Designing a "DC Rivals" Game

I'm far from the first person to explore this thought experiment. There's plenty of videos and fan art online discussing what DC equivalent to a Marvel Rivals would be like, and with my middling graphic design expertise and general familiarity with Detective Comics Comics, I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring.

First off, I'm neither an expert in DC lore nor video game design. I'm more more familiar with the former than the latter, as the only real hero shooter I've played is Rivals, but my goal here is to dream of a DC game before the next big multiplayer game. As a comic book fan first, the best part of Rivals is getting to spend time with my favorite characters, and with Marvel dominating the superhero gaming space for the past decade and only tightening their grip, I think DC needs to fight back. Marvel has Mystic Mayhem and Marvel Snap! on mobile, the Spider-Man games on console, Rivals in perpetuity, and Tokon Fighting Souls on the horizon, while DC has some app store slop with off-putting AI ads reeking of a general lack of self-esteem—I won't stand for it. Its time for another heavyweight to step into the ring and make Marvel look up. Behold: "DC Super Friends."

Roster:

Any hero shooter worth its salt needs a good roster, and DC is home to the most iconic characters in modern fiction. In putting this cast together, there were non-negotiables like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, and their villain counterparts, Joker, Lex Luthor, and Cheetah, but I added some personal must-haves, like Martian Mahunter, Mister Miracle, and Wildcat. Overall, I think this roster appeals to everyone. Its got everyone you'd expect from nearly every corner of the DCU. Justice Leaguers, magic users, New Gods, Bat-Family members, Titans, and Suicide Squadmates. There's obvious holes, like the JSA, Doom Patrol, or the other Lantern Corps, but my goal was to cast a wide net and represent as much of DC as possible.

It was important to me to capitalize off of a resource that DC has over Marvel, and that's their villains. Rivals has a total of (at this present moment) 2 bonafide villains on its roster: Hela and Ultron. In Super Friends, villains take up a little less than a 1/3 of the cast, and I would have liked to include more, but that's still more than the competition. There's still the likes of Deathstroke, Metallo, Circe, and even Granny Goodness that are perfect additions for later seasons.

I could have simply picked the characters I liked the most, but I wanted to get into the head of a grubby WB exec and start thinking what characters DC would want to push. I thought about what DC properties had remained successful, those being Batman (always), Suicide Squad, and more recent movies like Blue Beetle. That got Captain Boomerang and Deadshot in when, honestly, I would have loved to sub them in for some JSA members, but I hedged my bets with Mister Terrific, since his recent appearance in Superman (2025) has made him a breakout star. Besides, he's perfect for a game like this. On the other side, I made sure to steer clear of any box office failures, meaning no Shazam or Black Adam on the roster (yet.) I was tempted to put Peacemaker on here, but I didn't want him to becomes this game's Luna Snow with her "industry plant character" allegations. I could envision a world where this game gets released before a Booster Gold project or something and he gets shoehorned in, but for now, all these characters feel like safe bets. The deepest cuts are Mister Miracle and Barda, but even they'll have an animated series soon.

When it comes to how these characters would play, I have a vague idea, but haven't mocked-up full movesets or anything. Superman being a tank made sense, but I imagine he'd be more about peeling for your teammates and blocking damage than a frontline killer. Taking after Troyoboyo17, I made Batman a Strategist/Healer, since I felt that fit him best compared to the others, and it would make fans flock to the role. Flash, too, felt perfect for a more backline/support than a DPS. I made Diana a duelist so one could put together a Trinity team and have their bases covered. Besides, I think her lasso could make her more CC focussed. Similarly, Barda would be a full-on grappler. I want her picking enemies up off the ground and chucking them off the point. Mister Terrific would be a duelist/healer hybird, Starfire a flying artillery, Deadshot a sniper, Mister Miracle a slippery support, and Aquaman a nearly unkillable front-liner. Martian Manhunter would be a Swiss Army Knife with all his various ability allowing him to be whatever the team needs, and on the other side, Joker as a DPS would focus on laying traps and springing unexpected obstacles on the enemy to cause chaos. I don't know how viable these notions really are, but embodying the characters is more important to me than balance.

Team-Ups:

One thing that needs to carry over is Team-Ups. They're essential to the superhero fantasy. Like Rivals, I'd keep these changing with the seasons, new ones arriving and old ones going depending on the meta and how much people actually use them. My biggest criticism for Team-Ups isn't related to balance or viability, but almost always the actual heroes that make them up. We are more than 6 months into Rivals and are still without an Iron Man x Captain America combo where Tony ricochets his laser off the shield—you know, one of the most iconic superhero visuals of all time. Rivals consistently misses out by not capitalizing on iconic pairings and trios, and that's not a mistake I want to make here.

