Marvel Rivals # 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

Marvel Rivals is currently one of the most popular, if not the most popular free-to-play third person hero shooter that even knocked Overwatch off the top spot. You can shoot it out using a wild mix of Marvel characters like Wolverine, Venom, Psylocke and even Luna Snow. They just recently add all four members of the Fantastic Four and Emma Frost is also coming soon as of now. So let's check out this comic based on a videogame based on a comic.

The issue opens with Galacta, who swears she is not related to Galactus in any way, as she explains the overall premise. Multiple universes have merged into a timestream entanglement, which created new worlds that throw heroes and villains from across the multiverse together. The rift has created huge problems as it had damaged the Web of Life and Destiny in Tokyo 2099. This leaves Master Weaver and his apprentice Spider-Zero arguing over how to fix it.

Spider-Zero says they should connect the Web of Life into cyberspace, which would be the fastest way to repair the timestream. Master Weaver says it is also the most dangerous way to do so and they should wait to have enough Chronovium to allow the Web to strengthen and repair itself.

Galacta explains that Spider-Zero's team is led by Peni Parker as they try to plug the Web into cybserpace, while Master Weaver's team is being led by Spider-Man and they're trying to stop them. Galacta watches along with the reader as we see Spider-Man fighting against Venom, Thor fighting with Wolverine, Namor fighting with Captain America, Lune Snow trying to freeze Bruce Banner, Doctor Strange fighting against Iron Fist and Peni Parker dealing with Jeff the Land Shark.

Venom focuses mostly on Spider-Man and tells everyone to leave Parker to him. Peni overhears that and asks Spider-Man if he has a daughter named Peni in his timeline. Spider-Man is confused and says no. Peni explains that version of Venom is lost in the timestream and doesn't have his memories of his previous life so he's not serious about killing Spider-man. Spidey asks if they're supposed to be fighting. Spider-Man asks Peni why she's fighting against Master Weaver if she's also a spider-fighter and says she's on the wrong side of this. Peni says she isn't. Galacta points out that Peni thinks Peter is an alternate version of her father. In this case, he's not and Galacta can't wait for the emotional drama whenever Peni finds out.

 

Captain America gets blasted off a roof and his shield falls in the path of one of Thor's lighting attacks. The shield gets electrified and swings into Wolverine, giving him and his metal skeleton a hell of a jolt. Captain America lands and retrieves his shield, calling it a powerful combination. Peni is surprised that Thor can share his lighting and asks how they can fight that. Venom says they can share their power in another way as he lets his symbiote self get into Peni's mech.The Venomized mech tosses several Venomized grenades and also swats Captain America and Jeff with its tendrils. As the mech grabs Iron Fist by the throat, one of the Venom grenades flies over to Spider-Man and explodes before he can react.

Spider-Man is sent flying into a building which completely collapses over him. Peni sees she used too much power and sends her team to get Spider-Man and his team out of the rubble. Banner stops her and says they should use this moment to get to the Stark-Fujikawa tower before the other team can follow. Peni now leads her team to follow her so they can restore the timeline. She's sure Spider-Man will be alright. Spider-Man's hand bursts through the rubble and debris.

Captain America checks to see if the rest of the team is alright. Spider-Man is still trapped under the rubble and struggling to get out. A callback to the classic scene in Amazing Spider-Man # 33 (1963), Spidey tries to summon the strength and willpower to get himself out... when suddenly Thor just lifts the debris effortlessly off of him with one arm. Spider-Man thanks him and asks about the other team.

Thor lifts Spider-Man out of the remnants of the destroyed building and tells him the team got away and are halfway to their destination. Iron Fist asks Jeff if he can sniff them out. Thor says he doubts a shark would be much of a land tracker. However, Jeff does lock onto Wolverine's scent and heads off. Just then, a song can be heard and Luna Snow recognizes it from her latest platinum album.

Peni, for some reason, is happily singing one of Luna's songs. Doctor Strange and Venom tell her to quiet down, especially when they have another team trying to find them. Peni says her Aunt May loved Luna Snow's songs so she couldn't resist geeking out after they just fought her. Peni tells her team she will stop the singing, even though she states she wasn't that loud. Or at least not as loud as the sudden bolt of lighting and suddenly hit them.

Banner sees Luna and angrily recalls how she was trying to freeze him earlier. He turns into the Hulk and tries to attack her. Luna thinks it's Amadeus Cho, and Spider-Men tells him it's the wrong Hulk. Luna sees Hulk's pants and recognizes him as the 'skinny ray-gun guy'. Hulk corrects her and says he was the 'puny ray-gun guy' as he punches through one of her ice attacks. 

