Marvel Rivalswas a breakout success in 2024, breathing new life into the struggling hero shooter genre. While keeping the aspects of what made other hero shooters special,Marvel Rivalsaims to revolutionize the genre, implementing unique ideas to help it stand out from its competitors.
It seems like a newDC live service gameis on the horizon, and rumors are circulating that this could be a hero shooter to compete withMarvel Rivals. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but if DC intends to develop their own hero shooter, there is one major pitfall it should avoid thatMarvel Rivalshas already fallen into.
DC’s Rumored Hero Shooter Needs To Steer Clear of Marvel Rivals’ Duelist Problem
Marvel Rival’s Duelists Overshadow Other Roles
One of the glaring issues withMarvel Rivalsis the sheer number of Duelistsin the game. The game celebrates Marvel’s heroes with a diverse roster of popular and obscure characters, but most of these are Duelists, the DPS role, leading to a lack of true variety. Some of the franchise’s most beloved characters can start to blend in with others, having very similar playstyles to other Duelists on the roster.
Though the game intends to keep its content fresh and exciting for players by addingnewMarvel Rivalscharacters each season, it can be difficult for players to maintain their enthusiasm when every additional hero is a Duelist. Players who insta-lock a DPS character will benefit greatly from this, having an even wider variety of options to choose from, but Vanguard and Strategist mains may feel as though they are lacking content and representation.
As of Marvel Rivals Season 3.0, the game has 21 Duelists, 10 Vanguards, and 9 Strategists.
DC Should Be Careful With Its Character Choices
DC’s answer toMarvel Rivalsneeds to balance its cast if it wants to succeed. This can be a difficult task, especially considering that many ofDC’s strongest charactershave abilities that are well aligned with the role of a DPS hero. The DC hero shooter may need to dig deep when considering who to add to the roster, utilizing some obscure characters to keep the balance between roles.
Another solution to this issue would be to get creative with DC’s characters, making the abilities of someone who seems like they should be a DPS hero into a different role. This is somethingMarvel Rivalsexcelled at initially, transforming characters likeLoki and Rocket Raccoon into Strategists. Rocket Raccoon especially came as a surprise, turning a character solely focused on weapons into a healer. The game’s recent additions still take some creative liberties, but it hasn’t prevented its Duelist problem. DC’s rumored hero shooter needs to explore other options for its characters.
This doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be any DPS characters, though, or that the most obvious choices should all instead be delegated to other roles. Instead, it just needs to be more selective about who needs to be a DPS, and who can work in an alternative role. Like withMarvel Rivals’ Spider-Man, DC would likely want Batman and Superman to be DPS characters because it’s the most popular role, but this might not be the most interesting choice for these characters. Some ofMarvel Rivals’ best characters have kits that are unexpected, yet still feel right for the character, and this is something DC would need to prioritize.
A DC Hero Shooter Could Put Characters in Unexpected Roles
On the surface, Batman seems like a perfect fit forMoon Knight’s abilities. Moon Knight’s Crescent Darts, Night Glider and Moonlight Hook all have functionally identical Batman counterparts. This could make Batman an obvious choice for a DPS character, but there are alternatives to add more diversity to the game. In particular, the recent Absolute Batman variant of the character is massive, with a detachable bat logo that becomes an axe head. It’s likely that DC’s popular characters will be given the popular DPS role, but it could subvert expectations by adding Absolute Batman as a tank.
In spite ofMarvel Rivals’ expansive roster, the game still has not added a speedster like Quicksilver to the cast yet. In other hero shooters,Overwatch’s Tracer is fast, but her Blink ability isn’t comparable to the constant movement of a speedster character. For The Flash, then, there aren’t any existing speedsters that could be compared to, but this presents a great opportunity for the DC hero shooter to set a precedent for these types of characters. The Flash could be a difficult character to work into the DPS slot, with his speed possibly giving him an unfair advantage in firefights. Instead, he could be a support hero, leaning into the trope of speedsters using their speed to take others away from danger.
There could be some characters that forgo the traditional hero shooter roles entirely.Martian Manhunterhas abilities that could align him with the rest of the game’s DPS roles, but he has the potential to be a tank or a strategist. His shapeshifting mimicry abilities and potential to become invisible could play similarly toMarvel Rivals’ Strategists Loki and Invisible Woman. However, as his invulnerability and strength are comparable to Superman, he could also be a great fit for the role of the tank. To combatMarvel Rivals’ Duelist problem, DC’s hero shooter having wildcard heroes that don’t neatly fit into one role could alleviate the issue.
Marvel Rivals’ initial launch was a great success, and with each new season, it adds plenty of features to keep players engaged. However, the focus onadding more Duelists toMarvel Rivalsputs the game in a very difficult position. The roster is severely imbalanced, and without adding new Strategists and Vanguards, players are discouraged from playing these roles which lack support. If DC’s live service game is a hero shooter, it needs to be very careful with how it handles this problem. More content and playable characters is almost always a good thing, but if it doesn’t strike the right balance with its roles, it could fall into the same problem asMarvel Rivals.
