The Avengers hits theaters tomorrow, May 4, (or tonight if you're a wild party animal that is attending a midnight premiere) and if the movie wasn't already big enough, now you can become a superhero with its new augmented reality mobile app!


Super Hero AR, the mobile app, is both a mobile game and an interactive in-store experience for the user. The game lets you act as a Marvel super hero and fight enemies overlaid on top of your real world. You could literally fight crime in the comfort of your own home, office or bathroom. You start your journey as Hawkeye but if you wanted to act as one of the more well-known and awesome heroes, you will need to visit your local participating Walmart. With 3500 participating stores, this is a genius "pull" strategy for sales.

Once you visit Walmart you can use your smartphone to scan QR codes on the numerous Avengers placards around the store using the Super Hero AR app. While scanning the codes you'll come across some fun surprises--like standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Iron Man himself. The augmented reality technology used in this app is remarkable and (almost) life like! You can take photos of yourself with the characters and share instantly with your online social network.

This Marvel / Walmart mashup is bound to be a success for all parties involved, including the mainstreaming of augmented reality (which really gets me excited)! In my opinion this is one of more innovative and interactive marketing ploys I've seen for franchise in a long time! The obvious goal for Walmart is to move their vast inventory of Avengers merchandise.

The mobile app is free and readily available for both Apple and Android based phones.

Marvel is no stranger to augmented reality, either. It launched Marvel AR last month, an app that lets readers scan print comics to access hidden extras.