‘Marvel Rivals’ EP Say Respecting Source Material Is A Top Priority When Designing New Heroes – To The Point Where They’ll Even Bring In A “Comic Book Historian” When Needed
In offering a refreshing example of ‘source material understanding’ at a time when the concept has been all but completely tossed to the side, NetEase Games has confirmed that when it comes to designing characters for Marvel Rivals, one of their top priorities is ensuring that their digital depictions remain faithful to their comic book counterparts.
From alternate costumes like The Invisible Woman’s Malice outfit or the Star-Spangled Avenger’s ‘Captain A.I.M.erica’ suit, to the inclusion of lesser-known heroes like Jeff the Landshark or Cloak and Dagger, to small aesthetic details like Magneto’s personal signature (as featured on each character’s respective in-game profile pages) being written in Jonathan Hickman’s wholly-original Krakoan language, Marvel Rivals shows an impressive and genuinely welcome amount of respect for the eponymous publisher’s nearly-90 year history, from the ups and downs to everything in between.
But far from this presentation being the rogue result of a few comic book-loving team members, Marvel Rivals executive producer Danny Koo says the idea of ‘following the original stories’ was treated as a core aspect of the game’s design philosophy.
Speaking to PC Gamer during the currently ongoing 2025 Games Developer Conference regarding NetEase Games’ approach to selecting the game’s roster, Koo explained, “Roughly 70% [of the roster] is made up of your greatest hits, like well-known heroes: Iron Man, Cap, etc., and then we throw in some curve balls; you might not even know who they are, to make the roster more interesting.”
“What we do is, whenever we have a character, we’ll come up with a character background, who they are, and the comic references that appear in what they do, and we’ll hand it over to the design team,” he said. “Then they’ll come up with some ideas, and we’ll both agree on what their baseline is. When we feel good about [the hero], we go into production.”
And far from this attention to ‘comic book accuracy’ only playing a role in a given character’s visual and gameplay designs, Koo also noted that their source material commitments also extended to their presentation to players – In other words, rather than trying to change the character to conform to their ‘popular image’, NetEase Games instead invites players to learn what their actual image is.
“Then the marketing team is like, ‘Okay, how do we present this to new players that might not know whose world this is? Do we need to explain it?'” recalled the EP. “We have a comic historian come in.”
And in applying this sense of ‘celebrating the comic books’ to the rosters’ future, Koo told PC Gamer that rather than just throwing every character into the game and allowing for more than a few to share similar kits, Marvel Rivals would instead focus on making sure each playable hero or villain was unique in their own way.
“Nothing is out of the question for now,” he admitted in regards to potential roster picks. “But we focus on making sure the characters are distinct from each other. For example, Hulk and Red Hulk roughly have the same silhouette, so we may not want to do that one.”
“Their [abilities] have to be as distinct as well because we have all kinds of players,” he concluded. “Some players love to be Strategists. Some players like to dive into the action. Some players just like to watch other people play. So we have to tailor to every kind of player.”
At current, Marvel Rivals is currently wrapping up its second ‘season’ of content.
And while the game most recently saw the addition of each individual member of the Fantastic Four – Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch, and the Thing – word currently remains out on just who may be joining the fight in Season 3.
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