Avengers: Under Siege (Game)

Avengers: Under Siege is a video-game release on May 6, 2023 based on the comic book arcs Siege, Armor Wars, Demon in a Bottle, and Dark Reign. Playing as Iron Man, you have to recover the Avengers after Captain America has been slain and the team broken in the aftermath of a civil war among their ranks. All the while Norman Osborn takes to the scene after becoming director of S.H.I.E.L.D, forming a new Avengers team made of villains who do his bidding. 
== Synopsis ==
Set initially in the past, the Avengers roster consists of at this time Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Wasp, Yellowjacket, Hawkeye, and Black Widow. They are located at the Avengers mansion when an undead Baron Zemo appears outside the mansion. Yellowjacket is there to investigate. Baron Zemo blows up himself, Hank Pym, and most of the mansion. Tony Stark makes his way to his suit amidst the rubble and helps the survivors out. Suddenly, a Quinject operated by Vision appears and crashes into the remains of the mansion, severely injuring Wasp. A small army of Ultron bots emerge with it from the crash. The team coordinates to defeat the Ultron bots. They go to question Vision as the Hulk is sent into a sudden blind rage, killing Vision and the already critically injured Wasp. Iron Man has to try to contain him. 
He lures Hulk away to a nearby abandoned dock. Iron Man then sinks the dock beneath the Hulk. Hulk is stunned for awhile but gets away to a nearby military airfield. Iron Man has to try to minimize loss of life in the destruction. Hulk stuns himself from an explosion, giving Iron Man a chance to focus his power into a single punch, incapacitating the Hulk. 
Iron Man arrives back at Avengers mansion where the team is now busy with a Kree warship attacking. After destroying it, the team senses something wrong. Scarlet Witch is nowhere to be seen. Hawkeye recalls something he said to her that set her off regarding her children. Doctor Strange arrives having sensed a disturbance in magic.
In the present, Iron Man is removed as director of S.H.I.E.L.D after a Skrull Invasion. Throughout the story, it's revealed that Captain America has been killed after turning himself in following a civil war among the superhero community. After Stark is replaced, Norman Osborn becomes director of S.H.I.E.L.D in spite of his controversial past. He forms a new Avengers team consisting of Bullseye, Eddie Brock, Ares, Moonstone, and Sentry, restoring public faith in heroes. However behind the scenes, Osborn is expanding his influence in the country.
He also begins to subvert Stark Industries by stealing its technology and distributing it to villains in exchange for them becoming allies of Osborn. Tony goes on a vendetta against the villains in possession of his technology. Afterward, he travels to Russia and accidentally kills Titanium Man while there. Russia demands Stark is brought before the UN for killing a Russian citizen. Stark agrees reluctantly, coming in his armor. For some reason, his armor is overriden and it kills the Russian ambassador. Stark, now a fugitive, has his company taken over by Obadiah Stane on behalf of Osborn. The government of the United States, in order to alleviate tensions with Russia, begins to hunt down Stark. Stark falls into a drunken state due to being traumatized from the death of the Russian ambassador. The chase temporarily ends when Stark fakes his own death. 
Stark finds himself in Eastern Europe, where he has been searching for Buckeye Barnes and his Secret Avengers. When he finds them, he is not on good terms with them as he was the one who fought them in the past for being Captain America's side in the civil war. They also do not trust him due to his alcoholic addiction. He does help them defeat Red Skull, who was responsible for hiring an assassin for Captain America. This does not earn their trust however, and Stark returns to the United States for redemption. He gets sober finally after helping a woman give birth to a child in a homeless shelter and vowing to raise him when the woman dies in child birth. He confronts Obadiah Stane, and upon defeating him, Stane reveals that it was Osborn who framed Stark for the death of the Russian ambassador and distributed his technology in hopes of getting more allies. 
Stark breaks into Osborn's home and confronts him. Osborn reveals his Iron Patriot armor and battles Stark. The battle becomes a draw, which prompts Osborn to call in Shield agents to capture Stark. Stark escapes and releases an audio recording of Stane incriminating Osborn to the world. Osborn is able to get control of global communications and wipe the audio recording before most could hear it.
Stark is still left un-absolved of his actions and his company is now under control of Shield instead of Stane. Stark later is ambushed by Thor, who is revealed to have somehow come back from the dead. Thor has a grudge against Stark for supposedly using his DNA to fight Captain America's side. Stark however says that it was Shield who used Thor's DNA to create a clone of him. The two eventually stand down when their fight attracts the attention of Shield and the Dark Avengers. The two former Avengers take refuge in Asgard, which has now relocated on Earth. Shield backs down, unsure of what to do.
