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I have good news for people who like bad superhero teams: NetEase has confirmed that the Fantastic Four is headed to the hit hero shooter Marvel Rivals.
“Get ready to welcome Marvel’s First family in Marvel Rivals,” NetEase posted on X, along with an image of the fam floating along in their funky Fantasticar. The message also promises a proper reveal trailer at 8 am PT/11 am ET on January 6.
You may also note the presence of five distinct individuals in the image—Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm, and a little robot guy—which sort of throws the whole “Four” thing out of whack.
That little robot guy is in fact H.E.R.B.I.E. (Humanoid Experimental Robot, B-Type, Integrated Electronics, but we’re just going to be calling it Herbie from here), who was first whipped up by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby for the 1978 animated series: The Human Torch had previously been optioned for a solo film, meaning the production company working on the animated series couldn’t use the character, and since the Fantastic Three wasn’t going to work this was Stan’s big idea to fill the gap.
A lot of cartoons back in the ’70s were really not great.
One more bit of trivia before we move on: Herbie was voiced in the animated series by Frank Welker. That’s right, Herbie is Megatron. That may not be official Marvel canon, but I like the idea that ol’ Ben wasn’t the only one to get Thinged by those cosmic rays.
The reveal is still a few days away, but earlier leaks (via GameRant) say The Thing will be a Vanguard—a tank, basically—while Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch are damage-dealing Duelists and The Invisible Woman will be a Strategist, which is to say a healer/support character. Three out of four seem like good fits based on their characters, but I’m not sure I buy Reed as a heavy hitter—what’s he going to do, stretch you to death?
As for what part Herbie plays in all this, that remains to be seen, but I don’t expect he’ll be a playable character. More likely, he’ll be merely a bit of background art, or possibly part of a character’s kit or ability set, similar to Overwatch 2’s Bob.
Marvel Rivals is currently in the midst of Season 0, and doing quite well for itself as a fixture amongst the most-played games on Steam. A start date for Season 1 (which is presumably when the Fantastic Four will arrive) hasn’t been announced but creative director Guangguang said in a November developer diary that it’ll happen in early January—the current expectation is that it will happen on January 10.
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Kurt Indovina
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