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 hasn't stopped a 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 rough but impressive take on the classic Spider-Man villain. The footage depicts a pre-Hulk Bruce Banner suspended mid-air in what appears to be a testing environment, but the focus is undeniably on the eight-armed Doctor Octopus. This fan-made version is a surprisingly polished interpretation of Doc Ock for Marvel Rivals.

We need more vanguards, so i made one (Doctor Octopus)
by u/Wickedcube in marvelrivals

.reddit-embed-wrapper iframe { margin-left: 0 !important; }While slightly stiff and quirky, the resemblance is undeniable. WickedCube's concept cleverly incorporates Doc Ock's tentacles, allowing for magnetized movement and traversal around obstacles, essentially enabling flight near stable structures—a unique ability in a game with destructible environments. The concept even includes named abilities: Havoc Claw (melee) and Wrecking Grip (ranged). With over 16,000 upvotes at the time of writing, this single-person project is both impressive and playable.

"Doc Ock's always been one of the coolest Spider-Man villains, and his tentacles would be a 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 stemmed from a recent PSN outage. "It all started when PSN was down and I couldn’t play Marvel Rivals," WickedCube shared. "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, who is happy to share their ideas. While there are no plans to further polish the design, a playable version is forthcoming. "After 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 Marvel Rivals post-launch plans with the release of Human Torch and The Thing this Friday. These additions follow Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman, launched earlier last month. This rapid rollout surpasses competitors, but the vast potential of Marvel's universe continues to inspire fan creations.

WickedCube's project arose from the community's desire for more Vanguard characters. While there's no official word on Doc Ock's inclusion, WickedCube is already developing concepts for other heroes, including Nightcrawler and Professor Xavier. "The launch roster is large enough for enjoyable long-term play, and the promised release rate is mind-blowing," they added. "The designers clearly understand how to make a fun game, which is the hardest thing to get right."

Marvel Rivals' Season 1 mid-season update arrives February 21st, including the new characters, balance changes, and gameplay tweaks. While we await the update, news of recent layoffs at NetEase's Seattle branch and the studio's stance on hero leak rumors are also noteworthy.