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Video Game / LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2

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LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 is an action-adventure video game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

A direct sequel to 2013's LEGO Marvel Super Heroes (and spiritual successor to 2016's LEGO Marvel's Avengers), LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 features similar gameplay to other LEGO adaptation games, alternating between various action-adventure sequences and puzzle-solving scenarios.

While its predecessor focused on a cosmic plot involving Doctor Doom and Galactus, LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 features a time travel/multiverse plot with Kang the Conqueror as the main antagonist. The game itself takes place in Chronopolis, a temporal mis-mash of several locations across different universes and time periods ruled over by Kang, including Wakanda, Xandar, Nueva York, The Wild West, Ancient Egypt, and Sakaar, which our heroes must traverse in order to find a way get into Kang’s Citadel and end his reign.

In addition to most of the main cast returning from the last game, the game features new characters such as Wasp, the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Inhumans, Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man 2099, Captain Marvel, Ms Marvel, and even a cowboy Captain America.

In addition, the game introduces a new multiplayer mode (featuring both cooperative and competitive options) for the second time in the LEGO video game franchise since LEGO Dimensions. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 was released on November 14, 2017.

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 provides examples of:

  • Absolute Xenophobe: Downplayed: Lemuria and Attilan don't appreciate foreigners, but they allow them to visit their homeland and the Attilan citizens tend to get along well with the other citizens such as a handful conversing on Liberty Island.
  • Adapted Out: Here and there... the game is based on a (very broad) mash-up of Kang War and Secret Wars, so aside from anyone and anything X-Men and Fantastic Four-related, there are some examples.
    • Anything related to the Ultimate Marvel universe, besides Miles Morales (and even his status as a universal immigrant leaves wiggle room as whether he 'counts').
    • Kang War has a subplot involving Carol Danvers and Marcus, Kang's heir, which is probably excised because among other things it deals with some backstory stuff which is reaaaaaally not kid-friendly.
    • The Deviants, who play an antagonistic role in Kang War, though their stomping grounds of Lemuria remain, repurposed as a Not-Atlantis.
    • The levels based on Guardians of the Galaxy leave out any version of Korath the Pursuer.
    • "Red King Revelation", the level loosely based on Planet Hulk, leaves out all the Warbound - save a brief appearance from Korg, who isn't identified by name and swiftly killed.
    • A lot of the alternate universes from Secret Wars, as well as the Thor Corps, the horde of zombies, and the Ultron army (indeed, there's no Ultron in this game at all). Also, Black Swan (presumably because her origins tie her in to Doctor Doom too much).
    • The Runaways level pack makes no mention of Alex Wilder during the recap, with him being the only original team member not featured in the level. But he is playable in the open world and free play.
  • Advertised Extra: Spider-Man 2099, Black Panther, Spider-Gwen, and Wild West Captain America are all featured on the cover art, but only get major character appearances for a few levels each, and afterwards only getting cameos near the end
  • Aerith and Bob: Played for Laughs with Cyril and Clive, a pair of ancient Egyptian pyramid builders who happen to have English names and Cockney accents.
  • Affably Evil:
    • The Kree of Hala may be responsible for a majority of the destruction and chaos in Chronopolis, but the citizens are happy to talk to visitors and even have a mini-golf course.
    • The citizens from HYDRA Empire may be under oppression, but no-one actually reports any sightings of the Avengers, they consider entering a Chronopolis football tournament, welcome visitors and are famous for their parade which features floats, a teacup ride and other elements you would see in a fairground.
  • Anachronism Stew:
    • Played for Laughs thanks to the nature of the game's setting. Expect to see something like an Egyptian driving a taxi through The Old West.
    • Manhattan Noir in and of itself is a mixture of the 20s and 1933 where the Spider-Man Noir comics mostly took place.
  • Anti-Climax: Played for Laughs: After chasing down "The Transformer" in Attilan, he is introduced with a trading card splash like a major boss... except he goes down in one hit, with even Karnak lampshading the trope by name.
  • Anti-Frustration Features:
    • If you fail a race, the game provides a 5-second window to push a button and teleport back to the starting gate.
    • Opening the character selector when encountering a puzzle that the current character can't solve will immediately set it on a character who can.
    • All of the major areas of Chronopolis have a Fast Travel spot to warp to from the Map screen, which can be unlocked by activating its map point.
    • In case you liked Kang's announcements after you've destroyed all of his loudspeakers, one is put on display in the trophy room for your leisure.
    • All playable characters come with a trading card, which has a short bio written on the back in case you don't know much or anything about them, as well as a list of their abilities.
    • Speeding up whilst flying only needs one push of the required button instead of a constant pushing everytime the boost runs out.
  • Announcer Chatter: Kang will regularly drop in announcements in Chronopolis until you destroy the many loudspeakers scattered throughout.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Hawkeye complains about purse-snatchers, car chases, and people playing rock music too loud.
  • Artificial Atmospheric Actions: NPCs within the same area of Chronopolis will repeat the same 3-4 generic lines so long as the player remains within that area.
  • Ascended Extra:
    • Wasp is Mission Control (and leader of the Avengers), while She-Hulk and Black Panther pair up with Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel.
    • Avengers Mansion was present in the open world in the previous two games but served little purpose other than that. Here, with the Helicarrier gone, it takes over as the good guys' headquarters.