Thor and Tony amend their friendship. After which, Tony reveals to Thor that the team is broken and Captain America is dead. Thor is hopeful they can come together once more. Stark dosen't express the same level of optimism. Thor nonetheless offers Tony a chance to join him on a mission to find the warriors three. Heimdall guides Stark and Thor to travel to Africa. Thor is in his Donald Blake form working for a humanitarian organization while Stark is in civilian clothing, with his suit in a briefcase. A rebel army group attacks the organization and their medical camp. Thor and Stark defends the camp alongside a group of three familiar mercenaries. After the battle, Thor creates a storm, revealing the mercenaries to be the warriors three.
Returning to New Asgard, Thor learns that Loki has also returned from Ragnarok. Loki realizes Osborn is the new director of Shield and views a chance at gaining influence. Loki offers to lead the Dark Avengers to capture or kill the Secret Avengers. Meanwhile, Stark travels to meet the Secret Avengers once again. Stark says that it is time to take down Norman Osborn's reign and reveal the truth. The Dark Avengers arrive however and blow the cover off their operation. The team scrambles across a market square in Bucharest, attempting to make their way to the hidden Avengers quinjet located underground. The team fights against Loki and the Dark Avengers before making their escape. They do experience trouble when arriving in San Francisco, Sentry, who has followed them since Romania attacks them. 
Iron Man goes almost toe to toe with Sentry, allowing the Secret Avengers to hide, However, Iron Man is eventually defeated and brought in to be interrogated by Norman Osborn in New York City. The Secret Avengers meanwhile, question whether they should make an attempt to rescue Stark. Stark, meanwhile, is being tortured by Bullseye. Stark is able to break free afterward and finds that Osborn had obtained his original Mark 1 suit. He goes inside of it as his regular armor has been kept inside a locked room. He does manage to ward off Eddie Brock and Bullseye before finally getting to his regular armor. Moonstone grabs him before he can suit up and launches him out of a window. He barely attracts the suit pieces to his body in time. 
Shield agents begin to swarm his location. Iron Man is helped in defeating them by the Secret Avengers, who have decided to help him after all. Shield suddenly unveils their own mech suits created using Stark tech, named Mandroids. The team flees after defeating the Mandroids, and are suprised to see themselves being rescued by Maria Hill and Nick Fury.
They reveal that they've formed an underground branch of Shield, free of Osborn. They also reveal Steve Rogers to be in fact alive. Meanwhile, Osborn believes that he needs a show of force, to show the public he is still in charge. To this, Loki also agrees. Sentry has doubts however, as well as Ares. Sentry is afraid of his darker side and what he could become. Osborn, not wanting to give up his strongest asset. So he decides to order Bullseye to kill Sentry's girlfriend. This serves to make Sentry more unstable and pushes him further towards Osborn's side. Ares on the other hand, objects to fighting Asgardians. Osborn lies to Ares and says they are fighting to free Asgard of Loki. Unbeknownst to Ares, Loki has been working alongside Osborn. 
Loki orchestrates an inciting incident, making his brother Thor, when he travels to meet the undeground Shield and Avengers, attack police and normal Shield units, seeing them as ghouls. Despite this, the president is still hesitant about attacking Asgard. Annoyed at the progress, Osborn decides to start the attack anyways, assembling his Dark Avengers and Shield agents.
Thor travels back to Asgard to stop their attack but is overwhelmed and defeated on live television. Iron Man and the Avengers go to defend Asgard in one last pitch battle. Iron Man and Steve Rogers go to recover the wounded Thor on the fields of Asgard. They then join the main battle in Asgard. Loki realizes the destruction and has a change of heart, resulting in his death at the hands of Sentry. Ares realizes the battle is not against Loki and attacks Osborn, who is in his Iron Patriot suit. Sentry responds to Ares' attack by ripping him in half, shocking everyone on both sides. The Dark Avengers, except for Sentry, are finally defeated. 
Sentry emerges, his void alter-ego now out of the bag. Iron Man tries to take down Sentry by landing Shield's crashing helicarrier down upon him. This has no effect, and the void continues to manifest into a completely different form, one in the shape of a massive spider. The Avengers battle the void and briefly revert Sentry into his human form. Sentry demands to be killed, which Thor reluctantly agrees to.
Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers are taken into Shield custody. The Superhuman Registration act is repealed. The Avengers re-open the Avengers Mansion. Captain America tells Stark that people need something to believe in after seeing their heroes fail them so many times. And with that said, a new team of Avengers is formed.
== Gameplay features ==
# As Iron Man, the player is able to upgrade the suit through experience points gained through the main story and as well as through completing side missions. These upgrades vary all the way from what weapons Iron Man can employ to what resistances his suit can attain to what special abilities he can gain. 
