Marvel Rivals fans debate Cosmo the Spacedog's inclusion, questioning if a telepathic dog should be fair game like other heroes.

I've been playing Marvel Rivals since launch, and honestly, that game has kept me fed better than most live-service titles. As of 2026, we're still getting a new season about every six weeks, a rotating pile of events, and two fresh characters per season. The datamining crowd keeps teasing who might show up next, and one name refuses to go away: Cosmo the Spacedog.

i-ll-happily-shoot-cosmo-the-spacedog-in-marvel-rivals-image-0

Cosmo is a very good golden retriever-labrador mix from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. She helps fight the High Evolutionary's army in Vol. 3 and later joins Rocket's new team. She's telepathic, sentient, and adorable. I completely understand why people want her in the roster.

But there's a growing chorus of players saying they don't want Cosmo added because they don't want to shoot and kill a dog. To that I say: huh? 🐶🔫

Let's be real for a second. Marvel Rivals is a game where you launch Jeff the Land Shark off a ledge after he swallows your entire team. You melt Iron Man with chaotic energy. You punch a raccoon in the face. If you can handle all that, why is a space dog suddenly your moral red line?

I've been thinking about the whole pet-the-dog trend in games. Look at the evidence:

  • Baldur's Gate 3 lets you pet Scratch and play fetch.

  • Assassin's Creed Shadows made a dog-petting moment its big applause moment.

  • Fallout's Dogmeat has been everyone's murderous best friend for years.

  • Indiana Jones and the Great Circle lets you scare dogs rather than shoot them.

  • Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 and The Last of Us Part 2 make you feel rotten if you hurt a dog.

That's all great. It humanizes a protagonist, creates a viral clip, and makes you feel warm inside.

But none of that means every single dog in every single game has to be untouchable. Cosmo isn't a regular dog. She is a telepathic, sentient being who can hold her own in a fight. If she gets added to a hero shooter, she should be allowed to get shot, just like everyone else.

Honestly? I'd be fine shooting Rocket. Players already do it every match. Jeff the Land Shark is basically the most precious creature in the Marvel multiverse, and yet we all agree he's fair game. Mantis? Gone. Groot? He's a walking houseplant with feelings, and we blow him up constantly. Even Squirrel Girl throws squirrels at people, and somehow the dog is where you draw the line?

I mean, come on.

I get the logic behind not hurting animals. Games like The Last of Us Part 2 and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 make you feel bad for harming dogs because they're dangerous but not evil. That's good writing. It works because it leans into real-world affection for dogs.

But Marvel Rivals isn't trying to be a grounded meditation on violence. It's a chaotic hero shooter with a land shark, a talking raccoon, and a tree that only says one sentence. If you can suspend enough disbelief to mow down hundreds of humanoid enemies, you can suspend it long enough to blast a telepathic space dog out of the sky.

Honestly, I'd feel worse about getting deleted by Cosmo's Ultimate than I would about shooting her. Imagine a golden retriever in a little spacesuit telekinetically yeeting you into the sun. That's the real threat.

So yeah, put Cosmo in the game. Make her a strategist, a duelist, I don't care. But if she's on the enemy team, I'm not hesitating. I'll kill that dog.

And if there's a pet emote? I'll use it first, obviously. Then I'll shoot my shot.

At the end of the day, that's the weird beauty of Marvel Rivals. It's silly, fast, and doesn't take itself too seriously. Adding Cosmo would be a win for everyone, even if some of us are apparently going to do unspeakable things to a very good girl in a space helmet.