie version. Once we saw the Vulture moving in game, we all became converts.

Marvel.com: And the team already had the wing tech from Archangel, so do we get to see the turbine wings on at all times?

Gabriel Frizzera: Flying is the Vulture’s defining trait, so yes, he’s in the air all the time. His wings are actually more complicated than Archangel’s because the rotors are connected to a smaller second set of wings, and move independently from the main ones. And the wings also detach from his body, so we made sure to have them do that in one of the special attacks. Add to that those giant foot claws and the “ferry-cutter” gun, and his arsenal becomes even more fearsome.

Marvel.com: Appearance aside, when it comes to his kit, what does Vulture do best?

Simon Cameron: Vulture’s Kit is best used to counter Champions with access to a lot of Power, or Champions who need power, he’s also a hard counter to Incinerate. His Critical Hits build charge in the Chitauri Reactor which powers his suit. He will later spend this charge in several different ways, such as Power Drains, Incinerates, or a new Buff, Decoy. He also has a built in Dexterity effect, which can even spend his Chitauri Charge to Incinerate his Opponent as he dashes away.

Marvel.com: Can you go over his different abilities and how players should be looking to maximize his damage potential?

Simon Cameron: Vulture’s new Buff, Decoy, causes the next attack against Vulture that would otherwise hit, to miss. He also has a couple of new Debuffs, Siphon Charge and Thermal Feedback. Both of these Debuffs cause him to immediately drain a portion off all Power that his opponent gains, great for slowing down a Power Gain Champion, or just allowing him to land more hits per Special his Opponent builds up.

Siphon Charge converts the drained Power into Vulture’s Chitauri Charge making it great for utility and power control, whereas Thermal Feedback converts it into damage making it the way to go for err… damage. Finally his Signature Ability allows him to gain Power while his opponent is Incinerated, to help keep his Opponent suffering under these Debuffs as often as possible, and allows him to consume any Incinerate placed on using it to power his Chitauri Charge as well.

Marvel.com: And when do we get to take the Vulture out for a spin?

Simon Cameron: Vulture has entered The Contest; you can grab him up right now!

Stay tuned to Marvel.com and follow us @MarvelGames on Twitter for more “Marvel Contest of Champions” news and interviews!

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Mockingbird infiltrates the smash game!

Mockingbird joins the long list of “Marvel Puzzle Quest” heroines ready and raring to take a bite out of crime. Armed with her battle staves and a badass attitude, she’ll fit right in. We chatted with D3 Go! Producer Josh Austin about Bobbi Morse and what she brings to the “MPQ” U.

Marvel.com: Mockingbird is a really cool choice for “MPQ.” How’d she make the cut?

Josh Austin: We receive various character requests from our players and we are very excited to introduce the highly requested Mockingbird to “Marvel Puzzle Quest.” Mockingbird (Bobbi Morse) was just in the right time and right place to make it into the 4-Star roster!

Marvel.com: When a character doesn’t have the most high profile of histories, like Bobbi here, what does the team do to nail down their abilities?

Josh Austin: There are a lot of rabid Marvel fans in the design team, they share a multitude of interesting variations of characters and we choose one to focus on. Then we work closely with Marvel until we find the one that fits “Marvel Puzzle Quest” the best. Sometimes it’s down to the color scheme and what will make the character pop more, or just the way the character in a particular area fits in with the other “MPQ” characters. A lot goes into choosing the right version for the game, from AP color, abilities and how they can add to the current roster (ex: do they stand alone, get supported or help support other players), and how they look.

Marvel.com: And since we are talking about abilities, what can Mockingbird do in game?

Josh Austin: Mockingbird’s first ability is called Bombshell and it costs 9 Red AP. This ability has a chance to do some great damage with a risk to it. Mockingbird sets up a bomb and walks away without looking back. This creates a Fortified Red Countdown tile. If the Countdown tile expires while another one exists it can do a lot of damage to the enemy, however if there aren’t two of them on the board when one goes off it does less damage and even damages Mockingbird.

Bobbi’s second power is called Opportunist and is a PASSIVE Yellow ability. For this ability, Mockingbird deflects attacks with her battle staves to provide tactical openings for her team. What this means game-wise is if the enemy matches four or more of an AP color and the player has some AP in that color (including Team-Up) then it fires off a random friendly power at no cost! If not, the team gains AP in the color that was matched.

Mockingbird’s final power is called Secret Mission and it costs 8 Purple AP. For this ability, Mockingbird destroys some of the enemy’s strongest color and also generates AP in the player’s team’s strongest color. Also there is a PASSIVE with this ability that triggers if the player has some AP in the team’s strongest color, giving friendly matches more damage.

Marvel.com: She feels a little like Agent Coulson, capable of big damage while also manipulating the team’s AP. What makes her different than the chief S.H.I.E.L.D. agent?

Josh Austin: The big differentiator is the Opportunist power, which triggers a random free power from any hero on the players team when the enemy matches 4 or more tiles and the player has AP in that color (depending on level of ability). This makes Mockingbird sort of a cross between Agent Coulson and Doctor Strange (3 or 5-Star) since a power is used automatically based on an action done by the opponent.

Marvel.com: Who are we teaming her up with? I actually like how insidious she would be with Loki (God of Mischief). Any four match nets you either a free power or AP from Mockingbird, and stolen AP from Loki. You’d be rolling in AP!

Josh Austin: Since she’s a support character, there are a lot of characters she could be teamed up with. Anyone that has an active power as their strongest color would be useful, 5-star characters to do additional match damage, and any characters that create Strike tiles. She is seriously fun to use with any character because she’s so versatile and she’s great against characters that are prone to making cascades.

Marvel.com: And when do we get to try her out for ourselves?

Josh Austin: Mockingbird will be live July 27 and will have her debut in Simulator which starts July 27 and ends July 31. She’s going to be in placement rewards for this event. Her featured event is Meet Rocket & Groot which starts August 3 and ends August 8. Bobbi will also be in her very own Versus Tournament that starts August 3 and runs until August 7. She will be featured and available at the best odds for the event.

Beat down baddies with Mockingbird (Bobbi Morse) here and stay tuned to Marvel.com for more news and interviews.

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