Marvel Rivals is already pushing the controversial thing a little—that is, before it even gets to be released officially. The official alternate account of the game had tweeted what appears to be a very simple statement, “Dear Captain America users, please leave us support players alone thank you.. #MarvelRivals.” I guess all those words were enough to push the people’s buttons.
Maybe we should quickly know what’s going on here. Apparently, in Marvel Rivals, players who play as Captain America were basically teaming up to go after support characters (aka the healers and buffers who keep teams alive in one way or another). Such a thing generated passionate discussion in the replies.
Devin (@MadeInDetroit95) came in HOT with “Nah, support players are terrible people,” which is to say, “Okay dude, tell us how you really feel.” Meanwhile, Saloz94 just wants supports to “Stop healing and we good,” which would be literally their job. And it went downhill from there, with one player crowning himself “the captain terror” and adding a meme image of Cap looking menacing.
Then it got really interesting. Some other players supported the Cap playstyle. @dondoroki said, “He’s not viable any other way,” implying perhaps that maybe targeting supports is really all Captain America players can do and do well. Meanwhile, @_yungmyke_ was blaming Black Panther, “It’s BP that needs to fuck off 🤣,” so it’s certainly not all about just one guy.
The meme game is STRONG here. Cap players are screaming “FOR FREEDOM! FOR DEMOCRACY! FOR AMERICA!!!!!!!” with gifs oozing patriotism, while others dropped some game lines like “I AM YOU! I know your methods, tricks, how you think” intensifying this feud.
It’s really curiosity-inducing because that sounds downright similar to the hero shooter dynamics we’ve seen in games such as Overwatch. There’s always been one or two characters that counter supports way too hard for the community to accept that. Now it seems that during the first few days of Marvel Rival, Captain America has taken up that mantle.
The more but tested ones take the situation another way. @ark_dogg said that Cap “does pretty great against other tanks,” maybe indicating supports should try fixing their positioning instead of whining. But that prompted @faerieashes to say, “get better meanwhile hes the one tussling with the tiny dainty strategists,” which, okay good point but what does that even mean??
Then, the debate spilled into viability discussions, where one competitor argued Caps should be fighting other tanks rather than bullying supports. Meanwhile, @MetalMikey2160 bragged that “I’m coming after ya an defend my team” regardless of role, respect has to be said.
What really makes it amusing is how strongly basic every member of the Marvel Rivals community formed opinions on character balance practically overnight. Not even the proper release, we’ve got full-blown meta debates and role rivalries already beginning to take shape. It’s like watching the birth of a competitive scene in fast forward.
This entire Twitter thread tells us so much about Marvel Rivals—the game having passionate discussions and heated rivalries starting between different ways to play. Whether it will be team “Leave supports alone” or team “No get better” (shoutout to @ark_dogg’s homie), one thing is sure: Marvel Rivals is going to have one spicy community once fully released.
Honestly, this is what keeps hero shooters fun to watch. Character loyalties, role rivalries, endless arguments on what’s ‘fair;’ these are all the things that fuel these games. That early raid is a massive thumbs up from the support players, showing that this killer combo keeps players invested and arguing for years ahead.
Right, now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go practice my Captain America combos… strictly research purposes, of course. Not because I want to terrorize healers or anything. That would be wrong. Probably.
