NetEase Games has pledged to release at least one new Marvel Rivals hero every half-season, but that didn't stop one creative player from bringing their vision of a playable Doctor Octopus to life.
Reddit user WickedCube stunned the r/MarvelRivals community with a 30-second gameplay video showcasing a remarkably polished, albeit rough-around-the-edges, Doctor Octopus. The footage, seemingly from a testing environment, features a pre-Hulk Bruce Banner suspended in mid-air. However, the real star is the eight-armed villain, a surprisingly well-realized interpretation of the classic Spider-Man antagonist within the Marvel Rivals framework.
We need more vanguards, so i made one (Doctor Octopus)
by u/Wickedcube in marvelrivals
.reddit-embed-wrapper iframe { margin-left: 0 !important; }While somewhat stiff and quirky, the resemblance is undeniable. WickedCube's Doc Ock concept cleverly utilizes the character's tentacles for magnetizing movement, effectively allowing him to "fly" near stable structures—a unique mechanic in a game with destructible environments. The prototype even boasts named abilities: Havoc Claw (melee) and Wrecking Grip (ranged). With over 16,000 upvotes at the time of writing, this impressive creation, entirely solo-developed, has clearly resonated with the community.
"Doc Ock has always been one of the coolest Spider-Man villains, and his tentacles would be a challenge to implement," WickedCube explained, outlining their inspiration. "As far as I know, they haven't been fully implemented with playable 3D movement in a game before." The idea, they say, stemmed from a recent PSN outage and some inspiring Doc Ock fan art.
"It all started when PSN was down and I couldn’t play Marvel Rivals," WickedCube shared. "While browsing Twitter, I came across some really cool Doc Ock fan art. I thought, ‘Since I can't play right now, why not make it myself?’”
Doctor Octopus in the style of Marvel Rivals
.#MarvelRivals #MarvelRivalsfanart pic.twitter.com/d3XHXMZsCL— CoryHarris.jpg (@LordDepis) January 26, 2025
The overwhelmingly positive response, with many urging NetEase to incorporate the design, has been incredibly rewarding for WickedCube, who would be thrilled to see their ideas adopted. While there are no current plans to further polish the design, a playable version is expected soon.
"After seeing the response on Reddit, I want to share this and future concepts as a YouTube tutorial series," WickedCube added. "I also plan to open-source the code on GitHub and make the playable versions available on Itch."
NetEase continues its post-launch momentum for Marvel Rivals, releasing two official characters this Friday: Human Torch and The Thing. These additions follow the recent launch of Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman, demonstrating a remarkably strong launch that surpasses competitors. Yet, the vast potential of Marvel's universe continues to inspire fan creations.
WickedCube's project was driven by community desire for more Vanguard-type characters. While an in-game Doc Ock remains unconfirmed, WickedCube is already brainstorming additional heroes, with Nightcrawler and Professor X currently on the list."The character roster at launch is large enough to keep the game enjoyable for a long time, and the rate at which they’ve promised to release new characters is mind-blowing," they added. "The designers clearly understand how to make a fun game, which, in my opinion, is the hardest thing to get right."
Marvel Rivals' Season 1 mid-season update arrives tomorrow, February 21, featuring the new characters, balance adjustments, gameplay refinements, and more. In other news, recent layoffs at NetEase's Seattle branch and the studio's stance on hero leak rumors are also noteworthy.
