6 characters we want to see most in Marvel Cosmic Invasion

Marvel Cosmic Invasion was announced during Thursday’s Nintendo Direct March 2025, a throwback brawler with beautiful, hand-drawn animation (reminiscent of the Marvel vs. Capcom series) from Tribute Games and Dotemu, the very same team behind the superb, nostalgia trip beat ‘em up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.

The game’s official announcement trailer already gave a glimpse at seven of the intended fifteen playable characters – a colorful, diverse cast from the ‘90s Marvel Universe that includes Captain America, Spider-Man, Venom, Nova, Wolverine, Storm and Phyla-Vell. As interesting and varied as the game’s roster is (and we’re sure the eight characters to be revealed will be), we have our own idea of who we’d like to see added to the game to take on the galaxy-threatening Annihilus.

The following is a list of characters we want to see most in Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

Silver Surfer

“To me, my board!”

We’re stoked that Nova has already been confirmed as a playable character in Marvel Cosmic Invasion (with a robust, flowing mullet hairstyle to boot), but when you think of the words “Marvel” and “Cosmic,” Silver Surfer is just that guy.

Though he’s served as the embodiment of Marvel’s cosmic niche since his introduction as the planet-eating Galactus’ herald in 1966’s Fantastic Four #48, he’s a character that’s somewhat difficult to translate accurately into video game form, particularly a throwback beat ‘em up because his powers include pretty much anything he wants thanks to being imbued with Galactus’ Power Cosmic – transmutation, energy blasts, telepathy, creating energy constructs – on top of faster than light speed flight thanks to his silver surfboard, Thor-level strength and a nearly invulnerable shiny, silver body.

But if anyone could make Silver Surfer work in a beat ‘em up, it’s Dotemu. Which is why Silver Surfer is definitely one of the characters we want to see most in Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

Darkhawk

During the 90s, Marvel rolled the dice on a slew of new characters, giving many of them their own limited and ongoing series in hopes of seeing what stuck and what didn’t. Some would go on to become the household names you know today like Deadpool, Cable and Gambit. Some were guilty pleasures, like Sleepwalker, an extradimensional alien revenant who served as a protector of the dream world. Some were just plain weird, like NFL SuperPro, a guy who wore literal football pads as armor and went around beating up (or maybe that should be tackling?) bad guys. And then there were those that were able to find a modicum of success in the overarching Marvel Universe pecking order for a time, like Night Thrasher and Darkhawk.

Darkhawk reminded me of a mix between old school Spider-Man and Iron Man. Like old school Spidey, he was a teenager – Chris Powell – who stumbled upon great power. Instead of being bitten by a radioactive spider, Chris stumbled upon a mysterious amulet necklace that could transform him into an alien android with an edgy, ‘90s black and silver Power Ranger design, glider wings, a grappling hook and the ability to make purple force fields and fire purple energy blasts from the amulet, which was situated in his android body’s chest a la Iron Man’s Arc Reactor.

He wasn’t the most inspired character, and even 8-year-old me could recognize that, but I dug him. He had a cool design and the writers juxtaposed the everyday “high school kid just trying to make it in life and help his single mom take care of his annoying little brothers” vibe with the ongoing mystery surrounding the origin of his cryptic alien powerset that I’d keep buying the comic every month just to see how the fun unfolded.

Darkhawk’s power set would translate perfectly to a game like Marvel Cosmic Invasion, offering a balanced mixed attacker with a variety of both ranged and close-up attacks – grappling hook as a distance closer/damage dealer, claws for melee combos, glider wings for mobility. Darkhawk would also provide players with the choice to use his amulet – which would deplete his special ability bar – for either offense (energy blasts) or defense (force fields).

Adam Warlock

If Silver Surfer is the first name that comes to mind when you think Marvel Cosmic then a close second should be Adam Warlock. During the ‘90s, Warlock was a central figure in the Marvel Universe, serving as a main protagonist in the galaxy-spanning Infinity Gauntlet crossover and even as a foil to Thanos, who was even more powerful in the comics than he was in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Warlock is more powerful and much wiser in the comics as well, with much of that being attributed to the fact that he can wield the Soul Stone (one of the Infinity Stones) without being consumed by it. Warlock’s Soul Stone skillset combined with his mastery over quantum magic would be fun to play in Marvel Cosmic Invasion, with the potential for quantum energy blasts on offense and myriad support skills, like healing through energy cocoons and boosting his allies’ abilities through Soul Bonds and even removing enemies from the battlefield through Soul Stone trapping all being potential special moves for Warlock that would make him one of the most distinctive characters in the game.

Ghost Rider

The ‘90s saw longtime Ghost Rider alter ego Johnny Blaze lose the powers of the Rider. They were instead bestowed upon Danny Ketch, a young everyman from Brooklyn who gains them after stumbling upon a mysterious motorcycle in a junkyard and touching an enigmatic and mystical sigil on its frame.

Although Johnny Blaze is the most popular name connected with Ghost Rider thanks to old school comic book heads and the 2007 and 2011 movies, much of what we associate with the Ghost Rider character today – spiked leather jacket, the Penance Stare, bad-ass battering-ram-shield motorcycle design and feats with it like riding up the sides of buildings or across water, and using his chains to grapple or strike with Hellfire – all actually originated with the Danny Ketch version of Ghost Rider, who became one of the most popular comic book characters in the 90s as a result.

Which is exactly why Danny’s version of Ghost Rider deserves some shine in the spotlight, where his fiery chain-whipping, motorcycle-riding spirit of vengeance would make for one hell of a character in Marvel Cosmic Invasion.

Quiksilver

Who doesn’t want to play as Marvel’s premiere super-speedster, streaking all around the screen as a silvery-blue blur, punching bad guys twenty times before they even know what’s hit them?

Quiksilver could even flex a special move where he slows down time on the screen like he does in the movies, repositioning enemies or landing decisive, strategic hits on bosses before they can even blink.

Hercules

Super-strong characters are always fun in action brawlers because there are few things more fun than launching enemies across the screen with a single punch or suplexing them through concrete like Mayor Mike Haggar from Final Fight.

While Hulk wasn’t confirmed as a playable character in Marvel Cosmic Invasion yet in the Nintendo Direct announcement trailer, as one of the Marvel Universe’s most well-known characters and its quintessential strongman (“Hulk is strongest one there is!”) we have a feeling he will be at one point or another. But on the off chance he isn’t, Hercules would be a perfect substitute who hasn’t yet had his chance to shine in a beat ‘em up game.

Hercules is a demigod who’s just as strong if not stronger than Thor with superior hand-to-hand combat skills to boot. We’d like to see Hercules tearing through enemies in Marvel Cosmic Invasion, like a quicker, more agile version of the Hulk, replete with pro-wrestling style clotheslines, suplexes and piledrivers.

Cable

The time-traveling Cable has gone through many character transformations since his first appearance in 1990’s New Mutants #98, but the ‘90s version is essentially a cybernetically enhanced super-soldier with a futuristic rifle that can fire off a vast array of high-tech attacks like Gravity Bombs that could suck multiple enemies into a cluster on screen and make it easier to AOE attack them, grenades, and energy pulses that could either knock foes back or stun them in place.

Cable would also have the ability to Bodyslide (his term for teleporting), giving him the potential to whisk himself (and an ally) from harm’s way if needed.

If the developers at Dotemu are feeling extra cheeky, they could even give Cable the ability to carry more-in game items or power-ups due to his egregious amount of Liefeldian pouches.

What do you think of our list of characters we want to see most in Marvel Cosmic Invasion? Which characters do you most want to see in the game?