After several years of being in development (and a lengthy delay), Square Enix is finally set to release Marvel’s Avengers in only a few months’ time. As part of the game’s recent War Table livestreams, the developer has shown quite a bit of what players can expect when reassembling Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including how co-op, customization, and the comic book-inspired story will work In the superhero title. With the game’s launch now closer than ever, new information has now been revealed about the game’s upcoming Beta as well as the first post-launch DLC character.

As per the most recent War Table stream (via PlayStation Blog), the first character slated to join Marvel’s Avengers after launch is none other than the archered Avenger Hawkeye – specifically the Clint Barton version of the character. The eagle-eyed hero is said to be introduced with his own story content “unique from the main campaign” and can be played in either solo or co-op modes. Inspired by several pieces of source material, Clint’s addition to the team is confirmed to largely adhere with Matt Fraction and David Aja’s 2012 story “My Life as A Weapon.” Though, the team also teased surprises, including who the DLC’s villain may ultimately be.

The addition of Hawkeye is sure to add another layer of familiarity to the team, but Marvel’s Avengers is poised to continue delivering even more heroes through the advent of free updates. While it won’t involve bows or arrows quite yet, fans are set to get their first experience with the core game in the upcoming Beta sessions. Unveiled in the livestream, Beta players are getting a pretty generous serving of the game, including 4 story-based Hero Missions from the campaign, 4 co-op-friendly War Zone missions as well as 5 smaller, focused Drop Zone missions.

After completing the Beta’s campaign missions (which includes the spectacular A-Day prologue), all of the other activities will become available to play, including a total of 3 HARM Room challenges. Short for “Holographic Augmented Reality Machine,” HARM Rooms are similar to the Danger Room used by the X-Men in that it offers a virtual means to practice taking down waves of baddies without any of the fatal after-effects. Completing these challenges can yield players a set of cosmetic nameplates, a reward that will last well past the Beta and into the full version of the game.

The Marvel’s Avengers Beta will begin in August and roll out across three separate dates. As was advertised in the game’s marketing, those who pre-ordered the game will have early access to the Beta, with the first session going live for PlayStation 4 users on August 7th. Xbox One and PC pre-orders will follow on August 14th alongside an open Beta for players on PS4. A full open Beta for all platforms is scheduled to close out the proceedings on August 21st. As iterated on the Beta FAQ page, cross-platform play is not included in the Beta and unfortunately, nor will it be part of the game at launch. The full dates for the Beta are listed below.

• PlayStation 4 Pre-Order Beta
  • August 7th (9:00 p.m.) – August 9th (9:00 p.m)
• Xbox One and PC Pre-Order Beta
  • August 14th (9:00 p.m.) – August 16th (9:00 p.m)
• All Platforms Open Beta
  • August 21st (9:00 p.m.) – August 23rd (9:00 p.m)

Marvel’s Avengers releases September 4th for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are currently on track to release in 2021.

What do you think? Are you excited to check out the Beta for Marvel’s Avengers, or have you yet to be sold on the superhero adventure? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more headlines recently featured on DFTG, check out these next few news stories:

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