  • Batman Can Breathe in Space: Discussed: A Kree citizen notes that Kang must have specially modified the atmosphere since Kree can't breathe in an Earth-like atmosphere without formula in the air. She then questions whether or not she should be talking about this.
  • Batman Gambit: Kang figures out the Avengers' plan to bring Knowhere into Chronopolis, so he tricks them into summoning Ego the Living Planet.
  • Beehive Barrier: Kang is fond of these. His green and purple barriers he put around Chronopolis are these and his personal one is also this.
  • Big Applesauce: Kang shoehorns in four Manhattans! Including:
  • Biting-the-Hand Humor: During the Asgardian cooking show, the host notes that due to complex legal reasons, they can't actually show viewers the merchandise they're hawking, because it's owned by the network's rivals. When the aghast Asgardian asks if all human law is like this, the host replies that nope, it's just copyright law. (It's a jab at the Fantastic Four/X-Men copyright issues at the time of release.)
  • Boss Vulnerability: The "Wait Them Out" type. Bosses often have invulnerability periods, represented by a lock over their Life Meter. Either players must wait to attack a boss or they're a Flunky Boss whose mooks must be taken out first.
  • Bowdlerise:
    • Surtur is defeated by throwing large barrels of "broth" at him.
    • Similarly, "prohibition" is mentioned in the Noir area... except it's apparently against coffee and tea.
    • Played for Laughs In-Universe: Wakanda got hold of a former HYDRA vibranium collection unit to recollect lost vibranium, and modified Arnim Zola's lines to sound more positive. Version 2.4 still made partial references to HYDRA before doubling back to the intended politeness. Version 2.5 later got rid of the HYDRA references overall and was overall polite.
    • Carnage is toned down from being a terrifying serial killer to being a Psychopathic Manchild who screams all of his dialogue like a hair metal singer. Definitely a case of Tropes Are Not Bad, since he's arguably one of the funniest characters in the game.
    Carnage: Easier than taking candy from a baby, and I should know, because I've done it!
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Both the Presence and the Kree Supreme Intelligence prefer to rely on turning heroes into unwilling minions rather than fighting directly.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: A citizen in Manhattan wonders about "the guy with the tyre fire from the last game".
  • Bring My Brown Pants: One NPC needs help navigating a maze to reach a restroom only to find it's full of pumpkin bombs. After they blow, he sheepishly confesses he no longer needs the restroom.
  • Brick Joke: When Doctor Strange asks Wong where the Book of the Vishanti is, Wong suggests he might have left it behind the vacuum. After spending a majority of the level unlocking the seal on the Sanctum floor, Mordo turns up having stolen the book, which he confirms was behind the vacuum.
  • Built with LEGO: As per LEGO game standards. Gwenpool even comments on this upon her introductory cutscene when she notices that she's a minifigure.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Why does Asgard have a volcano sitting on it? The Warriors Three thought it was a good idea to annoy Kang.
  • Call-Back:
    • The mission to unlock Skaar has him mentioning Hulk Selfies, a Running Gag in LEGO Marvel's Avengers.
    • President Bear, a one-off character from LEGO Marvel's Avengers, appears briefly during "High Noon Saloon", and again in Spider-Ham and the Collector's missions.
    • Fin Fang Foom is still pursuing his dream from LEGO Marvel's Avengers of opening a frozen yogurt restaurant.
    • Citizens in Manhatten will mention a tire fire from the orginal LEGO Marvel Superheroes, which was caused by X-Men villian Pyro.
    • Wiccan and Hulkling's mission is all about them dealing with Mother, again. Hulking mentions how she turned him into a chair.
    • One Lemuria puzzle located near regular Manhattan involves the "Ryker's Island Family Friendly Tour" guy from the first game trying to find a way to maintain an income as a treasure collector, since Ryker's Island not being transported with Manhattan has put him out of a job.
  • Canned Orders over Loudspeaker: Kang has his "Kangnouncements", which he broadcasts everywhere, and include anything from offers to teach people Kang-Fu, Kang asking for Ravonna to get rid of a bee, Kang telling that person who beat his high score on Hexagon Blitz that he hates them... and so on. Smashing all the loudspeakers is one of the challenges.
  • Character Customisation: As per LEGO tradition. The customiser itself gets a major upgrade since now it allows you to pick most powers without restriction, use and colour various weapons and alter the voice of the characters by gender!
  • Characterization Marches On: Even ignoring characters who were changed from comic characterization to movie characterization (re: the Guardians of the Galaxy), some characters have, well, marched since the previous game. In particular, Captain America went from being a straight up Eagle Land parody to something much closer to his comic book characterization.
  • Chekhov's Gun: In the intro featuring Star-Lord listening to his mixtape, Knowhere is plainly seen. The Avengers plan to use the EMP equipment onboard to deactivate the barrier to Kang's citadel.
  • Chuck Cunningham Syndrome:
    • All characters related to the X-Men and Fantastic Four are gone, despite many of them playing major roles in the original LEGO Marvel Superheroes. See Writing Around Trademarks below for more.
    • Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are entirely absent from the game, possibly because of their links to Magneto in the comics continuity.
    • Of the main characters from the Netflix Defenders series, Jessica Jones is a complete no-show.
