Marvel Rivals is currently prompting a lot of comparisons to Overwatch 2, but there’s a whole, expansive Marvel universe it can draw from as it builds its roster in the coming months and (hopefully) years to help it carve out its own identity. Sure, we’ll probably get some mainstays of the comic books like Cyclops or more of the Avengers, but we’ve put together a list of characters that includes some less conventional picks and kit ideas we’d like to see added to Marvel Rivals in the future. Call up the rest of your six stacks. Let’s assemble.
Juggernaut
One of the interesting things Marvel Rivals does that deviates from Overwatch 2 is including destructible environments. This means if an enemy is using a building or other structure for cover, you can do enough damage to them that they crumble to the ground. Pretty much any hero can reasonably knock a wall out, but what if there was a character whose specific role was to punch holes in a wall? Enter Juggernaut, the mutant with incredible strength whose most iconic live-action moment involved chasing Shadowcat through walls in X-Men: The Last Stand.
Juggernaut is an easy pick for a Vanguard (tank) character, as he is incredibly powerful, could disrupt teams easily, and would have a lot of survivability. Give him a charge ability that breaks through the environment with reckless abandon and he’s set.
Invisible Woman
It’s surprising that Marvel Rivals is lacking in Fantastic Four representation, but Sue “Invisible Woman” Storm could have a really interesting kit that would echo someone like Sombra in Overwatch 2. As her name implies, her primary ability is invisibility, and it’s easy to envision her cloaking and moving across the map undetected. Her other power of creating invisible force fields would be a good support ability, as she could protect her teammates from damage and ensure some survivability.
Nightcrawler
Invisible Woman can get the cloak, but if anyone else is going to get part of Sombra’s kit, Nightcrawler can be Marvel Rivals’ teleporter. That’s a great way to get around the map quickly, get out of scraps you can’t win, and if he could teleport his teammates alongside him, it’d be a quick get-out-of-jail-free card for an ally who’s in trouble. He’d be a good hit-and-run-style duelist character with some support leanings.
Yondu
I imagine much of Yondu’s kit would be a standard blaster, run-and-gun moveset. However, the main thing I’m thinking about is his ultimate. It would be dope if he had a Cassidy High Noon-esque lock-on ability that let him get multiple enemies in his sights, and then fire off his flying, whistle-controlled Yaka Arrow for a one-shot kill. It would be oh so satisfying.
Squirrel Girl
Squirrel Girl’s kit would likely fall into the same camp as several of the melee-based heroes like Spider-Man and Black Panther, but her ability to communicate with squirrels is an opportunity for Marvel Rivals to get a little bit silly. I envision her ult calling down an army of squirrels upon her enemies, holding them in place, nipping at their heels, and giving Squirrel Girl’s team an opening to rain fire down upon them. No squirrels would be harmed in the making of this set-up.
Deadpool
Pretty much every Marvel fan has Wade Wilson on the brain right now in the wake of Deadpool & Wolverine. As both a gunslinger and swordsman, Deadpool would have a pretty versatile kit that NetEase would no doubt have to find a way to balance. However, given he’s also a fourth-wall-breaking character, I could see parts of his kit come from things like grabbing pieces of the UI and slamming them over an enemy’s head. In between the quips and references, Deadpool has a philosophy about how he exists in the Marvel universe, so it would only be natural for Marvel Rivals to play with one character who is keenly aware of his being in a video game.
Shadowcat
Kitty “Shadowcat” Pryde can walk through walls. Though it would be unreasonable for her to constantly be phasing through every punch, bullet, or projectile, a cooldown in which she is briefly immune from physical damage seems like a no-brainer ability. Perhaps she could even channel this toward an ally and save them from a possible lethal blow. It could be similar to Kiriko’s Protection Suzu in Overwatch 2, which gives teammates in range a brief moment of invulnerability. It would have to have a huge cooldown time, though, as that could get overpowered fast. Plus, of course, she could walk through walls on the map, which would make her an effective stealth and reconnaissance character as she moved through the field without having to walk around obstacles.
Baymax
Did you know Big Hero 6 is a Marvel property? Yeah, the animated Disney superhero film and show with a squishy balloon robot nurse is based on a lesser-known series of Marvel comics. The characters in Disney’s film and the ones that show up in the comics are substantially different, and the version of Baymax that shows up on the page is unrecognizable and transforms into multiple forms, such as a dragon-like robot, a mech, and even a humanoid appearance. But I think it’s likely that if the medic robot were to make an appearance in Marvel Rivals it would be as the big balloon man most folks know and love. The game is lacking in Strategist characters so far, and no one’s more fit for healing than the lovable guy whose alarm clock is when someone nearby says, “Ow!”
Captain America (Sam Wilson)
America’s Ass Steve Rogers has already been leaked as an upcoming hero for Marvel Rivals, but what if we had two Captain Americas? Give me Sam Wilson, complete with the iconic vibranium shield and also his jetpack and wings. I could see him using the shield differently than Steve will. While the original Cap will likely be locked to the ground most of the time, busting faces with his shield in hand, Sam could use it for air attacks, throwing the shield down on enemies from above, while also landing on the ground for more melee-based attacks. Marvel Rivals has several flight-based characters, so finding ways to differentiate them is good. Giving one of them more incentive to land would be a start.
Shang-Chi
If you tell me you watched Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and said you didn’t immediately want to throw the magical ten rings around, I’d call you a liar. Shang-Chi could be a mash-up of Overwatch 2’s Zenyatta and Hanzo, able to fire off one ring or ten at once to focus-fire an enemy. The trade-off is that his rings would have to return to him over a short cooldown, which could lead to interesting plays and choices. His ult could be calling the Great Protector dragon down to ravage the battlefield, similar to Hanzo’s. Also, give him a boosted jump by having him fire his rings toward the ground to launch himself higher. I wanna propel myself to the sky with those rings.
Gambit
Gambit is bouttamakeanameforhimselfere now that Channing Tatum’s portrayal in Deadpool & Wolverine has made him a meme and he had such a standout presence in X-Men ‘97. So why not throw him into the Marvel Rivals roster as a support-based hero? Yeah, Gambit’s abilities are destructive, but tooling his kit around charging up teammates’ attacks and projectiles would be a way of strategically implementing damage boosts in a way that feels conducive to a team-based shooter. Let him throw his kinetic energy cards all day, but if you want to implement a character like that, spread the love around.
MODOK
I just think it would be funny to kick this motherfucker around the map. That’s all.
Nico Minoru
The last two heroes on this list are probably too ambitious to make work in a competitive game. But it’s fun to imagine Nico Minoru as a character who has endless magical possibilities but can only use all of her cooldowns once, lest she suffer the consequences. The Runaways character wields a staff that is capable of casting nearly limitless spells, conjuring items, effects, and other nonsense, but Nico can only use a spell one time before it will backfire in some way. I imagine her having an almost neverending rotating cooldown list of high-impact abilities, but she can only cast them once before they swap for something else. She’d make an interesting boss character, but I can’t imagine balancing her for a PvP game would work. It’d be neat, though.
Domino
Another character who would be fascinating to see in Marvel Rivals is Domino. She fights with firearms primarily, but her real power is luck. Some might say that’s not a superpower, but if you see how she manages to always be in the right place at the right time to avoid danger, win fights, and get what she wants, it certainly seems superpowered. That sounds nearly impossible to implement into a video game, but you can start by making it where she can’t be hit by headshots because she always manages to not be down the enemy sight lines. Competitive players would hate it, but it would be a good bit.
Marvel Rivals just completed its closed beta, and is set to launch later this year for Mac, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. For more on the hero shooter, check out our early impressions.
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