DC Allies: The DC Hero Shooter Created on Reddit

Hero shooters are a very popular genre among fans of competitive and multiplayer games, but they seem saturated and dominated by giants like Overwatch, Valorant, and Apex Legends. Some are iconic and, even if not at the peak of their popularity, like Team Fortress, remain active and relevant thanks to their loyal and established fanbase. Others, however, stumble against the impassable wall of the titles mentioned earlier and sink without even having a chance to shine, as was the case with Concord and Battleborn.

But currently, a hero shooter has broken down that wall and established itself as one of the biggest successes in current competitive multiplayer games, and in this case, perhaps more because of the "HERO" part than the "SHOOTER" part. Marvel Rivals.

With the recent success that the American comic book publisher has had in cinemas and streaming, it's almost certain that anything released with characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, and Iron Man will be incredible. But that's not quite the case, since Marvel's Avengers failed and was even pulled from stores. So, where did Marvel Rivals succeed? Perhaps in its aesthetics, character balance, or gameplay?

The big question is: if Marvel is successful, then of course its biggest rival, DC Comics, has to be there to be better. And in games, for years, DC truly reigned supreme. The Batman Arkham series became a benchmark for how to make superhero games, and the Injustice fighting game series also served as a basis for how to create a narrative story in fighting games, a formula adopted by other series like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter.

If this type of game works with Marvel, why wouldn't it work with DC? If Marvel has a successful hero shooter, DC must also have one, right?

And there is. It's called DC Allies (Official Reddit). The only problem is: the game doesn't exist!

Well, it depends on your definition of "existing".

If having discussion lists on Reddit, meta, updates, and complete character rosters with competitive tier lists, and even people making memes, then yes, it exists. If for you, existence means having an official version, developed by a studio and released by a publisher that you can download, install on your PC or console, and play, then it doesn't exist.

The truth is that DC Allies is a response from DC Comics fans to the success of Marvel Rivals, even making a direct allusion in the game's name. Where Marvel has Rivals, DC has Allies.

In the beginning, this appeared as an isolated comment, more in the realm of imagination. Some people suggested abilities for characters like Batman or Superman, others thought about what the dynamics would be like between different heroes within the same match. This type of conversation has always existed among fans, but it usually doesn't go much beyond that.

And the joke grew so much that it went beyond the Reddit group and spread to other networks like TikTok and YouTube, with videos explaining the supposed game, complete with images, memes, and gameplay videos that are actually Marvel Rivals videos with mods for DC characters.

Moon Knight becomes Batman, Gambit becomes the Joker, Luna Snow becomes the Flash, and so on. But fans are so engaged in the idea that the game is real that they even imagine updates and character rebalancing, claiming that this or that hero is unbalanced, that this or that character is meta, or is in the lower ranks of the tier lists.

Speaking of them, it's not hard to imagine who the characters in the game would be. While some are more obscure than others, the publisher's main names would certainly be in the game:

Superman: The last son of Krypton is clearly a tank character who can withstand absurd levels of damage and inflict significant harm on enemies. Land and air mobility, melee and ranged attacks with his icy breath and heat ray would be present.

Batman: The Dark Knight would come loaded with gadgets, attack from a distance with his batrangs, and use the grappling hook to move around the environment. He would certainly be one of the most used heroes in the game and would be at the top of the tier lists.

Wonder Woman: Quick and lethal, using her sword and protecting allies with her shield, the Amazon Princess would use her lasso to move around the environment and immobilize enemies. She would rival Superman in strength and would likely gain several skins throughout the updates.

Joker: The Clown Prince of Crime would certainly be a favorite among players, not for his abilities, but mainly for his mischievousness. The Joker would be a favorite of trolls in the game and would certainly have a laughing emoji that would be used every time he defeated someone from the opposing team.

Beyond these "big names," the character rosters include names like Nightwing, Robin, Harley Quinn, Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, one or two Green Lanterns, Aquaman, and lesser-known characters such as Swamp Thing, Mister Miracle, and John Constantine. They're also envisioning crossovers with other DC comics, like Watchmen, and even other franchises like Sonic, The Boys, and Spawn. Like other hero shooters, the cast would have different abilities and roles, such as DPS, Tanks, Specialists, and Duelists, and would be constantly updated with new characters.

Another point that frequently arises is the idea of ​​combining abilities between characters. Instead of each acting in isolation, there would be interactions that increase the impact when used together. A common example involves Superman launching an enemy while the Flash uses his speed to amplify the effect of that attack.

The battle scenarios would also be based on DC comics. Therefore, it wouldn't be unlikely to see locations like Metropolis, Gotham City, Arkham Asylum, Themyscira Island, Apokolips, Titans Tower, the Hall of Justice, and other iconic comic book locations. In some cases, people on Reddit go further and imagine scenarios that can be altered during matches, with parts being destroyed and changing how players move.

Over time, the ideas began to connect. It was no longer just about imagining a character, but thinking about how they would function within a larger system. How would they fit into a team, what would their strengths and limitations be, and how would they interact with other characters? DC Allies became a collective work that took on increasingly concrete form.

The sad part is: it may never exist.

Perhaps the saddest part about DC Allies isn't the fact that it doesn't exist, but rather that it might never come to exist. At least, not in the way that fans and the community that has formed around it imagine.

Because it's a game that, at its core, is practically a version of Marvel Rivals with DC heroes. All the aesthetics, gameplay, graphics come from Marvel Rivals. That's what the fans want: a game that's fun, with the same gameplay, mechanics, aesthetics, and everything else, only with DC heroes.

If Warner Games thought, "Let's release a hero shooter like the fans are asking for", they couldn't just go to NetEase and ask, "Make one just like it for me too".

They’d have to adopt a different aesthetic and mechanics from Marvel Rivals, even to avoid legal problems with the rival publisher, and they’d disappoint the players. In other words, DC Allies would have to be different from everything fans expect it to be. It couldn't be a "Marvel Rivals with DC characters".

There are also commercial issues that would be risky, since players who are actively involved in discussions about the game don't necessarily play it. Many are there because they like the heroes, for the art style, or simply for the community. Having a lot of people engaged in something doesn't necessarily mean that it’ll translate into sales.

Warner Bros. has also had recent problems with games as a service and multiplayer. "Multiversus" was released and received negative reviews from the public to the point of being removed from stores, under the pretext that the launch was only an open beta, and was re-released months later with fixes and rebalancing. Even so, it resulted in a $100 million loss and had its servers deactivated, being removed from stores. "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League" was a failure, abandoned without new updates since 2025, and suffered a $200 million loss.

This setback in games as a service even made Warner Bros. rethink its business model, to the point of announcing that Hogwarts Legacy 2 would be a multiplayer game as a service, but then backtracking and abandoning the idea. So, entering the games as a service market with a game that can't have everything fans want is asking to lose money.

Therefore, although it seems promising and fun in theory, DC Allies cannot exist in practice, and if it does, the possibility of disappointing fans is enormous. But it's really interesting to see what this "collective frenzy" on Reddit has created. And you: would you play DC Allies? Do you like DC Comics characters? Tell us in the comments.