Best Marvel Rivals Characters For Fans Of Shooters

Key Takeaways

• Iron Man brings Quake-like gameplay to
  Marvel Rivals
  with his powerful explosive blasts.
• Star-Lord channels Tracer and Reaper from
  Overwatch
  , offering fast-paced fights and a strong ultimate ability.
• Rocket Raccoon embodies the joy of spraying enemies with a giant machine gun, a unique Vanguard-Strategist hybrid.

Released by NetEase Games, Marvel Rivals had over ten million players join the servers in less than three days, with more on the way. Many of them are Marvel fans who are interested in the game or have joined after playing other kinds of shooters in the past.

For those used to third-person and first-person shooters, several characters on the roster can appeal to their tastes. They are still designed to fit a Hero Shooter template, but they can also be compared to certain shooters in the past to help ease newcomers into the objective-based gameplay. These Marvel Rivals heroes align heavily with FPS or third-person shooter archetypes.

6 Iron Man

Like Playing A Boomer Shooter In The Air

• Class: Duelist
• Difficulty: 2/5
• First Appearance: Tales Of Suspense #39

While Tony Stark does not wield firearms in the classical sense, Marvel Rivals‘ Iron Man suit is essentially a weapon, and he wields it as such. With his repulsor blasts, he can take to the skies and shoot down nearly any opponent, especially with his Armor Overdrive active, which turns his blasts into explosive variants.

Iron Man ends up feeling like an aerial version of classic shooters like Quake, where players often launch bombs and missiles at each other. It’s because of that, Iron Man is already considered quite the overpowered character in Marvel Rivals, if not a fun one to soar through the skies with.

5 Star-Lord

As Classic Of A Hero Shooter Character Can Get

• Class: Duelist
• Difficulty: 2/5
• First Appearance: Marvel Preview #4

Players who are used to other fast-paced third-person hero multiplayer shooters like Rogue Company will enjoy Star-Lord. He wields his twin Element Guns, which fire rapidly and deal a lot of damage fast. He’s fast but also agile, allowing him to move in and out of fights in an instant, which matches the faster-paced fights.

With his ultimate ability, Star-Lord can unleash a beam of bullets that can eliminate even the strongest foes. The fast pace and hovering movement make him feel like a fusion of Tracer and Reaper from Overwatch, which can be as fun to play as it is scary to go up against.

4 Rocket Raccoon

Everyone Loves Wielding A Giant Machine Gun

• Class: Strategist
• Difficulty: 1/5
• First Appearance: Marvel Preview #7

The idea of any kind of shooter is to aim at the opponent, but sometimes, characters like Marvel Rivals‘ Rocket Raccoon show the cathartic pleasure of spraying multiple enemies at once. In so many shooters, it is fun to just find the most overpowered weapon and blast everything in sight and that is essentially what Rocket is as a character.

Even though he is a Strategist character who is meant to support his team through healing, Rocket from the Guardians of the Galaxy is known for his love of big guns. He wields a powerful heavy machine gun that bombards enemies with hundreds of energy rounds, making him the only Strategist that can double as a Vanguard.

3 Winter Soldier

Bucky Is A Master Of The Pistol

• Class: Duelist
• Difficulty: 2/5
• First Appearance: Captain America #6

Wielding a powerful pistol with exploding rounds, Winter Soldier feels like the third-person version of characters like Halo‘s Master Chief or Doom‘s Slayer, where they can slaughter hordes of enemies with the starter pistol. His style is all about aggression; just charging in and dealing as much damage as possible.

It’s not just his pistol though, he has his signature bionic arm that grants him special melee abilities. He can grab an enemy and pull them at him, similar to Bulletstorm, and he can unleash a powerful energy-enhanced punch followed up with more shooting to make him a killing machine.

2 Black Widow

Natasha Romanoff Can Turn Any Player Into A Master Sniper

• Class: Duelist
• Difficulty: 4/5
• First Appearance: Tales Of Suspense #52

Natasha Romanoff is an elite sniper in Marvel Rivals, wielding her Red Room Rifle that is effective up close and at long range. This makes Black Widow the perfect character for those who prefer to hang back and take out the competition from afar, akin to other sniper games, especially when her sniper mode is deadly.

Hero Shooters are more about constant movement, so Black Widow can move and snipe at the same time. This has earned her the reputation of being the Marvel Rivals equivalent to Widowmaker from Overwatch, which is not unwarranted since they have a lot of similarities.

1 The Punisher

Running And Gunning Is What Fans Expect From Him

• Class: Duelist
• Difficulty: 1/5
• First Appearance: The Amazing Spider-Man #129

The Punisher is the closest thing to a regular third-person shooter character in Marvel Rivals, wielding his assault rifle and shotgun as his main weapons of attack. His entire purpose in the game is to charge in and deal as much damage as possible, which is what most fans expect from the character known for brutally killing criminals.

With the two primary weapons, an over-the-shoulder third-person view, and the Punisher’s overall design, he feels like a character from the Gears Of War series. The summonable turret and exosuit don’t even feel that off from scorestreak abilities in some shooter games.