    • All the line-up of the 2015 version of the Ultimates are present... except for Monica Rambeau, for some reason.
    • The Champions DLC includes all the members of the modern incarnation of the team who hadn't been in the main game, except (mysteriously) Teen Cyclops.
    • Meanwhile, the Agents of Atlas DLC has all the team's classic members, save 3-D Man and Namora (probably because of her being related to Namor).
    • The Punisher isn't present this time, which is weird because they managed to get him in the previous game despite his decidedly kid-unfriendly nature.
    • While he is featured as a character in the DLC Alex Wilder does not appear in the "Runaways" DLC Mission, for obvious reasons.
  • Combo Platter Powers: Certain variants of heroes not only use their standard abilities, but abilities of others. Stan Lee is the ultimate usage of this trope as he uses powers and abilities from dozens of heroes.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • The Statue of Liberty is still under reconstruction at the start of the story, after Magneto brought it life during the previous game.
    • The very first level acts as a prequel to the post-credits scene of the first game, explaining why the Guardians of the Galaxy came to Earth.
    • Star-Lord doesn't trust Rocket not to park the Milano on anyone.
    • Black Widow and Hawkeye still remember the last time they had to face symbiotes. Their quest also mentions Agent Coulson's crime-spotting skills, something anyone who played the previous two games should be intimately familiar with.
    • America Chavez's bio quotes her description from the Young Avengers Vol 2 preview. Her mission has her trying to find pizza for Lady Kate (an alternate version of Kate Bishop she met during Secret Wars).
    • The terrigenesis machine in Attilan mentions (among other things) how terrigen and regular humans don't always mix.
    • During the Inhumans' first level, the Royal Family ends up in the Chamber of Devices (where Black Bolt keeps all the really nasty things Maximus invented under lock and key).
  • Continuity Porn: Oh, yes. This game is filled with Marvel lore, both recent and obscure.
  • Continuity Snarl: Events from the side-quests of Avengers get mentions here and there, despite (as Howard the Duck notes) those events maybe not being in-continuity with Super Heroes.
  • Contrived Coincidence: Luckily, Stingray was in Lemuria at the time when Kang put it in Chronopolis.
  • Convection, Schmonvection: Asgard is covered in lava, thanks to having an active volcano right on top of it. The lava is only a problem if someone's dumb enough to jump into the stuff. Sif can be found standing next to a stream with no ill-effect.
  • Cool Car: Kingpin's new car, which was a gift from Kang. It features dual miniguns and really-bright headlights! You can unlock it under the name "Mob Boss Attack Car".
  • Cool Ship:
    • Kang's sword-shaped ship, Damocles.
    • The Milano.
    • You can get a lot of them through challenge completions.
  • Cool Train: The Kang-o-rail is a rather neat futuristic train that travels around most of Chronoplis.note 
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: Iron Man and Captain Marvel find a lot of them representing Roxxon, who have been selling Attuma their wares which allowed him to be a proper threat again. They even come with an underwater table!
  • Creator Cameo:
    • Stan Lee. Excelsior!
    • A company that produces teabags in Manhattan Noir is named TT Tea.
      • Also, TT Games were the publishers of Howard the Duck's video game.
      • It's implied that this was who Gwenpool was talking to when asking about what she was supposed to do and what happened to "the last guy that did it".
  • Culture Clash: The citizens of Hydra don't get why everyone else is so bothered being ruled by Kang, since they already live under military dictatorship.
  • Cycle of Revenge: The Sovereign tried attacking Kang after getting dragged to Chronopolis, which didn't work. After helping Ayesha fix that mess, she declares the Sovereign are going to try again to avenge their previous ass-kicking.
  • Damage-Sponge Boss: In contrast to the majority of bosses in other LEGO games being Puzzle Bosses with only rare "punchbag" cases, and even then they have reasonable amounts of health, the vast majority of bosses in this game have straightforward "hit them until they drop" tactics paired with a ludicrous amount of health. Some of them make things even more tediously long by utilizing temporary invincibility that comes and goes randomly, jumping all over the boss room, or both at once, creating borderline Marathon Bosses. For example, Klaw leaps across the room after each hit, uses attacks that either make him invulnerable or stuns the player for a few seconds if you don't leave the attack radius and thus stop attacking, and is also a Flunky Boss that both sends out targeting-confusing minions and becomes completely invulnerable whenever Bowman and Tactical Force are active, all of which combines to make the fight take nearly 5 minutes.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: Black Knight (Sir Percy) and his descendant Dane Whitman may wear black armor, but both of them are completely heroic and chivalrous. However, Nathan Garrett, Dane's uncle and in-between possessor of the Black Knight identity, very much exemplifies Dark Is Evil, and as such is the Hero's Evil Predecessor for Dane.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The Asgardian on the cooking show gets increasingly annoyed with everything, and eventually unleashes a small dessert of snarking at her co-host.
  • Developer's Foresight: If you take the Kang-o-rail before finishing the story (and thus bringing down the forcefield), the train won't stop at the Citadel.
  • Disney Villain Death: Some of the Mooks wear red vests which protect them from attack. The only way to get rid of them is to knock them off a great height.
  • Distaff Counterpart: Plenty of female variants to classically male characters, thanks to Kang bringing several characters from the multiverse. Such examples include Spider-Gwen, Jane Foster Thor, and Captain America (2099).
