Marvel Rivals’ Jeff the Land Shark is the Perfect…

The Marvel Rivals roster is continuing to grow with each passing month, and as indicated by Season 4, NetEase is keeping its promise of balancing heavy hitters and deep cuts. Alongside the long-awaited Marvel Rivals debut for Daredevil, which will happen with Season 4.5, the launch of Season 4 brought Angela to the fight. The massive Vanguard’s flight, connections to Asgard, and character design have drawn plenty of attention, proving once again that NetEase knows how to make virtually unknown characters appealing to a casual audience.

Marvel Rivals Potentially Introducing Loot Boxes

Cloak and Dagger are perhaps the most obvious examples of lesser-known Marvel characters reaching a larger audience thanks to the game, as the old-school heroes had essentially faded back into obscurity following their Freeform TV series. Jeff the Land Shark, while popular with Deadpool and Gwenpool readers, also received a huge surge of popularity following NetEase’s decision to make him a mascot for the game. In fact, its take on Jeff is so good that Marvel Rivals introducing another super-powered animal could prove similarly successful. Specifically, it would be great to see Cosmo the Spacedog join the Strategist lineup in a future season.

Cosmo is Best Known for Their Place Alongside the Guardians of the Galaxy

James Gunn put his own spin on Cosmo with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, switching the canine’s gender to honor the real dog that inspired Cosmo's creation, but he kept everything else about the character intact. However, Cosmo’s history with the galaxy’s protectors goes back further than the MCU. Cosmo featured in Eidos’ underappreciated Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy game as well as the critically acclaimed Abnett and Lanning comic book run, serving as the chief of security for Knowhere. Cosmo boasts a number of telekinetic powers across their appearances, including:

Telepathic communication
Telekinesis
The ability to create protective shield and bubbles
Powerful “mind blasts”

While players may be more eager to see Drax, Mantis, or Nebula as the next playable Guardians of the Galaxy representative in Marvel Rivals, Cosmo is what the game could use more of at the moment. After all, Drax is sure to be a Vanguard, while Gamora and her sister make sense as Duelists, but the game is in desperate need of more Strategists. Fortunately, there’s a cute animal in the hero shooter that already thrives within this role (technically two thanks to Rocket), showing that Cosmo can be a good Strategist as well.

What Marvel Rivals’ Cosmo Can Learn From Jeff

Marvel Rivals PS4 and PS4 Pro specs released

Like Jeff the Land Shark, Marvel Rivals’ take on Cosmo would likely need to be significantly bigger. In the comics, Jeff is incredibly small, sitting on Emma Frost’s lap with ease. This would be too small of a character to reliably attack in-game, though, so NetEase wisely took creative liberties with Jeff’s size while maintaining his cuteness. The same thing can be done with Cosmo, as a lore entry could say that he (or she) grew from the size of a regular golden retriever during their travels through outer space. Given how cute Jeff looks, NetEase making lightning strike twice doesn’t seem impossible.

Skins for Cosmo would have the natural benefit of turning him into different types of dogs, with basic recolors allowing for black and chocolate Labradors and Legendaries introducing entirely different breeds. If Marvel Rivals ever adds Mythic skins, perhaps Jeff could even be turned into Captain Marvel's cat Chewie.

Marvel Snap - Cosmo Sleeping In Comics With Card PNG Overlaid On Top

From there, it would be great to see NetEase come up with a similarly clever kit for its second animal healer. Jeff the Land Shark’s ultimate ability is particularly bold, so Cosmo’s should be as well. A mind blast comparable to the Overwatch hero Reinhardt’s Earthshatter could be a good route to take, with said blast knocking all enemies in the area down for several seconds. Alternatively, perhaps Cosmo could influence the minds of the enemies around him with their Ultimate to force them to trigger abilities, making them waste their cooldowns before they’re ready. He could see enemy Ult progress bars via their telepathy, turn destroyed areas of Marvel Rivals’ maps into damage-dealing balls with telekinesis, and create bubbles around teammates that deflect shots back at the attacker. With so much potential for a kit, as well as team-ups with Jeff and the Guardians, it would be great to hear Cosmo barking somewhere in K'un-Lun, Midtown, or Klyntar one day.

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