With Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Thor, and Hawkeye confirmed for Marvel Rivals, fans have been wondering if Black Widow will ever appear in the game.
Though there is a good balance of characters from every corner of the established Marvel lore, a new easter egg spotted in the latest HYDRA base map reveal has led fans to believe that Black Widow will be announced soon enough.
Is Black Widow Coming to Marvel Rivals?
With only a week left until release, fans have wondered when Marvel Rivals would be ready to unveil their playable Natasha Romanoff. Just recently, NetEase dropped a new reveal for a map that will take place in a HYDRA fortress, and some people have spotted an easter egg that could be a hint to Black Widow.
Pausing the video at 0:20, fans can see that the HYDRA figurehead Hive has the heads of the playable Avengers in the game on its tentacles. While some characters are more obvious than others, a face of a woman at the top-left side has led people to believe that this is actually Black Widow.
Early Black Widow Leaks
Back in July, writer Miller Ross revealed a piece of graffiti from the Tokyo 2099 map that gave fans a rough look at Widow’s design in the game.
Admittedly, the features are more exaggerated, but the design does look consistent with the rest of the characters in the game. It wouldn’t be too out of place next to the other Rivals versions of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and the rest.
What could Widow’s Play Style be?
Though not much is known about Black Widow in the game yet, it’s possible that the game could lean in on her assassin background. She will undoubtedly be expected to be mobile on the battlefield, but her leaked graffiti makes it look like she’s carrying a rifle.
Widow is best known in the MCU for using dual pistols and her Widow’s Sting gauntlets. She’s never been shown to carry a rifle, but a sniper seems like a practical weapon for an assassin.
Black Widow being able to shift between a sniper character and a hand-to-hand fighter seems very fitting for her, but it’s possible that the game could get flak for Widow being too similar to Overwatch sniper hero Widowmaker.
Besides Widow’s abilities, fans probably expect her to have some kind of power-up whenever she’s teamed up with Hawkeye. She also has a history with Tony Stark in the comics, so it’s possible that they could also have some kind of team-up skill. A combination of Captain America and the Winter Soldier works with her character-wise.
Until NetEase is ready to reveal more, all fans can do is guess. If it’s any consolation, the game is almost here, and the devs have a very small window to reveal what they haven’t yet—unless they want to leave some surprises at launch.
Marvel Rivals launches on Dec. 6 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PS5.