A Marvel Rivals developer teased what the game has in store for future playable character releases after Season 1's Fantastic Four debut.
Just as with many games in the modern era, Marvel Rivals is a live-service title, meaning content additions will continue well beyond launch. This means that the superhero shooter's launch of 33 heroes will just be the beginning.
When Will Marvel Rivals Release More DLC Heroes?
During an interview with Metro, Marvel Rivals game director Guangyun Chen was asked how fast fans can expect new heroes to arrive in the arena.
The first two new heroes, Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman arrived with the launch of Season 1 on January 10, just one month after the game was released in December. Next up, Marvel Rivals will complete its Fantastic Four when Human Torch and the Thing arrive with a mid-season update.
Chen explained each new season will include "fresh seasonal stories, new maps, and new heroes," lasting for three months and being split into two halves:
"Every season we’ll be rolling out fresh seasonal stories, new maps, and new heroes. We’ll actually be breaking down each season into two halves. The length of one season is three months."
The game director added that for "each half of the season," a new hero will arrive in Marvel Rivals to expand the playable roster:
"And for each half of the season, we will introduce a new hero. We just eventually want to continue to enhance the experience, and, you know, keep everyone excited in our community."
As seasons will last for around three months and be split in half, fans can expect to see a new hero join the Marvel Rivals roster every month and a half.
While the release of the Human Torch and the Thing are currently undated, based on this timeframe, they should enter Galacta's arena with the mid-season update coming around late February.
Beyond that, Season 2 should be expected to commence in Marvel Rivals at some point in April, once more bringing with it new playable heroes.
What Characters Are Coming to Marvel Rivals?
With Marvel Rivals' first season, fans caught two new heroes at launch and will soon see two more at the mid-season to complete the Fantastic Four. But as Guangyun Chen referred to "a new hero" (notably singular) coming with each half-season, this may be a one-off to drop Marvel's First Family over one season.
Going into Season 2 and beyond, gamers should probably only expect two new heroes per season, otherwise the roster may end up growing at an excessive rate.
In terms of the next playable character released after the Fantastic Four, NetEase Games appear to be teasing Blade as Season 2's launch hero. Based on the rough estimate of a new character coming roughly every month and a half, fans should expect the hack-and-slash vampire killer to be playable in April.
What comes beyond then is hard to tell, but Ultron was among the first Marvel Rivals heroes leaked and was supposedly planned for Season 1. The Avengers villain's release as a Strategist character has supposedly been delayed to Season 2, perhaps placing his debut around May if he drops in the mid-season.
A full list of the heroes leaked for Marvel Rivals' future can be seen below (read more about those just uncovered with Season 1's launch):
- Blade
- Ultron
- Emma Frost
- Jean Grey
- Captain Marvel
- Hit-Monkey
- Angela
- Deadpool
- Professor X
- Locus
- Paste-Pot Pete
- Jia Jing
- Colossus
- Cyclops
Marvel Rivals is available now for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