As you can see, I tried to group characters that have served on teams together or are part of each other's supporting casts. While a few characters double dip, I think that can make for some fun synergy between team-ups and team comps. Characters are grouped mostly by their team associations, like 'Ta Da!" putting together Justice League International members and "Justice League Dark," well...you know. The one outlier is "Female Fury," but Diana and Barda have interacted in the past, and 'Legacy Acts," but both are tied together by a common theme. I wanted to put characters together in a way that emphasized their relationships, like Mister Miracle and Darkseid or Aquaman and Black Manta. Like Thor, Loki, and Hela's Team-Up, its fun to make characters with a lot of conflict between them work together.

Rivals' seasonal stat boost is confusing, so here I'd make it so that the stat boost is given to the anchor (denoted by the white star on the chart) WHILE the Team-Up is active. So, let's say you're playing Wonder Woman and your buddy is playing Barda. Barda gets the unique Team-Up ability while Diana enjoys a stat bonus to her damage. However, if your Barda switches off to, say, Raven, Diana loses her stat bonus. Simple and clean.

(Oh, and the link to the entire DC: Superfriends presentation I made will be at the end, in case you are curious about what all the Team-Ups do).

Cosmetics:

In overall look, the game's aesthetic shouldn't try to veer off from Rivals and go ultra-realistic. Instead, matching its comic-booky look might be the way to go, since you're largely attracting the same players. Hell, go further into it and try to approximate it wholesale. Rivals has a strong look, but in terms of design, its goes over the top and often times lands in a place that's overcooked and gaudy. Going simpler would provide a firm contrast for Super Friends.

Every character at launch will have a unique skin to their name. Yes, you'd pay for these, (and we'll get to the battlepass later) but my goal here to was provide a different, interesting enough look to warrant someone putting money down. Notice how I didn't pull from any films. Given the track record of DC movies being so spotty, I'm not sure its a gamble they'd want to take. Sure, people would buy skins for Robert Pattinson's Batman or David Corenswet's Superman (as seen in Fortnite), but once we see how the DCU pans out, then we can talk. At first, I could see the strategic inclusion of certain suits (Keaton Batman, Mamoa Aquaman), but anything DCEU related is far from certain. Picks from cartoons will likely be the bulk of any non-comic offerings. Young Justice has a plethora of sleek, modern updates that still impress to this day, and the DCAU remains insanely influential. I mean, Justice Lords skins are a no-brainer. The Arrowverse is a sticky situation since DC has pretty much moved on from it entirely, but so many people still care about those specific renditions of its characters, and I think they care enough to pay for CW Arrow, Flash, and Supergirl skins when it comes down to it.

But going all in on comic book looks is another way to differentiate this from Rivals, which often is inspired by the source material but can't help but miss the point. Fidelity and accuracy is what Rivals skins lack and what Super Friends could provide. Re-colors and palette swaps should be able to be earned in game without a purchase of any kind necessary, making them essentially free. Perhaps by completing challenges as that character or something, like you can earn a Lord icon. That way, people entirely unable or unwilling to put money down have something to work towards while having the option to pay for skins that genuinely look good (and more importantly, look like what they claim to be.)

Lastly, the battlepass. When we get to seasonal rollouts, we'll talk about it more in-depth, but really, this is where I want to address "echo fighters," or characters that will essentially be skins for already existing heroes. DC is full of characters with similar powers, like Speedsters and Lanterns, so I tried to find a way to incorporate these characters without stuffing the roster. At first, I was convinced that most duplicate characters (Wonder Girl, Red Arrow, Kid Flash) could be entirely cosmetic, meaning there would be no gameplay change, but looking at premier skins from Injustice 2 and echo fighters from Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, I think there's some wiggle room. Of course, these kinds of characters, which I'm calling "Elseworld Fighters" (work in progress) would alter the base character cosmetically, but also give them new voice lines, emotes, skins, and even movesets, effectively turning them into a new character. You might be asking why I've tied this to the battlepass, and to satisfy you:

No—you do NOT have to pay for Elseworld Fighters. They are the default, free reward for beating the battles for ALL players, regardless of payment.

