Of all of Marvel Rivals’ official tie-ins to existing movies and shows, and there have been plenty, we now have entries for the discussion of worst-ever.
Earlier this summer, NetEase confirmed an X-Men ’97 season two skin was coming to the game this season, and after the finale of the animated Disney Plus series aired last month, basically everyone feared what it would be. And here we are. Ugly Apoca-Gambit, welcome to the game. Spoilers for the show lie ahead.
At the end of the animated show’s second season, Gambit (revived as a Horseman of Apocalypse) became the incubator for the evil villain’s soul, basically, and what we got in the final battle was this hybrid of the card-slinging Cajun and the powerful ancient Egyptian. And it’s sort of a mess, kind of like the second season of the show.
Gambit has what looks like clown makeup on, and his outfit is an amalgam of his own cloak and Apocalypse’s armor, but it has enough disdain tied to it that any bit of cool factor is being shooed away by players. Hell, I think his staff becoming a scythe is badass, but it doesn’t take away the sour taste in everyone’s mouths.
Gambit’s beau Rogue is getting a skin inspired by the show, too, after she basically traded her life for Gambit’s to bring him back, and so the Celestial Eson the Searcher gave her some black and gold armor and powers to get the job done. Rogue survived, by the way, because her half-brother Nightcrawler instead died in her place. That’s another story in itself. RIP my religious blue boy.
The reactions to the skin are tepid, to say the least, as people either hate the design or hate how the season ended and now is living on in perpetuity within Marvel Rivals. Others let their imaginations run wild when the cartoon collab was announced, too, and were hoping for any number of other outfits for the heroes like Cyclops, Phoenix, Wolverine, or Storm. Either way, I probably won’t be picking up either one of them myself.
News about Marvel Rivals’ next season is coming early next week ahead of its launch on Sept. 11, so hopefully some better skins will be in store there.
