Marvel Rivals teases Fantastic Four in season 1 trailer

The Fantastic Four will join Marvel Rivals’ already substantial cast of playable characters when the multiplayer game’s first full season begins. Announced in a new trailer, developer NetEase revealed January 10, 2025 as Marvel Rivals’ Season 1 release date.

NetEase is also adding three new maps and a fresh game mode that addresses complaints that Rivals is a little too similar to those in Overwatch 2.

The Fantastic Four will be added to the Marvel Rivals roster in waves. Invisible Woman, a Strategist, and Mister Fantastic, a Duelist, join the first half of the season. The Thing and Human Torch, a Vanguard and another Duelist, respectively, will make their debut in the second half, which is expected to begin around February 21, 2025. NetEase still hasn’t said how these heroes play in a match, although a short trailer of Mister Fantastic showed him grabbing two opponents with his extendable arms and beating them together.

The Fantastic Four’s inclusion is a bit of an open secret, as NetEase has already teased the reveal on the official Marvel Rivals community Discord. The trailer’s big surprise is that NetEase continues to make Rivals something of a playable Marvel history museum by adding Dracula as the season’s new villain.

“Darkness engulfs New York as Timestream Entanglement leaves Doctor Strange trapped in the Entangled Astral Plane and scatters the Darkhold pages,” reads NetEase’s description of the new season. “Dracula and Doctor Doom disrupt the moon’s orbit, plunging the city into eternal night and unleashing an army of vampiric creatures. With the world on the brink, the Fantastic Four team up with iconic Marvel heroes who stand together in the epic battle to break mysterious darkness with science.”

Dracula, like Peni Parker and Squirrel Girl, occupies a small niche in the Marvel universe. He appeared infrequently in a handful of comics over the past 70 years, first in the “Dracula Lives” short that debuted in 1951’s “Suspense: Volume 1” collection, before resurfacing in the 1971 series “The Tomb of Dracula .” More recently, the vampire lord appeared in Deadpool, Old Man Logan and Captain Britain.

As with Season 0’s opening storyline, Dracula’s involvement in Marvel Rivals will unfold as a series of short comic panels. They are unlocked as players reach certain achievement milestones by completing missions throughout the season.

Doctor Doom-themed Doom Match is Marvel Rivals’ new game mode. It’s a team-based deathmatch setup that divides eight to 12 players into factions and awards points to individual players, not teams, for eliminations. When the round ends, Doom Match declares the top 50 percent of players the winners, regardless of faction.

NetEase did not say what modes Marvel Rivals’ new maps are for, or whether Doom Match will reuse existing maps.

The final addition to Marvel Rivals Season 1 and beyond is Midnight Features. Midnight Features brings a new set of missions each season. Completing them unlocks a number of rewards, including new galleries where Marvel Rivals’ custom comics live. These rewards are separate from those in the Marvel Rivals Battle Pass and expire at the end of each season.