  • Do Not Try This at Home: In-Universe: A cooking webshow hosted by an Asgardian and a Midgardian has this message pop-up midshow, with the warning that "fire is hot".
  • Dungeon Bypass: Invoked in the Black Panther (2018) DLC, in which Gwenpool informs you that a platforming section will require skill and dexterity ... or a flying character.
  • Egopolis: Kang treats Chronopolis as this. He even announces that he plans to rename every single collected realm after himself!note 
  • Evil Is Hammy: Really, most of the game's villains completely embrace their villainy by hamming it up. Special mentions go to Kang and Carnage.
  • Expy: Lemuria is in no way serving as a stand-in for Atlantis.
  • Failsafe Failure: In "No Eson of Mine", the Milano's emergency escape mechanism is much more difficult to use than it should be, something Gamora rags on Quill about. He does manage to justify covering up a vital part on the grounds he doesn't want Baby Groot touching it.
  • Fantastic Racism: Some of the Inhumans in Attilan make it clear they really don't like humans.
  • Fantasy Landmark Equivalent: The setting's version of the Statue of Liberty is depicted to be inside the Lemuria area with the Big Bad Kang's face on it.
  • Felony Misdemeanor: A Hydra citizen had his own brother arrested for jaywalking, for which he's completely unapologetic.
  • Five-Second Foreshadowing: In the boss fight against Man-Thing, an easy-to-miss detail is that Kang's minions ignore you and attack Man-Thing when he's stunned. This foreshadows the reveal immediately after the fight of the fact Man-Thing is actually a Hero Antagonist protecting the Nexus of All Realities to keep Chronopolis from completing, and thus Team Thor beating him plays right into Kang's plans.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • When Cosmo plays his part in the story, he repeatedly mentions a "pretty lady", who's implied to have been helping him. It's later revealed that this was Ravonna.
    • Aside from Ravonna's open discomfort with Kang's activities, she occasionally sneaks off while his attention is elsewhere.
  • Fountain of Youth: This eventually happens to Kang when Ravonna uses his crystal against him, after deciding to Take a Third Option and raise him in the right direction from infancy.
  • Fourth-Wall Observer: Forbush Man points out in Howard's quest that the game doesn't properly tell you about the customization feature and how to use it in certain quests.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: During the final video chat with Cosmo before the heroes bring Knowhere to Chronopolis, some interference causes the video to get staticky. Amidst the glitching is a very quick image of Ravonna, hinting at who the "pretty lady" Cosmo keeps mentioning is.
  • Funny Background Event: Many times there are comedic moments happening behind the main action. For example, Spidey trying to run from Shao-Lao the Undying, only for Ms. Marvel to grab him and drag him back into the arena.
  • Fun with Acronyms:
    • Agent Coulson's Field Agent Readiness Training Simulator in the "Simulation Situation" Gwenpool Mission. Quake attempts to point out what this would spell, but Coulson quickly interjects by saying that not everything needs an acronym. Could count as a Mythology Gag to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where Quake was raised in an orphanage under the name of Mary Sue Poots. Poots is a slang word for farting.
    • Squirrel Girl's fundraiser in the "Panic! At the Picnic" Gwenpool Mission is called F.U.Z.Y.note 
  • Gameplay and Story Integration: Characters after completing their quests will often offer their services to you, right before you get their trading card. Some of those quests also have extra characters mention wanting to race, to give some slight justification for why a few of them are unlocked by completing races instead, along with why those particular races are locked until you complete the preceding quests.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: A number of side-quests involve helping some Horrifying Heroes out with various things, because them have the Face of a Thug is putting a hamper on interacting with regular civilians, so they send the more heroic-looking and trustworthy player to do so... except you can start and complete these side-quests while playing as one of those terrifying heroes, or even as one of the more horrifying actual villains, and the civilians will always act like you're a normal-looking Avenger such as Captain America. While this segregation is normal for side-quests in LEGO games, it's especially notable in these cases.
  • Genre Savvy:
    • In the Medieval England level, Star-Lord questions the absence of any traps, noting that old castles like this always have loads of them. Sure enough, he, Doctor Strange and Captain Avalon come across a hall of giant, swinging axes seconds later.
    • While heading to the Sanctum Sanctorum to retrieve the spellbook necessary for their plan, Doctor Strange tries to claim he doesn't need She-Hulk and Spider-Man to come with him, to which She-Hulk points out the book's probably an extremely powerful magical artifact that villains would love to get their hands on. Stephen begrudgingly admits the book has been stolen before and Baron Mordo shows up as the boss of the subsequent level trying to steal it.
    • In the Jameson Webcast before "Red King Revelation", J. Jonah notes that even with the all-seeing eyes of Heimdall, he'll put good money on the heroes getting caught in a trap. The level immediately following this involves the heroes getting involuntarily thrown into the Sakaaran coliseum.
  • "Get Back Here!" Boss: This game introduces aerial battles, where you use a flight or Building Swing capable character to chase after flying enemies in order to catch and punch them multiple times, with each hit requiring chasing them again all while the foe alternates between producing speed boosters and stunning bombs at random to keep you on your toes.
  • Guide Dang It!:
    • It's easy to panic and assume that your game is glitched when you're unable to activate certain races or when two events are locked in Manhattan despite solving the puzzles and quests there, but these two "glitches" are actually:
      • Certain vehicles for races can only be unlocked through completing challenges.
