Marvel’s Avengers offers a deep dive on Kate Bishop, arriving December 6th
Following a delay out of October, the Kate Bishop version of Hawkeye will arrive in Marvel’s Avengers on December 6th. The first free, post-launch hero for Crystal Dynamic’s action-RPG will bring a new storyline and new enemies to fight.
As detailed in a new PlayStation Blog post and nine-minute trailer, Bishop features a new slate of abilities centered on her trademark bow and arrow, as well as a sword and quantum attacks that make use of repurposed A.I.M. technology.
It’s the last of these that seems the most immediately striking, as Bishop will have access to a short range teleport for double jumps, air dashes, and parries. These aren’t necessarily abilities fans of the comics will associate with her, but they should open up some interesting gameplay opportunities.
On the archery front, she’ll have access to a variety of trick arrows, like Razor Arrows that offer a three-shot combo, Scattershot Arrows that fire multiple projectiles at once, Explosive Arrows that stagger enemies, and Smoke Screen arrows that increase stun damage to foes caught in the cloud.
In addition to standard attacks, she’ll have access to a set of Heroic Abilities, like all heroes in Marvel’s Avengers. Her Support Heroic—Decoy—generates a double that will attack enemies, with later upgrades allowing her to swap places with the doppelgänger or detonate it on command.
Her Assault Heroic—Warp Arrow—lets her teleport long distances with an enemy-elevating explosion upon arrival. One upgrade here will leave behind a portal other heroes can use to follow Kate, which sounds a bit like Wraith’s Ultimate in Apex Legends.
Finally, Kate’s Ultimate Heroic is called Quantum Overdrive. It provides her with an unlimited supply of Intrinsic energy for its duration, so she can fire off quantum energy arrows.
As for the new storyline, players can expect to see Kate searching for her former mentor Clint Barton, the original Hawkeye, in a narrative that includes time travel and the threat of a new villain, the Super Adaptoid, who’s equipped with the powers of all the Avengers. The boss fight against the Super Adaptoid will be a multiplayer-only affair, so get ready to recruit your friends.
You can check out all of these details and more in action in the full Kate Bishop trailer below.
Following this December update, the next hero to join the roster will be Clint Barton’s Hawkeye, with his own storyline, Future Imperfect, taking place in a distant future where the Avengers have lost. That’s arriving sometime in early 2021, and there’s a brief tease at the end of today’s trailer.
The final piece of info in today’s news drop is that Crystal Dynamics is looking into the possibility of cross-platform play, though further details are not yet available.
Marvel’s Avengers is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Crystal Dynamics will also bring the game to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S at a now-unspecified future date in early 2021, with free cross-gen upgrades within the same console family.
