Marvel's Avengers leak confirms the primary villains and a huge plot twist

Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix haven't been forthcoming about which Marvel Comics characters might appear in the upcoming Marvel's Avengers, but a new leak has seemingly confirmed one shocking big-headed villain and an entire alien race as the antagonists for the game, along with one major twist you might not see coming. Big spoilers potentially follow.

On Friday, the trophies for Marvel's Avengers seemingly leaked to Exophase, a gaming community website that tracks achievements within games. Most of the achievements seem to be fairly standard, rewarding players for reaching certain levels and completing certain stages, but some of them spoil surprising story elements for the game that Square Enix probably doesn't want anyone to know about right now.

Most notably, we now know who the main villains of the game are based on some of the final achievements: The trophy called "New Girl Makes Good" includes a description that tells players to "Defeat MODOK and the Kree."

We already knew that AIM — the scientific research division of Hydra — would be involved in the game's plot based on earlier trailers, but this is the first confirmation that the leader MODOK would appear as opposed to a different adaptation. It's also the first confirmation that the Kree, an alien race with ties to Captain Marvel, would appear. The Inhumans, a race of superpowered humans created by the Kree, will also have a role to play. One achievement mentions them being rescued. This also makes a lot of sense based on Kamala Khan's presence as the protagonist in the back-half.

Based on all of this new context, it seems like MODOK and AIM work with the Kree to take over Earth and are ultimately thwarted by Ms. Marvel and the rest of the Avengers. Also, it appears that Captain America is alive, despite having seemingly died in the game's prologue section. This shouldn't be too surprising, considering that he's center stage on the game's cover and one of the most popular Avengers members

Even then, this still feels like a significant plot twist best reserved for the game itself.

Some excursion names such as "Welcome to Skywatch" are included in the achievement list, along with some important plot events like the aforementioned Inhumans tease. There's "Stop the Helicarrier from crashing into New York City," and "Reach the AIM space station." These do certainly sound like some bombastic moments, so it's a bit of shame that they were spoiled by an achievement listing like this.

Some collectible mechanics like AIM prisoners, who will likely be freed during missions and a "full comic set" are also mentioned. Marvel's Avengers will apparently feature a "Faction System" as faction missions and vendors are referenced too. Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics don't seem that interested in unveiling any of this yet though, as the latest trailer mostly regurgitates scenes that have already been revealed.

The biggest downside to these achievements, and the general marketing for Marvel's Avengers, is that it seems like the heroes we already know about are the only ones that will be playable. There won't be any more big surprises at all.

Having only six playable characters could wind up feeling a bit disappointing, especially when you compare this to other games with Marvel characters like Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3, where you can play as a myriad of Marvel characters.

Yes, these characters may have more depth than the ones in those games, but they are all fairly boilerplate as far as choices go. If what we're seeing is the final roster right now, then it would be great to see other heroes like Hawkeye, Black Panther, or Captain Marvel make appearances through DLC. So far, however, it looks like all of these achievements have spoiled most of the game already.

Marvel's Avengers will be released on September 4, 2020.