Kingdom Hearts 4 has been officially confirmed, and with it comes a host of speculation from fans about what Disney-themed worlds players will get to explore in the next game. With recent acquisitions from Disney – including Marvel, Star Wars, and Fox – it feels like just about anything is on the table.
We thought we'd go through Disney's very long list of intellectual properties – including some you might not even know Disney owned – to come up with 10 worlds we'd love to see in Kingdom Hearts 4.
A Bug's Life
For much of the Kingdom Hearts series, it seemed like Pixar worlds were pretty much off-limits. Kingdom Hearts 3 changed that, with worlds based on Monsters Inc. and Toy Story, and opened up a world of possibilities for future games. There's one Pixar movie that stands above the rest as a candidate for inclusion in Kingdom Hearts 4: A Bug's Life.
Just imagine: Sora and the gang get turned into bugs, they help defeat a Heartless bird, they stand up to the Darkness-infested Hopper. It just makes sense. Transformation worlds like Monsters Inc. and The Lion King are always the best, and A Bug's Life is one of the best Pixar films. Make it happen, Square Enix.
Star Wars
Two words: lightsaber keyblade. I could leave it at that, but let's expand. Disney's acquisition of Star Wars has led to a lot more Star Wars media, between movies and TV shows, all expanding the world in new and interesting ways. That means there's a lot to pull from for inclusion in Kingdom Hearts 4, be it the classic Skywalker story or, say, The Mandalorian.
Star Wars already hits on a lot of the same notes as Kingdom Hearts, too. There's a war between light and dark, magical powers bestowed upon a chosen few who fight in that war, and fantastical weapons that are, frankly, cool as heck. Eagle-eyed fans think they've already seen hints of Star Wars in the Kingdom Hearts 4 teaser, so this one feels the most likely. Also, lightsaber keyblade.
X-Men
Disney actually owns all of the Marvel universe, so there are a lot of potential candidates for a world in Kingdom Hearts 4. Honestly, I tossed up between Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Guardians of the Galaxy, but I've landed on X-Men, for a few key reasons.
The first is that X-Men isn't dependent on a real-world location like New York, since mutants can exist just about anywhere without putting a label on it. The second, and perhaps more important, reason is that X-Men is a little less grounded than other Marvel series, straying into the fantastical more often than not. It helps that X-Men has such great characters to draw on, like Wolverine and Storm, all of which would feel at home in Kingdom Hearts.
Inside Out
Inside Out is one of the best Pixar films in recent years, and like Star Wars, already hits a lot of the same notes as Kingdom Hearts. Emotions are tightly tied to keyblade wielders' powers, with anger feeding dark magic and love and joy feeding light magic, so having those emotions personified and interacting with those keyblade wielders is a neat angle that hasn't been explored yet.
There's even an enemy type from Birth By Sleep that feeds on negative emotions, the Unversed, so it makes sense that they'd show up in a world based on emotions. With Inside Out 2 on the horizon, now is the perfect time for the world of the original movie to show up in Kingdom Hearts.
Bob's Burgers
Okay, look, hear me out — I don't know if Disney outright owns Bob's Burgers. Disney bought Fox's entertainment assets, and Bob's Burgers is a Fox show, but tracking down who actually owns the IP is a nightmare. Either way, I understand Bob's Burgers is a silly suggestion for a Kingdom Hearts world, but I actually think there's a way it can work.
Remember Atlantica in Kingdom Hearts 2? Instead of being a traditional combat-focused world, it featured a series of rhythmic minigames, which was pretty fun. Bob's Burgers has a lot of songs, and though some of them are a bit crass, there's plenty (especially from the Bob's Burgers movie) that would be appropriate for Kingdom Hearts. It's an out-there pick, I know, but I'm also in love with the idea of a french fry keyblade, so I'm sticking with it.
Treasure Planet
At this point, most 2D animated Disney films have been explored by Kingdom Hearts. There are a couple that haven't yet, but not many of what's left feel like they would be a good fit. Treasure Planet, on the other hand, very much feels like it's got the right vibes to be included in Kingdom Hearts 4.
Disney's Treasure Planet is a fantastical re-imagining of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel Treasure Island, focused on space pirates setting out to track down a world filled with treasure. Kingdom Hearts has already done pirates, and it's already done a few space worlds, so why not combine the two? Plus, maybe it'll help people realize how great Treasure Planet is. It's a win/win.
Zootopia
I honestly don't love Zootopia as a film, but I will gladly admit that it would make a fantastic addition to Kingdom Hearts 4's world lineup. Sora's been a fuzzy creature a few different times now, first in a world based on The Lion King and then in the world based on Monsters Inc., so there's definitely precedent for an animal transformation protagonist.
Zootopia is also a pretty straightforward story to insert Heartless into, since there's a bunch of crazed predators in the film that have been turned savage by a flower. Swap out the flower for the power of darkness powered by Heartless, and you've got a story that's so obvious it's surprising it didn't happen already in Kingdom Hearts 3.
The Muppets
Disney owning the Muppets is an absolute blessing for Kingdom Hearts. Firstly, it already typically uses a mix of monster or animal-like puppets and humans, so a humanoid keyblade wielder mixing with Gonzo or Kermit the Frog doesn't feel totally out of place.
There are a few different Muppets stories you could draw on too. Maybe Kingdom Hearts is done with The Nightmare Before Christmas for its holiday adventures, so why not swap in The Muppets Christmas Carol? The recent Muppets Mayhem presents an interesting, music-focused idea too, and Muppets From Space would really let Gonzo shine. There's a rich history of stories and characters to pull from, so take your pick.
Coco
Coco is another Pixar film that I think could play a really fantastic role in Kingdom Hearts 4. The Land of the Dead featured in the film is kind of similar to the Underworld from Hercules, featured in Kingdom Hearts 2, so it's probably not too dark for Kingdom Hearts, all things considered.
Also, with how Kingdom Hearts 3 left certain characters, the series is going to have to deal with death at some point. What better way to do that than with a Pixar movie that does exactly that? Coco's visual aesthetics are just screaming for a Kingdom Hearts outfit too, like Halloween Town or The Grid.
Cars
Look, I'm gonna be honest, this is by far the least serious suggestion on the list. I keep imagining Sora as a car from Cars and cracking up. Imagine Donald and Goofy as vehicles? Donald would probably be a plane, I guess, but Goofy would probably be some kind of old clunker of a VW Beetle or something.
I don't know how this world would work. Maybe it's just filled with racing minigames, like the Disney world in Birth by Sleep. Maybe Sora somehow fights enemies while in car form. Who knows. But as long as I keep laughing about it, I'm going to think this is a good idea.
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