Since Kingdom Hearts 2 originally launched back in 2005, the franchise’s long-gestating sequel Kingdom Hearts 3 has been seen rather rarely. That changed a bit late last year when new details finally started coming out about the title.
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Things have gone quiet again, with bits and pieces shown here and there, like the news that KH3 would have a Big Hero 6 themed world, and that the summons would be geared towards the Disney Land and Disney World rides rather than just characters from the various films.
Since Kingdom Hearts 2, Disney’s IP vault has grown massively in size, and a big part of that is their acquisition of Marvel. Marvel Studios has done a wonderful job thus far of bringing their comic franchises to life on the big screen, and I know there are many fans who would love to see some of that material and some of those characters utilized in Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts series.
Since we’ve got some downtime and all, I thought it would be a good chance to hit a few of our biggest Marvel wishlist items, so let’s get to it.
Winter Solider
Sora’s right-hand man Riku and the Winter Solider share some interesting similarities. While Riku wasn’t mind controlled to the extent that Bucky was, his mind was still toyed with by Kingdom Hearts and Disney villain Maleficent.
In their time under someone else’s influence, both characters did things they aren’t proud of, including turning their backs on longtime friends. That common bond they share would make for some great storytelling opportunities, especially if they looped in Captain America in some way, showing the similarities between him and Sora.
There’s lots of potential there, and its something I would like to see them explore.
Guardians of the Galaxy
The creators at Square Enix could have a field day with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and I can’t be the only one who would like to see Rocket Racoon and Stitch team up in some form or fashion.
You could integrate their segments into the Gummi Ship levels in some way. In addition to the flying segments that have been featured before, you could also pull away from the path at certain points and explore new locations, which would allow the group of your choosing to get off the ship and get into some combat.
And let’s face it, I just want to have an excuse to hear “I AM GROOT” while the big guy takes out multitudes of heartless in on fell swoop.
Ant-Man & The Wasp
In previous games, Sora and crew explored the otherworldly confines of Alice and Wonderland, which played around with your stature and size.
How cool would it be to take that theme and expand it, allowing the team to participate in the battle seen in Ant-Man on Maggie’s trainset? Since you’re partnering with both Ant-Man and the Wasp, you could change your size at any time, and the momentum you create would affect how powerful your hits were, and you would tag either one of the heroes in at any time to help you out.
Plus, you would spend half the other parts of the episode hopping on the back of Antony, and using Ant-Man’s helmet to direct an army of ants in the final encounter, as well as hop on the Wasp’s shoulders as she attempted to infect Yellowjacket’s suit from the inside (ala Ant-Man in Captain America: Civil War).
I know, that is really involved, but I didn’t say this was a practical list.
Black Panther
This is the biggest longshot of them all, only because Black Panther is the most recent introduction into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Still, if you were looking for a new place for Sora, Goofy, and Donald to explore, Panther’s nation of Wakanda would certainly be it.
Helping Black Panther defend his nation against the invading Heartless could be extremely cool, and since it would be framed like a siege, it would have you trying to knock down ladders off the city walls, sabotage catapults, and artillery, and keep the heartless from getting through the city gates. You could even introduce Tower Defense-like mini games into the proceedings, which if done with a light touch could be quite fun.
Age of Ultron
Age of Ultron could fit perfectly into Kingdom Hearts, and really without having to make many adjustments. It would allow a new mechanized Heartless to take the stage, as Ultron is trying to infect the Heartless as a means to stamp out humanity.
It would feature Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, Hulk, Hawkeye, and ultimately Vision against Ultron, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and a mass horde of the Ultron-ized Heartless. Since it would be towards the end of the game, you would call on your Disney friends for help, so Captain America is fighting alongside Beast (Beauty and the Beast, not the X-Man), Spider-Man is teaming up with Dumbo, and Scarlet Witch is working in tandem with Olaf (with Scarlet admittedly doing most of the work in that team-up) to rid the world of the Heartless threat forever.
If the summoning in KH3 ends up still being the “Disney Ride” themed affairs, it would still work really well as robotic heartless would be jumping onto the side of the rides and hanging on for dear life.
Well, that’s my list, but of course, there are so many other possibilities, so let us know in the comments what Marvel properties you’d like to make it into Kingdom Hearts 3.
