Marvel Rivals is teaching everyone about the joy of Jeff The Land Shark

I picked up Marvel Rivals because it’s popular with my pals and free-to-play, but I’m not much of a Marvel buff. I know my Black Widows from my Winter Soldiers, but characters like Magik, Luna Snow, and Adam Warlock are new to me. There’s one hero in particular I was delighted to discover: Jeff the Land Shark, who’s just a little guy I absolutely adore. In a roster full of superpowered badasses, I’m obsessed with Jeff — and I’m not alone.

Jeff the Land Shark is a relatively new hero, especially considering some of Marvel Rivals’ cast date back decades. He’s a baby shark with short little legs, big googly eyes, and a toothy grin. I can’t express enough how delightful it is to play as Jeff: his toe beans, the way he hums menacingly when he submerges beneath the ground, his reload animation that has him flip on his back and snack on a tasty fish… I don’t know what else you want. He’s perfect.

Hilariously enough, Jeff has one of the most rage-inducing ultimate abilities in Marvel Rivals. He creates a massive whirlpool — charmingly called “It’s Jeff!” — and then gobbles up each enemy caught in the whirlpool’s radius. Jeff can then spit those enemies out, sending them off a cliff, or into the middle of a bunch of hostile duelists. It’s great fun.

Polygon’s comics buff Susana Polo is no stranger to the Jeff The Land Shark fanbase. “I would lay Jeff’s appeal squarely at writer Kelly Thompson and artist [Daniele Di Nuculo], who created him for West Coast Avengers, but also the Japanese illustrator team Gurihiru, who draw the It’s Jeff! comic for Marvel Unlimited,“ she said. ”Their cartooning is best in the superhero biz, and you can see a straight line from their chaotic, wordless, “Sunday Funnies” gag comics to the adorable mayhem Jeff seems to be injecting into these matches.“

I, for one, am delighted to meet Jeff The Land Shark through Marvel Rivals. Sure, the rest of the game is fun, and its nice to have a multiplayer title that all my friends like. But more importantly, I love Jeff, and you should too.

Update (Dec. 11): This article originally attributed the creation of Jeff the Land Shark to Stefano Caselli, not Daniele Di Nucolo. Caselli was the first artist to create the land sharks for West Coast Avengers, but Di Nucolo co-created Jeff for West Coast Avengers #7.