Marvel Rivals devs say those horny skins are based on "classic comic designs," thank you very much, and they're simply glad to "gain players' appreciation"

Emma Frost prepares to chokeslam the viewer — (Image credit: NetEase)

Marvel Rivals is competing with Overwatch in many ways, not least of which is the title of "horniest fanbase in video gaming." An array of undeniably thirst-trapping skins is putting the superhero shooter in the lead, however, but the devs say they're simply offering a few twists on classic comic book looks.

Asked point-blank about Marvel Rivals' reputation as a "gooner game," creative director Guangyun Chen tells YouTube channel Rivals Assembled that the game's skin design "is inspired by classic comic themes, including some very outstanding skins, like Mantis, and also Psylocke's Vengeance. These all come from classic comic designs. We take those classic comic designs and create some more fashionable designs based on them to gain players' appreciation. I think this also reflects the broad recognition from our players."

The Marvel Rivals devs have responded with an air of innocence to more than one question along these lines since the game's launch – I'm still not over that "body shape or silhouette" line about Invisible Woman – but in their defense, "classic comic designs" do in fact cover some pretty horny ground. And yeah, that Malice skin isn't too far afield from the comics that inspired it.

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Chen is willing to admit that there's some influence outside of comics on Marvel Rivals' skin design, however. Squirrel Girl's Sunshine Squirrel skin has a transparent visor that seems like a clear reference to the look that Sabrina Carpenter rocked in the "Espresso" video, and Chen winks at some "interesting themes from real life" on the outfit design.

"With the Squirrel Girl and the Krakoa Resort skin," Chen says, "these are actually designs based on real-world themes and the season's storyline. For designs like these we try our best to integrate the storylines from the season, including elements from Krakoa, [and] also blend some popular elements from real life. We create new designs based on that, and I'm very grateful these designs have been well received by the majority of players."

We've found ourselves back in an unapologetically horny era of pop culture – you can count everything from Hades to Sabrina Carpenter's own output as evidence of that – so in that sense, Marvel Rivals is just keeping up with the times.

Marvel Rivals devs say "matchmaking is a complex system" as debates about SBMM versus EOMM rage, but they're going to "talk about all the matchmaking things" in a video this month.

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Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.

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