Marvel Rivals players finally now have the roadmap that they’ve been waiting for just ahead of the new Marvel game’s launch, a roadmap which lays out the plans for not just the release itself but what’ll come afterwards. Given that Marvel Rivals is essentially a hero-shooter wrapped in a superhero story, new characters are naturally on the forefront of what Marvel Rivals players are looking forward to the most. It makes sense then that the Marvel Rivals developers had plenty to say about the plans for launch heroes and those that’ll be added beyond once the seasonal system is in full swing.
Right now, we know of 27 different heroes that’ll for sure be in Marvel Rivals. Those include Adam Warlock, Black Panther, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Groot, Hela, Hulk, Iron Man, Jeff the Land Shark (which was quite the surprise), Loki, Luna Snow, Magik, Magneto, Mantis, Moon Knight, Namor, Peni Parker, Psylocke, Rocket Raccoon, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Storm, The Punisher, Thor, Venom, and Winter Soldier. In the Marvel Rivals roadmap, it was confirmed that the launch roster for the game will include 33 heroes, so we’ve got six more to go in the final weeks before release.
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As for who those heroes might be, we don’t know for sure, but leaks point to some members of the Fantastic Four, perhaps, as well as some characters that are essentially guaranteed like Wolverine. Funnily enough, there doesn’t appear to be any sign of Deadpool being added to Marvel Rivals right at launch despite his prominence this year, but if he’s not ready to go at launch, it’s only a matter of time before he’s added.
As for the final hero in that 33-character lineup, the Marvel Rivals creative director, Guangguang, had some teases specific to that hero to share. They’ll apparently have a pretty formidable Team-Up ability with the Hulk, so while we don’t know who that character will be, think of people who would work well with the Hulk if you’re trying to predict who it might be.
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“As the countdown ticks down on our starting lineup of 33 heroes, the final hero to be revealed will be sure to excite, especially their Team-Up Ability with the Hulk, so stay tuned for the rest of the wild ride!” said Guangguang.
Beyond these 33 heroes that Marvel Rivals will launch with, it doesn’t seem like there will be any other surprises at launch barring the 33rd hero who sounds like they may be more exciting than some others. Starting in January, however, we’ll see Season 1 of Marvel Rivals content (December is considered “Season 0”), and Guangguang says that we’ll be getting new heroes in seasonal drops. We can expect at least one new character in January then, but it’s unclear how the rest of the pacing will go after that. Seeing a new hero added every three months seems likely given how many options Marvel Rivals has to pull from, but we could see some seasons skip heroes similar to what Apex Legends and other live-service games do.
