NetEase Games' commitment to releasing a new Marvel Rivals hero every half-season hasn't stopped one creative player from bringing their vision of a playable Doctor Octopus to life. Reddit user WickedCube recently stunned the r/MarvelRivals community with a 30-second gameplay video showcasing a surprisingly polished prototype. The footage, seemingly from a testing environment, features a pre-Hulk Bruce Banner suspended in mid-air, but the real star is the eight-armed Doctor Octopus, a remarkably faithful recreation within the Marvel Rivals aesthetic.
While slightly rough around the edges, the character model is instantly recognizable. WickedCube's Doc Ock concept boasts impressive movement, utilizing his tentacles to magnetize himself to structures, effectively allowing flight within the game's destructible environments. The prototype even includes named abilities: Havoc Claw for melee attacks and Wrecking Grip for ranged combat. With over 16,000 upvotes at the time of writing, this single-person project is a testament to both skill and community enthusiasm.
WickedCube, an indie game developer with experience at Keen Software House, explained their inspiration: "Doc Ock has always been one of the coolest Spider-Man villains, and his tentacles would be a challenge to implement. As far as I know, they haven't been fully implemented with playable 3D movement in a game before." The project itself was sparked by a recent PSN outage and some inspiring fan art. "It all started when PSN was down and I couldn’t play Marvel Rivals. While browsing Twitter, I came across some really cool Doc Ock fan art. I thought, ‘Since I can't play right now, why not make it myself?’"
The overwhelmingly positive response has been incredibly rewarding for WickedCube, who hopes NetEase might incorporate some of their ideas should Doc Ock officially join the game. While there are no immediate plans to further polish the design, a playable version will be released soon. A YouTube tutorial series and open-source code on GitHub are also planned, making the project accessible to others.
NetEase continues its post-launch momentum with the release of Human Torch and The Thing this Friday, following the recent additions of Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman. This rapid rollout surpasses competitors, yet the vast potential of Marvel's universe continues to inspire fan creations like WickedCube's. WickedCube's Reddit post highlights the community's desire for more Vanguard characters, and they're already brainstorming future concepts, including Nightcrawler and Professor Xavier. They praise the game's design, stating, "The designers clearly understand how to make a fun game, which, in my opinion, 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. Recent layoffs at NetEase's Seattle branch and the studio's stance on hero leak rumors also remain in the news.
