Note: This post could contain SPOILERS for Marvel's Infinity, so read at your own risk.
Marvel and Playdom's popular Facebook game Marvel Avengers Alliance has been chugging along since early 2012, drafting new SHIELD recruits, teaming them with various Marvel characters and sending them on the hunt for SHIELD points and silver as they fight through the ranks of Marvel's baddest villains.
In addition to the regular game, players are also treated to special operations every so often, which are sometimes based on storylines from the comics -- like the recent one that drew from Dark Reign. Each special operation is typically limited to about three weeks, and if you complete all the mission objectives during that time, you unlock a new playable character -- past missions have allowed you to unlock Emma Frost, Magik, Hank Pym, Vision and, most recently, Ares, among others. Occasionally they'll also have you collect lockboxes that, through a process that's probably long and boring to anyone who doesn't play the game (and can be extremely frustrating for those of us who do), lets you gain a second character for your rather large team of Avengers. So far those characters have all been characters who have been both heroes and villains during their career -- Magneto, Juggernaut and Elektra, for example.
Their latest special operation kicked off earlier today and, like the big Avengers vs. X-Men one from last year, draws from Marvel's current event series, Infinity ... or at least the Earth-based parts of Infinity. Thanos and his crew of bad guys have hit Earth demanding a tribute, and so far there's no reference to any big interstellar battles, but then again it's still early. This mission comes with the opportunity to unlock two new playable characters, and at this point I should probably throw up a SPOILERS WARNING because I think they may have spoiled one of the upcoming plot points from the miniseries.
The first character, who you get if you complete all 25 tasks, is Black Bolt -- a welcome addition to my ever-growing Avengers army:
(Now if they just add Namor we'll have all the Illuminati members to choose from when we throw down with the bad guys).
This mission also includes a "lockbox" character ... a character I don't think I've ever seen before who goes by the name Thane:
Could this be the son of Thanos who Ebony Maw and the rest of the Black Order are looking for? Given that the mission so far has kept with the "Kill all your young men for us" theme from the comic:
My guess is yes. Of course, maybe we're actually getting Thane Ector as a playable character. He'd be an odd, random addition to the roster, but then again, I never expected we'd have the likes of Thundra or Squirrel Girl, either.
Like I said, it's still early, so I'll be interested to see how this mission plays out.