DC's Rumored Hero Shooter Needs to Avoid One Marvel Rivals…

Marvel Rivals was a breakout success in 2024, breathing new life into the struggling hero shooter genre. While keeping the aspects of what made other hero shooters special, Marvel Rivals aims to revolutionize the genre, implementing unique ideas to help it stand out from its competitors.

It seems like a new DC live service game is on the horizon, and rumors are circulating that this could be a hero shooter to compete with Marvel Rivals. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but if DC intends to develop their own hero shooter, there is one major pitfall it should avoid that Marvel Rivals has already fallen into.

If DC Really Wants Its Own Marvel Rivals, It Shouldn't Exactly Be Marvel Rivals

James Gunn and Peter Safran have said they're open to DC having its own Marvel Rivals equivalent, but if that happens, it shouldn't be just a clone.

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By Cameron Swan

DC’s Rumored Hero Shooter Needs To Steer Clear of Marvel Rivals’ Duelist Problem

Marvel Rival’s Duelists Overshadow Other Roles

One of the glaring issues with Marvel Rivals is the sheer number of Duelists in the game. The game celebrates Marvel’s heroes with a diverse roster of popular and obscure characters, but most of these are Duelists, the DPS role, leading to a lack of true variety. Some of the franchise’s most beloved characters can start to blend in with others, having very similar playstyles to other Duelists on the roster.

Though the game intends to keep its content fresh and exciting for players by adding new Marvel Rivals characters each season, it can be difficult for players to maintain their enthusiasm when every additional hero is a Duelist. Players who insta-lock a DPS character will benefit greatly from this, having an even wider variety of options to choose from, but Vanguard and Strategist mains may feel as though they are lacking content and representation.

As of Marvel Rivals Season 3.0, the game has 21 Duelists, 10 Vanguards, and 9 Strategists.

DC Should Be Careful With Its Character Choices

DC’s answer to Marvel Rivals needs to balance its cast if it wants to succeed. This can be a difficult task, especially considering that many of DC’s strongest characters have abilities that are well aligned with the role of a DPS hero. The DC hero shooter may need to dig deep when considering who to add to the roster, utilizing some obscure characters to keep the balance between roles.

Another solution to this issue would be to get creative with DC's characters, making the abilities of someone who seems like they should be a DPS hero into a different role. This is something Marvel Rivals excelled at initially, transforming characters like Loki and Rocket Raccoon into Strategists. Rocket Raccoon especially came as a surprise, turning a character solely focused on weapons into a healer. The game’s recent additions still take some creative liberties, but it hasn’t prevented its Duelist problem. DC’s rumored hero shooter needs to explore other options for its characters.

This doesn’t mean that there shouldn’t be any DPS characters, though, or that the most obvious choices should all instead be delegated to other roles. Instead, it just needs to be more selective about who needs to be a DPS, and who can work in an alternative role. Like with Marvel Rivals’ Spider-Man, DC would likely want Batman and Superman to be DPS characters because it's the most popular role, but this might not be the most interesting choice for these characters. Some of Marvel Rivals’ best characters have kits that are unexpected, yet still feel right for the character, and this is something DC would need to prioritize.

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Marvel Rivals' May Eventually Be Forced to Embrace a Dead Overwatch Concept

Marvel Rivals has followed in the footsteps of Overwatch's success, but there could be one abandoned OW concept that it can make its own.

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By Chris Nicholls

A DC Hero Shooter Could Put Characters in Unexpected Roles

On the surface, Batman seems like a perfect fit for Moon Knight’s abilities. Moon Knight’s Crescent Darts, Night Glider and Moonlight Hook all have functionally identical Batman counterparts. This could make Batman an obvious choice for a DPS character, but there are alternatives to add more diversity to the game. In particular, the recent Absolute Batman variant of the character is massive, with a detachable bat logo that becomes an axe head. It’s likely that DC’s popular characters will be given the popular DPS role, but it could subvert expectations by adding Absolute Batman as a tank.

In spite of Marvel Rivals’ expansive roster, the game still has not added a speedster like Quicksilver to the cast yet. In other hero shooters, Overwatch’s Tracer is fast, but her Blink ability isn’t comparable to the constant movement of a speedster character. For The Flash, then, there aren’t any existing speedsters that could be compared to, but this presents a great opportunity for the DC hero shooter to set a precedent for these types of characters. The Flash could be a difficult character to work into the DPS slot, with his speed possibly giving him an unfair advantage in firefights. Instead, he could be a support hero, leaning into the trope of speedsters using their speed to take others away from danger.

There could be some characters that forgo the traditional hero shooter roles entirely. Martian Manhunter has abilities that could align him with the rest of the game’s DPS roles, but he has the potential to be a tank or a strategist. His shapeshifting mimicry abilities and potential to become invisible could play similarly to Marvel Rivals’ Strategists Loki and Invisible Woman. However, as his invulnerability and strength are comparable to Superman, he could also be a great fit for the role of the tank. To combat Marvel Rivals’ Duelist problem, DC’s hero shooter having wildcard heroes that don’t neatly fit into one role could alleviate the issue.

Marvel Rivals’ initial launch was a great success, and with each new season, it adds plenty of features to keep players engaged. However, the focus on adding more Duelists to Marvel Rivals puts the game in a very difficult position. The roster is severely imbalanced, and without adding new Strategists and Vanguards, players are discouraged from playing these roles which lack support. If DC’s live service game is a hero shooter, it needs to be very careful with how it handles this problem. More content and playable characters is almost always a good thing, but if it doesn’t strike the right balance with its roles, it could fall into the same problem as Marvel Rivals.