 

Jeff hits Hulk with a water attack as if he were a Pokemon, and Hulk slaps him away. Captain America and Thor are angry that their little teammate was treated that way. Namor watches and keeps track of where Jeff would land.

Peni tells Doctor Strange that she has an idea but first she needs to get the team out of there. Doctor Strange creates a portal and says they can all follow as long as they stay connected to him. If any of them loosens their grip or if he goes too far... there might be some fusing. Peni doesn't like the sound of that. As her team goes through the portal, Spider-Man tosses a web onto Strange's cape and goes along for the ride. As Spider-Man vanishes along with the portal, Luna asks if she can now lead the team.

Meanwhile at the Ghostworks Arcade, Jeff is kicking one of the arcade machines as Namor finds him. Namor introduces himself and notes that as a creature of both the land and sea, no one will ever understand the little land shark. Namor says the world can be theirs and asks if he wants to rule by his side. Jeff smiles evilly. 

We return to Spider-Man where Hulk has been hit in the face with his webbing while he trying to get Wolverine off of him. Spider-Man gets out of the way as the blinded Hulk hits Wolverine with a powerful uppercut. Spider-Man asks if they can pretend that did that on purpose. Venom leaps in and wraps his tongue around Spider-Man, saying he will swallow him whole. Venom suddenly gets blasted away from Spider-Man. Spidey sees that Peni was the one that did as she says that him dying was not part of her plan.

Venom lands near Doctor Strange who is currently resting up and recharging his energy after creating the portal. Venom mentions that they left Namor behind. Strange tells him to return to the fight.

Peni knocks Spider-Man into another building and tells her teammates to stay behind while she takes care of him. Wolverine asks if she's sure. Peni says she's sure that she's tired of having her leadership questioned. 

Once inside the building, Spider-Man says he would like it if people stopped knocking him into buildings. He sees Peni and brings up how she asked him if he had a daughter named Peni earlier, as well as overhearing her teammates call her Peni Parker. Peni steps out of her mech and tells Spider-Man she thinks he's an alternate version of her father. Galactus reminds the reader that this is not the case. Peni says she got him away from his team so they can talk.

Peter reminds her that he stowed away using his webbing. Peni says she knows, which is why she used an escape plan that was easy for him to follow. Before that, she was purposely singing Luna Snow songs so his team would know where they were at. Peter asks if she's some sort of tactical genius. Peni said she learned from the best. Spider-Man assumes he means himself, but she says she learned her tricks from Aunt May.

Peter says he never learned from his own father, he died before he could meet him. Peter says he learned about great power bringing great responsibility so hopefully that will help her out. Peni said her father was stoic and didn't have a lot to say. Peter says he was bitten by a very verbose radioactive spider. Peni says she wants Spider-Man to join her side. She explains that she devoted her life to watching over the Web of Life and Destiny and to her, Spider-Man is just some guy that will be here for a while. Spider-Man asks why his opinion matters so much to her. After a brief silence, Peni says they should resume fighting before Master Weaver and Spider-Zero notice. She calls Spider-Man Richard Parker as her mech knocks Spider-Man outside of a building this time.

Thor arrives, having found Spider-Man. Spidey says he'll need to talk to Peni again but first they'll have to get rid of the rest of her team. Thor iss confident that he can take on the Hulk but isn't confident he can do so while also facing Wolverine, Venom, Doctor Strange and the Spider-Tank that Peni rides around in. Just then Galacta agrees that it wouldn't be a fair fight, so she replaces Thor with Squirrel Girl.

Squirrel Girl says she's here to eat nuts and kick butts and she's all out of nuts. Spider-Man asks if she's serious and she says she's actually never out of nuts as she tosses several of them. 

Master Weaver and Spider-Zero note that the Chronovium needed to repair the Web isn't gathering fast enough. Spider-Zero feels they don't need after Peni and her team plug the Web of Life into cyberspace. Master Weaver reminds him that they also need Chronovium to maintain their rule and he senses that something terrible has happened. 

Iron Fist arrives at Ghostworks looking for Jeff. He suddenly gets hit in the face by one of Namor's trident blasts. Iron Fist tells him they he doesn't have problems with him, but Namor states he has a problem with anyone standing in his way. Iron Fist leaps over the blasts and punches Namor in the face. Suddenly Jeff leaps up and swats Namor in the face with his shark tail. Namor commends Jeff on going along with the act and tells him to go and lead his team to the place they discussed. Jeff followed after Iron Fist.

