Marvel’s Avengers battle pass and Hero Challenge Cards system, explained

Marvel's Avengers allows you to take on AIM from the comfort of your home with a full Avengers roster. It's a full-priced game but retains free-to-play trappings like battle passes and microtransactions. Are they fairly priced? Debatable. Here's how the premium costs work in Marvel's Avengers.

What is a battle pass?

A battle pass is a monetization method often found in free-to-play games.

The term refers to a popular framing for tiered unlockables that the player can receive for completing specific tasks or leveling up. Battle passes often cost around $10 (or the in-game currency equivalent) and need to be repurchased after a previously denoted time period usually referred to as "seasons."

For example Apex Legends, Fortnite, and Call of Duty: Warzone all require players to purchase a new battle pass once a season ends. Each of these aforementioned games allows you to earn back what you spent on the battle pass (in the in-game currency equivalent) if you complete the majority of the battle pass, enabling the player to buy it again once the time period concludes.

How does the battle pass system work in Marvel's Avengers?

Despite being priced as a full $60 game, Marvel's Avengers does include a battle pass variant called "Hero Challenge Cards." Every Hero Challenge Card has 40 levels to tear through, through which the player can earn unique cosmetics for a character like skins, nameplates, and takedowns.

To progress a Hero Challenge Card, you need to complete daily and weekly challenges. Each playable character has their own Hero Challenge Card and unique rotation of challenges to progress it.

At launch, there are six distinct "battle passes," one for each playable character. Hero Challenge Cards have free and premium tiers. The launch wave of Hero Challenge Cards has premium rewards activated at no extra cost. Subsequent Hero Challenge Cards for post-launch characters like Hawkeye and Kate Bishop will cost $10 or 1000 Credits in the game currency to unlock premium.

All Hero Challenge Cards, including those available at launch, provide 1300 total Credits per card. This is distributed in batches of 100 Credits at Hero Challenge Card Level 3, 200 at Level 11, 200 at Level 21, 300 at Level 25, and 500 at Level 36.

If you can complete all six launch Challenge Cards, you'll have accrued 7800 Credits, which is enough to pay for seven DLC character's Hero Challenge Cards. Each DLC character will also have a Hero Challenge Card worth 1300 Credits, allowing you to continue using premium cards indefinitely.

Unlike other battle passes, Hero Challenge Cards do not rotate in seasons and will never be retired.

How do microtransactions work in Marvel's Avengers?

In addition to earning Credits from Hero Challenge Cards, you can purchase four separate currency bundles on the platform you play Marvel's Avengers. They are as follows:

• 500 Credits — $5
• 2,000 Credits (plus 200 bonus) — $20
• 5,000 Credits (plus 1,000 bonus) — $50
• 10,000 Credits (plus 3,000 bonus) — $100

Other than purchasing post-launch Hero Challenge Cards, these credits can be used to purchase excluisve cosmetics from the marketplace, Marvel's Avengers' cosmetics store. Prices for the cosmetics can wildly vary depending on the item type and rarity. For example, a rare outfit costs 700 credits while a legendary costs 1400 credits. This means you might have to pay $14 just to obtain that cool Hulk skin that you've been eyeing. Or spend your entire bounty of credits from a single Hero Challenge Card on one skin.

Unless you complete all six launch Hero Challenge Cards, you might not feel comfortable purchasing a premium skin, while planning for post-launch additions as well.

Marvel's Avengers is currently available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.