The upcoming retro-inspired brawler Marvel Cosmic Invasion is one of the coolest-looking Marvel games in years. And now we know the identities of two more Marvel characters who will be joining the pixelated action when Cosmic Invasion launches later this year. One of them is a very popular character you are likely familiar with, and the other is Cosmic Ghost Rider.
Announced in March during a Nintendo Direct, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a side-scrolling 2D pixel-art beat ’em up being developed by Tribute Games. That’s the team behind Mercenary Kings and the totally rad TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, which was also a 2D co-op brawler. Cosmic Invasion, like Tribute’s past work, looks to be another snappy and action-packed retro throwback that I’ll be playing over and over with friends. We’ll all have a huge roster of characters to pick from, as Tribute and Marvel have confirmed that 15 heroes will be available at launch. And now we know two more names that have made the cut: Black Panther and Cosmic Ghost Rider.
On September 17, Tribute put out a trailer showing off the newly announced Cosmic Invasion characters, which you can watch below:
I likely don’t need to explain who Black Panther is to most people reading a video game website in 2025. The character has appeared in multiple games, movies, and award-winning comics and has become extremely popular, thanks in large part to the fantastic performance delivered by the late Chadwick Boseman in the MCU. However, Cosmic Ghost Rider is a bit more obscure and quite an odd duck. The short version is that he’s an alt-universe version of The Punisher that died and became the Ghost Rider and then met up with Galactus, who made him his Herald aka his new Silver Surfer basically. Yeah, it’s weird. But hey, he’s literally got Cosmic in his name, so he seems like a fine choice for Cosmic Invasion.
Every character confirmed for Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Here are all the Marvel Cosmic Invasion characters that have been officially revealed so far. As mentioned, the full roster will include 15 people, so after today’s reveal, that leaves just three more heroes left to unveil.
- Captain America
- Spider-Man
- Venom
- Wolverine
- Storm
- Phyla-Vell
- Nova
- Rocket Raccoon
- She-Hulk
- Beta Ray Bill
- Silver Surfer
- Black Panther
- Cosmic Ghost Rider
It makes sense that the game will feature a huge roster, as the big gimmick in Cosmic Invasion is that everyone picks two characters that you can then swap between while playing. This means that if four players join the game, you’ll be rolling into fights with eight Marvel characters. Good luck to all the random, nameless goons trying to fight Venom, Storm, Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Black Panther.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion looks great and sounds like a blast based on previews of the upcoming brawler. We still don’t have a specific release date for the game yet beyond 2025. Hopefully it lands soon, though maybe not in October. That month is already a mess.