Marvel Rivalsand MCU tie-ins are a match made in heaven for fans of Marvel, as the unique designs of the films make for fantastic skins in NetEase’s hero shooter. WhileMarvel Rivalshas no shortage of MCU skin potential between existing films and upcoming ones, it would be wise for the game to take advantage of the hype of a new film at the time it releases.Marvel Rivalsattempted this collaboration with the recent release ofCaptain America: Brave New World, but the content it offered players has one glaring omission.
In a collaboration with the new MCU film,Marvel Rivalsplayers who purchase tickets toCaptain America: Brave New Worldthrough Regal can earn a special nameplate, spray, and mystery costume. While many fans anticipated this mystery costume to be a new MCU Red Hulk skin forMarvel Rivals' Hulk, the skin ended up being the already-existing Revolution Winter Soldier skin, unrelated to the film entirely. Although receiving a free skin alongside movie tickets is a nice incentive, it seems like this collaboration was a major missed opportunity to add a new MCU skin.
A Red Hulk Skin for Marvel Rivals Would Have Been the Perfect Captain America: Brave New World Tie-In
Hulk Getting a Red Hulk Skin Would Be a Simple But Meaningful Addition
Recent MCU skin releases like theInfinity Warskin for Captain Americahave been popular additions.Marvel Rivalshas been good about adding skins for popular MCU films, such asGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3andDeadpool and Wolverine, but some of these skins don’t feel as timely as they could be. WithCaptain America: Brave New Worldbeing the first new MCU film to release sinceMarvel Rivals' launch, now would have been the perfect time to establish the precedent of releasing a new skin alongside an MCU film, but the opportunity seems to have passed.
Red Hulk would have been the obvious choice for aMarvel Rivalsskintie-in forCaptain America: Brave New World, despite Bruce Banner and Thunderbolt Ross being completely different characters. A simple red recolor for Hulk wouldn’t have been too much of a change from his base skin, so it seems like this type of MCU skin would have been perfect compared to a more complicated potential skin like Sam Wilson’s Captain America. However, the lack of a Red Hulk skin to coincide withCaptain America: Brave New Worldcould foreshadow a future character addition.
Marvel Rivals Skipping the Chance for a Red Hulk Skin Could Mean Thunderbolt Ross is Headed to the Game
Marvel Rivalshas already made it clear that some Marvel characters that could become skins for existing heroes may become full-fledged characters themselves, such as Miles Morales or Sam Wilson. With this in mind, it’spossible that Red Hulk will be a future addition toMarvel Rivalsas his own unique character, potentially adopting different powers from Bruce Banner, such as a permanent Hulk form, since Ross can consciously control his transformations. The potential Red Hulk has to be his own character may have preventedMarvel Rivalsfrom receiving a Red Hulk skin forCaptain America: Brave New World.
Currently, Hulk’s only other skins inMarvel Rivalsaside from the default one are the rare G-Bomb skin and legendary Green Scar.
However,Marvel Rivalshas been somewhat inconsistent with how it treats separate characters as skins for existing ones. For example,Mr. Fantastic has a skin for The Maker, the villainous Ultimate Universe version of the hero, and Venom has an Anti-Venom skin, which is technically a different version of the Venom symbiote infused with Martin Li’s negative powers, and both are on the border between different characters and variants of the original character. Thunderbolt Ross' Red Hulk must fall enough into the “separate character” camp compared to Bruce Banner’s Hulk thatMarvel Rivalswants to leave the door open for the character to potentially join the roster later down the line.
