NetEase Games has promised to launch at the least one new Marvel Rivals hero each half-season, however that didn’t cease one inventive participant from bringing his thought for a playable Doctor Octopus to life.
Reddit person WickedCube shocked r/MarvelRivals followers earlier this week with a 30-second video showing what looks like rough gameplay from NetEase’s smash-hit hero shooter. At a look, the footage appears to deal with a pre-Hulk Bruce Banner suspended in midair in what seems to be a testing room – nevertheless it’s greater than that. Marvel followers will acknowledge this eight-armed model of the gamma-infused physician as an unpolished, Marvel Rivals-inspired tackle traditional Spider-Man villain Doctor Octopus.
It’s stiff and a contact goofy, however the likeness is unmistakable. Squint and also you’ll see a well-thought-out idea of what Doc Ock might probably look and transfer like ought to NetEase ever determine to ship Otto Octavius crawling into Marvel Rivals. With his arms capable of magnetize the participant up and round obstacles, WickedCube’s thought come-to-life basically permits the character to fly as long as he’s shut sufficient to a secure construction – an necessary be aware in a sport with destructible environments. This tough Doc Ock idea even comes with named talents, together with Havoc Claw for the usual melee assault and a ranged transfer referred to as Wrecking Grip. At 16,000 upvotes on the time of publication, it’s spectacular, playable, and made totally by one individual.
“Doc Ock has at all times been one of many coolest villains in Spider-Man, and his tentacles can be a problem to implement,” WickedCube inform us, describing the place his inspiration stemmed from. “As far as I do know, they have not been absolutely carried out with playable 3D motion in a sport earlier than.”
The India-based indie sport developer beforehand labored with Space Engineers studio Keen Software House earlier than resigning to focus on his own project in January 2024. He’s been in search of contract positions and prototyping mechanics since then, so character work normally isn’t a precedence. Creating a controllable model of Doctor Octopus in Unity required clearing just a few hurdles, nevertheless it’s this actual problem that helped WickedCube pursue the concept. The remainder of the push got here from an unlikely supply: the latest PSN outage.
“It all began when PSN was down and I couldn’t play Marvel Rivals,” WickedCube explains. “While searching Twitter, I got here throughout some really cool Doc Ock fan art. I assumed, ‘Since I am unable to play proper now, why not make it myself?’”
Doctor Octopus within the type of Marvel Rivals
.#MarvelRivals #MarvelRivalsfanart pic.twitter.com/d3XHXMZsCL— CoryHarris.jpg (@LordDepis) January 26, 2025
The end result has seen hundreds of gamers appreciating his concepts for Doc Ock, with some calling for NetEase to deliver him onto the workforce. WickedCube calls the reception “extremely rewarding,” including that he’d be more than pleased to see the Marvel Rivals studio raise a few of his concepts ought to Doc Ock formally make his manner into the sport. Although he has no plans to shine the design additional, the aim is to launch a playable model of the character within the close to future.
“After seeing the response on Reddit, I need to share this and future ideas as a YouTube tutorial collection,” WickedCube added. “I additionally plan to open-source the code on GitHub and make the playable variations obtainable on Itch.”
NetEase will cost ahead with its Marvel Rivals post-launch plans with two new official characters this Friday: the Human Torch and The Thing. Both heroes comply with their Fantastic Four teammates, Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, who launched early final month. It’s a surprisingly sturdy begin that outpaces rivals in its discipline, however comedian e-book followers can’t assist however look to Marvel’s catalog of heroes and villains as a universe with limitless potential.
WickedCube’s put up says his viral mission was born out of the group’s want to see extra Vanguard, or tank-like characters, added to its roster. Not even the strongest rumor has advised we’ll see Otto present up in-game any time quickly, however the Doc Ock designer says he’s already cooking up extra concepts for different potential heroes. Two names on his thoughts are X-Men mainstays Nightcrawler and Professor Xavier.
“The character roster at launch is giant sufficient to maintain the sport pleasing for a very long time, and the speed at which they’ve promised to launch new characters is mind-blowing,” he added. “The designers clearly perceive learn how to make a enjoyable sport, which, for my part, is the toughest factor to get proper.”
Marvel Rivals is primed to ship its Season 1 mid-season replace tomorrow, February 21. In addition to these aforementioned character releases, the content material replace will add stability modifications, gameplay tweaks, and extra. While we look forward to launch, you possibly can learn up on layoffs that not too long ago impacted the U.S. workforce at NetEase’s Seattle department. You may study why the studio is not entertaining the rumors surrounding planted hero leaks.
Michael Cripe is a contract contributor with IGN. He’s greatest recognized for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be certain to provide him a comply with on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
