There’s plenty of praise to go around for Marvel Rivals, thanks to its addictive gameplay loop and exquisite character designs. One thing fans love to bring up is how this game is getting people to check out comic books from Marvel, something even the MCU movies couldn’t do.
So it’s not that surprising to see how Marvel Rivals is now inspiring current Marvel Comics.
It started pretty basic with Rivals’ character designs in variant covers of various comic book issues. But as the game grew in popularity, we started seeing the company take notice. At one point, there was a Disney+ section advertising shows with characters from Rivals. Now we’re seeing more collaborations between the comics and Rivals, which has been a net positive thus far.
Many were happy to see the Marvel Swimsuit Special return, mostly because some of these outfits are going to appear in Marvel Rivals. This game has a reputation for having really attractive female characters, even if some of them look alike, so it was a pretty expected move. We’re still surprised that Marvel allowed Emma Frost’s thighs to jiggle all over the place, not that it’s a bad thing.
Luckily, the inspiration isn’t just fanservice-related, as some comics are now taking direct influence from the game. A new one-shot called Doomed 2099 was recently announced, which has the future Doctor Doom taking on the present Doom. That’s almost word-for-word Season 0 of Rivals, albeit with a different cast of characters.
Then again, we wouldn’t be too surprised if Phoenix and Bishop end up in Rivals one day. We sure could use a redhead to make the blonde cast of women stand out more…
Subscribers to Marvel Unlimited were also pleasantly surprised to see that the company is also giving free skins for the game. Right now, it’s only The Thing who’s getting one, but this could be the start of even more promotional skins for subscribers. Plus, there is currently a digital-only comic series that fans can check out, which fleshes out the game’s lore and characters more.
click to enlargeEven the MCU is taking part in some of this Marvel Rivals appreciation. This has always been the case since the shooter already launched with some MCU skins, but we can’t complain about getting more. Winter Soldier getting a new skin based on the Thunderbolts movie was a pretty inspired move, though we would have also liked to see a Yelena skin for Black Widow.
Here is hoping that Marvel doesn’t get too obsessed with the success of Rivals. Fans are already worried that releasing one hero a month in the game is going to exhaust developers. The company pushing for more crossovers could backfire if it overdoes them. Right now it’s fine since the game is new and exciting, but that can always change.
Regardless, we’re pretty happy seeing the influence of Marvel Rivals in comic books. There’s a classic Emma Frost mini-series coming soon, and we’re pretty sure fans would love to get that costume in Rivals.
For more articles like this, take a look at our Features and Marvel Rivals page.