All Marvel Rivals upcoming characters, heroes and villains
All the leaked, new and upcoming Marvel Rival characters we know about
Upcoming Marvel Rivals characters are already here, with both a lot of leaks and confirmed characters on the way. We've recently seen two of the Fantastic Four added to the game, and the other two have been officially promised to show up in the near future - to say nothing of all the various leaked upcoming characters like Ultron.
When Rivals launched there were initially 33 Marvel Rivals characters available to pick between, but NetEase is already adding more and we're likely to see those numbers expand ever further, with clear ambitions to keep expanding the roster and add new characters as we enter Season 1. Below we'll cover all the confirmed characters to come, like the impending Human Torch and The Thing, as well as look at the upcoming Marvel Rivals heroes that are only leaked right now as a result of the community datamining.
When are The Human Torch and The Thing coming to Marvel Rivals?
The Human Torch and The Thing from the Fantastic Four have been confirmed for Marvel Rivals, but the release date is currently less clear, especially with Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman having already been added - and the other two members on the main menu of the game already.
Marvel Rivals' official press has not given an exact release date yet, but has stated that "Invisible Woman and Mister Fantastic will be released in the first half of (Season 1), followed by Human Torch and The Thing in the second half."
This means that in a 90-day season starting on January 10, we will likely see Human Torch and The Thing added at some point near the end of February, in roughly six or seven weeks, though it's possible that their release could be changed or rescheduled before then. Still, we're looking forward to whatever new Marvel Rival Team ups appear as a result.
Leaked upcoming Marvel Rivals characters
Due to datamining models and other in-game files, many leakers have found references to a range of upcoming Marvel Rival characters that are seemingly being worked on. Obviously, with all of these, it’s mostly speculation based on information found in the files. However, it’s clear NetEase has plans for these characters, as work on them appears ongoing.
The most infamous leak comes from Miller Ross, who leaked a massive list of upcoming characters in May, which has thus far proven correct. In fact, from that substantial list of characters, all but two have currently come true so far, and there's no reason to think these couldn't happen:
- Ultron
- Blade
Considering the list had names like Wolverine, Squirrel Girl, and Moon Knight months before they were announced, there’s a strong chance we see these characters join the fray - this is a vampire-themed season, after all, so adding famed vampire hunter Blade only makes sense.
There are even datamined images of Ultron out there, courtesy of X/Twitter account Marvel Rivals Leaks.
New Character Leak‼️🔥ULTRON#MarvelRivals pic.twitter.com/FRY1splgehDecember 4, 2024
A newer leak suggests Ultron will be coming to Season 1 as a two-star Strategist with the following abilities:
- Rage of Ultron - Summoning Ultron Drones to fire Encephalo Rays, damaging opponents and healing allies.
- Dynamic Flight - Quickly fly in the direction of movement and enter free flight.
- Imperative: Patch - Send a giant drone to follow and ally, constantly healing allies in a radius around it with extra healing for the targeted ally.
- Imperative: Firewall - Summon Drones to give bonus health to allies within range, focused on Ultron and the ally marked with Imperative: Patch.
- Algorithm Correction - Hold Space to fall slowly.
Ultron releases Season 1 and he’s a Strategist https://t.co/4gL8qZkIkEDecember 19, 2024
However, that’s not all. Other names have turned up in the files of Marvel Rival’s builds. Dataminer Matfacio has mentioned references to three other characters in the form of:
- Captain Marvel
- Hit-Monkey
- Angela
Fumo Leaks also went into the Chinese build and found strong evidence that Jean Grey and Emma Frost are not too far off either. Miller Ross has also teased The Hood for Marvel Rivals too. For those unaware, the Hood is a Marvel villain who recently took on the Ghost Rider mantle. Whether this would be The Hood pre or post-Ghost Rider isn’t clear though as information seems limited.
Matfacio also mentions that there are references to Deadpool potentially being a playable character in the game files, but has cautioned about potential misdirection due to some irregularities with the files, saying, “I don't want to fall into their trap”.
Elsewhere, more officially, the game has featured Knull and Doctor Doom in promotional material, though they aren’t currently playable. Two versions of Doctor Doom are the antagonists for Marvel Rival’s Season 0, and Knull turned up in the seasonal launch trailer. They both have official art, so could become characters down the line.
Full list of leaked Marvel Rivals characters
Bringing all these leaks together, here’s the full list of leaked Marvel Rivals upcoming characters that have been reportedly datamined from in-game files:
- Ultron
- Blade
- Captain Marvel
- Hit-Monkey
- Angela
- Emma Frost
- Jean Grey
- The Hood (maybe Ghost Rider)
- Deadpool
As ever, take these with a pinch of salt. Just because a character shows up in the files doesn’t guarantee that they will be released. It wouldn’t be the first time a developer has hidden red herrings in their code. It’s also not clear what kind of timeline this would be on either, as Marvel Rivals doesn’t yet have a precedence for character releases. We don’t currently know the cadence we should be expecting character releases to have.
That said, it seems likely we will be hearing something about these characters at some point in the future.
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Patrick Dane is currently the Guides Editor at TechRadar. However, he was formerly a freelance games journalist writing for sites and publications such as GamesRadar, Metro, IGN, Eurogamer, PC Gamer, and the International Business Times, among others. He was also once the Managing Editor for Bleeding Cool.
- Leon HurleyManaging editor for guides