Marvel Rivals announces a new limited-time game mode, Clone Rumble, and manages to pull off a comic caper that players only thought was possible in theory

Marvel Rivals has an impressively large hero roster, but the upcoming limited-time game mode, Clone Rumble, throws all of that to the wind as it gives players the difficult task of picking between just a couple of characters.

Clone Rumble is a PvP mode that pits two teams against each other, much like standard quick play or competitive modes. But instead of getting to choose from the entire roster of 37 heroes, each team will only be able to pick one hero. Players will then decide who they want to play between the two chosen characters.

This could change up the somewhat-cemented strats that players have come to understand. It’s widely held that a 2-2-2 comp, or a 2-1-3 or, more likely, a 1-2-3 team composition is the industry standard for winning games in Marvel Rivals, but with only two heroes to choose from, players will have to decide which class they want to drop or if they should just stick to one class altogether.

The trailer for Clone Rumble showcases a couple of available team compositions. There’s one fight that sees 10 Mister Fantastics fight it out, or two teams entirely made up of Punishers try to whittle down each other’s turrets as quickly as possible. There’s also Namor vs Spider-Man (a duel for the ages) and a ton of Groots turning the objective into a densely wooded forest. But my favourite idea had to be nine Captain Americas and one Iron Man, as the devs were able to pull off a moveset that players had previously only theorised.

This idea stemmed from a short clip of two Captain Americas playing ping-pong with a Magneto ult. Since Captain America can reflect incoming damage with his shield, other players theorised that if you got enough Captain Americas together, you could almost indefinitely reflect a projectile ultimate like Magneto’s or Iron Man’s.

We tried thisssss 🙂 from r/marvelrivals

Honestly, the devs pulled it off pretty well in the trailer: the Iron Man ult managed to ping around a few Captain Americas before one got the wrong angle and sent it hurtling to the floor, instantly killing half of them. But this is just a brief glimpse of what is possible in the upcoming mode, and I’m confident that the community will find more wacky movesets to try out.

Alongside Clone Rumble, Marvel Rivals players will also be getting a new Black Widow skin, The Widow of Timely. This is inspired by a timeline in which Natasha is married to Bucky Barnes. It’s 1872—Steve Rodgers is a sheriff with Bucky Barnes as his deputy in a small mid-western town that’s being terrorised by Mayor Fisk (Kingpin). Sadly, Barnes is killed after he tries to save a man being beaten up by Fisk’s men, making Natasha an actual Widow. She later teams up with Rodgers to avenge Barnes and kill Fisk. It’s a cool comic and really cool skin inspiration—I’m just hoping this means we could get a sheriff Captain America and deputy Winter Soldier skin in the future.