Marvel Contest of Champions Welcomes Its 100th Character: Punisher 2099

Marvel: Contest of Champions has been a consistent go-to whenever we need a quick and violent superhero fix. It's been available on iOS and Android since 2014, and Kabam and Marvel have constantly improved and added to the game since launch. Today, we're celebrating the release of a brutal new contender, and Contest of Champions' 100th character: Punisher 2099. Check out his action trailer above to get a preview of his moves and abilities.

Since this futuristic Jake Gallows is brand new, we're still not sure how his strengths and weaknesses will affect the meta game quite yet. Thankfully, Marvel caught up with character designer Simon Cameron and art director Gabriel Frizzera to learn more about his design, and more about what he's capable of. Let's kick things off with Punisher 2099's abilities:

"Punisher 2099 gets much of his strength from his Nano-Tech," Cameron remarks, "which is powered by the Nano-Tech Battery. This charge builds over time, and his Special 1 gives him an Overcharge Passive effect, giving him additional Nano-Tech charge for a few seconds. This charge is spent by a number of automatically triggered effects—things like: Triggering a Heal Block on an Opponent when they trigger a Regeneration Buff, Draining the Charge to Regenerate Punisher 2099 if his Health drops below a threshold, or adding a Stun effect to his Heavy Attack.

"He also enters an Overdrive mode if his Charge reaches 100%. This drains his Charge over time, but grants him additional Attack, and reduces the amount of Power his Opponent gains when they're struck by Punisher's attacks."

Some of you who already main Punisher may be wondering how this version will differ from Frank Castle. Frizzera chimed in to offer his insight: "We joke in the office that Jake Gallows makes Frank Castle look like a soft-hearted hippie! We had a lot of fun writing the contrast between the two, the same way other writers love to contrast Frank Castle among more 'straight' heroes like Captain America.

"In the story, when placed between Jake Gallows' and Steve Rogers' radically different views of justice, Frank Castle is forced to admit he might be a bit closer to Cap than the fanatic Punisher 2099. It was fun for me to write dialogue where Gallows calls Castle a 'half-measure,' the same way Castle called Matt Murdock ['Marvel's Daredevil' on Netflix]. That shows how far Punisher 2099 has strayed into villainous territory."

We're down for some destructive anti-heroic beat-downs! Punisher 2099 is available to play right now, so get your game updated and jump back in!