Arc System Works’ upcoming Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls just gained the kind of narrative pedigree most fighting games only dream of. Veteran comic scribe Kieron Gillen—Uncanny X-Men, Young Avengers, The Wicked + The Divine—has written the game’s single-player Episode Mode, five animated story chapters that follow each of the five launch teams as they face “the looming threat of the Champion.”

Each chapter gets its own artist and distinct visual style, turning what could have been a throwaway arcade ladder into something closer to a serialized Marvel comic you actually fight through. Gillen’s background in both games journalism and high-profile cape books makes the pairing feel less like marketing and more like the right scribe for the job, especially with teams like Unbreakable X-Men and Fighting Avengers already in the roster.

The 20-character fighter launches August 6 on PS5 and PC, with an open beta hitting consoles later this month that includes Blade. Gillen’s involvement signals ArcSys and Sony aren’t treating the story as an afterthought, and the community reaction on X and Reddit has been cautiously optimistic about a fighting game that might actually have something to say between matches.