"Cool but it's so insanely impractical": Early Marvel Rivals UI concept leaves fans divided

The concept art for Marvel Rivals UI was briefly revealed during the very first Art Vision video from NetEase Games. The video was released on April 21, 2025, and showcased early designs for the Heroes UI menu. The designs would soon go viral on Reddit after u/underMyCorpseisFlame shared a few screenshots in the Marvel Rivals community.

The screenshots featured heroes like Doctor Strange, Storm, and Hulk in their early UI concept screens. While some found the stills amazing, u/badguy84 believed that they were also impractical:

"Looks cool but it's so insanely impractical. It's sad when people "design" stuff purely based on aesthetics and not at all based on function. As if the latter is not even a consideration."

Comment byu/underMyCorpseisFlame from discussion inmarvelrivals

u/Savage_Hamster_ appreciated the art style of the early concepts. However, they also reckoned that the current version of the UI is much easier to navigate in-game:

"Besides the art style this looks pretty a**, what we got is so much nicer to navigate"

Meanwhile, u/Green-eyed-Psycho77 felt that although the style looks impressive, it does not represent the overall aesthetic and current visual choices of Marvel Rivals. The user insisted that it looked like a different game altogether:

"This is rad asf… but it feels like an off brand marvel gacha game that stole someone’s art to make a quick buck. Like those Pokemon ones."

Several fans also enjoyed the looks, including u/IceChemical8617, who asked for the concepts to be curated into a gallery of some sort. This could allow players to appreciate the work put in by the artists:

"They should put them in a gallery mode, would be great as wallpapers"

u/discipleofdoom was quite impressed by the early concepts and demanded a whole art book for Marvel Rivals. They also hoped that more Art Vision videos would come along in the future.

Comment byu/underMyCorpseisFlame from discussion inmarvelrivals

Finally, u/VvardenfellExplorer vehemently expressed their preference for the older concept art of the current Marvel Rivals hero UI. They pointed out how the characters just have more "pop" to their appearance in the stills.

Comment byu/underMyCorpseisFlame from discussion inmarvelrivals

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Marvel Rivals Art Vision Volume 1 shared artists' process and more

Dr. Strange's early UI concept (Image via NetEase Games)

The Marvel Rivals Art Vision video was a one-of-a-kind entry. The developers often share Dev Vision videos, however, this new upload focused more on the graphical and art style side of things.

The artists shared how primary color tones contribute to the overall experience of the game and how they layered character designs with the environment to make the heroes come alive.

The video is over 17 minutes long and has garnered over 80,000 views since its release. NetEase Games may continue to share these videos in the future.