Oh right, Disney owns Marvel now.
Loki (Good Idea) – by Kimberly Keller
I could write all day about the long list of Marvel characters Disney should include. Heck, just looking at ability Power Discs alone would be a couple pages (Spider-Man’s web slinging, the Thing/Ben Grimm’s rock hard defense, and Magneto’s… magneto-ness), but let’s just cut right to the chase. I want a Loki figure. Done. I know I have just spoken for everyone, so let’s just mail our petition to Disney and be finished here.
Honestly, with the mega success of The Avengers and every movie tied in to it, Disney clearly has some Marvel plans on the way and they aren’t looking to the comics for inspiration. After dropping hints in interviews it’s obvious the House of Mouse can’t hide the inevitable for long. With Thor: The Dark World out and Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s trailer already heating up movie theaters, Marvel is in full swing for the Avengers 2 lead up, and what better way to market it than offer up everyone’s favorite characters to rock out with while they wait? I would love to see some X-Men and Spider-Man action too, but Avengers should definitely lead the way.
And, of course, with the Avengers comes Loki, the “god” of mischief and cunning. After stealing the show in Thor, Loki was rewarded with some more chaos in The Avengers and soon topped it all in Thor’s sequel. This character is so wonderfully constructed, you just can’t hate him. Look at who he grew up with after all! It must have been maddening for someone as smart as him to spend all his time with the mentally-challenged Thor, and to make matters worse, everyone loved the hammer guy more! Sure, I love Thor as much as the next person, but Loki’s definitely got more oomph. Thor’s silly antics and lovable muscle-brained helplessness created the perfect foil to showcase the genius of Loki. It’s sad how this doesn’t happen often, but it’s nice to see a truly intelligent character who can push the boundaries of a superhuman world.
He just wants to be loved!
While it may be impossible to show Loki’s wit and foresight in a game such as this, he does bring a couple of cool tricks to the table. Besides the joy and running around as your favorite character, Loki is a master at the magic of illusion. Just imagine how cool it would be to project yourself and sneak up on an enemy foolishly shooting at the wrong target, or how about seemingly shape-shifting to match another character? This could be a loophole to bringing in other characters from the Toy Box into a Marvel-themed Play Set. No point really, just chaotic mischief, Loki-style.
Loki does repeatedly help his brother and understands when to put his own desires aside (life threatening situations are always good), so a Play Set featuring him and the other Avengers wouldn’t be too unbelievable if given the right story. We could have some snarky dialogue, tricky challenges, and even some shawarma cameos as everyone fights for truth, justice, and self-preservation. Now let’s see some hip Disney Infinity sculpting and get the trickster out here already!
Thanos (Bad Idea) – by Becky Hollada
Who? Right. He’s not in a movie, so not everyone knows who he is. Yet, on August 1 2014, Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy will be in theatres, and the red guy at the end of The Avengers will finally get a name. And since Marvel Studios has already filed eleven trademark applications for various merchandise, it’s almost a given that late next year we’ll be seeing a lot of him. A new Marvel movie franchise will be the perfect thing for Disney Interactive to spice up Disney Infinity in its second year.
Thanos, another villain-esque character along the same lines as Loki, doesn’t always seem outright evil, but does a lot of evil things. He was born on Saturn’s Titan in a mutant Eternal, which for all the non-comic book fans really just boils down to “is a hard to kill SOB.” He also gets a ton of superpowers, like telekinesis, the ability to absorb and project cosmic energy, and even time travel. These powers are amplified beyond normal Titanian abilities from his dual heritage, and an affinity with the entity Death. Sounds awesome, right?
Cue evil grin.
Except there is not a single thing this guy couldn’t just dominate in a large part of the game. Put simply, Thanos is just too strong. Enemies? Snapped in half or probably just vaporized when he blinks. Weapons? Why even bother? Frying pans are awesome, but seriously? He could do more with his pinky toe. Ability discs? Please. Does he really need to be more powerful? He is meant to be a major player in the larger scheme of the universe and would dwarf the capabilities of most other characters in Disney Infinity.
About the only thing Thanos would really be amusing for in the Toy Box at all would be racing. While Thanos is a genius in all known fields of science and technology, and absurdly powerful, he can’t fly or probably even run very fast, considering his size. So this is probably the only area he would be on equal footing with other Disney Infinity characters and vehicles are the only logical use of a Power Disc for him. Big bad ass Titan riding poor little Dumbo. I’ll admit, that’s a pretty funny mental image.
But that’s pretty much his single redeeming quality in terms of gameplay. Unless they seriously handicapped Thanos, or strayed far from his comic-book self, he is just too strong to be a normal character or even a boss. Unlike someone such as Davy Jones or Loki, who have the charisma to make interesting playable characters, Thanos is most defined by his obsession with Death which is not only not child-friendly, but hard to translate into a world like this one.
Marvel better show up in Disney Infinity, that much is obvious. I am, however, hopeful some new characters will be able to make an appearance after Guardians of the Galaxy comes out in theatres next August. Just not this guy.
