With the Marvel Cinematic Universe wrapping up its 10-year epic and passing the torch to Spider-Man – that opens the door for some of our favorite superheroes to embark on a new, interactive adventure. Developed by Crystal Dynamics (Tomb Raider, Rise of the Tomb Raider), Marvel’s Avengers looks to pave the way for a whole new adventure where we’re now in control of Earth’s mightiest heroes.

The Marvel’s Avengers demo at E3 2019 centered around “A-Day” where the Avengers – Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow, and Thor – unveil their new high-tech headquarters and brand-new helicarrier in San Francisco. Naturally, it’s not long until they need to spring into action as an attack breaks out on the Golden Gate Bridge and the gameplay demo kicks off.

With each hero given a few minutes to shine, we see how some of the combat works as Thor starts to knock enemies around with his hammer, Iron Man flies through debris and dodges missiles, and Hulk being… well… Hulk, as he pulverizes enemy soldiers. Each of their fighting areas were a contained zone, like a classic arcade brawler where you must dispatch all the enemies before moving on. There were also some more interactive cinematic elements as well (quick-time events) that gave the game a very movie-like feel.

We were also shown what a mid-boss battle plays out like when the villain Taskmaster faced off with Black Widow, with a mix of arcade brawling and more QTE cinematic events. It made for a very exciting watch for our demo as Widow successfully dispatched Taskmaster, but it turns out to be a hollow victory as our attention is then drawn to the new experimental helicarrier as it comes crashing into the Bay, presumably taking Cap with it and resulting in massive devastation to the city.

After that we’re shown some cutscenes featuring our heroes five years in the future. The Avengers have disbanded after the “A-Day” defeat, with all superheroes now outlawed, and the world in peril. Presumably, a key component of the game will be to reassemble Earth’s mightiest heroes, but that aspect was not on display in this first-ever look at this still-in-development title. What those adventures look like and play out as will have to wait for our next look at this upcoming game as it picks up the torch from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and sends our favorite heroes on another epic adventure with us in control.

We’ll have more to share about Marvel’s Avengers in the coming months leading up to its May 15, 2020 release on Xbox One.