Jeff regroups with his team as Captain America and Luna are happy to see him. Galacta is happy to see the team reunited but wonders what Spider-Man is up to. Spider-Man is getting stomped on by Hulk as he yells 'HULK SMASH'. Spider-Man comments that he sure says that a lot as he tries to web him up. Hulk says Spider-Man also says 'thwip' a lot. Spidey says that he doesn't say 'thwip', that's the sound his webs make. He then asks why Hulk actually says 'smash' when he can let the smashing sound speak for themselves. 

Squirrel Gril tosses nuts at Wolverine, who easily slices the explosive acorns out of the air. Spider-Man determines that he needs stronger webs. Squirrel Girl says she needs bombs that can paralyze people instead of just slowing them down. Spider-Man and Squirrel girl give each other a look.

Squirrel Girl tosses a webbed up acorn bomb at the Hulk. When it explodes, it traps Hulk in a huge web cocoon. Spider-Man asks if Venom can be next, and Squirrel Girl says that everybody is next. Soon Venom, Wolverine and Strange are all webbed up. Spider-Man says the web won't hold them forever. He says he needs to talk to Peni about something, but it can wait.

Jeff leads the team to the Stark-Fujikawa building, and Spider-Man and Squirrel Girl catch up to them. Captain America says they can make their stand and restore the timeline. Luna greets Spider-Man and Squirrel Girl. Since Squirrel Girl replaced Thor, Luna calls her Thor and asks if 'he' had done something with 'his' hair.

Luna Snow freezes up the tower as Spider-Man webs it up. Squirrel Girl says they made the tower penetrable for Peni's team. Peni and her crew show up and Doctor Strange summons a powerful Maelstrom of Madness. Hulk sets his hand on Strange, using his gamma power to charge up the storm and making it even stronger. Spider-Man and his crew are sucked into the storm, sent spinning around. 

Jeff hits Hulk and Strange with his water attack, which Strange only finds mildly annoying. Luna says she can make it more than annoying and uses her ice alongside Jeff's attack. Strange runs as Jeff and Luna form an ice wall. Now with some space, Iron Fist can take the time to heal Squirrel Girl. Spider-Man asks if anyone can heal him up and Jeff spits his water powers on him.

On the other side of the ice wall, Peni says they should strike while the other team is injured. Venom says they can injure Spider-Man again if that would help. Peni has a better idea and asks the Hulk if he heard of the Fastball Special. Hulk grabs Venom, but the symbiote doesn't go for the idea. Wolverine climbs on one of Hulk's huge arms and says to try it with him instead. Hulk tosses Wolverine and says it does work better. Wolverine smashes through the ice wall... and through the entire building, flying out the other side as he says the Hulk threw him too hard.

Jeff returns to Namor who explains that without the Web of Life, this dimension will tear off from the others and will be ruled by whoever holds the most Chronovium. Namor is said person as he has stored Chronovium in his royal trident. Namor says once the Web of Life and Destiny is destroyed, the world will be his and all the world's sardines will belong to Jeff.

Peni climbs the side of the tower, slipping and sliding through the ice, but moving onward regardless.  She makes it to the top of the Stark-Fujikawa Tower only to see that Jeff beat her to it. Peni ignores him and focuses on plugging the Web into cyberspace until a web suddenly sticks to her. Spider-Man tells Jeff to run and destroy the device. Namor shows up but Jeff leaps up and rams into him. Jeff didn't betray his team after all.

Peni walks towards the device as Spider-Man tries to pull her back with his webs. Spider-Man says she risks destroying the entire timeline and might get hurt herself. Peni apologizes and says she doesn't want to disappoint him even though he's an alternate version of her father. With the mech held in place, Peni hops out of it. Spider-Man doesn't want to lie to her and tells her that he's not her father, or another version of him. He says her father was Richard Parker, which is also his father. Peni asks what this means. Peter says he's another version of her or an alternate brother or something, since timelines are confusing. He tells her to step away from the device so they can talk it out. Peni hesitates but then punches into the device.

The tower fires a blast into the sky but it's too late and the timeline is too weak. Jeff grabs Namor's trident and leaps into the blast. Namor remembers that the trident was full of all the Chronovium he stored. Spider-Zero is surprised that the Web of Life is repairing itself through cyberspace with the help of the Chronovium. Both solutions are working together, and Spider-Zero asks if Master Weaver knew they could do that. Master Weaver plays along and says he knows all.

