Every LGBTQ+ character you can play as in Marvel Rivals
Here’s every playable queer character in Marvel Rivals at launch (NetEase Games/ Marvel Games)
Marvel Rivals is nearly here, and as the multiplayer shooter gets ready to drop, here are all of the queer characters you can play as on launch day – and a few we’d like to see added.
Marvel Rivals, from NetEase Games and in association with Marvel Games, is an upcoming multiplayer online game that lets players take control of their favourite – you guessed it – Marvel heroes and villains to battle across space and time.
In terms of concept, think Overwatch, but Marvel, complete with 6v6 player-versus-player, third-person hero shooter format, as well as hero team-up abilities between certain characters and a destructible environment.
The launch day roster for Marvel Rivals currently features 33 individual playable characters, from fan favourites like Iron Man and Captain America to lesser-known superheroes like Squirrel Girl and Jeff the Land Shark
But ahead of officially “igniting the battle”, here is every character in the game that you can play as that is – or has, at some point been, across their many iterations – queer. And, to no-one’s shock, it’s a lot of X-Men.
Loki
Our canonically bisexual king, Loki is here to wreak havoc and, well, mischief in Marvel Rivals. We’re also so sure that he’s going to have a few flirty voice lines.
Revealed as part of the very first roster of characters in the game, Loki is bisexual in several comic book arcs, and was confirmed as such in the Marvel Cinematic Universe during season one of Loki on Disney Plus.
In Marvel Rivals, Loki can create illusions, teleport and generally be the agent of chaos that we’ve come to know and tolerate – and he can also shapeshift into any other playable character.
Magik
Illyana Rasputin/ Magik is, as confirmed in a 2020 run of New Mutants, about as pansexual as one can get – in that she’s into anyone or anything. And good for her.
This is shown in some pre-battle panels, with Magik basically asking three members of the enemy faction of an intergalactic clash if they want to have a cheeky snog.
“It was f**k or fight,” she tells the assembled trio of aliens, “and you have chosen poorly.” In Marvel Rivals, though, it’s sure to be the latter as well.
Star-Lord
The MCU’s version of Star-Lord is decidedly not queer, having been thirsting over Gamora, and only Gamora, for years – but in 2020, Marvel Comics confirmed that the character is both bisexual and polyamorous.
Guardians of the Galaxy #9, “I Shall Make You a Star-Lord”, sees Peter Quill form a throuple with a blue humanoid pair named Aradia and Mors; a relationship which lasts over 100 years.
Their love triangle is confirmed with a frame showing the trio “bathing” together in a ceremonial temple, the intimate scene soaked in bisexual lighting. Yes, “bathing.”
Storm
Goddess of the Weather Ororo Monroe (otherwise known as Storm) isn’t typically queer – but as with many heroes in Marvel history, she’s had an arc or two exploring their sexuality.
In the Axis storyline in 2014, a powerful spell is cast, inverting the personalities and morals of all the heroes and villains, and as a result, Storm is seen kissing a female-presenting individual in separate panels, but no one else’s sexuality is altered.
A romantic relationship with Yukio is also heavily hinted at during various points in the character’s history.
Wolverine
Revealed in the final pre-launch trailer for Marvel Rivals, everyone’s favourite grumpy Canadian Logan Howlett – Wolverine – will be slicing his way through his enemies with various powerful abilities come 6 December
This entry specifically is not going to make Marvel incels who view Wolverine as the pinnacle of heterosexuality all too happy, but there is a universe (Earth-12025) in which Wolverine is a member of the Alphabet Mafia.
More specifically, the version of Wolverine in the “X-Treme Earth” storlyline has his claws all over beefy demi-god Hercules. As well as being lovers, the pair were also the definition of a power couple, in that they travelled the universe pounding bad guys (as well as each other).
More gays, please
As you can tell, Marvel Rivals isn’t exactly West Hollywood – so here’s a brief list of some of our favourite queer characters we’d like to see added to the game post-launch.
Iceman; Bobby Drake, otherwise known as the super-cool mutant Iceman, is canonically queer in the Marvel comics, having come out of the closet (or having been pulled out by Jean Grey) in The All-New X-Men #40. Justice for Ice-twink! Add him to the game.
America Chavez; Seen in the mainstream via Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, America Chavez was Marvel’s first Latin-American LGBTQ character. America has dimension-shifting abilities and is an out and proud lesbian. Now, let’s get her kicking Magneto’s ass.
Wiccan; Recently introduced via Joe Locke in the super-gay Agatha All Along, Wiccan is a teen sorcerer, the son of Wanda Maximoff and the boyfriend of Hulkling in Marvel comics. He has the power to alter and warp reality at will – so he’d be a riot to play as.
Marvel Rivals will be released on 6 December. It is available for pre-download now on Steam and its official website.
Share your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below, and remember to keep the conversation respectful.
How did this story make you feel?
