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Marvel Rivals has taken the world of hero shooters by storm. If you're a fan, there's a whole wealth of comic book source material to dig into to get more of the characters you love. And we're not just talking about Marvel's current digital first Marvel Rivals comic - we're talking about the best comics to read if you love Marvel Rivals from across Marvel Comics history.
Marvel Rivals draws on comic stories going back decades, with a particular eye on adapting details from some of Marvel's biggest stories of recent years, including the current Marvel Rivals season 1, which takes some inspiration from summer 2024's Blood Hunt event.
The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda
Just about every Marvel fan knows about Wakanda, the once hidden African nation ruled by T'Challa, the Black Panther. But Marvel Rivals shows a different vision of Wakanda - an Intergalactic Empire located in deep space. And while the setting provides some of the most visually distinctive and uniquely interactive maps in Marvel Rivals, the concept comes straight from comic books.
In comics, the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda is actually led by none other than N'Jadaka, also known as Erik Killmonger, sworn enemy of T'Challa. As for T'Challa himself, the Black Panther ventures into space on a mission to liberate the people who have been conquered by N'Jadaka's empire. The story marks the capstone of acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates' time writing the adventures of the Black Panther, and with gorgeous art by Daniel Acuña, it's a perfect story for fans of Marvel Rivals.
Buy Black Panther: The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda on Amazon
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl
Squirrel Girl has become an unlikely fan-favorite character in Marvel Rivals, even receiving some buffs in the game's most recent balance patch that make her "Squirrel stampede!" ultimate ability even more effective. And that's only fitting, as Squirrel Girl has a reputation in comics as being, well, unbeatable - to the point where she's faced down world-class baddies such as Doctor Doom and even Thanos with only her rascally rodent allies to help her.
That reputation is on full display in writer Ryan North and artists Erica Henderson and Derek Charm's long-running title Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, in which she takes on a variety of villains, including the aforementioned Thanos, all the way on up to the cataclysmically powerful Galactus, proud papa of Marvel Rivals' announcer Galacta. It's one of the funniest, most unabashedly exciting comics of the modern Marvel era.
Buy The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl on Amazon
Spider-Verse
If you've played Marvel Rivals, you've almost certainly done your part escorting Spider-Zero to the chambers of the Mast Weaver (or tried to stop her progress, depending on which side of the map you're on). And if that bit of Spider-centric storytelling strikes your fancy, there's simply no better way to whet your whistle and get your fix than by diving into the original Spider-Verse comic event, which lends the Tokyo 2099 maps their inspiration.
Written by Dan Slott, scribe of more Spider-Man comics than anyone else in Marvel history, Stan Lee included, Spider-Verse centers on not just one Spidey, but dozens of them as they come together across the Multiverse to take down a group of villains who wish to kill them all one-by-one. It's the tale that launched a whole franchise and inspired not just the Marvel Rivals maps, but the popular Spider-Verse animated films.
Blood Hunt
Marvel Rivals season 1 is all about Dracula and his vampires taking over the Earth, centered on New York City, which provides the backdrop for the new maps added to the game as part of the seasonal content. That's remarkably close to Marvel's latest big summer event Blood Hunt, in which an army of vampires try to take over the Earth after casting the world into eternal darkness. But the twist is, it's not Dracula who's leading the vampire invasion - it's another Marvel character whose villain turn is a huge surprise.
Just about the entire Marvel Universe is part of Blood Hunt, including the original Moon Knight Marc Spector, who is raised from the dead in the event. So in addition to the main story, there are numerous tie-ins - most of which don't have to be read to understand the core narrative. That said, the Fantastic Four Blood Hunt tie-in will be a real treat for fans of Reed Richards and his role in Marvel Rivals, showing how Mister Fantastic adapts to the vampire invasion of New York City.
Savage Avengers
Marvel Rivals puts players on a ragtag squad of Marvel heroes and villains teaming up on an adventure that takes them through numerous timelines and worlds of the Multiverse. And that's the exact vibe of 2021's Savage Avengers by writer David Pepose and artist Carlos Magno, which sends a team of unlikely Avengers to the timeline of none other than Conan the Barbarian as they go on the run from Deathlok, a cyborg assassin from the future sent to eliminate temporal anomalies.
With a team that's led by Elektra in her current role as Daredevil and which also includes Anti-Venom, Cloak & Dagger, Wolverine/Hulk hybrid Weapon H, and classic Avenger the Black Knight, there's plenty for fans of Marvel Rivals to sink their teeth into - including the evolution of Cloak & Dagger's friendship into a romance. And with a second volume that takes them into a team-up with Punisher 2099 (one of the coolest alternate skins in Marvel Rivals) in a dystopian future, it's the perfect comic for fans of the game.
