Marvel Cosmic Invasion is an upcoming beat-em-up that pits Marvel superheroes against the cosmic armies of Annihilus. The game was first revealed as part of the March Nintendo Direct, and served as one of the bigger third-party announcements of the presentation. Despite being scheduled for release later this year, Marvel Cosmic Invasion has only revealed a fraction of its full launch roster.
The game's roster will reportedly feature fifteen playable characters, with the first batch of seven being revealed during Marvel Cosmic Invasion's announcement trailer. This leaves more than half of the game's roster up in the air, which naturally invites all manner of speculation. Between the makeup of the roster so far, and the overarching premise of Marvel Cosmic Invasion, fans have plenty of material to make a few educated guesses. Better yet, the Marvel Multiverse at large has no shortage of iconic characters to pull from.
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Marvel Cosmic Invasion's Roster Has Massive Potential
Every Character Revealed in Marvel Cosmic Invasion So Far
- Nova
- Phyla-Vell
- Captain America
- Spider-Man
- Wolverine
- Storm
- Venom
Marvel Cosmic Invasion's titular invaders create a pretty clear divide in the roster. Some heroes, such as Nova and Phyla-Vell, appear to be included purely for their strong ties to the cosmic side of Marvel Comics. Meanwhile, heroes like Captain America, Spider-Man, and Wolverine are simply Marvel A-Listers whom the roster would feel incomplete without. Finally, Venom and Storm round out the group, as A-Listers in their own right that have both tangled with cosmic beings in recent years. In short, some heroes have plenty of experience fending off alien invasions, while others have too much brawling potential to pass up.
One particularly interesting inclusion is Phyla-Vell; who has also been known as Martyr, Quasar, and even Captain Marvel. Phyla-Vell is both a more recent creation and relatively more obscure than many of her counterparts on the Cosmic Invasion roster. Phyla-Vell is currently the game's only Guardian of the Galaxy, but simultaneously seems to reduce the likelihood of Carol Danvers' Captain Marvel making an appearance. Developers are clearly willing to reach for some deep cuts, but aren't neglecting fan favorites either.
The Best Heroes to Fend off Annihilus in Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Between the upcoming release of Fantastic Four First Steps, as well as the team's prominence in Marvel Rivals, there's never been a better time to be a fan of Marvel's First Family. Annihilus is one of the FF's oldest enemies, which leaves Cosmic Invasion with a Fantastic Four-sized elephant in the room. Despite the game's four-player format, it seems pretty unlikely that developers will find room for the whole team. With that in mind, The Invisible Woman and The Human Torch have the best potential to work with. The Storm siblings could have interesting interactions with one another, and wield unique abilities not easily covered by another hero.
Players may be sad to see Mr. Fantastic and The Thing didn't make the cut. Hopefully both could still be included in dialogue scenes, and there are actually two heroes with similar abilities who could fit even better into the beat-em-up. The Hulk can fit the bruiser role players have come to expect from this genre, while Ms. Marvel's stretching powers provide an extremely unique design. Both heroes have been on space faring adventures, and are massively popular to boot.
Considering the game's cosmic theme, one would assume the Guardians of the Galaxy will play a bigger role in Cosmic Invasion. Thankfully, the remaining slots on the roster leave plenty of room to remedy this. In the interest of drafting the most interesting designs possible, including Rocket Raccoon and Groot as a single character could give everyone the best of both worlds. This also reflects their appearances in several other games, and helps account for each character's respective limitations in size and speed.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion's Beat Em' Up Gameplay Makes Some Heroes Too Good to Pass Up
With these heroes well-equipped to fend off the Annihilation Wave, that still leaves three open slots on the roster. There are plenty of Marvel heroes that seem too popular to exclude, but not all of them lend themselves well to Cosmic Invasion's beat-em-up gameplay. Thankfully, one hero has plenty of experience in the genre already.
The Punisher was the star of his own beat-em-up, which was recently re-released as part of the Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection. Better yet, his heavy weapon arsenal brings a playstyle not shared by any existing character. Despite being a street-level anti-hero, it shouldn't stretch the imagination too far for The Punisher to mow down an alien invasion. On a similar note, few heroes are more equipped for the genre than Black Panther. The King of Wakanda is unlikely to stand idly by while the world is threatened, and his agile slashes are only rivaled on the current roster by Wolverine.
Finally, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is notably lacking any mystic characters. Some witches and sorcerers may not be well-suited to throwing hands, but that certainly isn't the case for Illyana Rasputin. Magik's profile has been on the rise thanks to her appearances in recent titles like Marvel's Midnight Suns and Marvel Rivals. Magik's Stepping Stones would allow her to teleport in quick succession with the swing of her Soulsword, which itself is notably bulkier than any other swordwielding character.
Fifteen characters is not bad at all for a launch roster, but there are still countless characters that would be awesome to see included down the road. There are characters like Silver Surfer who perfectly fit the cosmic premise, but don't immediately lend themselves to a beat-em-up. Conversely, someone like Daredevil may seem straight out of Double Dragon, but may not be equipped to battle across the galaxy. Thor and Iron Man are regulars in most Marvel arcade games, but may not provide unique gameplay compared to other picks. No matter who gets left on the cutting room floor, there's no doubt that the game's release may be closely followed by DLC hype.
MARVEL Cosmic Invasion
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 81 /100 Critics Rec: 85%
- Released
- December 1, 2025
- ESRB
- E10+ For Everyone 10+ // Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, Mild Language
- Developer(s)
- Tribute Games Inc.
- Publisher(s)
- Dotemu
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- Beat 'Em Up, Superhero, Action
