In a collaboration possibly no one expected, Microsoft has announced that WWE and Marvel Cinematic Universe-star Dave Bautista (or Batista) will be coming to Gears 5 as a playable multiplayer character. He won't be available in the game at launch on September 10, but will be landing on September 15 following a promotional event for the game on WWE Network.
Bautista will be playable across Versus, Horde, and Escape modes, with his character donning the armor of Marcus Fenix. The star has famously been trying to join the Gears of War movie project for some time now, and although that venture is still up in the air, at least now he's going to be part of the game's universe.
Bautista has recorded over 700 lines of dialog for Gears 5, and Gears of War franchise director Rod Fergusson had this to say about the thought process behind the inclusion and voice performance:
Adding Batista to Gears 5, we started with the fantasy of ‘Batista as Marcus,’ putting Batista into Marcus’ armor, and starting with Marcus’ script. Then we added elements of 'The Animal' Batista into his voice performance and onto his look by adding his signature Hollywood shades to his character. Batista was great in the booth and I can’t wait for Gears and Batista fans alike to stomp some Swarm as The Animal."
Anyone who plays Gears 5 from September 15 through October 28 will be able to unlock Bautista's multiplayer character for free. This applies to both owners of the full game and Xbox Game Pass subscribers across Xbox One and PC. We expect to see plenty of instances where players will be standing incredibly still with this character.
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