Spider-Man may have some of the most rogues’ gallery villains, much less the most instantly recognizable ones, but that doesn’t mean they’re all equally riveting design-wise.Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallerybeing as immense as it is means it’s far more likely to have duds, if not street-level, D-tier antagonists who exist more as a goofy character for Spider-Man to humiliate than a genuine threat to New York City’s residents. If it wasn’t for how much destruction he can leave in his wake, Alexei Sytsevich’s Rhino would undoubtedly be a Spider-Man villain who falls into that category.
The only iteration of Rhino that’s arguably been marginally intimidating is the one in Treyarch’sUltimate Spider-Mangame—the giant RHINO mech suit and not Alex O’Hirn piloting it from within, to be clear. Mocking Rhino is typically a layup as he’s sometimes literally just an occasionally enormous man welded to a rhinoceros suit with enhanced strength, and such details don’t exactly make a great case for why Rhino or a RHINO mech should ever be added toMarvel Rivals. Plus,Marvel Rivalsdoesn’t have much room left for an uninspired vanguard.
How Marvel Rivals’ Thing Lowers the Chances of a Vanguard Rhino
Rhino causes ruckuses due to his strength and a tendency to rampage through New York City streets, barreling through parked cars and whatever other obstacles lie in his immediate path. All of Rhino’s allure stems from whatever eccentric exoskeleton each of his iterations wears, whether that’s a hide and horn making him look like a literal rhinoceros or a giant mech suit.
Otherwise, there’s nothing Rhino could contribute toMarvel Rivalsthat Thing hasn’t already.Marvel Rivals’ Thingis a classic bruiser with not a lot that’s terribly special about him aside from his familial connection to the Fantastic Four’s Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, and Human Torch. In fact, Thing is an example of aMarvel Rivalscharacter who NetEase evidently needed to exercise a hefty amount of creativity when designing his kit due to how static his abilities are.
Marvel Rivalsdoesn’t have much room left for an uninspired vanguard.
As a result,Thing’s Embattled Leap ability inMarvel Rivalsallows him to leap toward a teammate and apply an armor buff onto them and himself, signified by drifting orange rocks that hover around his waist. With how little his super-strength contributes to a comprehensive or entertaining kit anyway, it’s perfectly admissible as he may not have been a worthy roster addition withoutMarvel Rivalsthankfully taking liberties with the character.
This is hopefully howMarvel Rivalshandles any character it has plans for, but Rhino may now be too difficult or impractical to adapt. Ultimately, unlessMarvel Rivalshad a shockingly novel way of tackling Rhino’s mech suit, he’s simply a bottom-tier character, and NetEase has hardly scratched the surface ofMarvel’s most dynamic and iconic heroes and villains.Marvel Rivalshas countless Marvel characters to consider for future tanks before it ever has to lean on Rhino, including:
Of course, that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t at least leave the door slightly ajar for Rhino because, by this same logic,Marvel characters like Luke Cage or Colossuswould be too one-dimensional as well.
It all depends on whatMarvel Rivals’ plans are for the future; for example,Marvel Rivalsalready has fairly interesting tanks—Doctor Strange, Hulk, and Peni Parker, in particular—and would likely try to ensure that other additions to the vanguard roster are equally unique, with Thing presumably being excused so the game could have a full Fantastic Four ensemble. This was the right call, and yet there’s an incredibly low likelihood now that a strictly tanky character with no other redeeming or fascinating qualities will make the cut, let alone Rhino, at least untilMarvel Rivals’ deep well of source material influences runs dry.