West Coast Avengers
Jeff the Land Shark is unquestionably the breakout star of Marvel Rivals thanks to his adorably vicious presence and his meme-worthy ultimate ability (even if he's not at the top of the tier-list). If you're a new Jeff fan, Marvel Comics has more than its share of Land Shark stories for you, including his very own It's Jeff! comic. But we'll go back to the start and suggest that readers take a look at 2018's West Coast Avengers by writer Kelly Thompson and multiple artists, featuring a spin-off team of Earth's Mightiest Heroes led by Hawkeye.
Not only does the team have their first encounter with Jeff, who quickly becomes their mascot of sorts, but they also run afoul of villains such as BRODOK, a hunky clone of MODOK with a buff body to go with his big ol' noggin. It's a delightfully entertaining read and an easy breezy entry into a different side of the Marvel Universe for fans of the silly - but still exciting - bits of Marvel Rivals.
Buy West Coast Avengers on Amazon
King in Black
The symbiote homeworld of Klyntar is the most cosmically creepy setting in Marvel Rivals, with its shifting, organic walls and mountains of symbiotic slime, and a story that involves the Guardians of the Galaxy and Eddie Brock dealing with the absence of Knull, the so-called King in Black. And, of course, Knull and his reign as the lord of the symbiotes are taken straight from comics.
The 2020 comic event King in Black by writer Donny Cates and artist Ryan Stegman brings Knull and his symbiote monsters to Earth on a mission of conquest, with Eddie Brock leading Marvel's most powerful heroes in the resistance against him. The story redefined the Venom mythos forever, and even provided inspiration for the recent film Venom: The Last Dance (check out our Venom: The Last Dance review for more info on that).
Civil War
Marvel Rivals is all about the clash of hero against hero. While there are certainly villains in the game (like the notoriously deadly Hela), top Marvel heroes like Captain America and Iron Man form the core of the team's extensive roster of characters. And when it comes to Marvel heroes squaring off against each other, there's no bigger story than 2006's Civil War, in which the aforementioned Steve Rogers and Tony Stark find themselves on opposite sides of an ideological conflict that eventually leads to blows.
The concept is familiar to Marvel fans at this point, with the film Captain America: Civil War taking its cues from the now classic comic event. But there's nothing like digging into the original comic story itself, which is even bigger than the movie it inspires. Centered around numerous Marvel heroes picking sides in the fight, recent Marvel Rivals additions Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman even find themselves on opposing sides. It's an intense and important chapter in Marvel history. And of course, if you're in the mood for the MCU after reading it, you can check out our Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline, and our guide to watching all the Marvel movies and shows in order.
Secret Wars (2015)
When it comes to stories of Marvel's Multiverse colliding, there are none bigger or more bombastic than 2015's Secret Wars by writer Jonathan Hickman and artist Esad Ribić, which takes its name from the original 1985 Marvel event. In the modern version, Doctor Doom manages to save the Multiverse from destruction by recombining pieces of it into a totally new realm called Battleworld - over which he holds omnipotent power.
Pieces of Secret Wars have already made it into Marvel Rivals, including Captain America's Gladiator skin, taken directly from one of the series' tie-in comics, so it's safe to say the story is an inspiration to say the least. And for fans of the game, it's sure to hold more than its share of thrills as Doom is opposed by Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four, as well as a Multiversal collection of heroes and villains, all leading to the entire reality of Marvel Comics being rebuilt from the ground up. Secret Wars will also be the inspiration for the upcoming Avengers: Secret Wars film.
Avengers Forever
Marvel Rivals season 0 set the stakes of the game as revolving around two warring versions of Doctor Doom, each enlisting Marvel heroes and villains and their variants from across the Multiverse to do battle for their opposing sides. And though it's not the most well-known of all the stories on this list, few comic events capture that energy the same way as writer Kurt Busiek and artist Carlos Pacheco's late '90s masterpiece, Avengers Forever.
In Avengers Forever, Kang the Conqueror goes to war with his variant, Immortus, who enlists a collection of Marvel heroes from across multiple eras to fight against his conquering doppelganger with the fate of the timestream hanging in the balance. As a bonus, the 2021 title Avengers Forever serves as a spiritual sequel, with a massive team of Avengers from different timelines coming together to fight Doctor Doom's Multiversal Masters of Evil.
