Review
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Marvel Rivals’ new era begins this upcoming weekend with the launch of Season 3, The Abyss Awakens. It’ll be fascinating to see how well-paced Marvel Rivals’ new seasonal structure is. And, with two themes shared across both months, it is tremendously exciting to learn which characters’ cosmetics belong to which. For example, it would’ve been one of the worst oversights imaginable if Marvel Rivals wasn’t taking advantage of a symbiote-themed season by embracing Spider-Man wholly with a black symbiote suit of his own, and he’s thankfully receiving one in the Season 3 BattlePass, titled “Powers of the Phoenix.”
But while symbiote skins could be adaptable to nearly any character with at least somewhat predictable designs—Squirrel Girl’s bushy, symbiote-mouthed tail notwithstanding—Phoenix-themed skins are arguably more creatively challenged. Phoenix skins have been confirmed for Black Panther, Wolverine, Emma Frost, Black Widow, Namor, Iron Fist, and Magik as they’re all represented in a gallery card panel, while Blade and Venom are also shown to receive one of their own. However, while Wolverine receiving a Phoenix-themed costume is terrific, it hopefully won’t mean that Marvel Rivals has denied him a symbiote costume.
Marvel Rivals’ Symbiote Theme Shares Season 3 with the Phoenix Force
Wolverine having a Phoenix-themed skin—cheekily dubbed ‘Weapon PhoeniX’—in the BattlePass is one thing, but for it to be depicted in a gallery card is another entirely. Indeed, Marvel Rivals’ gallery cards supply a significant amount of the game’s lore, and the artwork illustrated in each panel typically tells part of a larger story told within each serial. Marvel Rivals currently features three comic book serials as a new serial is launched for each season:
- Vol. 0, ‘Dooms’ Rise’
- Vol. 1, ‘Eternal Night Falls’
- Vol. 3, ‘Hellfire Gala’
Each serial is embedded in Marvel Rivals’ ongoing lore and narrative. Therefore, it’s fair to presume that any character donning a Phoenix-themed skin in Season 3’s serial will have that costume be relevant to the story.
That doesn’t necessarily mean characters who receive Phoenix-themed skins can’t have symbiote-themed skins, either in Season 3, Season 3.5, or at some point in the future, but it may need to be woven into the lore somehow for such a costume debut to make sense. Wolverine isn’t obligated to have a symbiote-themed costume, for instance, and yet not having one would be a missed opportunity when one of his most iconic video game appearances featured a neat symbiote look for the character in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.
Marvel Rivals Has a Rare Opportunity to Reference Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows may not be the most widely beloved Spider-Man game for several reasons. That said, Wolverine plays a pivotal role as a side character, and his black-and-yellow symbiote visage endures as one of the game’s most memorable pieces of iconography.
If nothing else, Marvel Rivals giving Wolverine a symbiote skin could be a fun way to reference Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, even if that might seem like a random game to cite inspiration from for a Marvel Rivals skin. Marvel Rivals has taken inspiration from Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 for a nearly identical adaptation of a Spider-Man skin, though, and so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to imagine a Spider-Man: Web of Shadows-inspired costume, especially when its Symbiote Wolverine is so profoundly venerable.
In the meantime, many characters may fall by the wayside and not even receive a new Phoenix- or symbiote-themed skin this season, whereas some characters might get a symbiote skin and not a Phoenix skin, or vice versa. Marvel Rivals can certainly be distinct by sticking with a Phoenix skin for Wolverine, to be fair, yet a symbiote costume would be terrific, even if it doesn’t adapt the same design from Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.
