The Top 10 Characters That Should Be in Marvel VS Capcom 3, But Won’t Be

Share on Facebook posted 10-05-10 by Angelo D'Argenio

If we can believe Capcom’s predictions for the final Marvel VS Capcom 3 character count (somewhere around 35 according to Seth Killian) then the roster is a little more than halfway revealed at this point. If we learned anything through all the hype and speculation it’s that nearly no comic, game, or character is off limits. Totally unexpected newcomers have been the flavor of the day with obscure characters like X-23 and Trish leading the charge and long wanted fan favorites like Deadpool, Thor, Dante, and Amaterasu coming in from behind. Considering how open Marvel and Capcom have been to new character inclusion, this list was actually quite hard to make.

This is a list of the top ten characters we genuinely want to see in Marvel VS Capcom 3, but who we also know genuinely don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of getting included. We did limit ourselves with a couple rules. For example, we won’t be mentioning anyone from a Capcom franchise that was included in a previous VS title, because there is already precedent for their inclusion. That means no one from Rival Schools due to Batsu’s inclusion in Tatsunoko VS Capcom, even though Ryota Niitsuma specifically said no one from Rival Schools will make it in “the show”. Similarly this also means we won’t be mentioning anyone from Star Gladiator, Dead Rising, or Onimusha. We also won’t be mentioning anyone from a Marvel comic series who has another representative in the game. No more X-Men, no War Machine, no Carnage or Dr. Strange. Finally, we won’t be mentioning anyone who showed up on one of the rumored “leaked” character rosters, nor will we mention anyone who has strongly been rumored to be included in the series. As much as we would like to put Nathan Spencer from Bionic Commando and Arthur from Ghosts and Goblins on this list, their fan followings give them too much of a chance of getting into the game.

That being said, on with the list!

10. Hit Monkey

He’s a monkey who learned deadly martial arts and gunplay from a deadly assassin, is hunted by the ghost of that very same assassin, and has pledged his life to killing other assassins… Well, Hit Monkey certainly fulfills the coolness criteria for being a Marvel VS Capcom 3 character. However, the real reason we want him in the game is because of his size. Yeah, small characters tend to frustrate people, but Capcom has already included a couple on their side with Viewtiful Joe and Amaterasu. Hit Monkey can be the tiny character on Marvel’s side. Not to mention he would have some awesome contextual sound bites with Deadpool. Unfortunately, he is just too obscure to make the cut. Besides we already have plenty of gamers whining about how many characters use guns in this game.

9. Shantae

Shantae was a cute little platformer for the Gameboy Color that was released in 2002. The titular protagonist was a half genie who attacked with her hair and could transform into a monkey, elephant, spider, or harpy. Once again, coolness criteria fulfilled. Part of the reason we want to see Shantae enter the ring is because the sequel Shantae’s Risky Revenge just came out for DSiware, which has brought her back into the spotlight a bit. However, as much as we think a shape-shifting, hair-fighting genie would be an awesome fighting game inclusion, she is once again too obscure to really be included in the roster.

8. Squirrel Girl

Doreen Green, the Squirrel Girl, may in fact be the most powerful Marvel superhero in history. According to Wikipedia, Squirrel Girl has beaten Dr. Doom, The Mandarin, Giganto, MODOK, Thanos, Terrax, Bi-Beast, Deadpool, Pluto, FinFang Foom, Baron Mordo, Korvac, AND Ego the Living Planet, and she has done this all with nothing more than slightly higher than normal strength and agility, a fluffy prehensile tail, and the ability to talk to squirrels. Why won’t Squirrel Girl get into the game? She would be overpowered obviously! In all seriousness, she actually won’t make it in because, once again, she is just too obscure, and BlazBlue already did the whole squirrel thing with their DLC character Makoto.

7. The Killer 7

Harman Smith is the protagonist of the hit cult-classic game Killer 7 for the Gamecube and PS2. His power? Multiple personalities that are so strong he can actually physically transform into them. These personalities, also known as the Killer 7 each have their own skills, from Mexican wrestling in the case of MASK de Smith, to teleportation in the case of albino knife fighter Kevin Smith. We want him in the game because we think his many varied personalities and powers would be awesome in a fighting game context, but we are sure he won’t be in because he is still property of Suda 51, and we sincerely doubt that Suda, regardless of how awesome he is, would allow the character to be used in this way. We might be wrong, but we seriously doubt it … also “lol, too many characters use guns” or something.

6. Daredevil

Daredevil may not be the most popular Marvel character, but when Marvel VS Capcom 3 was announced and characters like Deadpool and Dante started joining the roster, we thought that Daredevil’s inclusion was a certainty. Marvel had announced that they were opening their entire character library up to Capcom and Daredevil was already the focus of a Hollywood movie (although not a very good one). Plus, all of his tools and martial arts moves would be very easy to translate into a fighting game move set. Well, it turns out that we were wrong, as Ryota Niitsuma himself has said Daredevil will not be in the game. Why? We just don’t know, but we are going to blame Ben Affleck.

