Ex-Overwatch Pro Urges Marvel Rivals Gamers to Quit Using ‘C9’

Marvel Rivals has managed to capture the excitement reminiscent of Overwatch during its prime: entertaining hero banter, epic plays, and, inevitably, those critical errors that can cost an entire match. Remember the infamous “C9” meme from Overwatch? Well, it’s making a return, and one of the former esports players linked to its origin wishes it hadn’t.

Lucas “Mendo” Håkansson took to X (previously known as Twitter) to express his mixed feelings: “With MARVEL RIVALS gaining so much traction, lots of new players are discovering what a ‘C9’ is and that I had a hand in creating it. Can we just move on, please?”

Back in 2017, Håkansson was part of Cloud9’s Overwatch team and played a role in cementing a term that gamers still toss around today. The “C9” meme emerged during a match in Overwatch Apex Season 2, where Håkansson’s team managed to lose a round by failing to contest the objective, despite dominating the battle. Surprisingly, they repeated this blunder three more times, leading viewers to flood Twitch chat with “C9 LUL.” In one memorable instance, Håkansson himself missed the point as he opted to unleash an ultimate on Soldier: 76, though the team’s oversight was a collective failing.

Whenever Overwatch players get too preoccupied with eliminating opponents to secure the objective, “C9” pops up in chat, and this is now spilling over into Marvel Rivals. The game features payloads that keep advancing, based on which team last interacted with them, making these “C9” moments all too common. It’s a challenge in team-based games; there’s so much happening at once that it’s easy to assume someone else will take care of the objective. But there’s nothing quite as humiliating as being a professional team and having no one step up.

While Reddit threads continue to debate the precise conditions of a “C9” (does it count if stepping on the point is too risky?), Marvel Rivals shows that as long as there are objectives to overlook, the “C9” legacy will live on.