Webtoon Launches Interactive Avatar Experience with Genies Partnership

By Published Apr 27, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT An experienced Editor representing Canada via ScreenRant's Team Anime, J.R. has been reading manga since the first printing of Shonen Jump in North America. This passion drove him to write about anime, manga, and manhwa since 2026, having recently served as Lead Anime Editor for ComicBook.com.

His favorite moments in media coverage include reviewing the series premieres of Zom 100 and Bleach: TYBW Part 2 back-to-back and briefly meeting Junji Ito at a VIZ gallery event in 2026. Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

In an impressive move sure to make a strong impression on the broader digital comic readership, has announced a new way for fans to interact with their favorite manhwa and webcomic properties. The vertical scrolling giant confirmed today via press release and email correspondence that some of their biggest franchises are among the first to be featured in their new program to build interactive avatars. Starting Summer 2026, Webtoon's new digital avatars based on characters of some truly iconic manhwa, including , will be available for fans to chat with and customize to their liking.

Webtoon additionally confirmed this new development was made possible by a key partnership with Genies to create a set of customizable 3D avatars based on key characters from some of its biggest hit manhwa. This includes the fairy Shinar from The Knight Only Lives Today as well as an undisclosed character from (likely Pereshati) with three other characters/series as part of the upcoming rollout. With each avatar built to be progressively interactive as the audiences read further into the series, Webtoon's new feature will allow deeper immersion with the worlds its readers love, directly on its platform.

Webtoon Partners with Genies for Interactive Avatars Featuring Their Biggest Characters

With Webtoon only moving forward with this latest initiatives via opt-in approval from its creators, this interactive avatar initiative is made with the clear goal being to create authentic engagement that deepens the more their readers invest time into a participating series. While initial glimpses are subdued, the prospect of being able to chat with Lloyd and avoiding being roped into one of his unhinged schemes sounds wildly entertaining. What's more is, with these avatars not being built as chatbots but more as responsive characters (with reasonable conversational limits) brought to life who can unlock different content for readers as they go on.

Webtoon has a little of something for everyone, with well over a million titles to choose from. Here are 30 of the best manhwa on the platform.

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Beyond different dialogues with users, progressing in a participating manhwa or webtoon will create additional information to store on these avatars, including series lore and character backstories fans will likely not already know, as a unique glimpse into these worlds. Thus, it's an opportunity not just to experience the main story, but also to unlock side quests and unique digital rewards. However, it's important to note that this initial set of avatars is part of a smaller beta, with plans to invite more creators into the program and build it out.

“Creators are the foundation of everything we do at WEBTOON. This partnership introduces new ways to extend their worlds beyond the page. For fans, it transforms how they experience the stories they love, with immersive new digital experiences that offer more of their favorite worlds and characters. Our approach is deliberately creator-first: participation is opt-in, and every character experience is built to reflect the integrity of the original work.”

-Yongsoo Kim, President of WEBTOON Entertainment

With these avatars confirmed not to be used for training the Genies model, this optional program functions much like , being fully transparent about its AI-powered integration along the way. Webtoon is proud to announce this program while keeping its intentions squarely focused on featuring the creators and their work, rather than harvesting them and training on their data. But for those either finished with their favorite series or looking to enhance their avatar one step further, Webtoon and Genies have another feature coming for fans of collectible cosmetics and skins.

Manhwa Fans Will Be Able to Customize Their Avatars in a Future Update

One of the big future goals for these avatars is to create a way for participating creators to monetize their avatars beyond the aforementioned free, engagement-focused interactions. These avatars are created with the intent of being a proper, authentic reproduction in the given creators' art styles and written dialogue, with an approval process every step of the way. But on top of a firm foundation of each character's image and personality, one unique upcoming bonus is the ability to deck out your characters with skins or paid cosmetic content like in Fortnite. Note that these monetization features are planned for a future release beyond the primary beta rollout.

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But for those understandably content just to chat with Lloyd, or ideally other similarly wacky characters like , this engagement still naturally means plenty to each of the creators involved. With Genies' recent partnerships including the MLB Players Inc., the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), as well as with Japanese brands like King Records and Sanrio, it's far from the only example of their recent high-profile collaborations. Whether thematically perfect characters like Dokja Kim from Omniscient Reader or indeed many other hit manhwa stars join the roster, Webtoon is continuing to raise the bar for itself while its competitors try to catch up.

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