      • Nick Fury's mission only unlocks when you save all SHIELD agents as part of the Helicarrier Clean-Up challenge, which is never stated.
    • While most abilities are listed on the character cards, a few are left out. While this can be forgiven with minor ones like Gliding and Dance Mode, they also don't mark which characters can throw Gravity Mines, which is pretty essential to most levels and puzzles.
  • Happy Ending Override: The game takes place immediately after the events of the last game, so a hero's work is never done. This happens again when Ravonna (now Terminatrix) arrives with an elderly Kang and a gang of possibly reformed villains from events in-game to warn the Avengers about an oncoming threat.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Hammer and Militant are tired of being mistreated by the other HYDRA members and being overshadowed by Bowman and Tactical Force, so they ask you to help them disrupt a few major operations. Afterwards, HYDRA loses all trust in them because of this, so they decide to join you instead.
  • Heroes Gone Fishing: Team Spider-Man spend a large amount of time at Kingpin's party in Manhattan Noir.
  • Hide Your Lesbians:
    • America Chavez never says why she's hanging out with an alternate Kate or buying her pizza, but given her comics incarnation is into gals (and Kate especially)...
    • Likewise, no mention is made of Karolina and Nico's relationship in the Runaways DLC. Potentially Justified in that case, since they only appear in a short add-on chapter that doesn't even feature voice acting and that neither character was out of the closet yet at the time the events referenced took place.
    • Averted, however, with Wiccan and Hulkling. Unlike the previous game, their sexuality and relationship is explicitly mentioned.
  • I Fell for Hours: In the penultimate level's boss fight, no matter how long you take to defeat Korvac, the falling structure you're in will keep endlessly falling until the level finishes. The hero group for the level outright lampshades how there seems to be a lot of sky between them and the ground.
  • Insistent Terminology: Some of the Kree encountered by Medusa and Black Bolt take exception to being called "minions". They're henchmen, after all the work they've put in.
  • Insurmountable Waist-High Fence: As usual with LEGO adaptation games. Case in point, in the very first level Groot must age up to form a living bridge to get innocent bystanders onto a rescue ship... rather than just have the ship move a few feet back.
  • Invincible Minor Minion: Among the Heavily Armored Mooks, the ones with red armor can only be defeated by knocking them off the edge of a stage.
  • La Résistance: The Avengers and allies act as the heroic resisting force against Kang's tyrannical empire.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
    • Citizens will actually note how they're walking around for no reason.
    • In the Sanctum Sanctorum level, Doctor Strange gives the team free reign to destroy any furniture that gets in their way since they're in a hurry, to which She-Hulk remarks, "It's cute that he gave us permission."
    • After a Gold Brick puzzle in Man-Thing's swamp, a knight tells a distraught cowboy about the fact that "money spills out of everything".
    • After his "defeat", Kang berates everyone thinking "this was a game you could win".
  • Let's Fight Like Gentlemen: After Kang unleashes a devastating attack that knocks out most of Team Captain America except the good captain himself, Kang deems the captain his most worthy opponent and challenges him to a duel using giant solid holograms.
  • Lighter and Softer: Two-fold.
    • In Kang War, Kang solidifed his victory over Earth by flat-out annihilating Washington, D.C. Here, he just uses future-tech to beat everyone up, without mass-murder.
    • Secret Wars has Battleworld, on which this game's Chronopolis is based, forged from the shattered remains of universes while the multiverse itself was utterly destroyed, and began with pretty much every Marvel hero dying. The world itself is a crapsack world subject to Doom's cruel and petty whims, and the story ends with pretty much every hero save Black Panther and Reed Richards dead. Here, Kang just zaps worlds to Chronopolis with his time crystal, then largely leaves them to their own devices.
  • MacGuffin: Kang's time crystal thing. When and how he got it is glossed over, as is just what the heck it actually is.note 
  • Marathon Level: "Avenger’s World Tour", the second level, is a notable early-game example. Unlike other levels in the game that focus on one team for the entire level, this level features three different sections, all of which have bosses. Justified as these events, which take place across the world in a single level, are meant to foreshadow Kang creating Chronopolis directly afterwards.
  • Merged Reality: Chronopolis is formed of locations from multiple realities mixed together to form Kang's ideal city.
  • Mid-Battle Tea Break: During the first trailer, Loki, Doctor Octopus, and Enchantress can be seen sitting at a table and enjoying drinks in the midst of all the action. Doubles as Villains Out Shopping.
  • Monumental Damage: Double Subverted: Kang fixed the Statue of Liberty which was still under reconstruction after Magneto used it, but it turns out he also put his face on it.
  • Mood Whiplash: The game opens with Star-Lord happily listening to his mixtape while flying through space on The Milano, then it shifts to him heading to Xandar, which is currently under heavy siege by Kang.
  • More Dakka: Certain characters with two pistols like Kid Colt or nearly every Spider character can charge up an alternate move and fire their weapons everywhere.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Instead of a logo for the Soviet space program, Cosmo's spacesuit instead has the Classic LEGO Space emblem on it.
    • One of She-Hulk's combat lines: "These bad guys just won't learn! Maybe I should threaten to rip up their comics..."
