I have had a sudden surge of excitement for Marvel Rivals, NetEase’s swing at a superpowered hero shooter akin to Overwatch. Is it because the game is a few days away from launching on December 6? Could it be because it’s a game my friends and I might actually play together after almost all of them stopped playing Overwatch 2? Or is it just because my relationship with Overwatch has grown so cold that I’m willing to seek comfort in the warm embrace of another hero shooter? Yes to all of the above, but it’s not what’s fueling my newfound hype; it’s the anime OP-ass launch trailer NetEase put out over the weekend.
The trailer doubles as both a launch trailer and a reveal of the final five heroes joining Marvel Rivals’ launch roster. Iron Fist, Black Widow, Cloak and Dagger (think Ice Climbers from Smash Bros. with two characters being one playable entity), Squirrel Girl, and Wolverine will all join the line-up of 33 heroes pushing legally distinct payloads. That’s all well and good, and I’ll probably give comic-accurate short king Wolverine a try, but what I’m most excited by today is how NetEase and vocalist Chrissy Costanza created the kind of hero showcase music video you only see in front of an anime that makes you believe in the power of friendship. Costanza’s vocals on “Rivals ‘Til the End” soar over action-packed scenes of Marvel’s greatest heroes doing hero shit. All the cool team-ups—like Hulk throwing Wolverine and Magik teleporting Psylocke up the side of an exploding skyscraper—are sick, but every cool moment is elevated by how good the song is. It’s peak anime opening, and I hope it plays when you boot up the game, because you will not catch me skipping it.
Luckily, all this excitement isn’t unfounded. I’ve already played over a dozen hours of Marvel Rivals through its test phases over the past few months. Right now I’m planning on rocking Star-Lord as my main, and swapping to Rocket Racoon when my team needs a healer, and I’ll forgive both of them being pretty much absent from this trailer because it’s too good to nitpick.