Jumping the Soapbox: 10 characters that should be in Marvel vs Capcom Infinite

Marvel vs Capcom Infinite and all the images you see in this editorial are owned by Disney, Marvel, and Capcom

So with the announcement of a new fighting game, particularly one that has as much fan service potential as this one, the number one question on everyone’s mind is who they’ll be adding to the roster.  Well, since I have my own little platform to scream from, here’s my list of the ten characters they should add to the new game!  Oh, and if you notice a lack of Capcom characters on this list, well you should probably read what I wrote about the game’s reveal trailer.

Honorable Mention: Agents of Shield Stage

Look, I love Coulson too, but the characters in this show don’t have enough going for them to take up a spot in this game.  All together though, there’s definitely enough there for a really cool stage on the Globemaster where you could have Coulson and Melinda cheering on the action while Leo and Jemma are doing science stuff or whatever.  That’d be pretty cool to see, and they’d be able to fit all sorts of Easter Eggs in the background for the big Agents of Shield fans out there!  You’re not gonna be able to fit everyone from the MCU in here as playable characters, nor should you, but there are still plenty of ways for them to be a part of this game otherwise.

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10) Black Widow

Marvel still won’t give their most prominent female character in the MCU her own movie, mostly due to the initial contracts they have with Scarlett Johansson that they don’t want to update, but I’m guessing that it’s a given that she’ll show up in the new game considering her popularity at the moment.  Not only that, but it wouldn’t be all that challenging considering they already have a template with Jill Valentine from Marvel vs Capcom 3.  Speaking of Resident Evil…

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9) Leon Kennedy

If we have to add another Resident Evil character to the roster, please let it be Leon and not Jake Freaking Muler.  No one wants that.  No one would EVER want that.  Leon is gonna be the best bet for them anyhow considering he’s still the face of the most popular game in the series (that the two main games since then tried to capitalize on), so finally giving him a chance to throw down in here will be a boon to whatever Resident Evil fans are still left.

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8) The Punisher

It was either Daredevil or The Punisher that I was going to add to the list, and I finally decided on The Punisher.  I like Charlie Cox just fine in the role, but Jon Bernthal was a revelation in the role and was good enough to carry the entire season on his shoulders; similar to how Vincent D’Onofrio did with his portrayal of Kingpin in the first season.  Now PERSONALLY, I still prefer Ray Stevenson from Punisher: War Zone, but there’s no way that IF Punisher gets in here that they’ll use that version of him.  Bernthal was not only good in the role, but people ACTUALLY saw his performance which than can be said for Ray Stevenson when that movie came out.  Seriously, Punisher: War Zone is awesome and you should all go see it.

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7) Foggy Nelson and Karen Page

Okay, this is obviously a pipe dream here, but think about it!  They managed to make Phoenix Wright work in the last game, so all they would really have to do is re-skin that character with Foggy in the Phoenix role and Karen as Maya!  No?  Am I the only one who thinks this would work?  Sigh…

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6) Agent Carter

I haven’t seen the Agent Carter series yet (it’s on my to do list!), but she was in the first (and technically the second) Captain America movie and she made a big enough impression there to warrant a spot on this list, though I’m worried whether Marvel and Capcom would want to take the chance considering the show didn’t do all that well and was cancelled after only two seasons.  At the very least, I’m guessing that she’ll either get her own stage or she’ll be a part of whatever Captain America stage is included.

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5) Ms Marvel

Now this is the character I unfortunately have the least amount of knowledge about since they haven’t gotten a movie or TV show yet, but what I’ve read was REALLY impressive and Kamala Khan definitely has a lot of attention on her at the moment so it’s a slam dunk for Capcom and Marvel if they include her.  Not only that, but it’d ALSO be nice to have one more non-white character in the game which as far as I can tell in the last one was limited to Storm and some of the Street Fighter characters.  Plus, name one other big budget game out there with a Muslim playable character that isn’t a bad guy or a stereotype.  I’m sure you can point to maybe a few, but that handful is infinitesimal to the number of generic white dudes we get in every other game.

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4) Luke Cage and Jessica Jones

Now there’s absolutely no reason why they couldn’t be two separate characters in the game, but if Capcom wanted to try something interesting I can definitely see these two being a sort of team up set; possibly similar to how Persona Arena handled its multi-character fighting system.  The connection these two formed in the Jessica Jones series was one of the best aspects of that show, and we know from the comic books that their relationship does eventually work out, so it ends up making a lot of sense to me that these two could be paired together as a single fighter.  Now it’s pretty unlikely that Capcom would be willing to try something that radical in their tried and true fighting system, and I definitely wouldn’t want them to choose one and have the other only show up in the super attack like Ant-Man did with Hawkeye in the last game, but it doesn’t hurt to have a bit of hope among all this speculation!

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3) Juri

Look, I just like Juri, alright?  I’ve NEVER been a fan of Street Fighter as I’d always preferred Tekken, Soul Calibur, Smash Bros, and… well pretty much everything other than Street Fighter!  I don’t know, for me the fighting always felt kinda stiff in regards to movement and I always feel like I’m spending more time just moving my ass into arms-length of the opponent rather than firing off awesome moves.  In Super Street Fighter 4 though, they added Juri into the mix and she just clicked for me; both as a fighter (love that dive kick and the spinny wheel thing) and for being an interesting character.  Now she did get passed up last time around in favor of C Viper and with there being a new game released they’ll probably be focusing on grabbing from that roster instead.  Still, I hope whoever is making decisions over there can throw us a bone and include the best thing to happen to Street Fighter since… I don’t know, the Hadouken?

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2) The Kingpin

Hell.  YES!  Now I know I said it may be unlikely that this game will use actor likenesses as those would probably cost more money that Capcom doesn’t want to spend, but even if that’s they need to incorporate all of Vincent D’Onofrio mannerisms, speaking style, and the overall look if they’re gonna put Kingpin in this game.  The same way that Punisher was the centerpiece of Daredevil Season 2, Vincent D’Onofrio’s performance carried that first season and quickly shot him up to the title of Best Marvel Villain!  Okay, his only real competition at that point was Loki (and Kilgrave was fantastic in Jessica Jones), but this is still one of the most compelling characters in the entire MCU and his inclusion in Infinite would probably get a whole lot of MCU and Daredevil fans to try this game out who wouldn’t normally be interested.

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1) Squirrel Girl

YES!  ONE HUNDRED PERCENT YES!!  If Marvel vs Capcom Infinite doesn’t have Squirrel Girl (preferably THIS version of Squirrel Girl), then I am gonna be SOO pissed and probably throw something.  Nothing too expensive, but something WILL be thrown!!  Unlike Ms Marvel who I like so far but haven’t read enough to get a full scope on her yet, I’ve been reading this latest Squirrel Girl comic pretty regularly and love everything about it. The humor, the art style, the fact that she can basically kick anyone’s ass through sheer determination and with the help of her squirrel buddies, there’s just nothing not to love about Doreen Green; and on top of that, her expressive and jubilant attitude would be a perfect fit for this franchise!  Seriously Capcom, DO NOT SCREW THIS UP!!  A Marvel vs Capcom game without Squirrel Girl is not one that I want to play!!