With Overwatch firing on all cylinders following its big Season 1 relaunch, Marvel Rivals needed something special to keep up with its competition, and it seems to have just the thing lined up. During the Rivals Assemble event, not only did NetEase confirm that Black Cat and White Fox are the Season 7 heroes, but it announced the “Road to Doomsday.” This MCU collaboration will see NetEase adding content based on every MCU Avengers film thus far, with the original Avengers movie set to be represented via a special Loki-themed game mode in April. For Dead by Daylight fans, this kind of mode should sound familiar, though it’s the other planned events that could really end up stealing the show.
The roles for Marvel Rivals’ next two characters remain under wraps, so fans will likely have to wait until closer to Season 7’s March 20 launch date for this info.
Marvel Rivals Gets Avengers-Themed Roadmap All Leading Up to Doomsday
Marvel Rivals has just released an Avengers-themed roadmap that’s starting in April and running all the way up to Doomsday’s release in December.
Marvel Rivals’ MCU Avengers Event Basically Makes Loki a Dead by Daylight Killer
With a 6v1 format that’s going to be instantly appealing to fans of games like Dead by Daylight, the currently unnamed Loki game mode will feature one player in control of an extremely powerful variant of the God of Mischief, while the other 6 players control “different heroes.” Said heroes might be the original six MCU Avengers — Hawkeye, Black Widow, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, and Iron Man — but this is only speculation as of now, and a mechanic that allows the “survivors” to summon Hulk does seem to rule out his inclusion on the team. Regardless, it’s Loki’s mechanics that seem most interesting.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Based on the announcement for this mode, Loki will have an “all-new skillset” that makes him powerful enough to take on a group of six heroes. He’ll have more impactful deception and illusion tools at his disposal, which could see him manipulating the heroes into fighting one another, and “powerful Infinity Stone abilities” are also available to Loki. In the original Avengers film, Loki wielded the Mind Stone via his staff, which could allow for manipulating the enemy team, but he also obtained the Tesseract, which housed the Space Stone. This could potentially let Loki teleport anywhere on the map, making him more formidable.
Based on the mode’s description, it seems like Loki can win by eliminating the six heroes, whereas the heroes are victorious by summoning Hulk to slam Loki around in a recreation of the “iconic scene” from the film. This is, again, speculation based on the limited description of the mode, but it certainly sounds intriguing. And while summoning a green rage monster empowered by Gamma radiation isn’t quite the same as fearfully fixing generators, it could still scratch a similar itch for horror fans seeking a Dead by Daylight alternative. However, as cool as this mode sounds, there are four more tie-ins to consider, and they could be even more exciting depending on what one is looking for June 2026
Alongside the LTM, Loki’s Avengers costume is confirmed to be a skin coming to Marvel Rivals. This is his second MCU skin and was his most requested look outside of Lady Loki.
What Could Marvel Rivals’ Other Avengers Events entail?
Age of Ultron
- Skin Theories: MCU Ultron, AoU Scarlet Witch, Mark 45 Iron Man
- Mode Theory: PvE against Ultron bots
When it comes to Age of Ultron, it’s hard to imagine a better opportunity for a successor to the popular Marvel Zombies PvE mode. NetEase has already promised that more PvE content will be coming to its game following Marvel Zombies’ success, and a Survival mode where players battle wave after wave of Ultron bots before battling the villain himself practically writes itself. Like Marvel Zombies, players could upgrade their characters, which could be the hero roster from the film. Perhaps a mind-controlled Hulk could be an additional boss fight if the mode is structured like Marvel Zombies and is more of a linear mission, though without the Hulkbuster, the battle wouldn’t feel quite right. Regardless, a PvE Ultron mode feels very likely for
Infinity War
- Skin Theories: IW Thor, IW Black Widow, IW Mantis
- Mode Theory: PvP against a player-controlled Thanos
When it comes to Infinity War, another asymmetrical multiplayer mode would work. However, unlike with Avengers and Age of Ultron, where the assets already exist in the game, there is no Thanos content in Marvel Rivals yet. He’d be crucial to making Infinity War and Endgame events feel special, though, so a playable Thanos in Season 8, 9, or 10 isn’t out of the realm of possibility. Assuming Thanos does show up before or in August, he could take on a roll similar to Loki. The mode could work sort of like fellow hero shooter Overwatch’s Yeti Hunt LTM, only instead of stopping Winston from collecting meat to buff himself, players could be defending Infinity Stones from Thanos. If they survive long enough, the heroes would win, while Thanos collecting all the Stones would allow him to win by recreating The Snap. Each stone collected could give Thanos a new ability, increasing his chances of success and making things tougher for the heroes.
Avengers: Endgame
- Skin Theories: Endgame Thor, Endgame Hulk, Endgame Captain America
- Mode: PvE against Thanos’ army
For Avengers: Endgame, a PvE mode set during the final battle feels too cool to pass up on. Players could fight through waves of Chitauri as NPCs battle in the background, with boss battles against the Black Order popping up as they progress through the level and a fight against an AI-controlled Thanos awaiting them at the end. Again, this could take on the Marvel Zombies formula with skill trees and difficulty levels, ensuring replayability through fresh bosses and new basic enemies to battle against. The skins could really shine here, too, with Fat Thor and Smart Hulk standing out from all their existing Rivals looks (a Mark Ruffalo-like Bruce Banner appearance for the latter skin would also be a nice touch).
Marvel Rivals’ Player Bounties Just Weaken Your Team Comp BTW
Anyone celebrating Marvel Rivals’ rapidly rising bounty hunting scene could use a wake-up call, as it’s just as harmful as any troll or thrower.
Doomsday Remains a Question Mark
It’s much more difficult to nail down the big event that Marvel Rivals is building toward, as MCU fans only have brief, character-focused Avengers: Doomsday teasers to go off of. However, many do think Doom will finally go from background character integral to Marvel Rivals’ lore to a playable hero come December 18 when the film launches, and this theory makes sense. Plus, since Cyclops seems to have a big role and has been teased for Marvel Rivals already, there’s a good chance Scott Summers is the second hero for whatever season drops alongside Doomsday. The skins and modes are up in the air (though MCU attires for both these heroes would be a logical guess to make), but with everything leading to this payoff, it can be assumed that NetEase has big plans in store for December. And if the above theories prove correct, the entire year could be a delight for the Marvel Rivals community.
- Released
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December 6, 2024
- ESRB
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T For Teen // Violence
- Developer(s)
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NetEase Games
- Publisher(s)
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NetEase Games
