If you’ve been anywhere near the internet lately, you’ve probably seen people losing their collective minds over Heated Rivalry — the Canadian hockey drama that’s got more locker-room tension as it does actual sport. It’s based on Rachel Reid’s Game Changers books and airs HBO Max, which means the gays are thriving, the straights are confused, and everyone’s Googling “hockey terms meaning feelings”.
But after episode three, named “Hunter”, fans started piecing together a wild theory: that one of the show’s couples — Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) and Kip Grady (Robbie G. K.)— originally started life as a Marvel fanfic about Captain America and Bucky Barnes. Yep. That Stucky.
The internet can spin a conspiracy out of air, but in this case… the theory’s not totally wrong.
Unpacking the Heated Rivalry fanfic lore
After “Hunter” dropped, fans began pulling receipts and side-by-side screenshots started floating around of François’s Scott Hunter jogging in almost the exact same gear as Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, while Robbie’s Kip looked suspiciously Sebastian Stan-coded. Coincidence? Sort of.
In a chat with Salon, author Rachel Reid cleared things up: “I did everything wrong with Game Changer,” she said. “I didn’t realise you could even post original work on AO3. I thought it had to be fanfic.”
That’s right — back in 2016, before Game Changers became a published series, Reid was just a busy mum writing love stories after hours and posting them on Archive of Our Own (AO3).
For the uninitiated, AO3 is where fanfic dreams (and sometimes nightmares) live. Reid figured she needed to attach her story to an existing fandom, so she turned her hockey romance into an “alternate-universe” version starring Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes.
“Honestly, I felt bad about it,” she told Salon. “I knew this wasn’t what Game Changer was.”
After getting some warm feedback online, Reid took the fanfic down, stripped out all the Marvel elements, and sent the manuscript to publishers — who later told her it still read “a little fanfic-y”. She didn’t disagree. As she explained, “Fanfic authors don’t do as much world-building because it’s already done.”
The published result was Game Changer, the first book in the series, and years later, the juicy source material behind Heated Rivalry.
Reid’s pretty upfront about the fact that she regrets that early fanfic detour. “I desperately wish I’d never posted that fan fiction,” she told Salon. “I know it’s still circulating, and it’s bad. It’s so embarrassing. I hate thinking of people reading it because I just rammed a bunch of extra Marvel characters into the story for no reason.”
So there you have it! From fanfic to full-blown foreplay on ice — talk about a character arc.
Lead image: Captain America / Heated Rivalry
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