Marvel Rivals Developers Say Original Characters Are Not a Priority Due to Vast Marvel Roster

NetEase Games has delved deep into comic book lore to fill Marvel Rivals with 48 playable heroes, but will the pace of additions ever slow down? At GDC, we spoke with creative director Guangyun 'GuangGuang' Chen and executive producer Danny Koo about the future of their superhero shooter. They discussed NetEase's plan to stick with a one-hero-per-month live-service approach and addressed whether players might see original characters designed specifically for Marvel Rivals.

The quick answer? It's unlikely, at least for the foreseeable future.

'We have so many right now,' Koo stated. 'It's not the time.'

Koo reaffirmed that the studio has the green light to create original characters if needed, so a NetEase-crafted hero isn't completely ruled out. However, don't anticipate one arriving in Season 8.

Meanwhile, the team is gearing up for its first major collaboration with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) through the Path to Doomsday event. This year-long celebration starts in April and will feature tie-in content leading up to the release of Avengers: Doomsday on December 18.

Koo mentioned that NetEase plans content about a year ahead, ensuring Marvel Rivals updates align with the broader Marvel universe's narrative. While Avengers: Doomsday offers a chance for an exciting team-up, he emphasized that 'the game comes first.'

Many players expected an MCU collaboration, but some have wondered if Marvel Rivals might follow other live-service games by adding crossovers with non-Marvel properties. Koo's comments suggest that's not in the cards.

'Non-Marvel? We have so many characters in Marvel, [we’re] not looking at outside of Marvel,' he explained. 'We do have collaborations with other Marvel games, let's say. At this point, we have so much content.'

The Marvel universe, spanning comics, movies, TV, and video games since 1939, boasts thousands of characters. Even as NetEase continues adding two heroes per two-month season, GuangGuang isn't concerned about balancing the growing roster with future comic book additions.

'It's not a very huge number,' he said regarding the expanding hero pool, 'and we can handle it.' However, one challenge NetEase is focusing on is the user interface (UI).

'I don't think heroes will be a problem,' Koo noted. 'It's more about UI optimization. It's like, 'Who's your favorite heroes that you want to play, so you can have them at any time at your disposal? What are new characters that you want to play?' And this is every season, and you have to solve that problem. And then, if the matter changes, it's like, 'How am I going to pick those characters?' Certainly, we'll work together on how we present that to the players. But I run the live-service side of Marvel games. We have games [that have] over 200-300 characters, and it's not going to slow down.'

Marvel Rivals has kept players engaged in its second year with post-launch additions like Deadpool, Gambit, Angela, Else Bloodstone, and the entire Fantastic Four, catering to diverse Marvel fans. As fans eagerly request heroes such as Bishop, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, and Sersi, Koo hinted that a key factor in selection is how new characters can diversify gameplay.

'We want to work with the team to introduce different play mechanics,' he said. 'If someone is too similar, then it's not that exciting. If we have five shooting guns like Punisher, then it'll be less exciting than someone that does something completely different.'

Marvel Rivals recently added White Fox as hero 48 with Season 7's launch last week. Black Cat, a frequent ally of Spider-Man, will join in Season 7.5 in the coming weeks. Heroes 50 and 51 remain a mystery, with NetEase planning a reveal for Season 8, expected in the next few months.

While we await the next comic book character to join Marvel Rivals, you can read about the status of a Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game and what the studio is doing to combat players who intentionally throw matches.