One of the best parts about Marvel Rivals are the Team-Up abilities that you get when pairing up certain characters on your team. Many of these combinations are lore accurate—which is why fans are confused as to why two heroes don’t have one.
Surprisingly, Marvel Rivals is lacking one Team Up that seems very obvious: An ability for Captain American and Winter Soldier. In a Reddit thread on r/MarvelRivals, players lamented the fact that Cap and Bucky Barnes don’t get any special ability when paired together. As two longtime best friends who have battled side-by-side in many of their most memorable adaptations, the most that Marvel Rivals gives these two are a couple of dialogue interactions and references during gameplay. This led to many people in the thread to brainstorm what a possible upgrade could be for the two.
Since Captain America’s gameplay revolves mostly around his signature shield, Winter Soldier could get a Team Up bonus that gives him some extra moves or survivability with the shield as a theme. Several ideas thrown around include giving Winter Soldier his own shield to reflect projectiles for a brief period, or using Cap’s shield to grant a jump attack similar to the Hulk/Thing/Wolverine ability. On the other hand, Winter Soldier is all about high damage and quick kills, something that a tank character like Cap lacks. For Cap, some players suggested that Winter Soldier gives his friend a projectile to help against ranged opponents. Others suggested moves that enhance Cap’s shield throw ability to make it even stronger.
As for why these two don’t have a Team-Up ability already, some speculated that the developers are waiting to add some more characters later in the game’s lifespan. The concept of Falcon being added to the game and having a three-way Team Up was very enticing to some in the thread.
With new characters being added to the game at a fairly quick pace, new Team Ups are always a possibility for new and existing characters. Hopefully, the developers don’t forget about Steve and Bucky with all of their new content drops and give these two besties the bonuses they deserve.
