I still remember the night I first dropped into Marvel Rivals. It was December 2024, and I was just another free-to-play gamer looking for a new 6v6 third-person shooter. I picked Hulk, smashed a few walls, and thought I understood what the game was. I was wrong. What I did not expect was that a hero shooter from NetEase Games, made with Marvel Entertainment, would push me through the doors of a comic shop in 2026 and make me a weekly reader. Who would have thought a multiplayer arena could do that? 
Marvel Rivals is more than a game. It is a gateway. Released on December 6, 2024, for PS5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S, it lets players choose from a huge roster of Marvel heroes and villains. The numbers are absurd. Twenty million people downloaded it. On January 11, 2025, 644,269 players were active at the same time. I was one of them. But the number that matters most to me is one: the first comic I bought because of a character I met in the game.
That moment happened at Bedrock Comics in Houston, Texas. I walked in looking for a gift, not a new hobby. Then I saw them: drawings of Marvel Rivals character designs hanging on the comic shelves. Images of heroes and their catchphrases were stuck to the appropriate comic books. The character posters were drawn by the talented artist @jewelianism. It was brilliant. Instead of digging through decades of continuity, I could find Magik, Psylocke, or Jeff the Land Shark right where the game had left them. I bought a Magik trade paperback that day. Then I came back the next week. 
Bedrock City Comics are not the only store doing this, and they should not be. For years, a lot of Marvel fans have had their knowledge stop at the MCU. That is not a criticism. The movies are great. But Marvel Rivals offers something the films cannot: a reason to go back to the source material. The game features characters who may not appear in any Marvel movie or TV show for the foreseeable future. Jeff the Land Shark is a perfect example. He is a fan favorite in the game, but he is not waiting for a post-credits scene. If you want more of him, you have to turn to comics. Is that not exactly what a gateway should do?
This is where Marvel Rivals becomes the perfect use of the video game medium to promote comics. Some characters from the game are coming to the MCU soon, like Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman. Others, like Magik and Psylocke, have already appeared in X-Men movies. But the game also shines a light on obscure characters who would never get a solo film. That is the magic. A new generation of potential comic readers is discovering their love for Marvel’s heroes and villains through playable fighters, not just movie trailers.
| Marvel Rivals character | MCU status | Why comics matter |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff the Land Shark | Not announced | His comic appearances are the only way to get more |
| Magik | X-Men films | Her comic history is deep and weird |
| Psylocke | X-Men films | Multiple versions and storylines exist |
| Mister Fantastic | Coming soon | Comics show decades of Fantastic Four adventures |
| Invisible Woman | Coming soon | Her comic legacy goes far beyond the movies |
Marvel has already released variant covers with artwork from the game. That is a good start. But if Marvel wants to continue capitalizing on the success of Rivals, they should go further. They should add unlockable cosmetics in their comics, like Fortnite did with crossover titles. Imagine buying a comic and getting a code for a Rivals skin, a spray, or a nameplate. Would that draw in more Marvel Rivals fans? Absolutely. It would turn every comic shop into a loot box of storytelling, but a fair one. 
As a professional gamer, I spend a lot of time in online matches. I know the thrill of a perfect ultimate. But I also know the emptiness of a game that ends when the servers go down. Comics do not end. They sit on a shelf and wait. Marvel Rivals may be the greatest thing to happen to the comic book industry in a long time. It has already done what years of marketing could not: it made me care about characters I had never heard of. It made me walk into a comic shop. It made me a reader.
So what should Marvel do next? They should take advantage of this incredible opportunity. They should work with local comic shops like Bedrock Comics. They should make it easy for players to find the source material. They should treat Marvel Rivals not as a spin-off, but as a bridge. Because if a 6v6 shooter can make me love Jeff the Land Shark, imagine what a well-placed comic could do for millions of other players. I know I will be back at the shop this week. My pull list is growing. And it all started with a game. 🎮📚