“Curse you, Jeff!” That is what I’ve yelled internally as I used to be thrown into the closest abyss at the very least 5 occasions since Marvel Rivals’ launch on December 6. Earlier than that, I barely even knew who the hell Jeff the Land Shark was, and that is coming from a popular culture sicko.
Look, I am a fairly large Marvel fan, however I will admit that I do not learn each single factor the writer places out. Hell, I most likely take a look at a really small proportion of what they’re doing these days. This has been a problem for some time, and never only for Marvel: Extra individuals than ever earlier than are conscious of comedian ebook universes, however that does not imply that the majority of those self same persons are studying comics. Even through the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s peak days, there was an issue in getting viewers to leap into comedian books.
A idea of mine is that, as stable as Marvel’s adaptation efforts have been till a couple of years in the past, they by no means fairly capitalized on the weirdness and fewer fashionable aspect of the huge Marvel universe. Now, the MCU could be very a lot making an attempt to sort out such characters and components, however is failing to persistently execute that imaginative and prescient properly sufficient to make people stick round past surefire hits like Deadpool & Wolverine.
Whenever you’re introduced with well-known characters like Iron Man, Captain America, or Spider-Man again and again on the large and small screens, a standard by-product will not be eager to see far more of their faces on the pages. At this level, I have a tendency to actually gravitate in direction of much less fashionable characters who I do know much less about. That looks as if a much better use of my time. And I am keen to confess that current TV exhibits and video video games have a performed an enormous function in getting me to examine characters like Agatha Harkness or Robbie Reyes’ Ghost Rider (shoutout to Midnight Suns).
After spending a while with Marvel Rivals’ full launch, I am beginning to really feel the identical itch. Certain, having A-listers like Magneto and Venom able to play as rocks, however I am having much more enjoyable with characters I wasn’t as accustomed to. Even when they suck within the present meta, I am curious to study extra about them, and I really feel like Marvel Rivals has carried out a reasonably job of blending the favored faces with heroes and villains who’re historically neglected.
“No character is off limits,” government producer Danny Koo teased again at Gamescom 2024. It is a refreshing method to filling out an ever-expanding roster of heroes and villains over doing one thing as restricted as an Avengers live-service looter shooter once more. Let’s put the Overwatch comparisons apart for a small second and admit that half (if no more) of the rationale why Marvel Rivals has popped off is as a result of it merely seems to be and feels wonderful and additionally guarantees the thrill of not figuring out who’s across the nook as a result of supply materials’s richness.
Moon Knight or Lin Lie (Marvel Rivals’ Iron Fist and at the moment scariest character) have been relative nobodies a couple of years in the past except you actually have been into comics. Yeah, Moon Knight has been round perpetually, however come on, normies did not give a s**t till the Oscar Isaac-led present got here out. New MCU entries and video video games aren’t simply meant to generate cash on their very own, they’re additionally meant to maintain comedian books and the general model wholesome and related. Whereas Marvel’s Avengers felt like a significant stumble, Marvel Snap and Marvel Rivals have fully turned the ship round with regards to video video games. Stuff like Insomniac’s Spider-Man video games is nice and all, however having live-service titles that turn out to be this large and continuously go deeper into Marvel’s library is great worth for the powers that be.
Sure, I nonetheless need Daredevil to enter the world as quickly as Daredevil: Born Once more hits in March. Sure, I would like extra X-Males to point out up. However on the finish of the day, I am simply grateful for a really stable hero shooter that is profiting from a genuinely colourful and wealthy multiverse that too usually feels underused exterior of comedian books. Rock-solid methods apart, it is the principle cause why I discovered Firaxis’ Midnight Suns so rattling interesting; it wasn’t afraid to get bizarre and discover a aspect of the model that had barely made it exterior of comedian books earlier than. All of us knew Marvel would have one thing big of their palms the second they managed to efficiently combine that with fashionable, extremely worthwhile genres. Have a look at us now.
Now here is the factor: We all know how the online game market works and the way publishers and rights holders react to large hits by now. So, what are the possibilities of Warner Bros. Video games dashing to make a DC various to Marvel Rivals that fully misses the purpose of why it really works so properly, particularly now that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is completed for good? It pains me to say that they are fairly excessive.
In conclusion, I suppose that, within the age of milking big IPs till they’re dry and with a few of them doubtlessly set to be round perpetually in a method or one other, we’d as properly ask for transmedia works that truly make good use of them, particularly in the event that they’re pushing extra individuals to select up books as an alternative of doom-scrolling for 5 hours a day once they’re not watching or taking part in something.