Marvel Rivals Black Widow mains are having a horrible time

Drama between two Marvel Rivals players in a $40K tourney has spilled to the wider community

Picking Black Widow is guaranteed to make anyone in Marvel Rivals lobby do a double take, but recently, it's for all the wrong reasons. The svelte sniper is difficult to play, and is infamous for having the worst win rate out of all heroes in the team-based shooter. After some drama involving two Twitch streamers in a $40,000 tournament, however, 'Widow' has practically become a slur for the Marvel Rivals community.

Those following along might be aware of the situation involving influencers Kingsman265 and Zazzastack, where the former player became disgruntled after being kicked out of a casual Marvel Rivals tournament. Kingsman265, who wanted the prize money to pay for his college tuition, was dead set on approaching the event with a serious mindset. He urged his team to try a composition that could answer popular hero picks on the enemy teams. Zazzastack, however, is a Black Widow main — and refused to switch. Arguments between the entire group came to a boil, with most people in the team attacking Kingsman265 even as he made a reasonable attempt at a parley. The tournament organizer wound up kicking Kingsman265 from the tournament altogether, which then led to a social media blowup where the internet rallied around the player.

That sequence of events had a mostly happy ending for Kingsman265: the organizer later apologized, and Kingsman265 is now pulling in thousands of concurrent Twitch viewers with plenty of donations to boot. For Zazzastack, things have played out very differently — so much so that the repercussions have spilled over to the wider community. Players are apparently leaving her matches when they spot Zazzastack's name. But seemingly every Black Widow main is suffering, based on recent social media posts.

"Zazza" has become a term now, though people are using it to refer to slightly different things. For some, pulling a zazza means throwing a match, regardless of what hero is played: the key is refusing to swap regardless of performance. Black Widow players say that other people in the lobby automatically refer to them as "zazza" if they play as the crimson-haired hero. A sense of shame is harshing the vibes for many Widow players, apparently. "I had someone pick black widow in one of my ranked matches," one user on X wrote recently. "I had my comms on already and screamed 'GET TF OFF WIDOW.'" Elsewhere, people are apparently reporting Black Widow players to NetEase on sight.

Meanwhile, it's like a funeral in the r/BlackWidowMains community. Most posts recently are people talking about the Kingsman265 situation, or recounting anecdotes about a recent negative experience in Marvel Rivals. Black Widow mains are being accosted, denigrated, and underestimated by fellow teammates. Arguably, this has always been the case — Widow is a controversial character, even without recent events — but the severity of the condemnation is much more pronounced now that the hero has become the main villain of the Marvel Rivals community.

" I HATE MY LIFE DUDE I CAN'T EVEN HAVE FUN BECAUSE 2 LOBOTOMITES TOOK US BACK TO SEASON 0 FUUUUCCKKK," one exasperated player wrote on Reddit, after detailing two separate experiences where they were told not to "zazza" the match by picking Black Widow.

But where some are losing hope, others see a calling. Some Black Widow mains are doubling down on their decision to keep playing an unpopular hero. A surprising number of people are starting to play Marvel Rivals because of the drama, or are in the process of learning how to play the sniper hero.

"Just installed Marvel Rivals… you're looking at your new Black Widow main," one player boldly proclaimed on X.

It might take some time for Black Widow players to regain some semblance of honor after such a high-profile mess. Until then, many Black Widow players are trying to look on the bright side.

"Is a Black Widow rework on the table after all of this?" one player postulated to their fellow Black Widow sufferers.