I picked Peni Parker for my first game of Marvel Rivals, partly as an homage to her appearance in Into the Spider-Verse, and partly because I assumed she'd be recognisable. A teenage girl in a futuristic mech seems appropriately familiar for the MCU's answer to Overwatch, and I had at least a passing idea of how D.Va worked. Unfortunately, I guessed wrong. Peni Parker is a crowd-controlling tank in Marvel's Rivals; it is, in fact, Bruce Banner/Hulk who's the form-changing e-boy.
That's one of my biggest takeaways from Marvel Rivals. The similarities to Overwatch are immediate, and come as no surprise - Rivals lifts several modes almost directly from Blizzard's hero shooter. There are also plenty of recognisable character archetypes, but they tend to stem from unexpected places: When the Hulk runs out of health, Bruce Banner is forced to fight for survival until he can get angry enough to go green again; Reinhardt's shield belongs to Doctor Strange; Bastion's turret form is now The Punisher's turret form.
