Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls Adds Hulk and Black Panther as Playable Characters - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 03 May 2026 / 1,870 Views
Publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment and developer Arc System Works announced Hulk and Black Panther will be playable characters in Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, as well as Wakanda as a new stage.
Hulk and Black Panther are part of the Fighting Avengers team that also includes Captain America and Iron Man.
View the Fighting Avengers trailer below:
Read the latest details on the game below:
A New Team Joins the Battle: Fighting Avengers
Joining the previously announced Captain America (voiced by Brian Bloom) and Iron Man (voiced by Josh Keaton) are Hulk (voiced by Fred Tatasciore) and Black Panther (voiced by Erica Luttrell), forming the brand-new team: the Fighting Avengers.
Led by Captain America, this newly formed Avengers squad comes together to confront a new threat facing Earth. As heroes watched closely—and admired greatly—by people around the world, we hope you’re looking forward to seeing how they rise to the challenge in Episode Mode.
New Stage Revealed: Wakanda
We’re also excited to announce a brand-new stage: Wakanda.
Wakanda is a nation located in Africa, blessed with rich natural landscapes while also standing as a global leader in advanced scientific technology. Traditionally protected by its king, the Black Panther, Wakanda is now ruled by the young Black Panther, Shuri, who has taken on the mantle to defend her people.
New Playable Character: Hulk
A green goliath whose strength grows with his rage, Hulk once fought alongside the Avengers to save the world. However, in MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls, his overwhelming power and instability lead the government, S.H.I.E.L.D., and even his fellow teammates Captain America and Iron Man, to exile him to the Savage Land.
There, Hulk lives a quiet life, surrounded by nature and animals, but his distrust of the Avengers has yet to fade.
During development, Hulk’s backstory was established early on. While staying true to the core design concept of a massive, gamma-radiated powerhouse, elements inspired by this narrative were incorporated into his design. Hulk adorns himself with dinosaur bone armor toreinforce his feral, untamed fighting style and highlight his raw power.
Hulk can overpower opponents at any range with sheer force. Channeling his anger builds his unique Gamma Gauge. When it reaches maximum, Hulk enters Gamma Rage which significantly boosts his strength and speed.
Build up the Gamma Gauge and unleash devastating one-shot attacks at just the right moment to deal massive damage.
New Playable Character: Black Panther
Ruler of the great African nation of Wakanda, Shuri protects her country as the Black Panther.
Having only recently inherited the mantle, she struggles with doubts about whether she is truly ready for the role.
As a new threat approaches, Shuri must make critical decisions, not only as a warrior, but as a queen who must balance tradition and progress.
When we decided to include her in the roster, her character backstory was discussed and established early on. Having only recently taken up the mantle of Black Panther alongside her existing role of Wakanda’s chief scientist, Shuri’s design reflects this important transition.
Sleek, athletic lines emphasize a sense of speed befitting an acrobatic fighter, while preserving the primal wildness that defines the role. At the same time, subtle touches of Wakandan royalty are woven into the finer details of her suit, reflecting the weight of leadership she now carries.
In combat, Black Panther excels with swift movement and long reach using the Spear of Bashenga. She possesses a high-speed mobility skill called Bast’s Blessing, allowing her to dash in multiple directions. Bast’s Blessing consumes a dedicated gauge, but it can be canceled from normal attacks and skills, enabling varied and flexible combos and mixups.
Dominate mid-range battles with precise spear attacks, then close the distance with lightning-fast movement to overwhelm opponents up close.
New Threat Revealed: The Champion
The latest trailer also introduced a new character: The Champion.
One of the Elders of the Universe, Champion has existed since the birth of the universe and travels the cosmos alongside his right-hand showwoman, Promoter. A cosmic conqueror obsessed with hand-to-hand combat, he journeys from planet to planet in search of worthy opponents.
Those who fail to satisfy his thirst for battle face the ultimate consequence: the destruction of their entire world.
And now, his next target has been chosen: Earth.
Under Promoter’s direction, the “Challenge of the Champion” tournament has been announced. Teams of four will battle through qualifiers, earning the right to face Champion himself. But is there more to this sinister game than just sport?
The Fighting Avengers enter the tournament as one of its leading contenders. More details about Champion will be revealed soon!
What’s Next?
Did you enjoy the hands-on demo at EVO Japan? Thank you so much for all your feedback! We truly appreciate it and it is already helping shape development.
Next up, we’ll be bringing the newest playable build to:
- Combo Breaker 2026, starting May 22 in Chicago, Illinois
- Hong Kong Comic Con 2026, starting May 29 in Hong Kong
The build will include the newly announced Black Panther and the Wakanda stage, for a total of 13 playable characters and five stages. If you’re attending either event, be sure to stop by and try it for yourself!
Development is entering its final stages, and the entire team is working hard every day to deliver the best possible experience at launch.
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls will launch for the PlayStation 5 and PC via Steam and Epic Games Store on August 6.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
More Articles
Game is looking great
Will say the lineup isn't exciting me. Like basically all of this lineup is in are the heroes they put in every game (personal dislike of Danger isn't helping). There is not one character so far that makes me want to main them because they are different.... Maybe Ghost Rider (Not even Johnny Blaze though).
Maybe, I can hope the DLC will be more unique.
Heck, make my dreams come true and add Captain Britain or The Fury and I'd give them so much money.
No matter their real identify, Black Panther and Ghost Rider are still Black Panther and Ghost Rider. Everyone else has been in games before or are Marvel's "in" characters right now. Danger is the only unique so far.
Where's characters like Night Trasher or Vindicator? Heck, even more popular characters like Vision would be better choice because of their lack of representation in other recent games (outside of the gatcha ones on mobile).
I can gripe more but fan boy going to fan boy. :P
Oh, you were talking fighting games. I'm talking about promotion in general.
Any big budget game is a perfect opportunity to promote well established Marvel heroes to the new younger audience who aren't going to delve into 50 years of backstory comic to find who who their favourite characters are.
Night Thrasher and in turn the New Warriors are perfect for that.
And while yes, Night Thrasher and Vindicator are niche, there is nothing niche about Vision.
Like look at the Midnight Suns game, it had more Avengers in the base lineup that actual Midnight Sons.
No one likes Danger. :P
And it's about diversity of characters. They have 60 years of them to fall back on and while I am happy to see Cap, Ironman, Spidy and Wolverine appear in everything (especially when it's multi-character games but feel they've got to think a bit more outside the box when it comes to others, just a little.
Promotion of characters has to start somewhere and characters like Night Thrasher could become as big as others if the new modern Marvel audience just learnt about them. Can't do that if you are just putting the same characters in the games all the time.
But do remember, this view comes from a bias Marvel fan who would rather Mar-Vell or Genis-Vell over Carol Danvers anyday.
The last two teams are really interesting and the hardest to pick. Excited to get the final reveals. There is also 4 additional characters coming in the first year (assume its a whole new team). Just seems like a perfect setup for the Fantastic Four
