SDCC 2026: Marvel Contest of Champions Towers Mode Preview & Interview

During San Diego Comic-Con, 411 was invited to check out Marvel Contest of Champions at the Marvel x Moonrock Gaming Lounge. The developers on the Kabam team were showcasing the game’s new Towers mode.

Marvel Contest of Champions first launched almost 12 years ago in December 2014. It’s still going strong today, with a huge roster of over 350 characters. It just launched its Battlegrounds Season 41 and just introduced its new Towers mode, which was being showcased during SDCC 2026.

In Towers, players must assemble a team of Champions in order to ascend looming Towers and gain rewards, based on specific Champion Classes, tags, and other requirements. In Towers, players must battle to climb as high as possible and focus on fulfilling specific requirements to advance.

Contest of Champions is fairly simple to pick up and play. The fun of the experience comes through its expansive roster. Pretty much any character you can think of in the Marvel Universe, you can play as, from Spider-Man and Thanos to Nova and Howard the Duck. It’s a huge roster. Plus, there are tons of variants of existing characters. So, if you want to play with a character’s specific look or costume, such as Symbiote Spider-Man, they are also likely in the game.

The game’s gigantic roster is so much fun, along with the unique character animations when the Cosmic Champions can unleash their special attacks. The gameplay is fairly straightforward to get down between the attacks and blocking, but the special attacks that can be unleashed when a fighter’s meter is fully charged are incredibly satisfying.

Interview With Marvel Contest of Champions Community Manager & Content Creator Michael Recchia

During my Contest of Champions visit, I also got the chance to chat with the game’s Community Manager & Content Creator, Michael Recchia, aka Kambasaurus Rex (@karatemike415), who provided me with a guided look at the game. Here’s what he had to say about the SDCC booth and recent launch of Towers Mode:

Jeffrey Harris: This is a pretty impressive setup for Comic Con, Mike. Have you ever seen anything like this?

Michael Recchia: Something like this- this is a very special setup. We have a bunch of different Marvel games, some fantastic things going on in there, and all of our fans are coming out in droves to be here.

Jeffrey Harris: Marvel Contest of Champions has been around for a minute and is still going strong. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Michael Recchia: Oh, absolutely. We’ve been going on for 12 years now. So we are the largest roster in Marvel games, over 350 characters. We add over two characters every single month. So there’s always something for our fans to come back and just look forward to it. So basically, whoever you home for, whoever you love in the Marvel Universe, whoever you can think of, you can play as that character. That’s the best part about it, is whenever I ask someone, “Who is your favorite Marvel character?” More often than not, I get the Spider-Man. I get the Iron Man, those kinds of characters. Sometimes I get a bit of a curveball, right? Someone says, Doctor Bong, guess what? We have Doctor Bong in Marvel Contest.

Jeffrey Harris: What is Kabam specifically showing off for Contest at Comic-Con?

Michael Recchia: We have five or six iPads set up. Players are going to come in, they’re going to play our newest game mode, Towers, go through a couple of bites, earn a raffle ticket, so they can spin the wheel and earn in-game prizes, or physical prizes as well. Comic books, lanyards, some pins. Speaking of the pins, we have an exclusive pin. You can only get it here. One new design, every single day. On top of that, for our very hardcore core players who want to come out, we also have a competition going on where the four fastest times in Towers compete on stage for a chance to go home as the winner, but even more units, which is our hard currency.

Jeffrey Harris: What’s the gist of the new Towers gameplay mode

Michael Recchia: So, Towers is very similar to other Towers modes in other fighting games. It’s very standard in that genre. You have your defenders on the ladder, you pick from your attackers, you set them up before you go in, and then you fight them one by one. It’s all about speed and beating the clock as your main threat.

Jeffrey Harris: Are there any new modes that Kabam is contemplating right now that we might get to hear about this weekend?

Michael Recchia Oh, we’re always trying to innovate on Contests. Just in 2026 alone, we’ve launched four new features, massive game-changing features. So there’s nothing that we could talk about just yet this weekend, but we’re always looking to innovate in every way we possibly can.

Jeffrey Harris: It feels like we’ve kind of had a Marvel gaming revolution in recent years. Marvel Rivals has been huge. We have Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls on display. As a fan, what is it like for you to see these games outside of the mobile space?

Michael Recchia: Absolutely. Well, obviously, I’m very biased towards more Contest of Champions, but I’m a personal believer that if Marvel is doing well, we’re all doing well. We’re all Marvel fans, and we’re not just exclusive to one game as a player, right? We want the full ecosystem to be driving. So everything is successful, and we have the best games possible.

Jeffrey Harris: How did you join the Contest of Champions team?

Michael Recchia: A great question. I was working as an actor for about 20 years, and I needed something to kill the time while I was at rehearsal. I found this game about eight or nine years ago. I played it every single day since, started working as an independent content creator on YouTube about eight years ago. And then I’ve been with Kabam for about five years. I fell in love with this game from the first moment that I played it. I’ve been hooked ever since.

Jeffrey Harris: So, two-part question. In Contest of Champions, who are your mains?

Michael Recchia: That’s a great question. So I’m a big fan of Gladiator, Baron Zemo, and Sandman.

Jeffrey Haris: And then, who are your personal favorite Marvel characters?

Michael Recchia: Ooh, that’s a great question. I’m a big Thor guy. Anything Asgardian. Jane Foster, Beta Ray Bill, Odin, give me all of them.

Jeffrey Harris: Anything else you wanted to share with players about the game?

Michael Recchia: Check out Contest of Champions. There is something for everybody in this game, whether you’re a casual Marvel fan who just wants to play with your favorites, or if you really love those skillful PvP modes, we’ve got something for everybody in this game. We try to make sure we can appeal to every type of player and every type of fan. So give it a shot.

Thank you to Michael Recchia for taking the time to speak with us, and our thanks to the Kabam team for the invite during SDCC. Marvel Contest of Champions is available now and free to play on Android, iOS, Windows PC, and Steam.