Marvel's Midnight Suns just might end up being a better Avengers game than Marvel's Avengers. A diverse roster of heroes and a focus on inter-character relationships make Marvel's Midnight Suns a more promising dive into the Marvel universe than Square Enix's maligned, live-service take on Earth's mightiest heroes.

A sort of dark-magic Avengers, the Midnight Sons aren't exactly a big name in Marvel Comics, likely known mostly to diehard fans. This lack of knowledge actually works in developer Firaxis Games' favor, allowing the developer more room to tell a story of its own with superheroes that don't often get the spotlight.

Related: Everything We Know About Marvel's Midnight Suns

Firaxis' design philosophy, recently discussed in the Marvel's Midnight Suns gameplay reveal, shows the XCOM developer could capture the spirit of Marvel comics in a way Marvel's Avengers failed to. The fun of comic books is seeing heroes not only do fantastical things but also interact with other characters in the universe, whether friend or foe. Marvel's Midnight Suns, with its gameplay style and roster, could successfully do both.

Why Midnight Suns Looks Promising Compared To Marvel's Avengers

Marvel’s Midnight Suns Iron Man Gameplay

Marvel's Avengers, right from the start, failed to make much of an identity for itself, partially because of its cast. While Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and Black Widow would need to be in any Avengers game, many fans felt the game's characters were just knockoff versions of their MCU counterparts. It did include the welcome addition of Kamala Khan's Ms. Marvel, but the rest of the heroes simply didn't stand out. Fans also didn't get to learn much about these characters; the game started and ended with a group of heroes familiar with one another, and interactions between characters, outside of a few cutscenes, were rare.

These issues don't seem to be the case in Marvel's Midnight Suns. Firaxis' decision to include both lesser-known heroes and big names automatically creates a more interesting team dynamic, and the game's premise - heroes battling against a supernatural threat, Lilith - takes more familiar heroes like Iron Man and Captain America out of their comfort zones. Having a player-created main character in the form of The Hunter, an entirely new face to all of the existing heroes, also opens the door for more interactions and conversations. Essentially, Marvel's Midnight Suns' characters, story, and setting give it the feel of a Marvel event comic, rather than a retread of the company's film successes.

Using its card-based, turn-based battle system, Marvel's Midnight Suns also seems to put more emphasis on the unique powers of each hero than Marvel's Avengers. Square Enix's action-RPG revolved around mashing light and heavy attack buttons, only occasionally using special abilities. With the cinematic flourishes enabled by individual card abilities played every turn, Firaxis could better capture what makes each hero special in combat.

The reason Marvel is a household name is its characters. By including a great variety of heroes and emphasizing each their unique backgrounds and powers in a new setting, Marvel's Midnight Suns stands on its own, not simply Marvel's Avengers' video game version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Next: Marvel's Midnight Suns Gets To A New Avengers Team Before The MCU