Marvel Rivals officially confirms first new characters: The Fantastic Four are coming soon

Marvel Rivals Fantastic Four teaser art
(Image credit: NetEase Games)

Confirming the first of many Marvel Rivals characters to come, developer NetEase Games announced that the Fantastic Four are headed to the hero shooter soon.

"Get ready to welcome Marvel’s First family in Marvel Rivals," a fresh tweet reads, teasing the hero art pictured above. "Trailer on January 6th at 8:00 AM PST / 16:00 UTC. Be there."

Season 0 of Marvel Rivals will end soon and was "inspired by Doctor Doom and his never-ending quest to unravel the mysteries of time," making the Fantastic Four natural frontrunners for the next chapter.

With this new trailer coming Monday, we won't have to wait very long for additional details. For the time being, this teaser image has ignited hopes that the titular fantastic heroes may be joined by their robot sidekick HERBIE, who's smiling comfortably in the middle of the scene. Leaks suggest this is just set dressing, though HERBIE could end up being, say, part of an ability for one of the Fantastic Four members.

Given the popularity of Jeff the Land Shark, I wouldn't be surprised to see NetEase release another cute little Marvel Rivals mascot in some way. Jeff even won over Marvel TV, streaming, and animation head Brad Winderbaum, who said the little shark's debut in the MCU proper is downright inevitable. "You know it's coming!" Winderbaum said. "I can't say when, I can't say where. But we're all Jeff fans around here. Man is he fun to play!"

Marvel Rivals joined Manor Lords, Palworld, and Helldivers 2 as one of Steam's best-selling and most-played new releases of 2024 despite launching at the end of the year.

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

Read more
The Fantastic Four seen in Marvel Rivals' Season 1 'Eternal Night Falls' trailer.
Marvel Rivals Season 1 kicks off this week as Eternal Night Falls sees the Fantastic Four join the Overwatch rival to put a stop to Dracula's antics
Wolverine in promotional material for Marvel Rivals.
Marvel Rivals looks set to get its first balance adjustments soon as a leaked schedule claims Wolverine is getting even stronger as Hela and Hawkeye get nerfed
Marvel Rivals upcoming character Blade tease in Central Park map trailer
All Marvel Rivals upcoming characters, heroes and villains
The Fantastic Four seen in Marvel Rivals' Season 1 'Eternal Night Falls' trailer.
Marvel Rivals Season 1 release date and time – here's when Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman join the hero shooter
The Fantastic Four seen running towards Dracula in Marvel Rivals' Season 1 'Eternal Night Falls' trailer.
Marvel Rivals season 1 has "double the playable content of a regular season" and adds maps, heroes, balance changes, and more
The Fantastic Four seen in Marvel Rivals' Season 1 'Eternal Night Falls' trailer.
Marvel Rivals now lets Storm's ultimate turn into a raging, fiery tornado when teaming up with Human Torch - and I've never been so thankful to have hero ban
Latest in Third Person Shooter
Marvel Rivals Spider-Man
Spider-Man has become every Marvel Rivals player's worst nightmare
Helldivers 2 screenshot showing a fully geared/armored diver standing with gun in hand as three jets soar the skies behind him
Arrowhead reveals the Helldivers 2 ideas left on its cutting room floor, from 5-player squads to low-gravity planets and a whole new armor system
Helldivers 2 Ultimatum
Helldivers 2 has a Major Order problem, but the solution isn't simple because "having 100% participation means the MOs will always be won and that introduces other issues"
Marvel Rivals Clone Rumble
Marvel Rivals' new Clone Rumble mode sounds like the kind of absolute chaos multiplayer games need more of
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2 has an endgame problem, but a developer assures us "things are coming," they just can't say what yet because otherwise our expectations will be too high
Jeff the Land Shark as he appears in Marvel Rivals
"Sounds like a skills issue": Jeff the Shark co-creator says Marvel Rivals players "should get better at the game" if "my boy is beating your ass every night"
Latest in News
Baldur's Gate 3 screenshot showing Astarion, a pale male elf with short curly white hair and red eyes, looking over his shoulder with a smirk on his face
Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion actor comes face to face with what might just be the best merch to come of the RPG yet – a 5-foot Funko Pop figure of his character
Drop
New horror movie starring White Lotus and Yellowstone actors gets a great Rotten Tomatoes score as early reactions call it the "perfect date night movie"
Lois and Peter in Family Guy season 23
After 11 years, Family Guy suddenly brings back a deep-cut character for season 23
Key art for Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE showing the Prince rolling a Katamari as the King of All Cosmos sits at a livestreaming setup.
The first all-new Katamari Damacy game in almost 8 years is trapped in Apple Arcade jail, and I can only hope it follows in Hello Kitty Island Adventure's footsteps to eventually escape
No Rest for the Wicked
Ori and the Blind Forest developer is now "fully independent" after "months of negotiation" with what remained of its gutted publisher
The cast of Thunderbolts
Marvel fans are revealing who they'd like to see added to the Thunderbolts lineup, from Moon Knight to a major Hulk villain