Crystal Dynamics has revealed the next playable hero coming to Marvel's Avengers in its latest developer update, along with new additions to the game in Update 2.6 and beyond.
Officially announced via a blog post shared by the official Marvel's Avengers Twitter account, Bucky Barnes AKA The Winter Soldier will be the next hero added to the game, although Crystal Dynamics doesn't specify when he'll be introduced. However, it does reveal that The Winter Soldier will be added at some point after the release of Update 2.6, which it says will drop at some point this September.
As for Update 2.6 itself, the developer has announced some pretty neat additions coming next month, including the 'No Rest for the Wicked' Warzone which will give players a new "villain-focused" adventure to play through, which sees the Avengers attempt to stop Monica from reviving Modok. Crystal Dynamics also explains that it will be rolling out balance, combat, and traversal tweaks to every hero in the roster over the next few updates to ensure that they feel "heroic to play."
As for what's coming after Update 2.6, no specific dates are given but Crystal Dynamics reveals that it will be introducing AIM's Cloning Lab as the next piece of playable endgame content. It has been revealed to be an Omega-Level threat, will increase the power level cap, and give players the chance to earn new loot.
In other Avengers-related news, Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios recently revealed that it had an open-world Iron Man game in development for two years, but the project was scrapped as it couldn't keep up with Disney's demands. Avalanche co-founder Christofer Sundberg says the experience was a "good experience from a development standpoint," but it probably wasn't great on the ol' bank account.