Concerns over Covid-19 have been the cause for countless delays of events and releases across all industries, and while the Black Widow film has been moved from April to November, Marvel Contest Of Champions is moving forward with its tie-in release of content based on the characters in the film. Developer Kabam released an all-new motion comic teasing two new Champions coming to the popular mobile brawler.
Both Black Widow and Red Guardian are making their way into the contest, with character designs inspired by the film. Kabam is describing the release as early access to these Champions, though it is far more probable that their release is necessary to both maintain interest in their game and to maintain their roadmap on schedule.
Kabam has benefited immensely from the powerhouse of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has seen new characters and film tie-ins virtually every major film release since it launched in 2014. Postponing the release of these characters might make sense to keep the timing in line with the eventual release of the film, however players are used to seeing content added on a regular basis, and pushing back completed characters for the sake of the film is not necessary for a game that already has 174 playable characters.
As with all characters released into the game, these two will feature abilities and costume design tied directly to the upcoming film. As seen in the video above, this means that Black Widow will be wearing her white outfit instead of the black one seen in the movies over the last decade.
While most fans should recognize and be familiar with the story of Natasha Romanova as Black Widow, the Red Guardian is a character that will be new to many who have not read the comic books, particularly since his origins date back to the 1960s and was created as the Cold War Soviet equivalent of Captain America, with the character seeing a fall off in usage following the collapse of the USSR.
Both characters will arrive to the game in May, and as with all characters will be purchasable with premium currency or soon obtainable through the arena for those players dedicated enough to score in the top ranks of competitive challenges.