Known Marvel Cosmic Invasion characters include hit heroes like Spider-Man, Captain America, Storm, Wolverine, and more, but not all of the 15 launch characters have been named just yet. Starting with 15 characters is already a huge undertaking for a game like this, but considering how vast the Marvel universe is, it’s not out of the question to imagine DLC characters may further expand the roster after launch. And just as soon-to-be Marvel Cosmic Invasion players have already been voicing their opinions on which characters should be included, the developers have their own wishlists, too.
But before addressing those, the roster size itself deserves some praise. While beat ’em up games typically have smaller rosters compared to their fighting game cousins, Marvel Cosmic Invasion finds itself somewhere in the middle with its 15 starting characters. It could’ve had a much smaller roster, too, but Yannick Belzil, the Marvel Cosmic Invasion narrative designer at Tribute Games, said the developers and Marvel landed on 15.
“That was sort of a higher-up decision,” Belzil said during an interview with ComicBook. “‘We’d love for you to do this, but it has to be 15 characters at launch.’ We blanched at that at first.”
Belzil clarified it was Marvel that was looking for 15 characters to start with, and despite the initial hesitations, Tribute Games made the request a reality with the help of some “amazing pixel artists and freelancers” that helped the studio. When asked what a more comfortable starting number would’ve been given that 15 was a surprise, Belzil said “seven or eight,” so the Marvel Cosmic Invasion roster is quite larger than it could’ve been in an alternate development timeline.
As far as future characters go, Belzil said the team is most focused on launch right now, so any wishlists or suggestions beyond that shouldn’t be taken to heart just yet. But just like those looking forward to Marvel Cosmic Invasion, Belzil has ideas. U.S. 1 came up in the conversation as an idea that would’ve been fun but couldn’t happen, for example, though other characters like Rogue will be far more familiar to Marvel fans even if they’re just as unlikely.
“I feel like it’s really easy to get into like pretty much any classic X-Men because of their powers,” he said. “I love Rogue, but the thing is, in our game, because you have a character who duos with other characters, Rogue would have to have the animations of every single other character to do their attacks, or every single villain to do their attacks. So just that makes me feel like Rogue might not be doable, but I love Rogue so much. I would have loved to have her.”
Rogue might be a longshot, but other characters like those from the Defenders may stand a better chance at getting into Marvel Cosmic Invasion. Many of the enemies in the beat ’em up game are inhuman and otherworldly, so the contrast of otherwise down-to-earth heroes like those in the Defenders is something Belzil would like to see.
“I love the Defenders, and I like the idea to have the street-level characters in space having to fight aliens,” he said. “Like Daredevil, I think fighting aliens with his billy club, I think that would be fun.”
Marvel Cosmic Invasion releases later this year, so expect plenty more character reveals between now and then.
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