LOOKING AHEAD TO THE NEXT MARVEL PLAY SET: WHAT IS BATTLEWORLD?
[This post was originally published at http://www.Disneyholics.com on SEPTEMBER 16, 2015]
[Disclaimer: This is merely a “101” lesson, so to speak, on the very basics of Battleworld and how it may tie in to the upcoming Marvel: Battlegrounds Play Set. This is not intended to be 100% thorough on the history and importance of Battleworld. Also, comic book concepts like this can be super intricate. To the best of my knowledge, everything described herein is accurate. However, if it is not, please leave a comment below and I will look into it further and edit the post to reflect additional knowledge.]
As you might be aware, Disney Infinity 3.0 is slated to have a brand-new Marvel Play Set experience, set to release sometime in 2016. The title of this Play Set is “Marvel: Battlegrounds.” Today, we want to take some time and theorize as to the possibilities of this Play Set. It has been rumored that Marvel: Battlegrounds is primed to be Disney Infinity’s rendition of a Super Smash Bros.-style melee fighting game (much like Toy Box Raceway is set to be Disney Infinity’s imitation of Mario Kart-style gameplay mechanics). The name “Battleground” also instills the imagery of Marvel characters fighting — against either one another or a larger and common threat.
However, the use of this name is more than a little confusing. It seems awfully similar to “Battleworld,” a set of existing planets within the Marvel Comic Book canon. Indeed, it is quite puzzling why the Disney Infinity Team did not choose to capitalize on this built-in cross-promotion. Today, we are going to explain, very loosely, the concept of Battleworld and theorize as to how it might influence the nature of the Marvel: Battlegrounds Play Set.
Battleworld was initially a planet created by an omnipotent being called The Beyonder. The Beyonder took various segments of different worlds and realities and created an amalgam of a planet. Here, The Beyonder forced various superheroes to co-inhabit Battleworld with some of the worst villains of the Marvel Multiverse. He gave them one order: fight to the death for the chance to win the ultimate prize — the fulfillment of the winners’ deepest dreams and desires. Each camp began engaging in minor battles with one another — superheroes vs. super villains. However, each camp consisted of various and rivaling egos are personalities. This gave rise to in-fighting among not only the group of super villains, but also the group of super heroes. This lead to situations such as a fight between Spider-Man and the X-Men; Dr. Doom vs. all of the other villains on Battleworld; the typical Heroes v. Villains.
Currently, Marvel Comics is running a nine-issue story arc, also called “Secret Wars.” This new story also features a new version of Battleworld. In this story, The Beyonders began focusing their efforts on bringing about the destruction of everything. The Villainous Doctor Doom, recognizing that he could do nothing to prevent all of existence from becoming extinct, killed The Beyonders and stole their power.
When the end of all existence was at hand, Doctor Doom used his new omnipotence to gather and save as many random fragments from all the different exploding realities as he could. The result of this act was the creation of a new Battleworld: a planet comprised of different continents, each of them representative of a salvaged fragment of a different reality. Additionally, several characters found themselves represented several times in Battleworld: different versions of themselves from different universes. This new planet, and its inhabitants, did not retain any memories of their existences prior to Battleworld’s inception. As such, they heralded Doom as their God. This storyline is still on going (only five of the currently-planned nine issues have been released).
There are many theories as to what will play out in Battleworld, which is now the sole remaining existence in the Marvel Comic Book canon, and the motivations for Marvel partaking in a massive shift of their status quo. It seems apparent that they were tired of maintaining comic series in two major Universes: their “main” (so-called 616) universe and their Ultimate Universe. This new status quo has allowed them to select the best characters and story concepts from each universe and merge them into one universe at the end of Secret Wars. This will allow them to streamline their story-telling and entice new readers by eliminating the burden of having to make sense of two major continuities and universes. In the meantime, however, we are left with Battleworld. Under God Doom’s control, Battleworld’s different continents have established rivalries, as they all strive to earn God Doom’s favor. This allows to altercations and battles between characters who, prior to the Secret Wars event, would have generally been friends or even teammates.
This, as you can probably sense, leads me back to Marvel: Battlegrounds. The entire premise of Battleworld allows for a convenient justification if a certain game development studio were to plan a Play Set wherein Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy teammates, and a select few characters from the Spider-Man mythos were to all duke it out and brawl with one another. These characters, with the exceptions of Loki, Ultron, and Venom, are all on friendly terms with one another. It would, typically, make no sense for them to fight amongst themselves. If Marvel: Battlegrounds is indeed a Super Smash Bros.-style fighting game, it would only be logical for it to take place on some variation of Battleworld.
However, it remains unknown why Disney and Marvel have specifically decided to stay away from the Battleworld branding. It is baffling why they would choose a name, in “Battlegrounds,” that is so incredibly close to “Battleworld.” Both invoke strong imagery of superheroes fighting either one another or a larger threat. Only time will tell with any sort of certainty, but a Play Set taking place in Battleworld, or a Battleworld-esque setting, would tie in perfectly with the rumored Marvel-centric fighting-game Play Set that is coming our way in 2016.
