Verizon offers Marvel's Avengers for free through its rewards program

If you want to see how Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix handle a superhero game, you might not have to pay a thing — if you’re the right kind of Verizon customer, that is.

Verizon (disclaimer: this author also writes for Verizon-owned Engadget) has launched a promotion that will give away free copies of Marvel’s Avengers to Up rewards program members for both wireless and Fios customers. If you qualify, you’ll get access to a special beta event between August 14 and August 16 as well as the finished game and exclusive content on September 4.

You’ll have to act quickly, however, if it isn’t already too late. Verizon is making the freebies available only to people who claim one of 5,000 “Super Tickets” on a first-come, first-served basis. Once you’ve claimed the ticket and register on a special website, you’ll get an access key for the beta as well as the choice of platform for the official release.

The title will be available on Google Stadia, PC, PS4, and Xbox One as of September 4, and will reach the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X when those consoles are available during the holidays.

A lot is riding on Marvel’s Avengers. It should be the first big Marvel game to arrive since the current Avengers movie saga came to a close, and it will pack familiar characters like Black Widow and Captain America (albeit not voiced by their movie counterparts) alongside personas you seldom see outside of the comic books, such as Ms. Marvel and MODOK. This isn’t a rehash of the films, in other words.

There’s a core single-player story for the third-person action adventure, but there will also be an ongoing Avengers Initiative experience to keep things going long after the basic campaign ends. It holds plenty of promise, but it’s not certain how well the full game will live up to players’ heroic fantasies.