The First 'Assassin's Creed' Photo Is A Surprise

The Assassin's Creed video game franchise has taken us all over the world and all through time, and now it's about to take us to a magical land of Fassbender. That's right, the first photo of Michael Fassbender in Assassin's Creed has been released, and, if there was anyone out there who wasn't buying Magneto as an assassin, they're about to eat their words. It's kind of like when the Assassin's Creed live-action poster came out, except Fassbender looks a little less terrifying and a little more ready to get down to business. The picture even features Ariane Labed alongside him, although we still have no word on her character's name beyond that she's "Alan Rikkin's daughter." It's her appearance more than anything else that should draw fans of the game series in, because the fact that the live-action film is prominently displaying a woman in the first photo is already a slight improvement upon the game.

While Assassin's Creed has had female characters sprinkled throughout the numerous games, some more badass and more memorable than others, overall, women in the game franchise haven't been treated anywhere near as well as the men. There have been playable female characters in games like Assassin's Creed: Liberation before, but female assassins were infamously cut from Assassin's Creed: Unity because they'd be "double the work" to animate. And, indeed, out of the 23 games in the Assassin's Creed series, only Assassin's Creed III: Liberation starred a female assassin lead — biracial character Aveline de Grandpré — that was actually featured on the game cover. (Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, and the multiplayer platform of recent games, have given us other female assassins like Evie Fyre, but they are nowhere to be found on the box.)

And, yet, here we have the live action film, which has placed a nameless female character right there alongside the hero in the first shot from the film as if to say she'll be carrying the movie just as much as him. Could she be a woman of color? Yes. Could she have a name already, as he does? Double yes. But the fact that she's represented there at all warms my little feminist heart, and has me looking forward to the film even more than I was before.

Check out the image below.