In an interview with MinnMax, Sundberg says that the Iron Man project “would have been great.” He explained that the Iron Man project was in development for a “couple” of years, but that it was eventually canceled around 2012. That would place the Iron Man game’s development sometime around or after the development of Just Cause 2, which was when Avalanche really embraced open-world game design and vertical movement using grappling.
RELATED: Just Cause 5 Reportedly in Development
No explanation for why the Iron Man game was canceled was provided. While it’s implied that Disney and Marvel canceled the project, it’s also possible that there was a publisher involved that could also have decided to pull out. This was during a window where other Iron Man games were also being released, with Iron Man 2 launching in 2008 and Iron Man 3 being released in 2013. Those two games were adaptations of Marvel’s Iron Man films, but there’s no indication Avalanche’s game was.
Fans of the Just Cause franchise, and Marvel as well, will understandably be disappointed to hear that such a game was in development and will never get released. Open-world games have only grown in popularity over the past decade. And the idea of flying Iron Man around an open world, using his full arsenal to complete missions and progress through a Marvel superhero story, is very attractive. It could have been Marvel’s Spider-Man before Insomniac ever started work on it.
Since the wrap-up of the licensed Iron Man trilogy, Iron Man has been largely absent from standalone experience in the video game industry. The only game since is Iron Man VR. He’s been frequently seen as a supporting character, though, like in Marvel’s Avengers and Fortnite. That could change soon, however, as rumors are swirling about a new AAA Iron Man game in development at a recently opened Electronic Arts studio.
The cancelation of its Iron Man project hasn’t slowed Avalanche Studios’ momentum whatsoever. Iron Man was canceled in 2012 and Avalanche launched five different games in 2015, including Mad Max and Just Cause 3. It’s now working on an Xbox-published game named Contraband, described as a co-op heist game with vehicular combat. Avalanche didn’t end up needing Iron Man after all.
MORE: 10 Things Just Cause 5 Need To Improve
