I’ve been staring at the same short snippet of Marvel Rivals gameplay for about three days now. It’s got a permanent home in one of my browser tabs, nestled between a half-finished email and a recipe for carnitas I’ll probably never make. You’ve seen it. The explosive, chaotic, 6v6 hero shooter action. Iron Man blasting away, Doctor Strange weaving portals, Groot—adorable, violent Groot—smashing things. It looks like a technicolor sugar rush, and honestly, I’m here for it.
It’s exactly what you’d expect. A vibrant, fast-paced answer to Overwatch, but slathered in that iconic, universally-adored Marvel IP. It’s a layup. A slam dunk. It’s a guaranteed money-printer, and all developer NetEase has to do is not trip on the way to the basket.
And then a thought crept into my head. A weird, slightly heretical thought sparked by whispers and datamining rumors from the closed alpha. What if they add characters we’ve never seen before? Not deep-cut comic pulls like Doorman or Squirrel Girl. I mean brand new, from-scratch, made-for-the-game heroes.
My first reaction was a gut-level “No.” A visceral, protective cringe. But the more I sit with it, the more I turn it over in my mind… the more I think this terrible, no-good idea might just be the most brilliant thing they could do.
The Unbreakable Allure of a Blank Page
Look, the Marvel roster is… vast. Staggeringly so. We have decades of heroes and villains, from street-level brawlers to cosmic gods. You could build a dozen hero shooters and never run out of established characters. That’s the safe bet. Give us Wolverine, give us Captain America, give us Jean Grey. We know them. We love them. We already have the Funko Pops.
But here’s the thing about working with an established canon: it’s a cage. A beautiful, gilded cage, but a cage nonetheless. Every ability for Iron Man has to feel like something Tony Stark would build. Every line of dialogue for Spider-Man has to have that signature Parker wit. You’re not creating; you’re adapting. You’re curating a museum exhibit of characters, not building a new world.
An original hero, though? That’s freedom. Pure, unadulterated potential. You need a new healer who can manipulate sound waves? You can’t really shoehorn that onto The Punisher. But a new hero? Chef’s kiss. You can design a character from the ground up to fill a specific gameplay niche without worrying if it “fits” 60 years of comic book history. It’s the difference between renovating a historic home and building a new one from the ground up. Both can be incredible, but only one lets you put the bathroom wherever you damn well please.
It’s the same gamble the creator of PUBG is taking with his new survival sim; sometimes you have to step away from the proven formula to create something genuinely fresh.
But Is It Still ‘Marvel’ Without the Marvel?
This is the big, scary question, isn’t it? The one that keeps fanboys up at night. If you start adding original characters, where does it stop? Do you end up with a roster that’s half-Avengers, half-random-people-who-shoot-lasers? Does the whole thing lose its identity?
I initially thought yes, absolutely. But the more I think about it, the less sure I am. Marvel itself is built on the foundation of new characters being introduced into an existing world. Think about it. Miles Morales wasn’t in the original 1960s lineup. Neither was Kamala Khan. Or X-23. These characters were, at one point, "original heroes" dropped into a universe of icons, and now they are icons. They proved that the Marvel universe is a living, breathing thing, not a static collection of its greatest hits.
The success of this hinges entirely on execution. A new hero can’t just be “Generic Laser Guy.” They need a story. They need a connection to the world. Maybe they were a scientist at Pym Technologies. Or a former sorcerer-in-training who flunked out of Kamar-Taj. They have to feel like they could, conceivably, get their own six-issue comic miniseries. They need to feel like Marvel.
Getting that right is like trying to sink a trick shot in a game of billiards; the angles are everything, and if you're off by a single millimeter, the whole thing goes sideways. The character design, the lore, the voice acting—it all has to be so good that we forget they weren’t there all along.
The Tightrope Walk Over a Shark Tank of Fan Rage
Let's be brutally honest. The risk is astronomical. Gamers, and especially comic book fans, are… passionate. We’re a fickle, demanding, and fiercely protective bunch. One misstep, one poorly designed original character that feels out of place, and the backlash would be nuclear.
Imagine a new character, let's call her "Chronomia," who is instantly more powerful than Doctor Strange, wittier than Spider-Man, and richer than Tony Stark. The community would riot. And they’d be right to. The danger is creating a “Mary Sue” who feels like a developer’s pet project, warping the world around them instead of fitting into it.
This is where games like Overwatch had a massive advantage. No one had any preconceived notions about Tracer or Winston. The developers had a blank canvas. NetEase is trying to paint a new figure onto the Mona Lisa. It’s a move that requires an impossible level of confidence and skill.
The delicate balance of team composition in a 6v6 shooter is already a nightmare to manage. When you have two players trying to coordinate, like in so many great 2-player games, synergy is key. Now imagine trying to create synergy between a new, unproven character and a titan like the Hulk. It’s a design challenge of the highest order.
And yet… I still can’t shake the feeling that it’s a risk worth taking. A truly great original character could be the secret sauce that makes Marvel Rivals more than just a licensed clone. It could give it an identity all its own.
FAQs: The Burning Questions About New Faces
So, is it confirmed Marvel Rivals is getting original heroes?
Nope, not at all! Right now, this is purely in the realm of speculation, fueled by some ambiguous datamined files and the community’s imagination. The developers at NetEase haven't said a word. It’s a fascinating “what if” scenario, but until we hear it from them, it’s just a fun theory to kick around.
Why would they even risk adding brand-new characters?
The biggest reason is gameplay diversity. The existing Marvel roster, huge as it is, wasn't designed for a class-based hero shooter. An original hero could be custom-built to fill a very specific role—say, a dedicated anti-flanker or a unique support—that no existing character fits perfectly without bending their lore to the breaking point.
How could a new character even fit into Marvel lore?
That's the billion-dollar question. The best way would be to tie their origin directly to existing Marvel factions or events. Were they a victim of the Terrigen Mists? A failed Super Soldier experiment? A defector from A.I.M.? By grounding them in the familiar, they instantly feel more a part of the world.
Isn't this just copying Overwatch?
Yes and no. Overwatch built its entire roster from scratch, which is a different challenge. The conversation about whether Marvel Rivals may get something no one asked for: original heroes is more about a hybrid approach. It's about seeing if brand-new creations can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with 80-year-old icons. It’s a bolder, and arguably much harder, proposition.
So, am I on board? I don’t know. Part of me wants the pure, unadulterated fan service of playing as my favorite comic characters. The other, more adventurous part of me is deeply curious to see what a talented team could create with the keys to the Marvel kingdom. It could be a train wreck. Or it could be the start of a whole new legend. Either way, I’ll be watching.
