Marvel Games fans have heard basically nothing about the new WW2-era game starring Black Panther, Captain America, and more ever since it was first announced back in September 2022, but if a new leak is to be believed, we may have gotten at least a crumb of information about it now. According to a leaker who’s track record is solid enough to add some legitimacy to this claim, the new Marvel game will supposedly be called “Marvel 1942: Rise of Hydra.” It’s a name which fits the setting and story of the Black Panther x Captain America game based on what we know about it so far, but it’s also a name that some Marvel fans aren’t too thrilled with based on early reactions to the idea.
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Twitter user Kurakasis shared this tidbit about the Marvel game on Saturday morning after teasing that they might have the name for the game. Nothing else aside from the title was shared alongside the key art for it to remind you of which game the insider was referring to in case you’ve lost track of all the Marvel games that are in the works.
For those confused as to why a Marvel game would be given a name like this which doesn’t follow normal naming conventions when it comes to Marvel games, looking back at some of the early (and only) details we have on the new Black Panther x Captain America game offers an explanation. While a specific year for the setting was not named by Marvel, it was confirmed the game would be a “WWII-era adventure with four playable heroes at different points in the story.”
The four characters are Steve Rogers as Captain America, T’Challa’s grandfather, Azzuri, as the Black Panther appropriate for that time period, U.S. soldier and Howling Commandos member Gabriel Jones, and the Wakandan Spy Network leader Nanali. While a nice change of pace from more traditional Marvel team-ups, that group isn’t quite as well known as the Avengers nor does the game focus on one particular character, so it makes sense that it’d have to ditch the naming trend seen in games like Marvel’s Avengers, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Marvel’s Wolverine.
Even if a different sort of name might make sense for a game like this, that doesn’t mean people are thrilled with it. Early responses to Kurakasis’ tweet about the game’s supposed name saw people saying that Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra was perhaps not catchy enough. World War II was when the modern version of Hydra as Marvel fans know it first really started gaining traction, and Hydra is certainly a well known entity. Many questioned, however, whether it was smart or not to omit both Captain America and Black Panther from the game’s name entirely, though it’s difficult to imagine a name that succinctly mentions both of them and Hydra all in one.
As for the game itself, Marvel fans know precious little of it beyond the setting, characters, and who’s making it. For the latter, Skydance New Media is in charge of it, a studio that hasn’t yet put out a game but has some big projects lined up between this one and a Star Wars game. Skydance New Media is led by Uncharted creator Amy Hennig who said the team was “excited to share more down the road,” but that was back in 2022 with nothing more about the game really said since then.
Around the same time this game was announced, an Iron Man game was confirmed to be in the works over at Electronic Arts, too, but we’ve similarly heard little about that game.