5. Gene

God Hand was once described to us as Fist of the North Star on comedy crack, and to this day we can’t think of a better way to describe the fighting style of the main character Gene. This trenchcoat-wearing cowboy with the hand of god can haymaker you so hard you fly into orbit, and that’s just the beginning. Gene’s moves dripped with style from spin-kick to ass-slap, and his personality was cocky enough to give Deadpool a run for his money. So why won’t he be on the roster? Well, we can blame obscurity again, but in reality this was yet another character that Ryota Niitsuma has confirmed as being absent from the game. Maybe there were too many cocky, humor-based badasses in the game already, but Gene has triumphed in situations that the other Marvel VS Capcom 3 anti-heroes haven’t even dreamed of. Hell, we would like to see Dante go up against a horde of poison Chihuahuas!

4. Ghost Rider

It’s kind of hard to write this paragraph without simply copy/pasting our entry on Daredevil. Once again we have an awesome Marvel superhero, with cool powers that could easily be translated into a fighting game move set, who recently had a big time Hollywood movie that failed critically but not financially, and once again Ryota Niitsuma has confirmed that he won’t be joining Marvel VS Capcom 3. Maybe Niitsuma just doesn’t want to include characters that have been the recent victims of Hollywood film critics. Guess it’s a good thing the Thor movie isn’t out yet. OOOOH BURN!!!

3. Fokker/Edward Falcon

Fokker … OK, stop right there. You know what, let’s just avoid the inevitable immature jokes about his name and call him by his name in the English translation: Edward Falcon. Edward Falcon was the main character in Power Stone, and for the love of god we still don’t know why Power Stone characters haven’t gotten into the VS series yet. Look at some of the obscure Capcom characters we have seen included in the past. Captain Commando? Jin Saotome? Hayate from freakin Star Gladiator? Who the hell remembers Star Gladiator!? Power Stone is an awesome fighting game that just doesn’t get enough credit. It would be a snap to convert Falcon’s move list from Power Stone over to MVSC3, but nooooooo. Once again Niitsuma has confirmed that Falcon would not be joining the Marvel VS Capcom 3 lineup. Even worse, he said that absolutely no characters from Power Stone would be making the lineup at all. This gets our vote for the most depressing announcement Capcom has made about Marvel VS Capcom 3. Booo Nitsuma. Boooo!

2. The Captain … or anyone from Next Wave

We have come to the realization that we are probably the only people who want Next Wave characters included in this game. Every single one of them suffers from the “too obscure” problem, but then again we also have the “too many cocky badasses” problem, the “too many characters using guns” problem, the “too many characters from X-Men” problem and way more. Besides, how could Marvel even choose which member of Next Wave to include? They couldn’t make up their minds about which member of The Fantastic Four should be included, and we instead get … ugh … Super Skrull. Our personal pick for a Next Wave inclusion is The Captain, because how can you possibly get cooler than a man who beats his own superhero origin to death in a drunken rage? Unfortunately, his pattern of habitual swearing probably threatens the games T-rating, so most likely we won’t see him within fifty feet of the MVSC3 roster any time soon.

1. Ryu

No, it’s not that Ryu. Besides, he is already included in Marvel VS Capcom 3. We are talking about the protagonist from the Breath of Fire series, one of the best JRPGs from the SNES and Playstation era. Ryu has had numerous different abilities throughout the series, from healing and attack magic to powerful sword techniques, but one ability he has always had was the power to turn into a dragon, and frankly that is pretty awesome. Honestly, Capcom could choose any of the Ryus, even the crappy one from Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter and it would still be awesome. Unfortunately, this probably won’t happen. First of all Square had a hand in the early Breath of Fire games which could cause any number of licensing problems. However, the real reason Ryu won’t get into the game, is because there is already a Ryu in the game. When most people think Ryu, they think Street Fighter, and two characters named Ryu would be just too confusing. We can hear you shouting about how that isn’t the case and any dipshit with the IQ of a potato could tell the difference, but remember how people were pissed off that Ken the Eagle from Tatsunoko VS Capcom wasn’t Ken from Street Fighter? Yeah, we rest our case. It’s a stupid problem but it’s a problem that Capcom simply won’t allow … although we suppose they could get around the whole thing by pronouncing one character’s name Ree-Yu and another Ri-Yu … but we are probably over thinking the situation.

Honorable Mentions

Phoenix Wright

Everyone wants Phoenix Wright to be in this game, and we mean everyone. Unfortunately, Capcom already said that Phoenix Wright wouldn’t happen in Tatsunoko VS Capcom, because they couldn’t think of any moves to give him. Nevertheless, fans still wanted to see Phoenix in Marvel VS Capcom 3, but once again Capcom (specifically Niitsuma this time) said that they just can’t think of any moves to give him. I think we have to give up the ghost guys. It’s a lost cause.

Howard the Duck

A gigantic anthropomorphic duck … yeah, there is nothing else we have to say about why Howard should, and at the same time shouldn’t, be included in this game. He is a gigantic anthropomorphic duck. No ducks allowed!

Well that’s the list. Now the question is, with 22 characters revealed so far, who will Capcom choose to round out the rest of the roster? We won’t have to wait long to find out. In fact, this Friday Capcom will be announcing at least two brand new characters at the New York Comic Con. We will be there and will let you know who these new characters are as soon as we find out.