Marvel comics have never shied away from getting political, but I am surprised to see that Marvel Rivals, NetEase’s hero shooter, is seemingly referencing the “No Kings” protests happening around America in a new map.
Three “No Kings” protests have been held in the United States, broadly protesting President Donald Trump and his increasingly transparent fascist regime. The most recent one was just last week on March 28, with citizens around the country protesting the administration’s joint attacks on Iran alongside the Israeli military, the ongoing failure to fully release the Epstein Files, and the murders of American citizens like Alexi Pretti, Keith Porter, and Renée Good at the hands of ICE. Over 8 million people showed up, making it the biggest single-day protest in American history.
Meanwhile, Marvel Rivals seems to be referencing the protests in its new Lower Manhattan map. However, it’s doing so in a winking, in-universe way, seemingly using the movement’s iconography to compare Spider-Man villain Kingpin to Trump.
You can see a poster of Kingpin, whose face is covered by an X with a crown on top, at the 28-second mark of the map’s reveal trailer. The poster reads “No Kingpin” which, if the X and crown symbols weren’t enough of a direct reference for you, makes it pretty clear that this is an overt reference to the real-life protests. The Marvel Rivals subreddit’s post on the matter has been locked to further replies, and there are a ton that have been purged from the forum by moderators.
Kingpin isn’t playable in Marvel Rivals at the moment, but he is a major antagonist in the game’s seventh season, which launched last month.
