Marvel Rivals is quickly turning out to be one of the most popular hero shooters released recentlly. Although fans are quite familiar with almost every character in the current roster, their stories may be quite different when compared to the Marvel Cinematic counterpart.
Below we have listed down summaries of comic book origin stories for all the playable Marvel Rivals characters so far.
How it all began for every hero in Marvel Rivals
Hulk
While researching Gamma radiation, Doctor Bruce Banner accidently got exposed to the deadly rays that cursed him with the ability to transform into the green skinned monster, The Hulk.
Whenever Banner experiences emotional fluctuations he turns into the green monster causing rampage around him. But in due time he slowly learned to gain control over his Hulk alter-ego.
Doctor Strange
Doctor Stephen Strange was an arrogant but gifted neurosurgeon who met with a life changing accident that rendered him unable to practice his profession ever again.
After this experience he went on a journey to find a way to heal his hands, which led him to cross paths with the Ancient One. Strange trained with him to master the mystical arts and succeed him as next Sorcerer Supreme.
Captain America
During the World War II era, Steve Rogers was an aspiring military enlistee who was rejected by the US army for not meeting the standards of physicality.
But he gets another chance to prove himself by volunteering for the super soldier project, and this Captain America is born after the super soldier serum is used on him. An accident left Captain in a frozen stasis, and was later saved by the Avengers in the future.
Magneto
Magneto is an omega level mutant with a dark and long running history as one of the major antagonists in the Marvel universe. His staunch belief of protecting and arming mutant kind thus separating them from the rest of humanity originates from his harrowing experiences during the 1930s Germany.
Max Eisenhardt was one of the holocaust victims, his young life twisted and molded him into the person we know today as Magneto.
Venom
Over the years, Venom symbiote has had different hosts, but the most iconic version has always been a host to Eddie Brock, also the same one in the game.
Symbiotes are beings from the planet Klyntar that merge with host bodies like a suit to form a superior creature, sharing personalities with both the host and the symbiote itself.
Spider-Man
One of the most iconic marvel super heroes needs no introductions. Everyone has seen Peter Parker’s origin story multiple times on the big screen.
Getting bitten by a radioactive spider led him to gain superhuman strength and abilities like wall crawling. Following the death of his Uncle Ben, Peter decided to live the rest of his life using his new found powers to fight crime as Spider-Man.
Black Panther
The mantle of Black Panther has been donned by multiple characters throughout history, but the most iconic one that is represented in Marvel Rivals is of T’Challa, King of the African nation of Wakanda, known to be the most technologically advanced in all of earth.
T’Challa utilizes his learnings of Wakandan tradition and science, rituals, insane physical training and access to the nation’s wealth to become the Black Panther we know today.
Iron Man
Tony Stark is a billionaire Avenger with a brilliant mind who dons the Iron Man suit, and is also one of the major characters in the Marvel Universe. Born of rich Billionaire parents who died of a plane crash, Tony inherited the Stark Industries.
Once while he was captured in a warzone with a wound to his heart, he built the first prototype Iron Man suit out of bare resources, over time there have been various iterations of the suit and some of them are reflected in Marvel Rivals as different skins for the character.
Magik
Sister to the X-Men Colossus and one of the lesser known characters, Illyana Rasputin was abducted by Mephisto from her Serbian farm life, to forge her into an immortal weapon.
Her Mutant powers developed in the meantime allowing her to teleport, and together with the soul sword she escaped the demon realm. Later she donned the identity of Magik to utilise her powers along with the New Mutants as heroes.
Groot
Groot is a part of the infamous Guardians of Galaxy. He belongs to a species called the Flora Colossus from Planet X , and is of a noble lineage.
To normal ears most of his vocabulary is limited to “I am Groot”, but their speeches are actually impossible to understand for normal humans due to stiff larynxes. It must also be noted that Groot is exceptionally talented in super dimensional engineering.
Wolverine
The first ever appearance of Wolverine depicts him as a Canadian agent in an issue of Hulk. Over time the character has had several origin stories and iterations.
Logan’s history is a long one with stories spanning his feud with Sabretooth who killed his love interest, to teaming up with Captain America in the 1940s. The most recognized point about him is that he is one of the main faces of the X-Men and a fan favorite mutant depicted by Hugh Jackman in the movies.
Squirrel Girl
This may come as a surprise to a lot of new fans of this character but Squirrel Girl originally appeared in 1991. Designed as a comic relief character, at a very young age Doreen Allene Green discovered that she can communicate with squirrels and has the animal’s abilities, due to being exposed to Terrigen Mist.
She once helped rescue Iron Man from Doctor Doom using hordes of Squirrels, years later she teamed up with the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Moon Knight
Moon Knight is an interesting character in the Marvel universe. Marc Spector being his main persona, the character explores complicacies surrounding multiple personality disorder.
After dying at the hands of a fellow mercenary inside a tomb, Marc is revived and haunted by the Egyptian God, Kohnsu, who enables him to follow the ways of Moon Knight, i.e. to protect the innocent as a vigilante.
