Marvel Rivals: everything we know so far

By Jesse Lennox Updated August 29, 2024

Team up abilities in Marvel Rivals — NetEase

Marvel Rivals is putting the hero in hero shooter with literal superheroes. Unlike traditional hero shooters like Overwatch, this time, you will be playing from a third-person perspective to get a better look at your hero in battle. Any new multiplayer game will come with a ton of questions, especially if superheroes are involved. There is a small plot, but the main focus will no doubt be on pure PvP action. If you’re in the market for a new team-based hero shooter, let’s unmask as many details as we can on Marvel Rivals to figure out if it could be your next obsession.

Release date

Asgard in Marvel Rivals. — NetEase

Marvel Rivals will launch on December 6, 2024.

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Platforms

Magick in Marvel Rivals — NetEase

Marvel Rivals is confirmed to be on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S at launch, but it could still be announced for other platforms.

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Trailers

Marvel Rivals - 'Rivals’ First Stand' | Official Announcement Trailer

The announcement trailer is a montage of footage and gameplay of various characters in Marvel Rivals. We get an idea of the flow of gameplay, what heroes we can expect to see, and what unique mechanics and systems will be brought to the table.

The “plot” for the game is that Doctor Doom has teamed up with another version of himself from 2099 and has forced all the Marvel universes to collide in the Timestream Entanglement. It’s essentially just a loose justification for why all these heroes and villains are fighting it out in various iconic Marvel locations.

Besides the release date, the Official Launch Date trailer for Marvel Rivals showed off two new heroes coming to the game: the Winter Soldier and Captain America. The rest of the trailer focused on showing off their unique powers and abilities during a match.

Gameplay

A lot of heroes fight in Marvel Rivals — NetEase

This is a 6v6 hero shooter, only played from a third-person perspective. The UI is very reminiscent of Overwatch, with health and shields at the bottom and a number of special abilities at the bottom right. Depending on the character, they will be mainly melee-focused or have ranged attacks. Only two game modes are confirmed so far: Control and Escort. These are takes on the king of the hill and payload-style game types, respectively.

Environmental destruction was shown off, which could create interesting changes to the flow of maps.

There are also team-up attacks in which two characters partner up to unleash devastating attacks. One example shown was Hulk infusing Iron Man so he could shoot a massive energy beam or Rocket Racoon hopping on Groot’s back to attack as one.

Roster

Key art for Marvel Rivals — NetEase

The roster of Marvel Rivals will grow over time, but it is confirmed that all heroes currently in the game and added later will be free. Here are all the confirmed characters for Marvel Rivals so far:

Adam Warlock
Black Panther
Bruce Banner/Hulk
Dr. Strange
Groot
Hela
Iron Man
Jeff The Land Shark
Loki
Luna Snow
Magik
Magneto
Mantis
Namor
Peni Parker
Rocket Raccoon
Scarlet Witch
Spider-Man
Storm
Star-Lord
The Punisher
Thor
Venom
Captain America (upcoming)
Winter Soldier (upcoming)
Doctor Doom (upcoming)

Preorder

Marvel Rivals is coming this December, but there’s no need to preorder since it is free to play. If any special additions are announced that give you bonus currencies or cosmetics, we will keep you updated.

Topics

Tech News

Jesse Lennox has been a writer at Digital Trends for over four years and has no plans of stopping. He covers all things…

Gaming

All Marvel Rivals Team-Ups and how they work

Team up abilities in Marvel Rivals

Heroes are strongest when they work together. This is true in the comics and movies, but also in Marvel Rivals. Besides choosing your favorite character based on their role or what awesome skin you've bought with Lattice, you also need to pay attention to something called Team-Up Abilities. Just like those exciting moments on the page or screen, these special abilities let you combine the skills and abilities of two heroes to devastating effect. Because the roster is so huge and many Team-Up Abilities can be triggered with two or three heroes, it is easy to forget who synergizes with who and what their ability will even do. Let's refresh ourselves on all the Marvel Rivals Team-Up abilities and what they do.
All Marvel Rivals Team-Up Abilities and what they do

There are two main ways Team-Up Abilities work. Some are passive and will activate so long as the two corresponding characters are within range of one another, but sometimes it works as long as both are simply on the same team. The other type needs the "leader" character to activate them with a button prompt.
Ragnarok Rebirth
Heroes needed: Loki, Hela, and Thor

Gaming

Is Marvel Rivals cross-platform?

A team of heroes in Marvel Rivals.

The heroes and villains of Marvel are colliding in Marvel Rivals, but will you be able to clash with friends on other platforms? Being a cross-platform game is essential for a hero shooter looking to take the crown from games like Overwatch 2 or Apex Legends, but Marvel games have typically been exclusives in the past. This is a different case, though, since Marvel Rivals is shaping up to be one of the best shooters on PC and consoles. Let's use our team-up abilities to see if this free-to-play hero shooter has cross-platform support.
Is Marvel Rivals cross-platform?

Much like the Hulk, Marvel Rivals has a bit of a split personality when it comes to cross-platform support. On one hand, the game has full crossplay support. Anyone on PC, PlayStation 5, or Xbox Series X/S can match up as a team or rivals in almost every game mode. By almost we mean that every group is pooled together for Quick Match, Conquest, Custom Games, and Practice, but not Competitive Mode. In this mode only, PC players are relegated to their own matchmaking pool to avoid any competitive advantages over console players using controllers.

Gaming

Marvel Rivals tips and tricks: how to be the best superhero you can be

A lot of heroes fight in Marvel Rivals

We've seen plenty of cross-platform games come and go, but Marvel Rivals has a secret up its sleeve that none of those other games did: superheroes. Featuring the most powerful heroes and dastardly villains from across all Marvel franchises, this hero shooter appeals to a huge audience that other games simply can't, free or not. That would only go far enough to get people interested, but it's because the game itself is so fun that so many are sticking around. That makes competition high, even in the early days. You can't expect to become a superhero overnight, but our tips and tricks will help you feel like your superpowered counterpart in no time.
Practice against bots to learn your hero

Jumping into a Quick Match or other competitive game mode in Marvel Rivals as soon as you boot it up is just asking for trouble. Even playing the tutorial first will only give you a taste of how a few characters work, which is hardly sufficient for a game with such a big roster and so much complexity. Instead, start out by going into a Custom Game and filling a game with AI bots. You can set your bots to easy, normal, or hard so start out on easy first and work your way up since the hard level is actually quite a challenge.