Summary

• A Donald Trump mod for Marvel Rivals has been banned from Nexus Mods due to its sociopolitical nature, violating the platform's rules.
• Marvel Rivals developer, NetEase Games, has yet to comment on the issue of character mods.

Launched nearly a month ago, Marvel Rivals has quickly amassed millions of players worldwide, mastering various Marvel heroes to climb the leaderboards. This hero shooter offers strategic gameplay, encouraging players to discover unique character interactions for victory. Many players enhance their experience with mods, altering hero models with skins from comics and films, or even substituting characters with models from other games like Fortnite.

Recently, a Nexus Mods user uploaded a Donald Trump mod replacing Captain America's model. This sparked online discussion, with some even seeking a Joe Biden counterpart for matches. However, the Trump mod, and apparently a Biden mod, have since been removed from Nexus Mods, resulting in error messages when searching for them.

Why the Removal?

Nexus Mods' 2020 blog post clarified its policy of banning mods related to U.S. sociopolitical issues, urging users to report violations. This policy was implemented around the time of the contested 2020 presidential election.

Social media reactions were mixed. Many Marvel Rivals fans weren't surprised by the ban, citing the perceived incongruity of Trump's likeness with Captain America. Others expressed dissatisfaction with Nexus Mods' removal of politically themed content. While this isn't the first instance of Trump appearing in video game mods (some remain on platforms like Nexus Mods for games such as Skyrim, Fallout 4, and XCOM 2), this particular mod was deemed unacceptable.

NetEase Games, the developer of Marvel Rivals, has not yet addressed the use of character mods, particularly those depicting controversial figures. The company is currently focused on resolving other issues, such as gameplay bugs and wrongful account bans, in the relatively new game.