Hawkeye, Pym Particles, and More: Talking With Marvel’s Avengers Creative Director Noah Hughes

At the tail-end of E3 2019, MonsterVine had the enormous opportunity to speak with Noah Hughes, the creative director behind Crystal Dynamics’s Avengers. We talked about Hawkeye, shared universes, costumes, and much more.

Spencer: With the story, involving A-Day, are there any particular comic stories or movie stories that you’re taking inspiration from or adapting? Or is this entirely original?

Noah Hughes: Yeah, so this is an entirely original story. Definitely, when we look at hero designs, we go to the comics, we go to the movies, we really try to capture the things people expect from these heroes, both personality-wise and gameplay-wise. But in terms of the story we’re telling, part of the fun is to thrust those characters into new situations to see how they deal with it. We’re excited about telling a new story with this one.

With Taskmaster, he’s definitely not a mainstream, commonly-known villain. Are there a lot of characters or story beats that you think might really surprise people because they’re lesser known?

Noah: I think one of the things that’s fun with taking an original approach to this property is working with Marvel to find things that are dying to be brought to life. So you’ll see things that certainly seem more recently familiar, but some of the most exciting stuff for me is to really give this amazing back-catalog of characters and NPCs and villains a new platform. So we’ll be announcing more in the future, but it’s an exciting part of the project.

Marvel really loves New York. Why choose San Francisco as the main location for A-Day?

Noah: It was important to us to create this game in a way that was tailored to The Avengers as a property, and one of the things about the Avengers is they’re a group of super-heroes, not just a single super-hero. But also that they protect Earth from its greatest threats, and we wanted to deliver locations throughout the world to build around that sense.

So we start here in San Francisco at A-Day, but you may have seen a few clips with some snowy environments, desert environments, urban environments- and that variety is important to us, but also that fictional construct of a world under constant threat and the player’s ability to both advance a compelling story, and just select missions across the globe that allow them to be super-heroes and to save us from threats.

I totally understand if you can’t answer this, but I’ve got to ask because it’s getting to me. People are really familiar with the MCU lineup of the Avengers, so it seems weird that Hawkeye isn’t there. Was there a specific reason for that?

Noah: [Laughs] No, so we’re starting with this core five lineup here, but the world is much bigger than what we’re showing today. Certainly, that’s not a promise of any one hero, but I would say it’s premature to make conclusions about our roster. We’re excited to share more about that!

So you said that you guys are constantly going to be adding on characters and stories. Does the base game, when it comes out, have its own start-to-finish story with the DLC serving as additional stories, or is it more serialized?

Noah: It’s very much a self-contained story, but it is the beginning of a larger narrative that I think, one of the things that’s exciting to us, is looking at the additions to this game as not just DLC packs, but really as an ongoing story-telling experience that introduces new heroes, new regions, and allows you to continue to play in that world.

So is this game looking to create its own “Marvel Interactive Universe”, or does it maybe take place in the Spider-Man (PS4) universe?

Noah: It’s definitely an Avengers-centric experience. We’re excited to continue to make the world larger, and that’s one of the things I love. It’s not just a story that you play and you’re done with. Each new addition to the world brings new characters, new stories. Unfortunately, I can’t talk specifically about that yet, but I think we have a lot of surprises in store for the fans, which is great.

When it came to the voice actors, did you guys seek them out specifically because they fit the characters? Each character has had so many different voice actors over the years, so was there any consideration in bringing any of those voices back, or did you guys want to start a whole new Avengers experience with a new cast?

Noah: It was important for us to not design the heroes around actors. It started with our story and our understanding of what journey each of our main heroes was going to go on in that story. But, certainly within the casting process, working with world-class talent and people we’ve believed in was important. So it wasn’t clear to us who was going to play what hero until we went through that casting process. And part of the fun of the casting process is you really get, not only acting, but you get an actor’s interpretation of that character.

I think one of the things I’m really grateful for is [that] the actors we have for these heroes really like to get inside those heroes and understand what makes them tick. And that’s one of the things that makes a world-class actor. So to see them become that hero, then throw them into these situations together, to play off of each other– you have some crazy conflict and drama as well as amazing success and victory, and I think it’s the actors and the complexity of the heroes that we talked about that really makes that possible.

Naturally, we can’t ask if <blank> is going to be in Avengers. So, can you name someone who 100% will never be playable in this game?

Steve (Square Enix): You! [laughs]

Aw, well now I’m just sad!

Noah: [Laughs] Unfortunately, that would classify as an announcement beyond the core five.

With this being a Marvel property, can we expect a lot of Easter Eggs in the game?

Noah: Yeah, I think we try to ground the story in the Marvel universe in multiple ways. Some of it is really bringing these places and these characters to life, and in other cases, it’s just references to that larger world. Part of creating an experience for the fans is being able to recognize that Marvel universe as it comes to life.

So who’s your personal favorite Avenger to play as so far?

Noah: I’m having the most fun with Black Widow right now, but I have to admit that I go through phases [laughs]. That’s one of the nice things about having multiple main heroes, is you can really immerse yourself in wanting to get as awesome as you can and then jump into another just for a change of pace. And so I think Widow’s my favorite right now, but Hulk is one of the heroes that I always come back to, because he’s so unique in the sense that he’s able to manage such a crowd of enemies, and he’s doing combos and things, but he also just picks them up and cracks them like coconuts [laughs].

So I got excited when the trailer showed Hank Pym at the end. What was the motivation for picking Hank instead of Scott Lang or Eric O’Grady, though no one would pick Eric [laughs].

Noah: [Laughs] It really comes down to the story we’re telling. In a lot of cases, there were certain heroes that had to be part of the story. The further down that list you go, the more debate you’re going to have in a room like this [laughs]. So once you get beyond those “must-haves”, a lot of it becomes about who’s the right person for a role. We need a character who’s going to do this, whether it’s a villain or an NPC, or a hero, a lot of it falls out of what the story needs, and what the game wants to be. That’s a weird thing to say, but once you start making some decisions, a lot of things start to make sense.

Pym Particles open a lot of doors, too.

Noah: That’s another thing about Marvel, it’s amazing, whether it be super-powers or technology, there’s just always a sense of surprise and empowerment with these heroes, and Pym Particles are just one of the amazing marvels of this universe.

With alternate costumes, will they all be part of the story, or is it more of an unlockable bonus?

Noah: That’s a good question, so there are both kinds. Heroes have outfits that are driven by the progression through the story, and some of those are original designs. But then part of the fun of customizing your roster of heroes is rocking a fan-favorite costume that you love. So we blend both of those things together. Players will be able to, in addition to the featured story outfits, unlock ones that express their personality on the roster.

Will we see a lot of Bruce Banner in the game, compared to Hulk? Some games focus on Hulk, because of how battle-ready he is, while the Ultimate Alliance series limited him to being Banner. Is this game going to take a look at both sides of the character?

Noah: This game definitely explores both sides of the character. Banner and his relationship with Hulk is one of his most interesting facets, but also, being the Hulk is extremely compelling [laughs]. So for us to do one side or the other wouldn’t do justice to the hero. Part of it, to me, is that juxtaposition of those two characters, and how Banner deals with his other side.

We want to thank Noah for taking the time to dive into Marvel’s Avengers with us. The game comes out for the PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Stadia on May 5th, 2020. Be sure to stay tuned to MonsterVine for all the latest news and features leading into the game’s release.