Summary
As an upcoming 6v6 hero-shooter,Marvel Rivalssets out to bring a lot of iconic heroes from the Marvel universe together in head-to-head combat. Although there are plenty of great characters planned to appear inMarvel Rivalsalready, one character responsible for birthing some incredible memes deserves to make an appearance.
Many ofMarvel Rivals' most notable characters, like Iron Man and Loki, will be featured inMarvel Rivals, but somemajor Marvel names are missing from the roster. It’s strange to be missing some of the most iconic heroes from the Avengers at launch, butMarvel Rivalswould be smart to consider adding some more obscure characters that have become popular over time, like Morbius.
It Needs to Be Morbin' Time In Marvel Rivals
One of the biggest memes to hit the internet in recent years revolves around therelease of Sony’sMorbiusmovie. Originally slated for a 2020 release, the movie was delayed a whopping seven times before it finally hit theaters in 2022. Although it was great that the movie finally got to see the light of day, it wasn’t super well-received, spawning a long-running internet meme where fans created a fictional catchphrase for the character: “It’s Morbin' time.”
Marvel Rivals Should Embrace Morbius
Morbius is a pretty compelling character when it comes to the history of Marvel Comics. A vampire antihero lends itself to some interesting story potential, but ifMarvel Rivalsadded Morbius to the game, it should embrace the memes the character has now become synonymous with. There are some greatlesser-known heroes inMarvel Rivals, so there’s not much keeping the game from adding Morbius as post-launch content.
There could be some hilarious extra in-game content that fully embracedthe Morbius memes, like a special emote where Morbius says, “It’s Morbin' time.” Taking the memes this far could be a stretch and disrupt any immersion NetEase hopes to instill, yet it would ultimately be hilarious to see them brought to life and adopted by an actual Marvel project.
Before the creation of the movie, Morbius was not a well-known character, but internet memes have given the vampiric doctor a brand-new life and given the character a reputation that will now be nearly impossible to shake.
Morbius' Potential In Future Marvel Projects
The introduction of Morbius to the Marvel movie canon may not have gone over the way Sony was hoping for, but the character’s newfound immortalization through internet memes isn’t exactly a loss for the property. Instead, it’s an opportunity to join in with fans and revel in the joke.The roster forMarvel Rivalsis filled with some great heroes and villains, but there is plenty of room to add more characters to the game and reinvent them through NetEase’s lens. There currently isn’t a release date for the game, but once it finally launchesMarvel Rivalswill likely be adding a lot of post-launch content that adds more characters and features.
With characters like Black Widow and Thor missing from the initial lineup, it’s a given that more characters will arrive later in the game’s life. SinceMarvel Rivalslooks to be a lighthearted hero shooter, throwing some hilarious memes into the gameplay’s mix won’t feel too out of place. Additionally, seeing Marvel embrace what Morbius has become to a lot of franchise fans would be a breath of fresh air—it only needs to be careful not to lean into it so much that he can’t become more than a joke inMarvel Rivals' space.
