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Chris Claremont isn’t sure he understands the dynamics of Marvel Rivals, but he certainly has an idea how to fix the popular game anyway.

In conversation with Popverse’s Dave Buesing at C2E2 this weekend, the legendary X-Men writer was asked about the fan-favorite video game, which includes many characters he had a hand in shaping, if not outright co-creating. Following some initial uncertainty about the premise of the game — “Why are they fighting?” he asked, “Why aren’t both sides fighting Dr. Doom?” — he did come up with his own take on how Marvel Rivals would work if he were in charge.

“I mean, if you were to come up to me and say, okay, Dr. Doom wants to conquer the multiverse. Sure. Yep. Here's your group of 12 characters, six non-X-Men, and six X-Men,” he reasoned. “Well, you could say, okay, Doom had a thing about Ororo. Does that involve which side she's on? Maybe he's grabbed her to make her his queen. If you're going to set up a parameter, figure out what the story is. Then choose your characters and then see what happens next.”

Of course, Claremont being Claremont, he also had an idea how to revamp the game entirely and still play with character dynamics.

“The flip side would be to say just off the top of my head, Mister Sinister has grabbed six characters from the real, from the mainstream universe, and from the X-Universe, and the only person capable of saving the multiverse, and of defeating him, is Doom. So Doom's gotta go out and recruit the characters to do this, that he needs to take out that Sinister.

"I mean, me being me, I'd say something stupid like, 'Of course the first person [Doom] would go to because she hates his guts, is Sue.' Why? His argument would be, that if Sinister wins, Franklin's future is doomed. So to speak. You are playing always with variable dynamics. Sinister has found a way to set this all in motion, and Doom has to find a way to stop him. But it involves him appealing to heroes who hate his guts.”

Hey, Marvel Games… anyone over there want to bring Chris Claremont’s Marvel Rivals to life for a future season…? Pretty please?

Keep your eyes on Popverse for more from Chris Claremont at C2E2 in the coming days.

Did you miss a C2E2 Main Stage panel? Don't worry, we're filming it all thanks to our partners at CGC x JSA -  our official authenticator & grading partner. Here is the C2E2 2025 panel livestream & VOD release schedule.