Psylocke
Betsy Braddock was one of the mainstay X-Men characters during the 90s donning the Psylocke alter ego. Later she got body swapped with the assassin known as Kwannon. After swapping their bodies back, Kwannon became the second and the current most recognised Psylocke.
Surprisingly the version of Psylocke that we get to see in Marvel rivals is neither Betsy Braddock, nor Kwannon, but actually a character named Sai who belongs to an alternate universe, first introduced in X-Men: Demon Days.
Black Widow
Introduced as a spy of the Soviet Union, Black Widow eventually joins up with S.H.I.E.L.D. Natasha Romanoff was an orphan who was rescued and trained to become the Black Widow.
Although she doesn’t have any super powers other than being an expert espionage agent and well trained in combat, she was physically enhanced in the Red Room through the Black Widow program that reduced her aging and increased her strength compared to any regular human soldier.
Namor
This character has an origin story which is very similar to DC comics’ Aquaman. Namor is a half mutant/ half Atlantean hybrid, born of a sailor named Leonard McKenzie and Atlantean Princess Fen.
His super powers allow him to traverse in the seas as well as the sky, while having aquatic abilities and superhuman strength. He is usually always portrayed as an anti-hero.
Scarlet Witch
Wanda Maximoff is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe who can alter realities. She was introduced as a super villain alongside his brother, Quicksilver in the comics.
Most of Scarlet Witch’s origin stories have been altered over time. Originally Wanda and her brother were depicted as Mutant twins born of unnamed parents but later it was found that both the children were offered to geneticist, thus making her origin truly a mystery.
Loki
In Marvel Universe, Norse gods are a bit modified characters as opposed to the ones we know of in actual mythologies, but the stories around them are not too far off either.
Loki was abandoned by Laufey for being small when compared to other Frost Giants. The King of Asgard, Odin, took him in and raised him as his own son. But Loki grew to resent his brother and his family after finding out about this lineage.
Adam Warlock
Adam Warlock was artificially created by scientists to be part of a perfectly invincible human army with cosmic powers. After becoming aware of this he fought his creators to seek new purpose, which he eventually found. A
dam Warlock is one of the major powerful heroes of the Marvel Universe who is constantly trying to protect everyone from threats of cosmic proportions.
Jeff the Land Shark
Jeff is probably everyone’s favorite land shark, or could also be the most annoying character to fight against in Marvel Rivals right now. Land Sharks were created by M.O.D.O.K. but one of them got adopted by Gwenpool, who named it Jeff.
Over time Jeff has also been in care of characters such as Deadpool and Elsa Bloodstone. The Land Shark has also been a part of West Coast Avengers once.
Mantis
Many may think that Mantis is not from earth, but surprisingly enough, she is actually half-Vietnamese and half-German. As a child she was left in the hands of Kree who decided her fate would be to become one of the most important characters in the universe.
Mantis has a long history with mixed bags of experiences but her most iconic moments are known to fans popularly as a member of the Guardians of Galaxy films.
Luna Snow
Luna Snow is one of the newest heroes in Marvel’s roster, as she was introduced in the comics for the first time in 2018.
Seol Hee was a K-Pop Idol who was captured by A.I.M. during a performance, and after being trapped in a cold storage she got exposed to the cold-fusion experiment that allowed her to gain abilities to manipulate ice. She later became a superhero to use her new found abilities in fighting crime.
Cloak & Dagger
You must be wondering why there are two characters represented as one in the game. Cloak and Dagger’s powers are very effective when combined. Both are teenagers with separate identities coming from different backgrounds but both gained superpowers through the injection of synthetic heroin.
Cloak can turn intangible and teleport while Dagger can heal and as her name suggests, create daggers. Both have powers that feed from emotions, Cloak feeds on fear while Dagger feeds on hope. They are literally light and darkness forming an eternal tag team.
Iron First
Over the years there have been multiple characters who have stepped into the shoes of Iron Fist, the most iconic one in the whole of Marvel Universe being Danny Rand’s Iron Fist.
Danny was rescued by monks from K’un-Lun, the lost city, and raised by them in the supernaturally influenced fighting style to take on the mantle of Iron Fist. The Marvel Rivals version of Iron Fist is a character named Lin Lie who utilizes the powers of Shou Lao the Yellow Dragon.
Storm
A fan favorite X-men and one of the omega level mutants, Storm, Just like Wolverine has teamed with Marvel’s biggest superhero groups before, The Avengers and The X-Men.
Ororo Munroe is a tribal princess who was born of an African American father who was a photojournalist. Later in her life Professor Xavier took her under his wing and mentored her to use her powers for the greater good.
Star-Lord
Peter Quill is the Leader of Guardians of The Galaxy, he was born of a human mother and Cosmic being known as Ego. As a kid he was abducted by a band of extraterrestrial thieves called the ravagers, who raised him to be the Star Lord that we know today.
