In this new 6 vs 6 shooter from NetEase and Marvel Games, there are so many playable characters to choose from! At launch, players had 33 unique character options, as well as eight awesome maps and a ton of playstyles to try. Some of the orig playable heroes included Black Panther, Black Widow, Captain America, Cloak and Dagger, Doctor Strange, Groot, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man, Loki, Magneto, Rocket Raccoon, Scarlet Witch, Squirrel Girl, Spider-Man, Star Lord, Storm, Thor, Wolverine, and many more. One of our fave underdogs of the roster is Jeff The Land Shark, who wasn’t one of the most well-known characters from the Marvel Comics, but has already become a fan favourite among Marvel Rivals players. All the characters have extra skins to be unlocked, and can be one of three classes, ‘Duelist’, ‘Vanguard’, and ‘Strategist’. The storyline (and the reason the heroes were facing off in the game) at the start was caused by Doctor Doom, who caused a ‘timestream entanglement’ that led to new worlds being created, and heroes and villains from across the multiverse fighting one another to defeat both Doom variants. When Season 1 arrived, it introduced another additional story, starring the king of the vampires, Dracula! Old Drac was busy trying to take over the world by sending it into endless night (helpful when sunlight is deadly to vampires). Season 1 was also the introduction of the Fantastic Four, starting with Mister Fantastic (AKA Reed Richards) and Invisible Woman (AKA Sue Storm), and followed by The Thing (AKA Ben Grimm) and Human Torch (AKA Johnny Storm).

GAME NINJA PRO TIP!
In one of the newer maps, Sanctum Sanctorum, keep an eye out for the relics that refer to stories from the Marvel universe – plenty of Easter eggs here! You’ll probably spot a blue cape with a silver lining by a broken glass cabinet. Doctor Strange’s red Cloak of Levitation escaped the broken case, and the blue cape is a reference to Strange Tales #115’s ‘The Origin of Doctor Strange’ story!