Marvel Rivals Reveals First Look at Thor and Jeff the Landshark | SDCC 2024

Hero shooter Marvel Rivals hit San Diego Comic-Con 2024 with a long list of announcements, including story details, new character reveals, and the voice cast.

During a Marvel Games presentation at SDCC, developer NetEase showed attendees trailers for the Marvel Rivals story, as well as a feature on Thor and Jeff the Landshark, who join the roster of playable characters on July 27. As you’d expect, Thor, the God of Thunder, brings his powerful hammer and lightning abilities, while Jeff the Land Shark adds… his own unique charm and ferocity to the game.

Marvel Rivals is a free-to-play superhero team-based PvP shooter in the Overwatch style, with fan-favorite characters such as Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Doctor Strange available to play. The closed beta, which ends on August 5, is available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox with cross-play and cross-region support.

It’s yet another entry in the already crowded hero shooter genre, but it looks like Marvel Rivals may make an impact, if the interest in the closed beta is anything to go by. The closed beta has already posted impressive player numbers on Steam, hitting a peak of 52,671 concurrents since it went live on July 23. Sony and Microsoft do not reveal player numbers for PlayStation or Xbox consoles, respectively.

Meanwhile, the Marvel Rivals voice cast includes Cassandra Lee Morris (Persona 5’s Morgana) as Galacta, Troy Baker as Loki, Nolan North as Rocket Raccoon, Yuri Lowenthal as Spider-Man, and Mara Junot as Storm. Other playable characters include Groot, The Punisher, Hela, Iron Man, Magneto, and Venom.

While the focus here is very much on PvP gameplay, Marvel Rivals does feature a narrative, which revolves around heroes and villains uniting against a “looming cosmic threat.” Doctor Doom is set up as the antagonist.

Be sure to check out IGN’s impressions of Marvel Rivals to find out what we think about the game.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].