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If you had told me five years ago that Elsa Bloodstone would be in a wildly popular team-based hero shooter game based on the Marvel Universe, I would have laughed before saying, "Don't hurt me like that" with existential despair in my eyes and going back to reading the latest issue of Black Knight: Curse of the Ebony Blade. Listen, I never chose to become a massive fan of monster-themed characters that Marvel Comics rarely uses to their full potential, but that's never stopped me from collecting them like Infinity Stones. Aye, I have fond memories of masking up and venturing out of my home during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic to pick up new issues of Marvel's Sword Master series, starring this brand-new character called Lin Lie.

Now, in the lead-up to Marvel Rivals Season 6.5, we've gotten our first look at Elsa Bloodstone's gameplay, and boy, did Rivals crush it. 

Elsa's gameplay embraces the monsters in her comic book lore because, after all, she is from a family of monster hunters. Her ultimate ability summons a Glartrox, a type of extra-dimensional parasite, that whisks opponents in its path off the map. As it so happens, Elsa's brother, Cullen, has been possessed by a Glartrox in Marvel Comics, making Elsa's ult a family affair in Marvel Rivals. And this isn't just a gimmick: Elsa's books in Marvel Comics tend to thematically focus on family, so it makes perfect sense for her ult to be an expression of the Bloodstone legacy. What this all shows to Marvel readers is that the folks behind Marvel Rivals really know their stuff. In fact, I get the genuine sense that there is love and passion for the stranger parts of Marvel lore within the Marvel Rivals team, and that makes me a happy camper. 

I don't think it's unfair of me to say that that kind of attention to detail is rare for a Marvel adaptation, however loose we're playing with the definition. Because ultimately, Elsa Bloodstone isn't exactly the type of character your kid wants to dress up as for Halloween. She isn't warm or "nice" in the way that Marvel's most popular characters, like Spider-Man and Captain America, are. Elsa doesn't court the same audience that the MCU does because she lives in a world of horror, embodying one genre extreme that lies within the Marvel Universe, but that is rarely explored outside of comics (thank god for that Werewolf By Night Disney+ special, though). Given what we've seen of her voicelines thus far, it looks like Marvel Rivals didn't shave off the edgier parts of her personality for the game, either. 

For weirdos like me, who hold characters like Werewolf By Night, Ghost Rider, Brother/Doctor Voodoo, Dane Whitman's Black Knight, Man-Thing, and yes, even Morbius, close, a prickly monster hunter like Elsa Bloodstone getting the same thoughtful treatment as normies like Captain America in Marvel Rivals is a huge win. Even if the MCU never follows up on Laura Donnelly's version of Elsa from the Werewolf By Night special, at least we would have seen Elsa Bloodstone in her full glory in Marvel Rivals. 

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