Meet the Heroes of Marvel Rivals
Find out where you can see - and play - more of these characters!
Did you catch the trailer for Marvel Rivals? The free-to-play game boasts Overwatch-like gameplay starring Marvel superheroes that you may know and love. Want to know where to find out more about these characters without diving into their admittedly overwhelming comic origins? Look no further than this primer on the heroes of Marvel Rivals and their playable histories.
Bruce Banner / The Hulk
The Green Guy has a long history of adaptations beyond his comics debut in 1962, such as the iconic 1978 live-action series The Incredible Hulk starring Bill Bixby as “David” Banner and bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk. The 2003 film Hulk starred Eric Bana and was directed by legendary filmmaker Ang Lee. The second MCU outing featured Edward Norton as Bruce Banner but was later replaced by Mark Ruffalo for The Avengers and beyond.
If you want to play as the Hulk, you’ve got plenty of options. You can play through the movie in The Incredible Hulk, but you can also take a turn during the Marvel Ultimate Alliance series, Marvel’s Avengers, and is a late addition to the roster of Marvel’s Midnight Suns.
The Punisher
Frank Castle is one of the most well-known antiheroes in fiction and has been adapted several times since his first appearance in 1974. He was portrayed by Dolph Lundgren in 1989’s The Punisher, Thomas Jane in 2004’s The Punisher, and by Ray Stevenson in 2008’s Punisher: War Zone. You can also catch the vigilante in season 2 of Netflix’s Daredevil, which won Jon Bernthal a two-season spinoff on the same network.
The Punisher’s first video game was back in 1990, which was an on-rails shooter for the NES and Game Boy. Since then, Frank Castle has also appeared in a 1993 arcade game called The Punisher, a 2004 action game for the PS2 of the same name, and a 2009 first-person shooter for the PS3 titled The Punisher: No Mercy.
Storm
In 1975, Ororo Munroe stormed onto the scene as the Kenyan tribal princess who could control the weather. She has since gained popularity in the animated shows X-Men: The Animated Series as well as X-Men: Evolution. She was famously portrayed by Halle Berry in the Fox X-Men films, and later by Alexandra Shipp in the “past” timeline in X-Men: Apocalypse.
You could first play as Storm in the 1992 side-scrolling beat-em-up X-Men arcade game. Since then, you can play her in titles such as Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, and was a DLC character in Marvel’s Midnight Suns. She even makes an appearance in Fortnite!
Loki
Although he made his first appearance in 1949, Loki didn’t take on his current iteration as a rival to Thor until 1962. Since then, the God of Mischief has taken on many forms such as in the Disney XD shows Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers Assemble, as well as a major role in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. After auditioning for the part of Thor, Tom Hiddleston stepped into the role for the MCU’s Thor, where he quickly became a fan favorite after being an on-again/off-again villain in the Avengers and Thor series before getting a two-season spinoff series called Loki.
Loki was first playable in 2012’s Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth and went on to make appearances in Marvel Heroes, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order. You can also catch him in the Disney Infinity series as well as Fortnite.
Doctor Strange
The Sorcerer Supreme has been around for a while - since 1963, in fact! He’s also the only member of this roster to have a radio drama adaptation, which was composed of 17 episodes that aired from 1967 to 1970. Other than that, he’s made guest appearances in the animated shows Spider-Man, X-Men: The Animated Series, and The Incredible Hulk. Peter Hooten portrayed him as a psychiatrist in the notorious live-action film Doctor Strange (1978) before Benedict Cumberbatch took on the role of the neurosurgeon for Doctor Strange (2016) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as well as two Avengers films.
Want to play as the magical doctor? Well, you can sling his spells in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, and Marvel’s Midnight Suns.
Mantis
The mysterious empath Mantis debuted in 1973 and has served many roles in the Marvel universe since. She was first portrayed in the animated Guardians of the Galaxy show before gaining popularity once Pom Klementieff was cast in the role for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. She returned for Infinity War and Endgame, and continued to appear in Thor: Love and Thunder and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. She even played a lead role in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special where she tries to kidnap Kevin Bacon as a gift for Star-Lord!
You can play as Mantis in Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. She also makes appearances in smaller titles such as Guardians of the Galaxy: The Universal Weapon, Marvel Future Fight, and Marvel Snap.
Rocket Raccoon
Another member of the Guardians, Rocket came onto the scene in 1976 and was inspired by the Beatles’ song “Rocky Raccoon.” You can catch him in the animated Guardians of the Galaxy show in addition to guest appearances in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H., and Ultimate Spider-Man. In the MCU, he was portrayed by Bradley Cooper (voice) and Sean Gunn (mocap) in the MCU for all three Guardians of the Galaxy movies as well as Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
You can play as Rocket in Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Marvel Heroes, Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. He also has smaller appearances in the Disney Infinity series, Marvel Snap, and Fortnite.
Black Panther
While there have been many characters who bore the title, T’Challa first appeared as Black Panther in 1966. You may have seen him in guest spots on animated shows like Fantastic Four, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, and The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. In live action, the late Chadwick Boseman portrayed him in Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
You can play as the Wakandan hero in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Marvel Contest of Champions, Marvel vs Capcom: Infinite, and as a DLC character in Marvel’s Avengers. T’Challa also makes smaller appearances in the Disney Infinity series, Marvel Snap, and Fortnite.
Groot
Originally appearing as a villain in 1960, Groot was reshaped into a heroic character in 2006. You can find him in the Guardians of the Galaxy animated show and guest spots in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Ultimate Spider-Man, and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.. He was portrayed by Vin Diesel in the MCU, where he was seen going through multiple stages of aging throughout the Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers films.
