Marvel’s Avengers adding The Winter Soldier to its lineup

Marvel’s Avengers, which launched more than two years ago, is still chugging along with post-launch content. The game’s latest update, coming Nov. 29, will add Bucky Barnes — The Winter Soldier — to a playable roster of more than 10.

Voicing Captain America’s erstwhile sidekick-turned-brainwashed-assassin is Scott Porter, who also portrayed the character in 2016’s Lego Marvel’s Avengers (and who appears in God of War Ragnarök). Crystal Dynamics says Bucky/Winter Soldier is “an almost purely assault-focused hero focused on dealing damage to his enemies in a variety of ways.”

“Players will find multiple different builds and play styles to embody that character fantasy, from the ranged marksman to an expert hand-to-hand combatant, to the deadly super-soldier,” the studio added.

Winter Soldier joins a lineup that launched two years ago with Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Black Widow, and Ms. Marvel. Since then, the roster has expanded with Black Panther, Jane Foster as the Mighty Thor, and two Hawkeyes (Clint Barton and Kate Bishop). Spider-Man is also available exclusively on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

Crystal Dynamics says that Bucky’s move-set is evocative of Captain America and Black Widow, as both were training partners. But he’s still a fully featured character, with “all new animations, a new full skill, tree, and heroic abilities all his own.”

The Winter Soldier’s update also includes a mission chain that steers the psychologically damaged Barnes back to doing good, while coping “with the trauma inflicted on him by his captors.” Completing this series of missions will reward players with his Bucky costume.

Crystal Dynamics developed Marvel’s Avengers for Square Enix, which launched the beat-’em-up adventure for PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One in September 2020. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X arrived in March 2021.

Crystal Dynamics was sold, along with Eidos and Square Enix Montreal, and the intellectual properties they owned, to Embracer Group in May. The studio announced in March that it is developing a new entry in the Tomb Raider franchise, built in Unreal Engine 5, and also assisting on the development of the new Perfect Dark for Xbox Game Studios.