    • Fuseboxes with a new platforming theme return from LEGO Dimensions.
    • The shield Stan Lee uses is a real-life Marvel button from 1967.note 
    • Captain Marvel's first line is her getting someone at the Avengers' victory party to "try the brie."
    • Ultimate Venom's finisher? Drag his enemy into the symbiote with tentacles from his chest and spit out what's left.
    • In the opening sequence (which plays whenever the game starts), Star-Lord is flying the Milano to the tune of "Come and Get Your Love", which he danced to in the opening of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). And then during the game, he gets into a dance-off to "Mr. Blue Sky", which opened the second Guardians movie. "Mr. Blue Sky" also plays over the credits.
    • One of the Kree in Hala name-drops the Ruul, whom the Kree briefly posed as one time (before it was subsequently retconned away). Another mentions that Nega-Bomb incident they once had.
    • The introduction to the Hulk in the game mirrors his arrival in Thor: Ragnarok. The major difference is that this time, there's four of them, and as a result Thor isn't happy to see them.
    • A civilian mentions Tahiti, and its reputation, but that the Kree don't like it for some reason.
    • In Xandar, one of the random soundbytes mentions Queen Adora, one of Xandar's (late) rulers from the comics. Another mentions the Worldmind.
    • A guy in Nueva York is confused over whether Alchemax was founded in 1992 (when it first appeared in Marvel's 2099 range), or 2013 (when Superior Spider-Man has it founded).
    • The statue in Nueva York is that of Thor, which might seem random for anyone not versed in 2099 lore. The worship of Thor was a big thing in those comics.
    • Beta Ray Bill's character token is found in the level set in the Sakaar arena. Bill was in the animated adaptation of Planet Hulk, taking the Silver Surfer's place from the comic version.
    • The Blue Marvel's character token is found underwater. His secret base, as shown in Mighty Avengers (2013), is underwater.
    • Green Goblin's pumpkin bombs scream when they explode, much like in The Spectacular Spider-Man.
    • Daredevil's line after dying and respawning: "Did something just bring me to life?"
    • Citizens in the HYDRA New York can sometimes be heard singing part of HYDRA's traditional chant.
    • During the Stan Lee rescue mission in Asgard, the drone will mention that it flew in from London during the Convergence.
    • When Carnom goes One-Winged Angel during his boss fight, Goblin 2099 calls the resulting form "Maximum Carnom"
  • A Nazi by Any Other Name: HYDRA both have No Swastikas and make zero direct references to Nazis, unlike in the comics. They just happen to have a city full of goose-stepping civilians who speak in German accents and live under a totalitarian regime.
  • Next Sunday A.D.: Where Asgard comes from, being slightly ahead of the modern day Manhattan.
  • No Man of Woman Born: A spiritual example. Once Chronopolis is finally completed, Kang proclaims that no "man" can do anything to stop him now. So fittingly enough, our heroes best hope of stopping him comes not from a "man" but from Cosmo the dog.
  • Noodle Incident:
    • Invoked when a PA announcer at Kang's Citadel states, "Employees are reminded to clean up after themselves after playing with priceless artifacts. We don't need another Noodle Incident!"
    • Apparently, Star-Lord beat Ronan The Accuser in a dance off.
    • Spider-Man!Prime and Spider-Man!Noir seem to have met before. Possibly referring to the Spider-Verse event as well as Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions.
    • No explanation is given for what Star-Lord did to have wanted posters of him placed around The Old West.
  • Nostalgia Level:
    • Venom and Carnage's Gwenpool Mission is set in a room directly taken from LEGO Marvel Superheroes.
    • Howard the Duck and Forbush Man's Gwenpool Mission is the Marvel Office from the first game redecorated for the convention and as the HQ for Timely Comics. Ironically, Howard and the Vulture held all the Marvel staff hostage previously for more publicity.
  • Not Evil, Just Misunderstood: Living Mummy, Man-Thing and Morbius try to convince everyone in HYDRA Empire that they're not evil monsters by making a float and giving out sweets.
  • Not Quite the Right Thing: The end of Ghost Rider's quest to find a new bike ends with him indeed finding a black bike with flames on the side, but it's a pedal bike.
  • Numbered Sequels: Is one to LEGO Marvel Super Heroes, whereas LEGO Marvel's Avengers was more of a spinoff set in a different continuity based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
  • One-Steve Limit: A consequence of dealing with several characters all across the multiverse is that this is averted, with several variations of many superheroes (and villains) being active in the same time as their Prime versions. Some examples include:
    • The plethora of Spider-people running around, especially the different versions of Spider Man giving J. Jonah Jameson a headache along with causing a little confusion when 2099 shows up.
    Spidey 2099: I'm Spider-Man!
    Spidey: I'm Spider-Man!
    Ms. Marvel: I'm Spider-Man! (Beat) Just kidding. I'm Ms. Marvel. Hi!
    • There's several different Captain Americas running about, such as Sheriff Captain America, Captain Avalon, Peggy Carter as Captain America, and a different woman as Captain America 2099.
    • When Surtur swears he will beat Thor, Jane Foster Thor thinks he means her before Odinson says the fire giant probably meant him.
