Marvel Rivals is undoubtedly a big success for the Marvel brand, with the hero shooter’s massive roster being an obvious draw. When it was released last December, the game already had 33 playable characters, and that lineup will continue to grow even more in future updates. After all, Marvel Rivals has decades’ worth of comic book content to pull superheroes and villains from.
The hero shooter has also become an effective vessel to promote upcoming Marvel films, as it debuted The Fantastic Four as playable characters in the leadup to the upcoming movie, The Fantastic Four: First Steps. Recently, Marvel Studios revealed the very stacked cast of Avengers: Doomsday, which premieres in May 2026, and Marvel Rivals has the perfect opportunity to keep fans engaged until the blockbuster film hits theaters.
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The Marvel Rivals Roster Could Bring in Confirmed Avengers Doomsday Characters
On March 26, Marvel Studios revealed the cast of Avengers: Doomsday via a five-hour stream that flashed a name on a studio chair every 15 minutes to the excitement and annoyance of many fans. Apart from Doctor Doom (played by the returning Robert Downey Jr.), the movie will feature Avengers members Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), and the new Captain America (Anthony Mackie); the Thunderbolts’ Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and US Agent (Wyatt Russell); X-Men’s Cyclops (James Marsden), Professor X (Patrick Stewart), Magneto (Ian McKellen); and many more. It’s been hinted that more Avengers: Doomsday cast members could be announced in the near future, but the sheer size of the current list is already quite impressive.
Confirmed Avengers: Doomsday Cast So Far
- Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom
- Chris Hemsworth as Thor
- Anthony Mackie as Captain America
- Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes
- Danny Ramirez as Falcon
- Paul Rudd as Ant-Man
- Letitia Wright as Black Panther
- Winston Duke as M’Baku
- Tom Hiddleston as Loki
- Pedro Pascal as Mr. Fantastic
- Vanessa Kirby as Invisible Woman
- Joseph Quinn as Human Torch
- Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Thing
- Simu Liu as Shang-Chi
- Tenoch Huerta as Namor
- Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova
- David Harbour as Red Guardian
- Wyatt Russell as US Agent
- Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost
- Lewis Pullman as Sentry
- Patrick Stewart as Professor X
- Ian McKellen as Magneto
- James Marsden as Cyclops
- Rebecca Romijn as Mystique
- Kelsey Grammer as Beast
- Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler
- Channing Tatum as Gambit
Looking at the list, gamers may quickly notice something interesting: many of the characters listed above aren’t playable characters in Marvel Rivals yet. Considering that there’s still more than a year left before Avengers: Doomsday premieres, the hero shooter could use this opportunity to release new characters based on the movie’s growing cast list. It could even consider releasing new skin lines for existing characters, similar to the Deadpool and Wolverine movie skin for Wolverine. This is not only a way to expand Marvel Rivals‘ character roster and skins collections, but could also serve as a great avenue to promote Doomsday and tide fans over until the movie comes out.
It also helps that Marvel has a good number of movies and shows in the pipeline for the rest of the year, which should give Marvel Rivals even more material work with. There are also characters who are not yet part of the ever-growing Marvel Cinematic Universe that could be integrated into the game, as figures that are currently exclusive to the comics could make for some fun playable heroes.
As a relatively young game, Marvel Rivals still has a lot to improve on in terms of balancing the game and its characters, while also continuously listening to player feedback to further refine the overall gameplay experience. Still, the prospect of getting new characters based on the MCU’s calendar is exciting, especially since it gives NetEase Games an opportunity to see what moviegoers enjoy and craft abilities based on the action of the films. Marvel Rivals might just be the secret weapon to get more eyes on MCU’s Phase 5 and the subsequent Phase 6, while also potentially gaining new players in the process.
Third-Person Shooter
Action
Multiplayer
- Released
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December 6, 2024
- ESRB
-
T For Teen // Violence
- Developer(s)
-
NetEase Games
- Publisher(s)
-
NetEase Games
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