Marvel Rivals seems to make good on its DPS surplus as dataminers discover The Thing and Ultron in files

Magik slashes with her magic sword while Black Panther pops out of one of her portals in Marvel Rivals
(Image credit: NetEase)

Marvel Rivals has assembled one of the best free-to-play launches in Steam history after a year-long bloodbath claimed several live service victims. The Overwatch rival is pulling in good numbers, has unexpectedly spotless servers, and the community's main criticism about there being too many DPS characters is seemingly being addressed soon. 

Right now, Marvel Rivals has 33 playable heroes in total split between Vanguards (tanks), Duelists (DPS), and Strategists (support), though fans were a bit bummed to see 19 Duelists dominating the starting roster. NetEase reportedly put fans concerns at, ahem, ease and promised that more Vanguards and Strategists were joining the line-up as soon as Season One, but we now have a more concrete idea of how. 

Twitterer and dataminer RivalsLeaks has been posting about all of the incoming heroes that have been found in the game's files for days now, and it seems the community have now dug up two exciting additions. We now have our first look at Fantastic Four's The Thing, who is clobbering into the game as a kind-of-tank, and Avengers baddie Ultron, who's set to debut as a kind-of-support character. You can see an early look at Ultron below.

There's no guarantee that either character is coming with Season One or anytime soon, but it's at least reassuring to know that Marvel Rivals won't be swamped with damage-dealing Duelists for too long as the developers are actively working on fleshing out other classes. Marvel Rivals also doesn't force players into certain roles, like Overwatch's role queue, so hopefully players gravitate toward the new classes when they come in. (My thumbs are tired from being the only healer on the team.)

Marvel Rivals is out now on consoles and PC, but sorry Nintendo fans - the director said it “definitely isn’t coming to Switch.” 

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.