Sometime later, Peni and Spidey are hanging out. Peni laments that she thought she made some sort of connection with her father. Peter says his father died when he was six so he didn't know him either. Peter says she didn't find a father and he didn't find a daughter, but they both found family.

Jeff goes over to Namor. Namor doesn't like having to start his plans for conquest all over again, but he knows Jeff did what he thought was right, even when he went against his monarch. Namor says he has no quarrel with the little landshark.

Galacta says the story isn't over just yet as chaos still reigns in the branches of the fractured timelines with others that seek to destroy or rule the world. We see that Thor is confused of being sent back to Asgard when he was just in Tokyo 2099. We also see the Black Widow and Winter Soldier sneaking around. Punisher has sided with Rocket Raccoon as they pack unlimited ammo. 

Elsewhere, Doctor Doom is fighting with the 2099 version of himself when a voice calls out to both. Thee tells Doom that was he was home, reading a bedtime story to his kids when suddenly they find themselves in this area. He demands that someone explain how they got there or he will get angry. We see that this is the Fantastic Four, and Reed says he quotes his friend in saying they won't like him when he's angry. 

 

My Thoughts-

So this was a fun one-shot, or at least it feels like a one-shot. Personally I'd give it a few months and make another issue that features the newly added characters, Emma Frost and whoever comes next. Even now the game is so packed with characters, a small sample of the roster was featured here. Even with the last minute cameos in the end, others like Iron Man, Loki, Hela, Magneto, Starlord, Mantis, Cloak and Dagger and a few others didn't make an appearance. The game is super popular, so strike while the iron's hot guys.

The story involves two teams of heroes going against each other as they have opposing solutions for the problem at hand. It's a clever way to have them go against each other and, with the possible exception of Venom, not go for the kill. I'm thinking while we do have a few villains in the game, there weren't enough to form an all-out villain team.

Galacta gleefully watches everything as she explains and re-explains everything to the reader. I'm guessing that Marvel thought a lot of kids would be playing the game and also buying the comic, and with so many characters to keep track of, they needed a little hand-holding. I wonder if this comic was posted online in several parts and then put together as a full story because at times Galacta is doing full-on recaps of what we saw two pages ago. It was funny seeing her randomly switch Thor with Squirrel Girl and the confusion it caused, since I assume none of them can actually see Galacta. 

 

From what gather from the actual game story line, it seems the original Doctor Doom met and clashed with the 2099 version of Doctor Doom which created this Timestream Entanglement. This brings all these alternate versions of heroes and villains together, which explain slightly different personalities and all the epic redesigns. So the villains are trying to conquer everything, Iron Man is trying to use Chronovium to undo the entanglement and Spider-Man and his crew are trying to protect the Web of Life and Destiny from Doctor Doom's crew. I'm surprised the comic didn't have Galacta mention that the two Doctor Dooms started this mess.

 

It's an overall fun read as we see all these heroes gather together and enjoy their interactions. The characters are a tad friendlier than in the current comics. Even Venom acts more like a one-track minded cartoonish sorta-villain. I like how Wolverine is the serious guy that has a lot of sillier things happen to. At teams he just feels like he's kind of tried/annoyed he has to play along with all these shenanigans. Poor dude can't even stab Spider-man. And of course, everybody loves Jeff the Landshark.

One thing the comic cleverly adds is one of the game's mechanics, the Team-Up moves. A lot of them were featured here but due to the ever-evolving nature of updates, tweaks and nerfs, some of them were removed from the game's second season by the time this issue was released. Here's a quick run-down.

Thor combining his lightning with Captain America's shield was removed. Hulk can give his Gamma Charge to Iron Man and Namor... but sadly no longer to Doctor Strange in season 2. Luna Snow powering up Jeff's water attack is called Frozen Spitball. Spider-Man can still give Squirrel Girl a Web Bomb. Venom can use Symbiote Bond on goth Peni and Spider-Man, which covers them in symbiote spikes. The Fastball Special between Hulk and Wolverine is called Metal Cannonball in the game. Punisher working with Rocket Raccoon gives them Ammo Overload.

Like I said, this looks like a one-shot but I wouldn't mind more issues. They have lots more characters that were not featured in this one, and that would give the game time to release even more characters for later issues. Plus we would get to see more Team Up moves.