Marvel Heroes 2016 Launches With Massive Changes

01/29/2016 09:58 am EST

Marvel Heroes 2016 launches today, with major changes for the game as it continues to evolve. The popular free-to-play action RPG centered around the heroes and villains of the Marvel Comics universe gets a sizable facelift, but that's far from all.

A new story chapter featuring a Secret Invasion storyline sees heroes and villains replaced by the shape-shifting Skrull. Based on the 2008 event storyline, you'll fight your way through superpowered aliens and have to decide who to trust.

You can now play the game with a controller for the first time ever, including Xbox One, Xbox 360, Steam Controller, and Logitech controllers on PC.

Deadpool gets an overhaul with new animations, nine new moves, and a new Zen Deadpool costume from his encounter with Red Onslaught.

Black Cat is added as the 55th playable character, and she's voiced by the 90s Spider-Man animated series voice actress (and prolific video game voice) Jennifer Hale!

Agent Venom is added as a team-up, as well, with Flash Thompson rocking the suit to add some support to your team.

There are 50 new Steam Achievements, visual updates (which will be rolled out character by character), Leaderboards, and the Mac version officially comes out of beta, too. And this is just the first wave of improvements; more is planned year round.

"When we moved from Marvel Heroes to Marvel Heroes 2015, it was to showcase just how much the game had improved since its launch – but it's had another year and a half of improvements since then, and with today's launch of Marvel Heroes 2016, the newest additions make it even better," said Gazillion Studio Director Jeff Lind in a press release. "What we're launching today is just the beginning of what will be the biggest year yet for the game. Our awesome community expects regular updates, and they'll continue to get those – but it's the big content drops like today's first wave of the Marvel Heroes 2016 initiative where the game will really shine. You'll see these throughout the year, and the best announcements are yet to come."

The Advance Pack 3 is also or sale now, pre-ordering 7 new playable characters including Elektra, Green Goblin, Nick Fury, Ultron, Black Bolt, Angela, and an unannounced hero, plus other in-game items. The Deluxe Edition includes four new team-ups including Spider-Man (Miles Morales) and Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), and more. Those run at $59.99 and $79.99 respectively. You can buy those now at store.marvelheroes.com.

Check out the launch trailer above and screenshots below, and log-in on your computer to start downloading the updates now!

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