Spider-Man has become every Marvel Rivals player's worst nightmare

There's only one word to describe witnessing someone on your Marvel Rivals team instalock Spider-Man a split second into the start of a match: dread. It's not that Spider-Man is a bad character; if anything, the webslinger can be an absolute terror in the right hands. Yet chances are, a competent Spider-Man only ever seems to spawn on the enemy team. If the friendly neighborhood superhero graces your roster, though, you're probably going to be stuck with a Peter Parker whose only talent is feeding your opponent easy kills. The Marvel Rivals phenomenon is so indisputable, the phrase "Spider-Man switch" has become a rallying cry for desperate players.

Spider-Man is a duelist who is designed for maximum mobility. Players can swing around entire maps within seconds, which makes Spider-Man a pesky opponent. He can quickly deal damage and find shelter before you even know what's happening. A good Spider-Man will thus have you sounding like J. Jonah Jameson – especially if you have the misfortune of being a fragile character who hangs out in the back lane. Heck, a good Spider-Man can kill you without ever throwing a punch: all he has to do is pull you off the map with a well-placed web.

Web-slinging woes

Spider-Man's deadliness, combined with his mainstream appeal – he's one of the most recognizable heroes of them all – make picking him tempting for nearly anyone trying out Marvel Rivals for the first time. The hero shooter also offers some of the highest number of skins for Spider-Man, which include excellent costumes like the one where he wears a paper bag over his head. This would all be well and good, except Spider-Man also has a high skill ceiling; the game rates him as one of the more difficult characters to master. As a result, people who are nowhere near ready to try Spider-Man are flocking to him, much to the dismay of their teammates.

Spider-Man relies on his close range punching ability to deal damage, which often means getting right in the middle of the fray. Without much health to speak of, however, an unskilled player can die repeatedly at a speed that other heroes can't match. You'd be surprised at how many deaths someone can fit into a single minute if it only takes them two seconds to get to the enemy.

It's gotten so bad that people will quickly take to chat if they spot a Spider-Man on their team. And if that team loses, Spider-Man will get blamed for it.

"I had a couple of games where I'll lock [Spider-Man] in and have people immediately ask me to switch," one bewildered duelist main remarked on Reddit. The top response? "If he's on your team, he sucks. If he's on the enemy team, he's a backline killing god."

Adding insult to injury, Spider-Man also enjoys a team-up with Venom that gives him an extra attack. You know, just in case he didn't immediately kill you with his basic arsenal.

When you can't force a teammate to switch, the next best thing you can do is have a laugh about it. Unsurprisingly, the trials and tribulations of players who have to suffer playing with or against Spider-Man has become a fantastic meme within the community.

"Healers working a double shift with no break," reads one of the top comments on a TikTok about nonchalant Spider-Men who won't switch even as they've netted 0 kills and 15 deaths. Then again, you could argue that this is merely Spider-Man following his ideals: like Batman, the hero isn't supposed to kill anyone.

Even when your Spider-Man doesn't suck, he's likely still proving the nightmare axiom true. "Had someone get mad I picked Spidey and I proceeded to get MVP with 20 kills 6 deaths," remarked one player on Twitter. Pour one out for the other team. You'd think things would be better in Ranked, but no. People still complain any time Spider-Man appears on their screen. As someone who is currently learning how to play the character, I now begin every Quick Play match by apologizing to my entire team.

"Any time I see him on the enemy team I know I'm going to have a bad time," a Redditor complained in a thread breaking down why it's so awful to go up against a skilled Spider-Man player. "Yes I know I made a post like this before, but this guy is really really getting on my nerves and I can't stand him," they confessed.

But if it's any consolation at all, the new clone Marvel Rivals mode–where everyone plays the same character–is about to give a bunch of Spider-Man mains a taste of their own medicine. For everyone else, clone mode will be one of the few havens safe from the tyranny and disappointment trailing the infamous webslinger.

Check out our Marvel Rivals characters tier list and the best heroes.