A Marvel Rivals Player Created a Playable Doctor Octopus Concept and Fans Love It

NetEase Games has pledged at least one new Marvel Rivals hero per half-season, but that didn't stop one creative player from bringing their vision of a playable Doctor Octopus to life.

Reddit user WickedCube recently surprised the r/MarvelRivals community with a 30-second gameplay video showcasing a remarkably well-executed, albeit rough, interpretation of the iconic Spider-Man villain within the Marvel Rivals engine. The footage depicts a pre-Hulk Bruce Banner suspended mid-air in what appears to be a testing environment, but the true star is the eight-armed Doctor Octopus.

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 slightly comical, the resemblance is undeniable. WickedCube's concept cleverly showcases Doc Ock's potential in Marvel Rivals, utilizing his tentacles for magnetized movement around obstacles, effectively granting him a form of flight near stable structures—a crucial element in a game with destructible environments. This impressive prototype even features unique abilities: "Havoc Claw" for melee attacks and "Wrecking Grip" for ranged combat. With over 16,000 upvotes at the time of writing, this single-person project is both impressive and playable.

"Doc Ock has always been one of the coolest Spider-Man villains, and his tentacles would be a significant challenge to implement," WickedCube explained, citing their inspiration. "As far as I know, they haven't been fully realized with playable 3D movement in a game before." The idea, they revealed, 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 explains. "While browsing Twitter, I saw 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. While they have no plans to further polish the current design, they intend to release a playable version and share their process.

"After seeing the Reddit response, 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 playable versions available on Itch."

NetEase continues its post-launch momentum with the release of two official characters this Friday: Human Torch and The Thing, following the recent additions of Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman. This impressive rollout surpasses competitors, but the vast potential of Marvel's universe continues to fuel fan creativity.

WickedCube's project arose from the community's desire for more Vanguard-type characters. Although an official Doc Ock remains unconfirmed, WickedCube is already developing concepts for other heroes, including Nightcrawler and Professor Xavier.

"The launch roster 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 21st, featuring the new characters, balance adjustments, and gameplay refinements. Meanwhile, you can find information regarding recent layoffs at NetEase's Seattle branch and the studio's stance on hero leak rumors.