Marvel Rivals developer NetEase has been given the green light to create its own original characters on top of pulling from Disney‘s never-ending roster of existing superheroes and villains.
In an interview with MP1st, Marvel Rivals creative director Guangyun Chen (better known by his nickname, Guangguang) confirmed in no uncertain terms that, “Yes, we are allowed to introduce original characters in Marvel Rivals.”
Well, that’s new. From launch, it’s been an open question whether Disney is OK with NetEase straight-up making new characters out of whole cloth for an official Marvel game, and now we know. And, weirdly, it feels like something of a threat.
“Stay tuned,” said Guangguang when asked if anything’s currently in development.
In fairness, this isn’t a huge surprise considering Luna Snow is the creation of Marvel Future Fight developer Netmarble, although she’s since appeared in various official Marvel comics.
I’m also not casting any doubt on NetEase’s ability to draw up original characters, and after all, it was Marvel itself that unleashed the absolute menace that is Jeff the Shark on the world.
Regardless, it definitely sounds like NetEase has something up its sleeve, and that something sounds a whole lot like a brand new Rivals character outside of existing Marvel lore, but looking at the list of upcoming Marvel Rivals characters, which includes all of the leaks we know about, it seems it could be quite a while before the potentially new hero or villain’s introduction.