NetEase Games have shared the 1st cinematic trailer for Marvel Rivals.
The trailer is called No One Rivals Doom, and it’s pretty clear at the onset who has been set up to be the big villain of the game, at least for its launch. However, other parts of the trailer also cement the idea that Marvel Rivals exists in its own universe, and we may expect the unexpected in terms of relationships and rivalries.
At the onset, we see a small group of Doombots being faced down by Rocket Raccoon, and an armored hero, who turns out to not be Iron Man, but Peni Parker, piloting a version of her mech SP//dr that looks more Venom than Eva. Peni is seen launching drones and web-swinging, and we are pointing this out because this obviously relates to how she moves in the game.
The scene shifts to a bearded, visibly older Thor, talking to an unseen, but very much hear, Loki. And then we get a look at Dr. Doom himself, but before we get tired of his prattle, the scene shifts once again to Magik, fighting a mysterious magical entity shaped like a bat.
We’re not sure who this enemy is, to be honest. Hela seems to be the closest match among all the revealed and datamined characters, but NetEase can draw even any deep cut character into this world for this purpose. Blade’s had to fight a lot of vampires, so it could be someone like Varnae, Morbius, or Dracula himself.
Magik runs into Iron Man, and suddenly turns into her Darkchylde persona and attacks him. For now, we don’t know if there is any Avengers vs. mutant enmity in this universe, or if this indicates a completely different relationship.
The scene shifts once again, to show us Black Panther, Raccoon, and Peni now teaming up to face a horde of Doombots in the city, only for the Doombots to be immediately neutralized by the appearance of a bearded Magneto. This Magneto is the leader of the not-evil Mutant Brotherhood, and so we don’t quite know if the X-Men exist in this world? He also carries a sword, which doesn’t make sense for his comic book or movie counterparts, but we’re sure Netease has come up with their own explanation.
The scene ends as a mysterious floating artifact appears, diverting our eyes once again to a mysterious confrontation between a present (or past?) version of Doctor Doom fighting a version of him from the future.
That’s a lot of lore that’s hinted at, and we certainly hope Marvel and Netease had the foresight to plan how to explain this all in a way that won’t require us to watch three minute cutscenes every week. We also don’t need anything so ambitious that they decide to cancel it midway. A mini-movie that we can watch in YouTube and a lot of character descriptions will do just fine, thanks.
Marvel Rivals is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows and MacOS via Steam. The game has just started its invite-only closed beta test, ending this August 5. You can watch this new trailer below.
