Scientifically proven many times over the years, Spider-Man is the most popular superhero around. Spider-Man is so popular, in fact, that he’s spawned an entire multiverse solely dedicated to different versions of himself. While it can trace its roots all the way back to the 1990s Spider-Man cartoon, the Spider-Verse got its official start in 2014’s Amazing Spider-Man comic run, where Morlun and his family of vampiric Inheritors began hunting Spider-People across the multiverse. Since then, the Spider-Verse has gained even more popularity thanks to the excellent animated movie series. It’s only natural, then, that Marvel Rivals would want to join the party.
With 33 playable characters at launch, Marvel Rivals has quite the roster, and the Spider-Verse gets its fair share. Original brand Peter Parker Spider-Man, Peni Parker, and Venom are all in Marvel Rivals, and all have very distinct movesets. But that’s just scratching the surface of the Spider-Verse, and there are arguments both for and against more Spider-People joining Marvel Rivals‘ roster.
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The Case For Marvel Rivals to Add More Spider-People
There Are Still Plenty of Spider-People Who Deserve The Spotlight
The Spider-Verse has grown exponentially over the decades. What started as just a few variants of Peter Parker from slightly different realities has turned into a vast array of Spider-People from across wildly different universes, and many of those heroes have now become incredibly popular iterations of the Wall-Crawler. Spider-Man 2099, Gwen Stacey’s Ghost-Spider, Miles Morales, and Spider-Man Noir have all become household names, and all deserve their own spot on Marvel Rivals‘ roster.
Along with distinct personalities and backstories, each of these Spider-People also brings a unique ability set to the table. Spider-Man 2099 has his tech, Ghost-Spider has a range of Symbiote powers, Miles Morales can harness bioelectricity and can turn invisible, and Spider-Man Noir is a skilled marksman. Though they’re all Spider-People, each one would bring something new to Marvel Rivals‘ roster.
The Case Against Marvel Rivals Adding More Spider-People
The Marvel Universe Is So Much Bigger Than Spider-Man
Spider-Man and his fellow Spider-People are obviously incredibly popular, and for good reason. But the Marvel universe is so much bigger than Spider-Man. It seems developer NetEase knows this already, as Marvel Rivals‘ roster is filled with heroes and villains from all corners of the Marvel universe. Marvel Rivals‘ varied roster is one of its biggest strengths, as it caters to both a wide audience with its household names, and more hardcore Marvel fans with its more obscure heroes and villains.
It’s important that Marvel Rivals maintains this balance of popular and lesser-known heroes throughout its lifetime, and adding more Spider-People to the roster could easily disrupt that careful balance. Adding too many Spider-People to Marvel Rivals‘ roster might also make the game feel like a Spider-Man hero shooter, rather than one that celebrates the entirety of the Marvel universe.
Other Spider-People Can Still Be Easily Represented
Though many Spider-People have unique abilities that Peter Parker doesn’t have, there’s still a lot of crossover, and that might not warrant a full spot on Marvel Rivals‘ roster. But these characters still deserve to be represented, and a good compromise would be to add cosmetics based on them. Marvel Rivals‘ Spider-Man already has a Spider-Punk alternate outfit, so a precedent has been set that Spider-Verse costumes can come to the game.
Though it wouldn’t be quite the same as having a fully-voiced character of their own, suits based on Spider-Man 2099, Miles Morales, and Spider-Man Noir would be great to see in Marvel Rivals at the very least, and would hopefully go some way in satiating fans’ desire to play as those characters.
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