Marvel’s Avengers Hero Challenge Cards is battle pass done right

Marvel’s Avengers’ Hero Challenge Cards is a super fair system.

I’ve got to hand it to Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix. When it comes to DLC and post-launch plans for Marvel’s Avengers, they are doing it right. Whereas most publishers would nickel-and-dime you for cosmetic outfits and extra in-game goodies, the system in Marvel’s Avengers sounds incredibly fair.

First, let me remind you that all post-launch content — new characters, story content, missions and regions — will all be free. So Hawkeye, the first announced post-launch DLC character, will be available at no additional cost. Awesome. He’ll have his own story mission (complete with a new villain), unique abilities, and various cosmetics.

Now, it’s worth mentioning that Marvel’s Avengers will have content that can be purchased with real money but this will only consist of cosmetic items that don’t influence or impact the gameplay. They are purely for look. Again, awesome.

Things like Outfits, Emotes, Takedowns (flashy finishing moves) and Nameplates (a cool way to show off your stats) will be available for purchase in-game. Some of it can be purchased from Vendors with in-game Resources or Units (in-game digital currency with no real-world value). Some of it can be purchased from the Marketplace using Credits, which can be bought with real money. 500 Credits cost $5.00 but you’ll be able to buy packs of credits in 500, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 values with bonus credits offered as well.

All of this is fairly standard practice for a game of Marvel’s Avengers’ nature. But here’s where the game sets itself apart from others; it’s Hero Challenge Cards. These are essentially the Marvel’s Avengers equivalent of Battle Passes, which are found in just about every game now.

In Marvel’s Avengers, these Hero Challenge Cards offer 40 tiers of free and premium rewards that can be earned via Challenge Points by completing daily and weekly challenges. Again, this is very similar in design to other games’ battle passes.

Through these Hero Challenge Cards, you’ll earn things like Resources, Units, Credits and Cosmetics — stuff that, again, won’t impact actual gameplay. All six starting heroes — Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Ms. Marvel — will have their own Hero Challenge Card at launch.

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And here’s where things get really cool. All six will be available for everyone for free. That’s 40 tiers for six characters — 240 objectives and unique pieces of cosmetic items — to work towards at launch.

Additionally, each post-launch hero (which will be free) will come with their own Hero Challenge Cards that can be purchased for 1,000 Credits ($10). But wait, it gets better. You can actually earn Credits by completing the challenges and by the time you’ve done everything with the Hero Challenge Card, you’ll have earned back your 1,000 Credit activation cost plus all of the content (over 12,500 Credits).

Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics are going the Fortnite route with this and it’s amazing. But wait, they’ll do Fortnite one better. Whereas Fortnite and other games offer seasonal battle passes that eventually expire and leave, Marvel’s Avengers Hero Challenge Cards will not rotate out or retire, so there’s no fear of missing out. You can literally buy it and complete it at your leisure, although there will be “skips” you can purchase if you want to get through tiers faster.