Marvel had already confirmed a 2025 release window for Skydance Media's upcoming superhero action-adventure Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, but now one of the game's prominent voice actors has helped narrow its launch window.
Talking to TheDirect at MultiCon in Los Angeles, California, actor Khary Payton, who voices Azzuri/Black Panther in the upcoming video game, provided a brief update on its development status while also dropping a holiday release window.
"We’re still working," Payton told the publication. "We’re planning on 2025… We’re thinking like a Christmas situation. But I'm so excited."
Now "Christmas" suggests a December release for Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, but the holiday season in the United States typically kicks off with the shopping rush in November. Some holiday blockbuster titles also tend to launch in September and October, but that would push Marvel 1943 into the same window as Grand Theft Auto 6, which will undoubtedly be the biggest game of the year and I wouldn't expect that's at title Skydance wants to compete with.
Skydance and Marvel first revealed their collaborative title back at D23 Expo in 2022, but the official title of the game wasn't announced until GDC in March 2024, alongside full story details and a trailer. Inspired by the 2010 Marvel Comics limited series Captain America / Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers, the game's story follows Steve Rogers/Captain America and Azzuri/Black Panther as they team up to prevent the rise of Hydra in German-occupied France during World War II.
The game is being developed as a multiplayer action-adventure with Gabriel Jones, a U.S. soldier and member of the Howling Commandos, and Nanali, leader of the fledgling Wakandan Spy Network, joining Captain America and Black Panther as playable characters.
In the chaos of war, worlds collide. Captain America and Azzuri, the Black Panther of the 1940s, must overcome their differences and form an uneasy alliance to confront their common enemy. Fighting alongside Gabriel Jones of the Howling Commandos, and Nanali, a Wakandan spy embedded in Occupied Paris, they must join forces to stop a sinister plot that threatens to turn the havoc of WWII into the ultimate rise of Hydra.
Payton is voicing Black Panther in Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra, but not the one many fans got used to seeing on the big screen in the MCU, which was Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa. With this game being set in the 1940s, players will get to meet and play as T'Challa's grandfather, Azzuri, a World War II hero. In the same interview, Payton was asked what it means to bring Black Panther to life, especially as a Black man himself.
"If you would have told me that I, you know, after everything that happened with the Marvel universe and everything, and as a black kid growing up in America, I mean, of course you think, 'I want to be Black Panther.' And then you see it on the big screen and you see Chadwick [Boseman] bring him to life and you're just like, 'You know what, this is better than I ever thought it could be.'
And to be playing him in the video game, playing his grandfather, be playing a version of Black Panther, and looking on there and seeing that it's me… It's like the most photo realistic… We want people to play this game and have the entire family, sit on the sofa and watch it like they're watching 'Game of Thrones,' or 'The Walking Dead,' or something. We’re looking for just an incredible cinematic experience for everybody, and I pinch myself."
The official game page on Marvel's website states a 2025 release for Marvel 1943: Rise of Hydra. Assuming development continues on track with no delays, a holiday launch feels most appropriate for a game of this magnitude.