Marvel Rivals finally got around to showing off its final few launch characters a couple days ahead of its December 6 release date, and it has built up quite a roster that will no doubt expand over time.
Even if the game is something of an “Overwatch clone” from NetEase, it has one of the best aesthetics I’ve ever seen not just for the hero shooter genre, but also for these Marvel heroes and villains, which is saying something, given how many iterations we have seen of them across the decades.
So, here is the full list of characters, including the late editions:
- Adam Warlock
- Black Panther
- Black Widow
- Captain America
- Cloak and Dagger
- Doctor Strange
- Groot
- Hawkeye
- Hela
- Hulk
- Iron Fist
- Iron Man
- Jeff the Land Shark
- Loki
- Luna Snow
- Magik
- Magneto
- Mantis
- Moon Knight
- Namor
- Peni Parker
- Psylocke
- Punisher
- Rocket Raccoon
- Scarlet Witch
- Spider-Man
- Squirrel Girl
- Star-Lord
- Storm
- Thor
- Venom
- Winter Soldier
- Wolverine
Some of the late additions were big heroes like Wolverine and smaller ones like Squirrel Girl (voiced again, as ever, by Milana Vayntrub, who was once slated to play the character in live action). Black Widow, Cloak and Dagger and Iron Fist also made the last-minute cut here. One fun new thing is that we learned that Hulk and Wolverine have their “fastball special” combo move where Hulk hurls Wolverine at people, a famous, often very funny comic book move. I expect we might see this in Avengers: Secret Wars if all goes according to plan with Hugh Jackman showing up again.
Now we have six mutants on the roster, Storm, Wolverine, Namor, Psylocke, Magik and Magneto. Obviously we are missing a ton of big names from that group, Cyclops, Cable, Jean Grey, Iceman, Professor X, Beast, I mean, the list is practically endless. On The Avengers’ side, we have most of the heavy hitters there including the entire “core six” from the movies, and later additions like Black Panther, Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch and Spider-Man, so that group is pretty well-covered. We also have the first Avengers’ movie’s villain, Loki. No Ultron or Thanos yet. No Kang. But we do have Galacta, daughter of Galactus!
The most unique characters in this roster are probably Luna Snow, Peni Parker, Squirrel Girl and Jeff the Land Shark, as they wanted more than just the “main” Marvel guys to some extent. I am also very curious to see how Cloak and Dagger play.
So, only a few more days until launch on December 6. I think this is going to be a big one.
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