"Sounds like a skills issue": Jeff the Shark co-creator says Marvel Rivals players "should get better at the game" if "my boy is beating your ass every night"

Jeff the Land Shark as he appears in Marvel Rivals
(Image credit: Marvel/NetEase Games)

Jeff the Shark is undeniably Marvel Rivals' cutest and most frustrating hero to encounter, and the comics writer who helped create him as no sympathy for his victims.

Kelly Thompson, who co-created Jeff the Shark alongside artist Daniele di Nicuolo, offered some advice for Marvel Rivals players who are tired of being noshed on by Jeff the Shark. Talking to Polygon, she (jokingly) advised players to git gud, essentially.

"What they call annoying," Thompson said, laughing, "I call a skills issue."

I have to quickly interject and say how endearing it is that Thompson seems removed enough from online gaming brain rot that she uses the plural "skills issue," obviously fortunate not to have spent a significant time in gaming lobbies.

"I think they should get better at the game," Thompson added. "Sounds like a skills issue to me, if my boy is beating your ass every night. I mean, listen, he has an incredibly powerful ult; just accept it, become zen about it. Everyone’s got upsides and downsides, right?"

Jeff the Shark made his comics debut back in 2018 as part of Thompson and Nicuolo's West Coast Avengers run, in which he was the team pet. He made scattered appearances in Marvel comics after that before landing his very own comic titled It's Jeff, which debuted in 2021. Now, thanks to his popularity, or rather infamy, in Marvel Rivals, he's been officially added to the MCU, and we're all very proud of him.

Here's all of Marvel Rivals' upcoming characters, heroes and villains.

Jordan Gerblick

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer, I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.

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