Recently I’ve been playing a lot of Marvel Rivals and it has once again rekindled my love for the characters and storylines I grew up reading about. While the main roster for the game is incredibly solid, it’s always fun to speculate on who would make a great addition in the future. Now there have been some statements and leaks from the development team providing strong evidence for characters who will be coming in the future.

Cyclops, Professor X, Blade, Ultron, Deadpool, and more will most likely take up spots for the next year of the game’s lifecycle, so it will certainly be a while before we see any of my picks. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun thinking about how to translate some of these characters into the hero shooter genre. This list is in no particular order and I tried to divide the characters equally across the three roles Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist even though the current roster could use fewer Duelists.

1) Silver Surfer

Right off the bat, I’m going to start with one of my personal favorite characters, the Herald of Galactus himself. The Silver Surfer has a vast array of abilities granted to him by the power cosmic and that’s why I think he would be a great addition to the Strategist class, which acts as the support role for the game.

His board could offer him great mobility, getting him out of sticky situations or reaching allies quickly to provide critical healing. Additionally, I could see him being able to deal solid damage like Cloak and Dagger given that the power cosmic offers him a tremendous offensive presence in the form of super strength and energy blasts.

2) Doctor Doom

With the Fantastic Four being the first characters to join the roster it feels odd that their primary antagonist wouldn’t be joining the fight. Doctor Doom is a character that I think could easily fit into any of the roles, but personally, I feel Vanguard is most true to his character. Doom is extremely confident in his own power and rarely allies himself with others. While this could easily translate to the Duelist role, Marvel Rivals simply needs more tanks and there are many aspects to the villain that could fit into this role.

Doom’s armor grants him enhanced strength and also is equipped with force field generators and lasers that could allow him to absorb huge amounts of damage while returning it in equal force. He could also summon his Doombots as a way to divide enemy aggression or establish a hold on crucial choke points within various maps. Overall, I imagine Doom would play similarly to Dr. Strange and Magneto within the role.

3) Mysterio

This is another character that I feel would make a great support. The Master of Illusions utilizes various devices to accomplish his goals employing the likes of hallucinogens, chemicals, and light projectors. All of these would translate into some creative abilities that could confuse enemy teams. While Mysterio doesn’t have any innate healing powers like the Silver Surfer, most of the other supports in the game don’t either. I’m fine with stretching the limits of characters for the sake of game balance, especially if the abilities traditionally ascribed to the character would fulfill the primary functions of a particular role.

4) Daredevil 

With the return of his TV series, Daredevil could easily become one of the more popular Marvel characters amongst the general public and that’s a great thing. Not only is he a great character, but his abilities are especially compelling for the Duelist role. Daredevil’s echolocation and sensory abilities would allow him to locate and isolate key targets for easy elimination. His primary baton weapons are highly adaptable and excel in close-quarters combat.

However, Daredevil also commonly employs his clubs as a throwing weapon or grapple. As a result, he would most likely fulfill the role of a midrange assassin-type hero, a playstyle that I feel is sorely lacking. It would be much appreciated by players who enjoy melee but don’t want to deal with the consequences of feeding the enemy team kills (looking at you Wolverine).

5) Bishop

One of the more overlooked characters within the X-Men roster. Bishop’s energy absorption and dispersion powers are very cool and would make for an extremely threatening Vanguard. Additionally, Bishop often employs firearms as a primary means of channeling the energy he absorbs which is perfect for this game. It is an easy one-to-one translation that would give tank players more range options for acquiring safe kills without endangering the back line by overextending.

6) Ghost Rider

Another of my personal favorite characters who speaks to my inner child. I’m not entirely sure how I would translate this character fully to Rivals but he’s just too cool to leave out. I feel the Duelist role would fit well for the Spirit of Vengeance. I imagine he might favor a combo playstyle similar to Spider-Man and Black Panther which would revolve around utilizing his signature chain to snag enemies from the back line before finishing them off with the Penance Stare.

Alternatively, he could simply focus on burning foes with hellfire from range and some incarnations of the character have utilized guns as vessels to project his power. The motorcycle while awkward on paper, thankfully does not obey the laws of physics meaning he should be able to use it even within maps heavy with buildings and cover. No doubt the bike would allow the Rider to be a constant presence on the battlefield, allowing him to chase down fleeing foes or return quickly to the fight to cause more destruction.

Those are some of my hopes for the future of Marvel Rivals. This game has honestly surpassed all of my expectations. Not only is there a distinct care for the source material but the breadth of source material the game has to pull from provides potential for the most expansive roster within the hero shooter genre. I could easily list dozens more characters for future updates such as Carnage, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Abomination, Thanos, Luke Cage, or Nova, and no doubt in a few years the game may soon hold a candle to League of Legends in terms of a playable roster.

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Edward Harding

I've been playing games since I was a little kid. I have a soft spot for Nintendo titles and RPG's but play all kinds of titles across a variety of platforms. Outside of games I love to play music and practice martial arts. You can find me on Facebook and Instagram as well.

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