Marvel Rivals features a lot of interesting references to the history of the Marvel Universe, from the comics to the MCU. That also extends to memes, apparently! Fans on Reddit have noticed that Moon Knight’s narrative in Marvel Rivals contains a reference to an infamous meme that’s been going around the internet since 2018. In Moon Knight’s hero story, the game reveals that Dr. Doom is looking to unleash hordes of vampires. Khonshu, wishing to stop Doom, is once again enlisting the services of Moon Knight. When Khonshu asks Moon Knight what he knows about vampires, the hero replies “that Dracula owes me money.”
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For those unfamiliar with the reference, it relates to an altered panel from Solo Avengers #3 that first appeared on the Moon Knight-Core Facebook page. In the actual issue, Moon Knight is investigating the castle of Shroud, and there’s a panel of the hero descending a staircase. In the fan altered panel, Moon Knight’s internal dialogue is replaced with the character instead hunting down Dracula, with Moon Knight loudly proclaiming that the vampire owes him some money. That meme has gone viral over the years, and has led to similar altered panels in which Moon Knight continues his quest for repayment.
The whole thing is pretty silly, but it shows that the developers of Marvel Rivals have put in a lot of effort with the game’s lore. Every character in the playable roster has a profile that can be accessed from the game’s main menu. While the main profile offers a simple bit of backstory about the character, there’s also a unique Hero Story, which offers some information about that character’s role in the overall narrative. That’s where this bit of info about Moon Knight comes from. Each Hero Story is surprisingly deep, and features all kinds of interesting Marvel references. In fact, in Moon Knight’s Hero Story, the character initially questions why Khonshu is drafting him to deal with vampires instead of Blade. Khonshu points out that “he is currently unavailable,” suggesting that Blade might be added to the roster in the future.
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While it might seem odd to see a meme referenced in Marvel Rivals, it certainly isn’t the first time that internet culture has had an impact on a Marvel project. In the 2006 movie X-Men: The Last Stand, the filmmakers similarly had actor Vinnie Jones repeat a line the Juggernaut had used in a viral internet video. The video game Marvel’s Midnight Suns also snuck in a reference to the “it’s Morbin’ Time” meme that exploded online around the release of the Morbius movie. Basically, there is some precedent for this, and it will be interesting to see if there are other references like this that haven’t been discovered just yet.
Have you gotten a chance to check out Marvel Rivals yet? Did you happen to catch this reference in Moon Knight’s Hero Story? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!