To make sure that everyone gets the Elseworld Fighter by the season's end, one can work to unlock the character afterwards, with the player's progress (or lack thereof) carrying over, or they can pay to complete it. If you missed out during the season, the requirements for unlocking would be cut down by half. I want the casual audience, the audience that plays the game the least, to have a good shot at getting the Elseworld Fighter even if they're not playing daily during the season. Furthermore, with these characters having slightly different movesets, its imperative that every player can access them so no one has a competitive advantage simply because they had more money. Sure, some players would get to the Fighter before others, but in fighting games, online players regularly fight opponents with using DLC characters, so I don't think its a major problem. Besides, the Elseworld Fighter has a 90% similar moveset to their base roster counterpart, so its not a total blindside.

As for the kinds of characters that would end up as Elseworld Fighters, I mean primarily distinct characters that have near identical powers in the comics. For instance, most Flash characters. There are special cases like Godspeed having distinct power sets, but they all go fast, so having mostly similar moveset with one unique move is a good compromise in my opinion. While some fans might want a whole team of Lanterns or Speedsters, I find the idea nauseating. It would be fun to include everyone as their own bespoke fighter, but I don't want Speedsters being to Super Friends what Fire Emblem protagonists are to Smash Brothers. And just to sate you, some other Elseworld Fighters I'd include are Hal Jordan Green Lantern, Wally West Flash, Hippolyta Wonder Woman, and Ocean Master Aquaman.

Elseworld Fighters would open up doors for future cosmetics and Team-Ups, too. For example, Wally West and Barry Allen don't have the same relationships, so where Barry might get a future Team-Up with Hal Jordan or Batman, Wally would more likely team up with a fellow Titan like Nightwing. This also solves the problem of characters wearing clothes that don't belong to them. Wally can wear his Flash suit and Barry can wear his without fans getting upset. No half-measures here. Everyone's happy.

Maps:

Maps are honestly the least interesting part of this whole package for me, but to make them more exciting, I implemented some ideas that I've been wanting out of Rivals' maps. Firstly, these maps will be much, much larger, with distinct areas that connect to one another. Because of this, I wanted to populate them with with NPCs specific to that area. I figure objectives beyond capturing the point could revolve around these NPC quest-givers needing an item returned to them or a specific task done so they can allow you to progress. Maybe you need to secure an Ace Chemical truck before the enemy team does so the GCPD can advance. I dunno. Story is not a big factor in these kinds of games for me.

Gordon was an obvious pull here, and I figure that each map can have its own announcer, so in addition to being in the Clocktower, Oracle also commentates. Matches Malone covers the seedy mafia side of Gotham while Mother Panic is another one of Gotham's vigilantes. I envision her as being visible during combat in the background, swinging from buildings and fighting bad guys far away. Having this role rotate out minor Gotham vigilantes would be a neat touch. I nearly put the Creeper in this slot, but I pulled back because he might be playable in the future, but if the slot were rotating, would it make much difference? I don't think that being an NPC should de-confirm characters from the running. That whole conversation reminds me too much of Super Smash trophies.

Launching with 5 other maps for a total of 6, I'm thinking the size of each map will hold people over until the next season. I don't think Rivals' maps are bad, but the way that diehards, creators, and pros talk about them, they're clearly missing something. From a gameplay perspective, I couldn't tell you what, but from a character perspective, these maps don't really feel like real places, and I'm not interacting with them in any interesting ways. And in the worst cases, some maps don't even really resemble what they're supposed to be (Ahem, Arrako). Super Friends' maps being highly traversable, the movement capabilities of your chosen character matter a great deal, and so might splitting off from the team to complete an objective. Getting caught by the enemy team when your friends are two streets over is one hell of a gamble.

Fundamentally, these maps need to be thoughtfully crafted, living, breathing places because Gotham, Metropolis, and Paradise Island are too iconic to be let down. Audiences expect a certain kind of atmosphere from these locales because over 80 years of publication, they've grown into characters themselves.

Seasonal Rollouts:

This is Katana! She's got my back!

When thinking of what group of characters I wanted to premier the first season of Super Friends with, I looked at Rivals' first season as a template. While the game has since shifted to a 1 hero a month structure with seasons roughly lasting around 2 months, I think there's room to experiment with the season 1 formula of 2 heroes per half-season. Super Friends Season 1.0 would come with Black Lightning and Katana as new heroes with the Hall of Justice as the new map, and 1.5 would bring Metamorpho and The Signal alongside the Hall of Doom.

I think the Outsiders are a solid group to start with because, despite their relative obscurity, they have a strong core makeup. Black Lightning, Katana, and Metamorpho are all visually striking characters that are recognizable to the general audience and look damn fine together. Besides, they all have some star power with appearances in Superman, Suicide Squad, and the CW. Oh, and the Signal. Perhaps adding Cassandra Cain was the better move, as she and Duke served on the team at the same time, but I'm saving Cass for a Birds of Prey season, and Duke was a more interesting pick overall. With how Rivals was able to spark interesting in lesser-known characters, I figured Duke would have more to gain by putting in an appearance.

