Hyundai has enlisted Marvel Studios to promote its all-new 2022 Tucson SUV, using a cast of characters from the Disney-owned cinematic universe in an extension of the automaker’s “Question Everything” campaign that represents its single biggest launch blitz to date.

The new creative is a first-of-its-kind multi-series creative push for Marvel, which is lending a quartet of its titles currently on Disney+—“The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki,” “WandaVision” and “What If…?”—to the campaign with a series of lighthearted and thought-provoking ads.

The original “Question Everything” push was developed by Hyundai’s agency of record Innocean USA in collaboration with its media agency Canvas Worldwide, although the newest superhero-infused spots were produced in-house by the Marvel Partnerships team.

“Because we’re in-house, we’re grounded in what the lore is,” says Mindy Hamilton, senior VP of partnership marketing at the Walt Disney Company, adding that Marvel’s hand in the creative process ensures that the ads “don’t run afoul of the shows.”

While having Loki, an Asgardian god rooted in Norse mythology, sit behind the wheel of a South Korean-made SUV might seem out of the ordinary for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Hamilton insists that showing these characters interact with a mortal vehicle is well within the bounds of reality—and there’s even precedent for it.

In 2018, Hyundai teamed up with “Ant Man and the Wasp” for a campaign highlighting its Veloster hatchback, for example.

“For us, the MCU exists in our world; these heroes walk amongst us," Hamilton says. "We’ve had other characters drive vehicles … It is not out of the realm for a character to drive something."

The Tucson launch campaign represents the largest-ever campaign of its type for Hyundai, whose other annual big-budget marketing ploy was absent this year as the automaker, along with many Super Bowl advertising mainstays, chose to sit out 2021’s Buccaneers-Chief matchup. Prior to this year, Hyundai has appeared in 12 of the past 13 Super Bowls.

“We love the Super Bowl, it does a lot for us,” says Angela Zepeda, Hyundai’s U.S. chief marketing officer. "But knowing we had to keep the campaign going through the back half of the year, we felt we needed to do something beyond [the] Super Bowl." 

But she insists that the ongoing “Question Everything” campaign, which was first announced in April and will run through the end of the year, won’t be short on “big Super Bowl-esque, celebrity style-focused creative.”

“We needed to do something big and bold and out-of-the-box, but we made the decision to not go into the Super Bowl [this year] and save all our firepower for this launch,” says Zepeda. “This is all about launching our all new Tucson, which is a really important car for us.”

The 2022 model year represents a complete overhaul of the Tucson—so different, in fact, that Zepeda says other automakers may have even opted to rebadge the vehicle entirely. And with the subcompact SUV category being “the most competitive segment we compete in,” she believes the Marvel tie-in will bring the perfect amount of starpower to its launch.

The Marvel spots will feature actors Elizabeth Olsen, Anthony Mackie, Tom Hiddleston and others in a range of series-themed vignettes across linear TV, streaming, social and digital. 

Cut in six-, 15-, 30- and 60-second increments, the “Question Everything” ads are slated to remain live through September with the possibility of extending their run through the end of the year, Hyundai confirms, with all spots going live from tomorrow, June 16.

The campaign isn’t simply using the characters to sell cars, though—many of the ads will feature relevant plot details and glimpses of unknown timelines that Marvel fans are sure to pick up on. They include Sam Wilson appearing as Captain America for the first time since “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” wrapped up, and seeing what Loki has been up to since the conclusion of “Avengers: Endgame.”