All Marvel Rivals upcoming characters, heroes and villains

Marvel Rivals upcoming character Blade tease in Central Park map trailer
(Image credit: NetEase)

The list of Marvel Rivals upcoming characters is long, with so many leaks, datamined tidbits, and teases hinting at interesting additions. The game has had an explosive start, with its roster now 37 Marvel Rivals characters strong thanks to the Thing and the Human Torch recently joining, but there are no signs that Marvel Rivals is relenting its onslaught of new characters any time soon.

Now, that the Fantastic Four are complete, eyes will be turning to what's next. While we don’t know exactly which heroes are coming in Season 2, thanks to leakers and dataminers, we have a decent understanding of who is on the docket. There have been references to favorites like Deadpool and Captain Marvel, but also some very interesting niche picks. By corroborating all sorts of leaks and official information from NetEase, we've laid out a comprehensive list of all the confirmed and rumored upcoming Marvel Rivals characters below.

When are the next Marvel Rivals heroes launching?

The Fantastic Four seen running towards Dracula in Marvel Rivals' Season 1 'Eternal Night Falls' trailer.

(Image credit: NetEase Games / Marvel Games)

We don’t yet know who will be the headline heroes in the upcoming Season 2 of Marvel Rivals yet, but it's likely to start on April 11 since that's the day the Marvel Rivals Battle Pass countdown for Season 1 finishes (it's also a Friday, which is when Marvel Rivals tends to roll in new content).

While it’s not a certainty the new season will start immediately or if it will herald in new heroes, it seems very likely. As evidenced later in the article, it seems likely the heroes will be some combination of Blade, Ultron and/or Emma Frost, who should hopefully bring in some interesting new Marvel Rivals Team ups to the game.

Full list of leaked upcoming Marvel Rivals characters

Marvel Rivals launch trailer screenshot showing Doctor Doom and multiple triangular shards showing images of other characters.

(Image credit: NetEase Games / Marvel Games)

Here's a list of all the possible Marvel Rivals upcoming characters based on leaks and datamined information from in-game files.

  • Blade (currently in the game as an NPC)
  • Ultron
  • Angela
  • Beast
  • Captain Marvel
  • Colossus
  • Crystal
  • Cyclops
  • Deadpool
  • Emma Frost
  • Gambit
  • Hit-Monkey
  • The Hood (maybe Ghost Rider)
  • Jean Grey
  • Jia Jing
  • Jubilee
  • Locus
  • MODOK
  • Nightcrawler
  • Professor X
  • Paste Pot Pete
  • Quicksilver
  • Rogue

Take these with a BIG pinch of salt. There is no guarantee all of these characters come out. This is a huge list that would take years for NetEase to complete even on Marvel Rivals' speedy release schedule. It’s also very likely that the incoming roster will change based on NetEase's plans, the game’s needs, and Marvel’s own trajectory.

As evidenced by some major confusion we've gone into more detail on further down, some of these characters could also be red herrings hidden by the developer, which wouldn't be the first time a game developer has done this. Below, you'll find more information and sources for the most notable leaks, but this quick list gives you a good idea of the range of heroes to expect in the future, and we know that the plan is for two heroes to be added per season - at least one per half-season.

Marvel Rivals Ultron leak and all abilities

Many aspects of Ultron have been revealed, courtesy of Twitter account Marvel Rivals Leaks. While initially thought to be a new character for Season 1, it seems like he has been delayed to Season 2 or perhaps even beyond as no further information has emerged. Whenever he arrives, leaked info details he'll be a two-star-rated Strategist with the following abilities:

  1. Rage of Ultron - Summoning Ultron Drones to fire Encephalo Rays, damaging opponents and healing allies.
  2. Dynamic Flight - Quickly fly in the direction of movement and enter free flight.
  3. 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.
  4. Imperative: Firewall - Summon Drones to give bonus health to allies within range, focused on Ultron and the ally marked with Imperative: Patch.
  5. Algorithm Correction - Hold Space to fall slowly.

Leaked upcoming Marvel Rivals characters

Marvel Rivals upcoming character Blade missing poster for season 1.5 challenge

(Image credit: NetEase)

Due to the datamining of in-game files, several leakers have found references to many Marvel characters that are seemingly being worked on. Obviously, with all of these, it’s mostly speculation based on information found in the files. That means these could be early concepts that are dropped or even red herrings. It’s also possible for some characters to appear in-game but not be fully fledged playable characters. For example, in Season 1, Dracula is in the game, but merely as a map and narrative fixture.

The most infamous leak comes from Miller Ross, who leaked a massive list of upcoming characters back in May, 2024, which has thus far proven correct. Out of the characters that still haven’t come to the game on that list, there are:

  • Ultron
  • Blade

Thanks to the recent release of the Human Torch and The Thing, this list has proven to be very accurate. As well as the supporting Ultron leaks, Blade has now all but been confirmed as he appears in artwork all over the Season 1 Vampire-focused season, and is even in a room in the new Central Park map (he also appears at the end of the map’s trailer.) Right now, it appears he is locked down and trapped, so who knows if and when he breaks free, but it seems inevitable he’ll join the roster soon.

Miller Ross also posted a lore card about the end of Season 1 of Marvel Rivals that heavily hints at the Hellfire Gala being the theme for Season 2. This means it’s likely Emma Frost is involved - though like Blade, she may only be featured next Season, for a release later. In terms of the Season 2 heroes, Blade and Ultron seem very likely, considering the extent of their leaks, with Blade having in-game hero models too (via XOXLEAK), further suggesting he is imminent.

Plenty of other names have turned up in Marvel Rivals' game files, with dataminer Matfacio uncovering references to Captain Marvel, Hit-Monkey, and Angela (Thor's long lost sister) in hidden voice lines.

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”.

X0XLEAK, a team of dataminers, has corroborated several of the above leaked characters and has found references to MODOK too.

An update for the game on January 22, prior to the launch of the Fortune and Colors event where you can earn Marvel Rivals Danqing for rewards, also turned up more information, however much of it could be false.

With this update, X0XLEAK claimed to have also found references to many more X-Men characters, including Professor X, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Gambit, and Rogue, using machine translation. Shortly after, a post in a Marvel Rivals leaks Discord server said that NetEase had set up fake characters to catch leakers, ruling out the majority of the leaked X-Men characters as legitimate. However, as IGN reports, many of the dataminers reckon the amount of work needed to lay these traps would be a lot for the developer, so they could be real characters after all.

Here's the list of heroes and villains that the now-deleted Discord server post accused of being plants, bearing in mind that, rather confusingly, that they may not actually be plants after all:

  • Beast
  • Colossus
  • Crystal
  • Cyclops
  • Gambit
  • Jia Jing
  • Jubilee
  • Locus
  • Nightcrawler
  • Professor X
  • Paste Pot Pete
  • Quicksilver
  • Rogue

Elsewhere, more officially, Marvel Rivals has featured Knull and Doctor Doom in promotional material, though they aren’t currently playable. Two versions of Doctor Doom served as the antagonists for the launch of Marvel Rivals with Season 0, and Knull turned up in the seasonal launch trailer. They both have official art, so could become characters down the line.

© 12DOVE. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Freelance writer

Patrick Dane is the former Guides Editor at TechRadar. He is now 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. 

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