# There is a total of 5 Iron Man suit variants which effect Iron Man's appearance only, not his suits abilities. These suits can be unlocked at several points in the story and during the side missions. 
# During segments involving teamwork with other heroes, Iron Man is able to give commands to specific heroes. Following the main story, Iron Man is able to lead a customizable roster of heroes, with the maximum amount being 4. Heroes which can be chosen include Hawkeye, Falcon, Buckeye Barnes, Thor, Captain America, and Black Widow, most of whom carry over from the Secret Avengers.
== Solo Side-Missions ==
=== Doctor Doom ===
Halfway into his quest to retake his stolen technology, Tony Stark learns that some of his technology that he has reclaimed has been stolen once more and tracked to Latveria. This will lead into a side-mission that can be continued at any other time. Iron Man will arrive in Latveria and infiltrate Castle Doom, defeating the Royal Guard of Doctor Doom in the process. Doctor Doom emerges and the two begin to fight. During the scuffle, they are both flung into the Middle Ages in England. Iron Man joins the forces of King Arthur while Doom joins Morgan le Fey, the half-sister of King Arthur, in a bid to be the ruler he always aspired to be and helps her raise an army of undead warriors against King Arthur and Iron Man. After Iron Man defeats le Fey, he makes a truce with Doom. The two use parts of their suits to create a makeshift time machine, sending them back to the present day. 
The truce falls apart as Iron Man demands his technology back. Instead of agreeing, Doom presents Iron Man with a legion of doombots upgraded using Stark's technology, who attack him. After defeating the doombots, Iron Man escapes Latveria.
== Team Side-Missions ==
=== Superia ===
An agent formerly apart of Osborn's Shield leads a group of rogue agents to hold onto power following his defeat, capturing the cosmic cube in the process. Iron Man leads the Avengers, Captain America, Black Widow, Thor, Falcon, and Hawkeye, to foil her plan. After defeating her and her Shield agents, control over Shield is stabilized.
=== The Leader ===
A heavy amount of gamma radiation has been detected. The Avengers decide to investigate, where they discover where Bruce Banner has been held for years after he went on a devastating rampage and defeated all of New York City's heroes, is now destroyed. The Avengers continue to investigate and eventually realize the Leader to be the culprit. The leader is attempting to siphon off Bruce Banner's powers to enhance his own When the Avengers attempt to stop him, the Leader sends his own gamma creations to battle them. After fighting past the monsters, the Avengers finally confront the Leader. After defeating him, Bruce Banner leaves to sort out his inner demons. He offers his services to the Avengers if needed. Following this mission, the Hulk can be chosen on the Avengers roster for other missions.
== Combat ==
== Bosses ==
=== Titanium Man ===
Titanium Man is the first boss in the game Iron Man encounters when trying to destroy his stolen technology. His main mode of attack is concussive blasts which come from his armored gauntlets. As well, he can emit magnetic coils from his gauntlets which can envelop Iron Man and disable his suit, preventing him from using any projectile weapons or flight. Due to his bulky nature, Titanium Man is susceptible to attacks from behind him.
=== Firepower ===
Firepower is sent by the American government to capture Tony Stark. Firepower is equipped with retractable cannons, hip-mounted missiles, large missiles, and gatling guns. Firepower can generate a forcefield which can withstand most of Iron Man's attacks. Like Iron Man, Firepower also has a powerful unibeam. When he launches his larger missiles, he does so out of his suit's back. There is a small time frame in which Iron Man can destroy the missile as it is being retracted, which can deal large amounts of damage to Firepower.
=== Red Skull ===
=== Iron Monger ===
Iron Monger has a refractive coating that refracts projectiles. It can be destroyed but will regenerate over time and need to be destroyed again. Beyond this, Iron Monger has shoulder-mounted seeker missiles, a chest laser and repulsor blasts. Unlike previous armored villains, Iron Monger is large enough to grab Iron Man if close enough and is able to ragdoll him around. Iron Monger's weakness comes in his armor's computer controls. Iron Man can temporarily disable these controls which will leave Iron Monger defenseless and open to attack.
=== Iron Patriot ===
Iron Patriot has almost entirely the same abilities as Iron Man, with the addition of shoulder mounted missiles and deploying small attack drones. Iron Patriot is much quicker to react against attacks and can also fly at much higher speeds than Iron Man. On top of this, Iron Patriot is able to briefly turn invisible.
=== Venom ===
While escaping from where he was being interrogated, Iron Man is ambushed by Venom. Most attacks against Venom, beside explosives or attacks that generate heat (repulsors, unibeams, etc), have little effect. Due to the Mark 1 suit, which Stark eventually fully got his hands on during the escape, and its limited capabilities, sonic attacks are unable to be used. 
=== Moonstone ===
=== The Void ===