    • Gwenpool occasionally states that she has "no relation to either of them", note  referring to Gwen Stacy and Deadpool
    • On a separate note from the Alternate Self stuff, one of the ambient civilian comments from Hala is about how it's good Hala the Accuser didn't get transported into Chronopolis and add even more name confusion.
  • Opening the Sandbox: A plot-relevant event involves Team Thor defeating Man-Thing and accidentally letting Kang destroy the Nexus of All Realities, allowing him to fully complete Chronopolis, taking down all the green barriers and putting up a large purple barrier around the total area.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Subverted in the "Oscorp Escapade" Gwenpool Mission. Venom and Carnage try to fool the Oscorp security systems by merely putting on a guard's hat and a hazmat helmet, respectively, and not even bothering to retract the shapeshifting alien parasites they're wearing. The computer is not amused.
    Computer: Comical disguise detected. Initiating lockdown. Calling all available security guards. That'll teach you to try and trick me. Have a great day!
  • Player Nudge: In case you don't know how to get into Alchemax when Electro (2099) blocks the door, Wasp will tell you to follow the cables.
  • Rail Shooter: Agent Coulson creates a literal one with his new F.A.R.T.S. program.
  • Red Shirt Army: The Nova Corps manage to act as background cannon fodder for villains. Twice. First at the beginning of the game, and then again when the Avengers try to get into Kang's tower, whereupon Damocles blasts them out of the sky.
  • Replacement Goldfish: Nebula's quest has her deciding to replace Gamora with a new, better sister, who won't beat her in fights all the time, and it's the player's job to create them for her.
  • Ret-Gone: Subverted: Kang planned to do this after his defeat by rewriting the timeline so the Avengers never defeat him. Thankfully, Ravonna takes his crystal before he gets the chance to do this.
  • Rewarding Vandalism: Completing the puzzle in Man-Thing's swamp where a cowboy and knight are searching for treasure has the knight comment on how even In-Universe breaking stuff rewards studs, to which the cowboy exasperatedly asks why nobody ever told him about that fact before he tried searching for special treasure.
  • Running Gag: As always with LEGO Adaptation games, pigs show up as background and foreground gags throughout.
  • Rushmore Refacement: Kang gives the Statue of Liberty a facelift.
  • Sequel Hook: We have yet to learn what threat Ravonna (or rather, Terminatrix) is talking about in the stinger, but considering that she has an elderly Kang, Man-Thing, Cosmo, and the Kree Supreme Intelligence by her side when she asks the Avengers for help, she needs all the help she can get. Additionally, the KSI detects an oncoming disturbance in the timeline, so someone else is manipulating the timeline and NOT Kang.
  • Shout-Out:
  • Sigil Spam:
    • The HYDRA logo is everywhere in the HYDRA Empire. One citizen lampshades this by thinking they've overdone it. Another citizen who needs help putting together his HYDRAPAD tells you that the logo is everywhere in case you forgot what it looks like.
    • A benevolent version occurs in Wakanda with a panther being the main focus of their national flag and several statues of panthers. A citizen thinks that they need more of them.
  • So Bad, It's Good: In-Universe: Despite the low-quality of Howard's video game, it becomes a hit.
  • Start My Own: Howard the Duck plans to start his own videogame franchise with crowdfunding.
  • The Stinger: Wouldn't be a Lego game or a Marvel property without 'em.
    • The first one sees an infant Kang playing in a sandbox and then using his powers to levitate a toy sword as he says his name ominously, suggesting he's beginning to remember who he was.
    • The second one sees Cap, Tony, and Danvers enjoying coffee and some actual quiet on Liberty Island, only to be interrupted by Ravonna (who is now calling herself Terminatrix), Cosmo, Man-Thing, the Kree Supreme Intelligence, and an elderly Kang arriving through a portal on a strange vehicle to warn the Avengers of another timebending threat.
  • Stylistic Suck: Howard's video game is rife with limited animation, horrendous graphics and very simple gameplay. Closer inspection implies that he's also stolen graphics to save time.
  • Super Not-Drowning Skills: For the first time in the LEGO game franchise, all characters can now enter underwater environments, with those who normally wouldn't survive by giving them breathing equipment. Likely because of Lemuria playing a major part in the plot.
  • Tempting Fate:
    • In the first trailer, Rocket rhetorically asks what could go wrong tampering with the space-time continuum. Ego promptly appears in the sky.
    • Nick Fury practically dares Kang to try something, claiming that they already dealt with one purple-helmeted cosmic threat before. Kang proceeds to vaporize the Helicarrier with a single shot.
    • After the heroes gather all the Nexus fragments and are close to completing their main plan for getting into Kang's citadel, Cosmo literally says What Could Possibly Go Wrong? with full sincerity. Naturally, the next mission involves dealing with their plan going wrong.
  • The Theme Park Version: The levels show the area of Chronopolis as much larger than the amount the player gets to explore in free-play.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Ravonna quotes the overkill part when Kang sics Eson the Searcher on the Guardians of The Galaxy for laughs.
  • Those Wacky Nazis: HYDRA, as per norm for a LEGO adaptation, has their Nazi-like qualities played for humor instead of monstrousness.
  • Threatening Shark: A rather cute subversion occurs before Iron Man and Captain Marvel go thwart Attuma in "Avenger's World Tour". A shark semi-ominously swims up to them while they're chatting, but not only does it simply pass by them without any fuss, it swims back and starts cuddling against Marvel, even responding like a friendly domestic dog to being pet by her.
