In December, Marvel's Avengers finally received its first post-launch hero in the form of Kate Bishop, the protégé of original Hawkeye Clint Barton. Her story, Operation: Taking AIM, centered around a conspiracy involving Nick Fury and time travel, which leads into the story of the next post-launch hero, Clint Barton. Today, developer Crystal Dynamics provided its first in-depth look into the arrowed Avenger, as well as a March release date for Hawkeye.

Hawkeye's story is called Operation: Future Imperfect and takes place in the not-too-distant possible future where all hope is lost and the world has been devastated. The Kree have come to Earth and laid waste to the planet.

According to the War Table presentation below, the Operation: Future Imperfect story is heavily inspired by the Old Man Hawkeye Marvel Comics run. That story centers around the world's supervillains organizing to wipe out all superheroes. In Marvel's Avengers' loose adaptation of this storyline, old man Hawkeye retired and sat the fight out, so he wasn't a part of the fight when the Kree attacked. Meanwhile, modern-day Hawkeye is involved in a storyline inspired by the Hawkeye comics My Life as a Weapon. 

In the apocalyptic future, a nuclear war has destroyed the planet and Hulk is driven insane by the tragic events as the additional radiation causes him to further transform into Maestro, a version of the green monster that combines Hulk's might with Banner's intelligence. Maestro takes out all remaining heroes and villains in the world to attempt to rebuild the planet in his image. With a throne surrounded by trophies like Iron Man's helmet and Captain America's shield, it doesn't look like things went so well for Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Once you pick up the bow as Hawkeye, you can expect an eclectic mix of abilities from Clint. While you may best know him as the expert archer in the Marvel universe, Crystal Dynamics took inspiration from Clint's time as Ronin to also give him high-level swordplay. Clint is able to sidestep attacks and parry with ease. His Deadeye ability lets him home in on a specific target to maximize damage, while his arsenal of 10 unique arrow types will let you approach fights how you want to. His Hunter's Arrow ultimate allows him to shoot an arrow (or multiple arrows when you upgrade) that flies from enemy to enemy across the battlefield. 

You can see the entire War Table presentation below.

The release of Hawkeye and his story coincides with the launch of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions of Marvel's Avengers. You can read more about that news here, or get up to speed with the game by checking out the full list of playable heroes and our review.

[Source: Marvel's Avengers on YouTube]

Earlier this month, the ESA announced its commitment to a digital 2021 E3. Last year, in response to the epidemic and in line with lockdown regulations and safety protocols, E3 was cancelled. The spirit of the popular event, however, lived on with Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest and a multitude of separate publisher-facilitated showcases. These events were successful and proved to be potential alternatives to the age-old E3 format. Former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé voiced his opinion on the ESA’s plans for E3 2021 to Gamertag Radio. As a well-known and influential industry veteran, Fils-Aimé used to be directly involved in past E3 planning discussions.

Fils-Aimé  talked with Gamertag Radio about his appreciation for E3 and its large impact on the wider community. However, after learning about the ESA’s plans for the upcoming E3, he had less enthusiastic words, “I have to say that what I read doesn’t sound all that compelling.” Fils-Aimé would also go on to state ways that E3 could potential adapt and secure consumer interactivity:

“I think that the platform holders need to find a way digitally to enable their fans, their players, to experience the content because that’s the key for E3 right – the ability to be playing The Last of Us Part 3 for the first time, or to play that next Breath of the Wild game for the first time, or to play the next great game coming from the new amalgamation of all the Xbox studios.” 

With popular publishers — from Ubisoft to Sony — setting up their own digital events and reputable icons like Geoff Keighley severing ties with E3 because of disagreements on the annual event’s direction, the future of E3 is more in question than it’s ever been. Would you be sad to see E3 eventually phase out from existence? Or are you looking forward to the independent future of gaming’s summer festivities? And do you think that Reggie Fils-Aimé's call for a more consumer-centric E3 could save the beloved event?

[Source: GamerTag Radio via VGC]