Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, the ambitious new Captain America / Black Panther game from Skydance New Media, could launch as early as Christmas 2025. The speculation arrives courtesy of actor Khary Payton (who plays Azzuri / Black Panther), who spoke about ongoing work on the game during a recent interview with The Direct.
“We’re still working,” he confirmed. “We’re planning on 2025… We’re thinking like a Christmas situation. But I’m so excited.”
Now, this confirmation does come with a caveat – while Payton is directly involved with the game, contributing voice work and his likeness, Skydance New Media will have the final say, and development work will continue around Payton’s contributions. That said, it does appear the team is optimistic about the release timing, given these comments.
Based on what we’ve seen so far, it’s not outlandish to think the game could release later this year. We first heard about Marvel 1943 way back in 2022, and since then, Skydance New Media has been hard at work on development.
So far, we’ve seen a bunch of little tidbits about the game, with new looks ramping up in 2024. Skydance has released a story trailer revealing more of its World War 2-set adventure, and we’ve also seen a bunch of screenshots.
Based on these, it did appear Skydance New Media was ramping up for new reveals in 2025 – and that the game is in a position where that confidence is warranted. Again, this hasn’t been confirmed in a strictly official capacity, but Khary Payton’s comments are promising – and we’re certainly looking forward to hearing more.
There’s so much potential in this game. While it’s fair to say there’s some fatigue around Marvel tales currently, cool ideas always break through. The ‘fatigue’ isn’t necessarily about Marvel itself, but about beige ideas revolving without a sense of freshness or ambition.
Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra looks set to break that malaise, with novel ideas about exploring the past of Marvel, and Captain America and Black Panther leading a war story that so far appears to take some cues from Indiana Jones, as well as “buddy cop” stories. It’s also worth noting the legendary Amy Hennig (Uncharted, Jak and Daxter, Soul Reaver) is writing and producing the game, which brings all sorts of comfort.
Hopefully, there’s not long to go now before we see more.