  • Time Crash: Chronopolis, natch. It consists of over a dozen locations mashed into one, including at least four alternate realities.
  • Time Travel:
    • Kang takes advantage of this to create Chronopolis, a mishmash city containing everything from a pyramid, to a castle and the modern-day Avengers tower.
    Rocket: So this is Chronopolis. Population: every weird thing in all of time!
    • Certain characters have the ability to move certain objects backwards or forwards through time, destroying or rebuilding them to suit their needs.
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: The Yellowjacket from the "Anger Management" Gwenpool mission tries to kill Hank Pym, despite being Hank Pym himself. Then past!Hank defeats him, causing Gwenpool to wonder how that even works, since Yellowjacket should remember being beaten in the first place.
  • Took a Level in Badass:
    • Several of Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery in the second level are outright causing havoc, including Shocker, Mysterio and Kraven the Hunter, who were previously off-plot villains who were seen in smaller-scale scenarios.note 
    • Also, HYDRA were shown to have a secret base under the Empire State Building, but by the time the level starts, Wolverine has already torn through most of the mooks. Here? Kang conquered a Manhattan from an alternate reality where HYDRA rules the world.
  • Traintop Battle: The second half of "High Noon Saloon" has Star Lord and Kid Colt running on top of a circus train and fighting evil clowns in order to save Rocket and Groot in a moment very reminicent of the opening sequence of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
  • Two Lines, No Waiting: Several times throughout the story, the player is offered a choice of which storyline to follow.
    • "Avenger’s World Tour" details the missions Nick Fury sends the Avengers on, which take place at the same time.
    • To investigate what Kang has done to Manhattan following the creation of Chronopolis, two teams are formed to investigate the nearby environments.
    • After the Nexus is destroyed, the story splits up into three teams - Team Spider-Man and Team Thor, along with a third line of the Guardians, and later a fourth line of the Inhumans dealing with their own problems.
  • The Unintelligible: One of the contestants in the Chronopolis Rap Battle is a sakaaran, who manages to bust rhymes while saying nothing more than "kik".
  • Villains Out Shopping: The Gwenpool mission "Oscorp Escapade" features Venom and Carnage... politely checking into OsCorp and waiting patiently at a clinic with Carnage griping about the number he has. The final comic even has them playing frisbee in Central Park.
  • Waxing Lyrical:
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: While some villains are working with Kang or planning to challenge him, other villains plan to get rid of him either because their realms were relocated by him, or they've been forced by him to face their adversaries once more.note 
  • What If?: Given the temporal and dimensional shenanigens of Kang, plenty of timeline differences are shown through the trading cards of alternate universe characters, such as Gwen Stacy getting bitten by the spider insteadnote  and Peggy Carter becoming Captain America since her friend Steve Rogers was assassinated before he underwent the Super-Soldier program.
  • What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The Kang Surveillance Drones are just drones, so it's okay to smash them. But one of them laments, as it's smashed, that it was programmed to feel pain.
  • Wide-Open Sandbox: The biggest open world LEGO game to date. Chronopolis is at least four times bigger than Manhattan from the first game.
  • Wolverine Publicity:
    • Among the first characters confirmed and heavily advertised are three Spider-Men; Spider-Gwen, Spider-Man 2099, and the Noir Spider-Man. The 2017 D23 convention also revealed Peter Parker in his homemade Spider-Man costume from his then recent film. In the game itself, these three aren't actually that involved in the plot. Meanwhile, Spidey himself gets major screen time, and is treated as a major member of the Avengers, to the extent he gets to lead teams (something that pretty much never happens with other versions of Peter).
    • The heroes featured in the first trailer are either MCU stars, the aforementioned Spiders, or Kamala Khan, the new Ms. Marvel. Thor and Hulk noticeably sport their Thor: Ragnarok outfits. Also, She-Hulk is a main-quest character this time instead of an optional unlock in the overworld.
  • Writing Around Trademarks: Several instances, due to the game being a direct sequel to the original but no longer being allowed to use X-Men or Fantastic Four characters.
    • Oblique references are made to "the Avengers and their allies", rather than naming the specific teams that were in play.
    • Nick Fury mentions "the last purple-hatted cosmic tyrant" that came to Earth, again avoiding mentioning him by name.
    • Likewise, when Gwenpool is finding out about her role narrating the bonus missions, she asks about "the guy who did it last time".
    • All of the characters from the classic Guardians of the Galaxy DLC have references to the Badoon in their biographies. Since the film rights to the Badoon are owned by Fox, however, they're simply referred to as "an evil alien race"... except for Korvac's profile, which mentions them by name.
    • This trope is notably averted in a few cases. Crystal's biography, for example, prominently mentions the Fantastic Four, and another likely accidental example in a shop texture used in previous installments in Manhattan, which has Galactus and Silver Surfer figurines on display.
    • While the game can't use the Silver Surfer or Galactus, Star-Lord does manage to name-drop their power, the Power Cosmic, once Korvac shows up.
    • Averted again in the Runaways DLC, where Molly Hayes is explicitly noted as the daughter of mutants in her bio.
    • One NPC refers to a mission involving a tire fire from the previous game... However, since said fire was started by X-Men villain Pyro, they can't say who caused it.

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