The new Avengers video game comes out in a month. The playable beta will open any day now, to give players their first hands-on experience with the game. And announcements are dropping left and right about future features. This is my next big video game purchase and it looks pretty cool so far.

But how do we make it cooler?

I still don’t have a firm grasp on what exactly this game is going to be like. From all that we’ve seen so far — and we’ve seen a lot — it appears to be a game where we take familiar Avengers and just go beat up a bunch of robots for a while. I’m not sure how that’s going to translate into a service game that keeps players engaged for months, but then they don’t pay me the big bucks. The one thing we do know for sure is that the game will be full of playable characters! Just in the past few weeks, we learned that Hawkeye will be added to the game before too long, and Spider-Man will be a Playstation exclusive early next year. There were also hints when the game was announced that Ant-Man would be joining at some point.

So considering all I really care about is which of my favorite superheroes I’ll get to beat up a bunch of robots with…let’s pick which Avengers I want to see show up in the game as future playable characters!

6. She-Hulk

While many people lament the fact that the Avengers video game is not based off the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I’m quite happy with that fact. It means we get a wider variety of characters! Which means we don’t need to bend over backwards to come up with a new origin for She-Hulk. We can throw her right into the mix and get busy smashing!

5. Tigra

Definitely need more women, and Tigra is a pretty iconic Avenger. She’s got a look that’s almost all her own, and surely her power set makes her an excellent fighter up against all those robots. The Avengers game already looks like too much of a boys club. And there’s not a tiger-print anything in sight!

4. Any Thunderbolt

A staple of almost all of my Avengers-related lists is Songbird. She’s a great character with a unique look and an awesome backstory. But rather than just put Songbird in this spot, how about any of the Thunderbolts? We need some playable villains in this upcoming game, but villains who can also fit the storyline. So how about we create an entire Thunderbolts subplot in this new game world and bring on any of them as a playable character? Songbird and Mach-V would be my top choices, but there’s also Atlas or Fixer or Moonstone or any of them, really. All solid choices.

3. Hercules

Another great reason why an MCU-based game wouldn’t have been as fun is that we can finally pit Thor against Hercules! There would be way too many hoops to jump through in an MCU game to get these two Avengers together. But this is a new universe with new character relationships, and bringing in the Lion of Olympus could be a lot of fun!

2. Wolverine

If this game can use Spider-Man as an Avenger then it can darn well use Wolverine, too! The Canucklehead has so many attack possibilities, so many alternate costumes, and a perfectly gruff demeanor. And it would just be plain fun. We are years away from a proper introduction of the X-Men to the MCU, so let’s enjoy this quick pseudo-visit while we can. When was the last time Wolverine had a good video game appearance? Remember the X-Men Origins: Wolverine game? That thing was the bomb!

1. Stingray

Good old Stingray! I fall more and more in love with him the more chances I get to write about him in one of these self-indulgent lists! I don’t know why he doesn’t get used more often. He’s got one of the best costumes in comics, and he’s just so versatile! He’s an average guy who built himself a great underwater battle suit. He also operated a sealab at one point! He’d be great to add to the pile of interesting and no doubt unique characters we’ll see in the upcoming video game. Surely.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming game? Excited? Still hesitant? Any must-have characters that you want to see? Let me know in the comments!

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