Heroes from world and galaxy unite

A scene from Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes.

There’s a lot of work, and a bit of a gamble, involved in bringing movie superheroes to life. Chris Schulz gets to grips with the second wave of Disney Infinity toys.

You can swing between skyscrapers as Spider-Man, use your hammer to thump enemies as Thor, and launch blazing energy bolts as Iron Man.

You can even speed around city streets on a motorbike as Avengers' favourite Black Widow.

But there's one character included in the second wave of Disney Infinity toys everyone wants to get their hands on - and he's a mean, green, pavement-wrecking machine.

"The Incredible Hulk does seem to be one that comes up a lot," admits Avalanche Software producer John Day. "People are talking about him."

The Hulk is just one of a wide selection of Marvel superheroes joining the fray with Disney Infinity 2.0, the next-gen upgrade of the toys-and-games franchise that allows players to mix and mingle classic movie and TV characters in story and toy box modes.

This time, the focus is on the superhero stars from Spider-Man, The Avengers, Thor and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises, including Captain America, Hawkeye, Venom, Falcon, Nick Fury and Rocket Raccoon.

With more than 20 new characters released today, and more coming from Brave, Maleficent, Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty, money-conscious parents should be concerned - especially with Christmas looming.

But Disney isn't just targeting kids with the latest release, says Day. He wants adults to pick up a controller and join in the "mayhem" with their kids.

"When we first worked on Infinity, the anticipation was, 'We're going to get kids to play this game, and we're going to get parents to play this game'," he says.

"That's definitely happened. We've got an opportunity to expand our reach on the game this time, because Marvel is popular with kids who are really young, and with people my age."

Day admits Avalanche staff have "rather spirited" discussions about which characters to bring to the gaming platform.

With last year's first instalment, developers mistakenly pinned their hopes on blockbuster flop The Lone Ranger, with only two characters released from mega-hit Frozen.

"There's no question there was a learning curve," says Day. "This entire category as a business is still really quite new.

"We had some surprises. We knew Frozen the film was coming out. We'd seen it. We thought it was pretty good. But I don't think anybody at the company knew it was going to do as well as it did.

"So there was a period of time where you had a hard time finding Anna or Elsa available for Infinity just because of the sheer popularity of the film."

It's a mistake they hope to avoid this time. As well as plenty of new characters, Day promises the next-gen versions of Disney Infinity come with upgraded graphics, better frame rates, a raised level cap, more customisation options and the ability to "build more stuff" in the game's toy box mode, which is kind of like a Disney version of Minecraft.

And Day hopes fans might soon see major additions related to a recent Disney purchase: "I've been a life-long Star Wars fan - I grew up on Star Wars. So being able to work on a Star Wars product is a dream to me. I sincerely hope it happens, I really do."

What: Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes

Platforms: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One

For fans of: Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Skylanders, LittleBigPlanet, Minecraft

Release date: In stores today.

- TimeOut