You can play as Groot in Disney Infinity 2.0, Marvel Future Fight, Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy. You can also find him in Marvel Strike Force and Marvel Snap.
Magik
Since her 1975 debut, Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina has been - at least in pop culture - overshadowed by her older brother, Colossus. She remains a fan favorite of comic book die-hards, however, and is even gaining a recent surge in popularity. She was in an episode of X-Men: The Animated Series and was portrayed by Anya Taylor-Joy in the live-action movie The New Mutants.
You can play as Magik in Marvel Heroes, Marvel Contest of Champions, and Marvel Future Fight. She plays a prominent role in Marvel’s Midnight Suns.
Luna Snow
Seol Hee is a newer face in Marvel canon, making her first appearance in 2019. She is a K-Pop idol who uses her ice-based superpowers to fight the criminal organization Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.). Fans quickly latched on to Luna Snow, who provided representation for South Korea and some catchy tunes at the same time.
You can play as Luna Snow in Marvel Future Fight and Marvel Super War.
Iron Man
Tony Stark has been a staple in the Marvel universe since his introduction in 1963, serving as a member of multiple teams such as The Illuminati and the Avengers. He had his own show called Iron Man: The Animated Series in the early 90s as well as appearing in other Marvel shows like Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk. The character found new life when Robert Downey Jr was cast as the hero for the 2008 film Iron Man which birthed the MCU, and he went on to appear in many more movies in that franchise such as Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Avengers: Endgame.
You could first suit up as Iron Man in the arcade game Captain America and the Avengers, but you can also live out your Tony Stark dreams in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, the film tie-in Iron Man, Marvel’s Avengers, and Marvel’s Midnight Suns. An untitled third-person action-adventure game is also in development, and you can even unlock him as a secret character in Tony Hawk’s Underground!
Spider-Man
You know him, you love him, you respect the hyphen. Arguably Marvel’s most popular hero, Spider-Man came onto the scene in 1962. Since then, he’s been in multiple self-titled animated shows like Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Ultimate Spider-Man. Peter Parker has also had more than his fair share of live-action adaptations; Tobey Maguire starred in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy, Andrew Garfield led the Amazing Spider-Man duology, and Tom Holland took the role for the MCU starting with Captain America: Civil War and leading his trilogy: Homecoming, Far From Home, and No Way Home. There was even a Broadway musical called Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, which had a troubled production history.
Peter Parker has had a long and storied video game career starting with Spider-Man (1982) for the Atari 2600. There are honestly too many to name here, but you can check out Spider-Man 2 (loosely based on the Sam Raimi movie), Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions, as well as the Insomniac-developed Marvel’s Spider-Man and its spin-off, Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Magneto
Max Eisenhardt / Erik Lehnsherr / Magnus AKA Magneto first came onto the comics scene in 1963 and quickly became an iconic foil to Charles Xavier. You can find him in X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men: Evolution, although most people know him from the live-action Fox X-Men series where he was played by Sir Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender in the “past” timeline.
The first time you could play as Magneto (instead of fighting him as a boss character) was in X-Men 2: Clone Wars for the Sega Genesis. He’s also found in the Marvel Super Heroes arcade game, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes. You can also find him in Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects and X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, among others.
Peni Parker
First created in 2014 by Gerard Way - yes, that Gerard Way - Peni Parker is an alternate Spider-Man from a universe inspired by Evangelion. You can find her and her spider-controlled mech SP//dr in a cameo appearance in the animated Ultimate Spider-Man show, but rose to fame due to her appearance in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and her smaller returning role in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
You can play as Peni in Spider-Man Unlimited, Marvel Puzzle Quest, Marvel Contest of Champions, Marvel Duel, and Marvel Snap.
Namor
Also known as “The Sub-Mariner,” Namor McKenzie is the King of Atlantis. He debuted very early in 1939 for Timely Comics and was immensely popular, counted as one of the top three characters next to Captain America and the Human Torch. Although many iterations of a solo show were planned, none came to fruition. He still makes cameo appearances in the animated Spider-Man and Fantastic Four series and was portrayed by Tenoch Huerta Mejía in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
You can play as Namor in Spider-Man: The Video Game, Marvel Strike Force, Marvel: Future Fight, and Marvel Super War. He’s also a boss in the Fantastic Four (1997) game for PlayStation.
Scarlet Witch
Wanda Maximoff (sometimes the daughter of Magneto, sometimes not) debuted in 1964 and is the centerpiece of many iconic Marvel storylines. She plays a prominent role in X-Men: Evolution after being introduced in the second season, but also appears in X-Men: The Animated Series, Wolverine and the X-Men, and The Avengers: United They Stand. The MCU’s Avengers: Age of Ultron introduced the character portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen, who went on to star in Captain America: Civil War and two Avengers movies before getting her own miniseries, WandaVision, and returning in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
You can find the Scarlet Witch in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order and is an enemy-turned-friend in Marvel’s Midnight Suns. She also appears in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, and Marvel: Future Fight.
Star-Lord
Peter Jason Quill, also known by his often self-appointed alias Star-Lord, has usually been found at the front of the Guardians of the Galaxy since his introduction in 1976. He can be found in the Guardians of the Galaxy animated show with smaller appearances in Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble, and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. Portrayed by Chris Pratt in the MCU, Peter appears in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Thor: Love and Thunder. You can also see him in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special!
Star-Lord has prominent roles in Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, although he also makes appearances in Marvel Contest of Champions, Marvel Future Fight, Marvel Strike Force, and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order. Peter can also be seen in the Disney Infinity series, Marvel Snap, and Fortnite.