Marvel Rivals has managed to recapture the exuberance and excitement that Overwatch was celebrated for during its golden days. Players once again find themselves enjoying hilarious hero banter, awe-inspiring legendary plays, and inevitably, the hardcore infamous mistakes that can cost a match. Speaking of which, the notorious “C9” meme, which haunted Overwatch players, is making a return—and not everyone is thrilled, especially one of the former esports players who helped popularize it.
Lucas “Mendo” Håkansson took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to express his bemusement: “MARVEL RIVALS’ BOOMING POPULARITY MEANS A TON OF NEW PLAYERS ARE LEARNING WHAT A ‘C9’ [IS] AND THAT I CREATED IT. LET ME MOVE ON PLEASE.”
Back in 2017, Håkansson was part of Cloud9’s Overwatch team, the group that inadvertently created the C9 meme. It all happened during a match in Overwatch Apex Season 2 when his team failed to secure the objective, losing the round despite having the upper hand in the battle. To make matters worse, this mistake repeated itself three more times, igniting a flurry of “C9 LUL” comments in Twitch chats. Although Håkansson was in the spotlight during the team’s third fumble, preoccupied with executing an ultimate as Soldier: 76 rather than covering the point, it’s clear this was a collective team blunder.
Today, the term C9 is often seen in chat whenever Overwatch players find themselves too engrossed in chasing kills rather than focusing on objectives. This trend is now spilling over into Marvel Rivals, exacerbated by the game’s mechanics where payloads keep moving courtesy of the last team to touch them, making C9 scenarios more frequent. It highlights a common dilemma in team-based games: chaos and miscommunication often lead to players assuming others are tending to the objective. This problem becomes tenfold more embarrassing when it happens on the pro scene and accountability is notably absent.
Dissecting the exact definition of a C9 can spark spirited debates on Reddit, with questions like whether avoiding a dangerous point still counts surfacing frequently. However, Marvel Rivals reaffirms a simple truth: as long as there’s an objective that players can overlook, C9s will continue to be part of gaming culture.
