Marvel Rivals has virtually stolen the hero shooter spotlight in the past month. It’s certainly taken center stage on my computer screen – at least when it’s not crashing due to UE5’s remarkable stability. It’s sort of the perfect formula for success. Take an established, albeit stale, video game genre and mash it with the most popular fictional universes of all time. Jackpot.
That got me wondering – just how many characters are at Marvel Rivals‘ disposal? Being locked into a specific universe of comic book characters, they’re bound to run out eventually, right? Admittedly, I’m not that in tune with the Marvel universe. I mean, I always liked X-Men growing up, but that’s about it. I had to find out, and I did. A quick Google search made me realize just how bonkers the Marvel universe actually is.
‘Marvel Rivals’ actually has an unfathomable amount of characters to use
As to how many characters exist in the Marvel universe, well, the answer depends on what defines a character. If we’re talking unique characters, the number is upwards of 8,000. If you count all heroes, villains, side characters, one-off appearances, and the countless variants, that number shoots to somewhere around 80,000. Yes, EIGHTY THOUSAND. That’s not a typo.
Don’t take my word for it, though. If you’ve got the time, you can sift through Fandom’s comprehensive list of over 80,000 characters in the Marvel multiverse. Granted, a lot of these entries are variants of the same character in different timelines. Take “Aarkus,” for example, who has multiple appearances with “Earth-517”, “Earth-616”, and so on. Or the Rex-Dogs, who appear to be alternate dog versions of X-Men.. I guess?
Either way, Marvel has a near-endless amount of characters to work with. If you count the 80,000 characters from Fandom’s list, Marvel Rivals could release a new character every day for the next 220 years. Hell, let’s be charitable and only include the 8,000 “unique” characters – that’s still a new character every day for 21 years.
I think it’s safe to assume Marvel Rivals won’t be running out of steam anytime soon. I mean, we still haven’t even seen some of the most iconic X-Men added yet. Cyclops, Jean Grey, Gambit, Beast, Professor X?
Hero shooters live and die by their characters. We’ve seen it with Overwatch‘s success and, on the other end, the downfall of Concord. With Marvel Rivals, NetEase is starting the game with a cheat code, gaining access to a virtually endless number of pre-established heroes that will literally last multiple lifetimes.
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