Becoming a wanted criminal for all sorts of activities across the galaxy, Peter was arrested and that’s when he met the rest of his crew to later form the Guardians of The Galaxy.
Hawkeye
After becoming an orphan at an young age Clint Barton joined the circus where he learned the various ways and tricks of the trade.
A Swordsman took Clint under his wing and trained him to become a master archer. He does not happen to have any supernatural powers of his own but everything he trained for throughout his life so far molded him into the popular Avengers hero we know today, Hawkeye.
Hela
Just like Loki’s story, Hela in Marvel Universe is her own original version of the mythological character. She is the daughter of Loki, born in Jotunheim.
She was raised as an executioner, to be the ruler of Hel by Asgrdian King, Odin, and is a major antagonist in the comics. She claims that the throne of Asgard rightfully belongs to her, and thus is a major point of conflict with Thor.
Thor
Thor is one of the oldest heroes in the Marvel Universe and also the first Asgardian hero to directly contest his brother Loki along with the rest of the Avengers in the first issue of the comics.
Born to the King of Asgard, Odin and Gaea the Earth Goddess, Thor aspired to become the king himself one day and was always at a constant conflict with his brother Loki. He wields the Mjolnir, an enchanted hammer that grants him the ability to fly, while he has his own god-like powers of controlling thunder and rain.
Peni Parker
Peni Parker was introduced as an alternate universe Spider-Man in the comics, and quickly became a fan favorite and mainstay version of the Superhero.
Unlike the original Peter Parker, she is genetically tethered to a radioactive spider which allows her to pilot the SP//dr Mech Suit. The whole whole concept around this character is heavily inspired from popular mecha anime such as Evangelion.
Winter Soldier
Bucky Barnes is childhood friend of Steve Rogers, who also was an enlistee in World War II. He meets his demise in the battlefield but his body is recovered by Arnim Zola who experiments on him to erase his memory and turn him into a killer assassin named Winter Soldier.
His memories were later restored and he even assumed the role of Captain America for a while when Steve Rogers was assumed to be dead.
Punisher
Frank Castle was a war veteran well trained in the art of warfare who turned to the dark side when his wife and children were killed by the mob for being key witnesses to a crime.
He took it upon himself to punish every criminal in existence who threaten innocent lives, and to inflict pain on his targets he vowed to go to the furthest extremes which include murder, kidnapping, torture and everything else imaginable.
Rocket Racoon
Another popular member of Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket is a genetically modified racoon who is also a mercenary. He is taken to Halfworld by the High Evolutionary in the Keystone Quadrant where animals are turned into sentient beings.
Rocket is Groot’s best friend and is also one of the only characters who can understand his speech. The duo often teams up with each other in all kinds of popular media and Marvel Rivals is no exception as we get to see both having a combined team attack.
The Thing
A very simple name but not to be confused with John H. Campbell’s novella, The Thing is a member of the Fantastic Four. Ben Grimm was an astronaut who with the rest of his friends got exposed to high levels of cosmic radiation while in space.
The radiation mutated him into an orange colored rock golem which changed his life forever. Initially Ben was disgusted to look himself in the mirror but slowly he grew accustomed to it and accepted his new identity as the superhero, The Thing.
Mr. Fantastic
The leader of Fantastic Four, and is considered as one of the smartest men on earth, Reed Richards was the person who spearheaded the space expedition with the rest of his family and best friend until they got exposed to cosmic radiation.
Unlike Ben who turned into a rock monster, Mr. Fantastic gained a new kind of superpower. Super elasticity that allowed him to stretch and inflate his whole body in ways unimaginable for a normal human being.
Invisible Woman
Sue Storm-Richards is the wife of the smartest man on earth, Reed Richards. She was on the Marvel-1 rocket along with her husband, brother and Ben, and just like the rest she was also inflicted with cosmic radiation.
After coming back to earth Sue’s new powers awakened which were much different compared to her husband’s and the others’. The cosmic radiation gave her the ability to turn invisible at will and create force fields, she started using her new found powers as a member of the fantastic four, under her superhero name ‘Invisible Woman’.
Human Torch
Probably the youngest member of Fantastic Four, Johnny Storm is the younger brother to Sue Storm. Johnny was just a highschool student before he got the impulse to tag along with the rest of the crew on that rocket ship, and then you know the rest, he gets mutated with severe cosmic radiation.
Just like the other members of Fantastic Four, Johnny awakened his unique powers after coming back to earth, he could turn his whole body into a constant state of flammation, along with it he also gained the ability to fly. Johnny’s highschooler life changed forever after this as he donned on his new superhero name “The Human Torch”.
Emma Frost
Emma Frost is one of the more complex characters to come out of the X-Men roster, with a dark and troubling past that stems from exploitation and harassment. Originally a major villain and rival to the X-Men, but later teaming up with them to lead a University if young mutants.
She is an omega-class telepath with a secondary mutation that allows her to turn her skin into diamond and become indestructible to heavier threats. But the secondary ability also comes with a caveat as she loses are ability to use telepathy, every time she turns her skin to diamond.