A new crew also brings new Team-Ups. I wanted to touch on whatever Jefferson and Tatsu have going on with theirs while Metamorpho and Signal reach out into the base cast. Metamorpho inspired the overall elemental theme I wanted to pursue here. Black Lightning embodies, uh, lightning, Katana represents the Earth with her steel, the Signal represents light and dark, and Metamorpho is literally made of periodic elements. This is something I touch more on in the...

Battlepass:

Before we get to the meat, I wanted to touch on the skins that each new character would get. Picking the costumes was pretty easy for every character except Metamporpho, who only really has one costume, which is just his body. I dipped into the Young Justice pool to prove my point about its designs. While I've always loved Rex's asymmetry, this look of his is pretty slick. And for Duke, any chance I get to shoutout We Are Robin, I'll take.

To have a good hook for the battlepass, I called in on the Outsiders' connection to Batman and brought the hammer down. To give this an undeniably worthwhile skin, I made the classic blue and grey exclusive. I'm using this tactic because even players like me, who hate spending money, would eat the 10 bucks just to get this. Additionally, I added the Starfire skin because I figured she could serve a resident fire elemental for the theme of the season. Finally, the Elseworld Fighter: Red Arrow.

I wanted to start with a softball. Sure, Roy Harper sometimes has a bionic arm, and even in his picture, has a veritable arsenal (lmao) of weapons to choose from, but is it worth designing a new character from the ground up? For a guy who shoots a bow and arrow? No. Instead, making him the Elseworld Fighter gives people who don't have the battlepass to work towards. Hell, if I'm a hypothetical player, I probably don't even play Green Arrow (because my aim is ass), but I'd still play for this because the idea of working to unlock a new hero without paying or being at a disadvantage is too tantalizing. And to someone like me, whose totally in this for the characters, him being here is motivation enough. I'd be seduced by the possibilities of new voice lines and interactions with other characters. Roy would have something to say to Green Arrow, Black Canary, Nightwing, etc. In the seasons to follow, Roy would be eligible to get skins in the shop and future battlepasses as well.

This is how I imagine the battlepass looking. Well, they'd actually get a graphic designer to to do the real thing, but you get it. The big ticket items would be paid, of course, but there would be actually good free stuff available. Rivals, Fortnite, and Overwatch have established skins, sprays, and emotes as the bread and butter of games like this, but something Fortnite has over the others is licensed music. DC has some of the most iconic superhero scores in cinema, so incorporating that would get people in on the battlepass. Honestly, I'm not sure how these tracks would factor into the game, but having iconic scores and needle drops available for your MVP screens or just to soundtrack a particular part of the your game would be great. Rivals Season 3 added some adjustable elements to certain characters' Ultimates, so maybe you could blasted the John Williams Superman score as you Ult as Big Blue.

The Future and Beyond:

For season 2, 3, and onward, building them around a specific team would be the way to go. I'm imagining Doom Patrol, Justice Society, and Birds of Prey themed seasons to just to keep a lid on all that potential. Nagging in the back of my mind was the notion of tailoring my plans to whatever the DCU was doing, like trying to shoehorn in Supergirl or Rick Flag into one of these seasons just to synergize. This is bound to happen if DC ever did something like this, but its not like Rivals hasn't been used as a promotional tool before (ahem, Thunderbolts*). Getting popular characters in early is something I understand and endorse, but part of me wants the lesser-known characters to have the opportunity first, since a lot of people's DC knowledge stops at the Justice League or Batman.

With how successful the Absolute line of comics is doing, I was also working on a way to incorporate them, but seeing as how they're so different from their main counterparts, they'd have to be developed as entirely new characters. Maybe Diana or Clark would fight the same, but big, beefy Absolute Batman isn't a backline strategist, he's a tank. A whole Absolute season could do the trick. I would also love do a "Year of the Villain" event where only villains would be added for an entire year of the game. To tide people over, Elseworld Fighters could be heroes. See? I've thought of everything.

I've let this stupid idea take over my entire brain but now its all out there. If you'd like to know more, I'm including the link to my Canva presentation as well as a big version that has all the info at once. There are some half-baked ideas on there, but I've been having a lot of fun puzzling out how DC could respond to Rivals. The influence its had on gaming and comics is undeniable. DC needs to open up their gaming portfolio and take us back to the Arkham days when they were kings of the ring. The world needs a new DC game. The world needs its super friends.