a collection called Marvel's Avengers: Road to A-Day. Each comic focuses on one of the five playable characters available at launch, excluding Ms. Marvel. The first comic to be released was Marvel's Avengers: Iron Man #1 on 11 December 2019, followed by Marvel's Avengers: Thor #1 on 8 January 2020, Marvel's Avengers: Hulk #1 on 5 February 2020, Marvel's Avengers: Captain America #1 on 18 March 2020, and concluding with Marvel's Avengers: Black Widow #1 on 25 March 2020. Tie-in books Titan Books published two tie-in books for the game on 1 September 2020. The first book, titled Marvel's Avengers: The Extinction Key was written by Greg Keyes, is a prequel focused on the events that take place prior to the A-Day, which also sets the game's events in motion. The novel follows the Avengers as they try to prevent an ancient organization called the Zodiac from acquiring an infinitely powerful weapon capable of warping the very fabric of time and space — the Zodiac Key. The Extinction Key also introduces the game's versions of Doctor Strange and Brother Voodoo, as well as specific members of S.H.I.E.L.D. The second book, Marvel's Avengers: The Art of the Game contains concept art, storyboards and artist commentary, an intimate study of the Avengers, plus a detailed view at the different environments and missions in the game. Further merchandise Funko released a set of Pop! Vinyl figurines based on the playable characters in the game that are available at launch, in addition to figures based on Taskmaster and Abomination. Black Widow received a glow-in-the-dark chase variant, with the stock of this variant being at a rate of one in every six Black Widow figures. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk also received alternate designs exclusive to certain retailers, with the first two being glow-in-the-dark variants. The designs for the characters were also loosely adapted for Lego Marvel Avengers sets releasing in 2020, though the events depicted are not from the game itself. There was also the release of several Hasbro figures to tie-in to the game. This includes 5 inch basic figures of Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Taskmaster, Abomination, Captain America and Ms. Marvel as well as 6 inch Marvel Legends figures of Captain America, Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, Hulk and Abomination. Reception Critical response Marvel's Avengers received "mixed or average reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Destructoid summarized its 6/10