Marvel Rivals

Marvel Rivals arrived on the shooter scene right at the end of 2024, and it arrived with such a bang, it made it seem like all Blizzard actually needed to do with Overwatch was make all the characters Marvel heroes. The third-person shooter expanded on the momentum built by its massive launch and has definitively wedged itself into the shooter genre and earned a spot among the other live-service free-to-play shooters.

As NetEase is charging up to make Marvel Rivals "the biggest game possible," here's everything we know about the MOBA shooter stuffed with Marvel characters.

Release Date, Platforms, Pricing

Marvel Rivals initially arrived on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on December 6, 2024. On September 12, 2025, a version of the game was released for PlayStation 4. It has always been a free-to-play title with in-game microtransactions for cosmetic items and battle passes.

Premium transactions in Marvel Rivals are made with Lattice, which is one of several in-game currencies players can collect in the game, and the only one that can be purchased with real-world money. Untis, Chrono Tokens, Costume Coins, Unstable Molecules, and limited-time event-based currencies make up the rest of the in-game currencies you can collect.

Lattice, however, is the currency that you need to concern yourself with since it is the one used to buy battle passes and the only one you can buy with real-world money.

The price of Lattice, like other premium currencies in free-to-play games, can fluctuate with sales and sometimes price increases, but the current cost for the different amounts you can purchase is:

• 100 Lattice = $0.99 USD
• 500 Lattice = $4.99 USD
• 1000 Lattice = $9.99 USD
• 2180 Lattice = $19.99 USD
• 5680 Lattice = $49.99 USD
• 11,680 Lattice = $99.99 USD

The cost of the battle pass is 990 Lattice, making the battle pass just under $10 USD and leaving you with only 10 Lattice if you purchase the 1000 Lattice option. Just enough to get the battle pass, but nowhere near what you'd need to get something else.

Genre, Setting, and Story Premise

Marvel Rivals is a third-person, free-to-play hero-shooter set within the Marvel universe, featuring Marvel characters from every corner of the comic books, though unsurprisingly leading with some of the most popular ones in today's age due to the popularity of the numerous Marvel movies that have been made in the past two decades.

The story, as you might have been able to guess considering the game includes Marvel characters from across space and time, is a multiverse-based story, which begins with two versions of Doctor Doom, one from the future and one from the present. Both Doom's separately worked on combining magic and science in order to gain control of the multiverse, and when the present-day Doom tries to execute his work, he ends up running into future Doctor Doom from 2099.

The fight that ensues between them causes chaos and leaves the multiverse in a fragile state, threatening to destroy everything until Galacta, the daughter of Galactus, contains the problem within a few mixed-up and muddied timelines. With several Marvel heroes and villains now seemingly stuck in the middle of both Doom's fighting, they all take sides as they agree or disagree on how to move forward. Meanwhile, Galacta keeps the whole thing contained as she gets a steady diet of Chronovium, her food of choice, rather than trying to eat planets like her father.

That is essentially the setup for why these characters, whether allies in the comics or not, are all fighting together in this seemingly never-ending bout. Each season adds new elements to the story with new playable characters introduced, and while it feels like a premise that is stretched thin to make the gameplay work, it's realistically not the craziest foundation for a story in Marvel history.

Every Season of Marvel Rivals so far

This section will be continuously updated with the release of new seasons in Marvel Rivals, so the following list is only as complete as it can be at the time of this writing.

• Season 0: Dooms' Rise - December 6, 2024-January 10, 2025
• Season 1: Eternal Night Falls - January 10, 2025-April 11, 2025
• Season 2: Hellfire Gala - April 11, 2025-July 11, 2025
• Season 3: The Abyss Awakens - July 11, 2025-September 12, 2025
• Season 4: Heart of the Dragon - September 12, 2025-November 13, 2025
• Season 5: Love is a Battlefield - November 13, 2025-January 16, 2026
• Season 6: Night at the Museum - January 16, 2026-March 20, 2026

When Marvel Rivals first launched, its Season 0 lasted five weeks, with Seasons 1 and 2 then lasting three months. After those initial three seasons, NetEase Games established a new seasonal structure, with every season lasting two months, with a major update in the middle of each, dividing seasons into halves. Each half of a season adds a new character and a map to the roster, while the battle pass for each season runs for the entire two months.

New cosmetics, game modes, limited-time modes, and balance changes vary from season to season with how they are introduced.

Gameplay

Marvel Rivals is, at its core, a third-person shooter. Players are divided into two teams, with six players on each side. You can choose between a Quick Match or a Competitive Match to begin, with Quick Match including four game modes and Competitive featuring three.

Quick Match includes Domination, Convoy, Convergence, and Resource Rumble, while Competitive features Domination, Convoy, and Convergence. There's also Arcade Modes, which include Conquest, Doom Match, Conquest (Annihilation), Free Fight, Clone Rumble, and Giant-Size Brain Blast. There's also a Practice mode where you can practice against computer-controlled enemies.

Beyond the various game modes, which change up the rules of engagement, the other layers of gameplay come from the heroes you can choose to play as. Heroes are categorized as Duelists, Vanguards, and Strategists. Vanguards are the frontline heroes that you want charging into the fight, while Duelists are your more specialized characters that can take down enemies quickly and deal huge amounts of damage.

Strategists are your support heroes, who help round out the full team to ensure you're approaching each game mode with a winning mixture.

Hero Roster

The following list is the current roster of heroes, and with new heroes getting added with each season, this list will only ever be as accurate as possible at the time of publishing. Just like the Seasons list, we'll update this list as new heroes are added.

• Adam Warlock - Strategist
• Angela - Vanguard
• Black Panther - Duelist
• Black Widow - Duelist
• Blade - Duelist
• Bruce Banner - Vanguard
• Captain America - Vanguard
• Cloak & Dagger - Strategist
• Daredevil - Duelist
• Deadpool - Duelist
• Doctor Strange - Vanguard
• Emma Frost - Vanguard
• Gambit - Strategist
• Groot - Vanguard
• Hawkeye - Duelist
• Hela - Duelist
• Human Torch - Duelist
• Invisible Woman - Strategist
• Iron Fist - Duelist
• Iron Man - Duelist
• Jeff the Land Shark - Strategist
• Loki - Strategist
• Luna Snow - Strategist
• Magik - Duelist
• Magneto - Vanguard
• Mantis - Strategist
• Mister Fantastic - Duelist
• Moon Knight - Duelist
• Namor - Duelist
• Peni Parker - Vanguard
• Phoenix - Duelist
• Psylocke - Duelist
• Rocket Raccoon - Strategist
• Rogue - Vanguard
• Scarlet Witch - Duelist
• Spider-Man - Duelist
• Squirrel Girl - Duelist
• Star-Lord - Duelist
• Storm - Duelist
• The Punisher - Duelist
• The Thing - Vanguard
• Thor - Vanguard
• Ultron - Strategist
• Venom - Vanguard
• Winter Soldier - Duelist
• Wolverine - Duelist

Tech and Specs

As a free-to-play shooter with a heavily stylized visual style, Marvel Rivals isn't the kind of game that wants to push your hardware to its limit. It doesn't take too much to run, and if you have the hardware for it, you'll be able to push it as far as possible to maximize your framerate, a key factor for any competitive player.