Marvel Rivals is a free-to-play hero shooter video game developed and published by NetEase Games in collaboration with Marvel Games. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on December 6, 2024, with a PlayStation 4 version released on September 12, 2025 and a Nintendo Switch 2 version currently in development. The game is free-to-play with a current lineup of 53 playable characters from Marvel Comics, and features cross-play across all supported platforms. As of September 2026, ten seasons of playable storylines have been released to the game, based on the comic book series and events "Blood Hunt", "Hellfire Gala", "King in Black", The Immortal Iron Fist, Mr. & Mrs. X, Deadpool, and "Devil's Reign".
Marvel Comics has released two digital ongoing series based on the game: Marvel Rivals Infinity Comic (2024) and Marvel Rivals: Unleashed Infinity Comic (2025). Characters from the game have also been featured in other Marvel comic series.
Premise The story follows a hostile meeting between Doctor Doom and his heroic 2099 counterpart, which causes a "timestream entanglement" that leads to new worlds being created and heroes and villains from across the multiverse fighting one another to defeat both Doom variants before one claims victory over the new worlds.
Gameplay Marvel Rivals is a 6v6 third-person hero shooter title. The game features destructible environments, allowing players to alter the battlefield (which is overseen by Galacta). , there are 23 unique maps active in the game.
Modes The game has eight modes:
Convoy – Two teams are randomly assigned offense or defense. Offense teams escort a moving object through the map while defence teams must stop the object by capturing it. The object will passively move forward while captured by offence and backwards while captured by defence; only offence may increase the object's speed, by standing near it. Regardless of the team that has captured it, the object will remain stationary if a member of the opposing team is nearby. In competitive mode, team roles will swap once offence has escorted the object to its destination or the timer runs out; if both teams successfully escort the object to its destination as offence, tiebreaker rounds will occur using the leftover offence time of each team. Maps currently include Yggsgard: Yggdrasil Path, Tokyo 2099: Spider-Islands, Empire of Eternal Night: Midtown, Hellfire Gala: Arakko, Museum of Contemplation, and Thebes. Domination – Two teams attack a zone within an area map; one from a pool of three for each map. When the zone is captured, the defending team will gradually gain points until 100% is reached. This is then repeated on another area map until a team has captured two zones, achieving victory. Maps currently include, Yggsgard: Royal Palace, Hydra Charteris Base: Hell's Heaven, Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda: Birnin T'Challa, Hellfire Gala: Krakoa, Klyntar: Celestial Husk, and The God Quarry. Convergence – Two teams are randomly assigned offense or defense. Offence teams must attack and secure a starting checkpoint while defence teams must prevent the checkpoint from capture until the timer ends. If offence successfully captures the checkpoint, the game shifts into mechanics identical to Convoy. Maps currently include, Tokyo 2099: Shin-Shibuya, Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda: Hall of Djalia, Klyntar: Symbiotic Surface, Empire of Eternal Night: Central Park, K'un-Lun: Heart of Heaven, and Lower Manhattan. Resource Rumble – Two teams battle over one of three zones on a singular map to collect resources. Once the zone is depleted of resources, another zone will unlock. If a team collects all resources from two zones, they win. If both teams collect enough resources from the first two zones, the third zone will unlock and teams must fight to capture it and steal the other team's resources to win. This mode is currently only available in custom match. Maps currently include, Klyntar: Throne of Knull. Conquest – Two teams battle to eliminate opposition. Eliminated heroes drop points that can be picked up by opponents, adding to their team's count, or allies, denying the opposition of the point. The game ends when a team reaches 50 points or the timer runs out, with the team holding the most points winning. Maps currently include, Tokyo 2099: Ninomaru. Doom Match – A free-for-all deathmatch between up to 12 players. The game ends when a player reaches 16 Final Hits, and the top half of players are declared the match's winners. Maps currently include, Empire of Eternal Night: Sanctum Sanctorum and Alchemax Headquarters. 18 vs. 18 Annihilation - Two teams without hero duplicate restrictions in a 36-player deathmatch. Teams are rewarded points for each kill with a target score of 120 under a 6-minute time limit. If the timer expires, the side with the higher score wins. This mode can be played either player vs. player, or player vs. AI. Maps currently include, Grand Garden. 18 vs. 18 Bounty Annihilation - Two teams without hero duplicate restrictions in a 36-player fight over control zones. One of three zones on the map is active at a time, then the objective zone will change once 100 total points have been accrued. Players capturing a zone begins generating points, and scoring kills grants 1 point. After dying, players can choose where they respawn from one of three points. The first team to earn 300 points wins. Maps currently include, K'un-Lun: Shenloong Arena
Quick Match and Practice Vs. AI feature non-ranked games where three modes are available; Domination, Convoy, and Convergence. In Practice Vs. AI, AI opponents are used instead of real players.
Competitive also features the aforementioned modes but is unlocked when an account reaches Level 15. Here, players occupy one of nine ranks, which each containing three tiers; at the beginning of each season, players carry out "placement matches", which, alongside a projected rank based on past performance, are used to assign the player an initial rank for the respective season. During games, players are matched with others based on rank, with promotion and demotion between ranks occurring based on wins and losses. During games at Gold rank and higher, players are able to elect six heroes to be banned from use (each team chooses three heroes). Depending on their final rank, players are rewarded with cosmetic items at the end of each season.
Players can also partake in Tournament matches after both earning at least Platinum rank and joining a Faction. Tournament matches feature the same modes and rulesets as Competitive, typically in best of three or best of five formats using multiple matches of different game modes. There are five hero bans per team that apply solely to the opposing team, and there are two protect slots that prevent heroes from being banned.
The arcade hub features more casual modes: Doom Match, Conquest, and Free Fight. Free Fight uses Quick Match rulesets but allows duplicate heroes, using Competitive's hero ban system to compensate. There have also been several limited-time game modes, such as Jeff's Winter Splash Festival, Clash of Dancing Lions, Giant-Sized Hive Mind and Ultron's Battle Matrix Protocol.
Several limited time game modes incorporate PvE gameplay. Marvel Zombies (inspired by the animated series Marvel Zombies) was the game's first PvE mode. The second PvE mode, Blood Hunt (inspired by the comic book crossover Blood Hunt) was added to the game on April 23rd, 2026. Avengers: Age of Ultron was the third PvE mode that was added to the game in August 2026, a wave-based PvE mode where players have the option to choose from seven Avengers heroes.
Playable characters
, 54 playable characters have been added to the game.
Guangyun Chen, the game's creative director, has expressed the aim to include both fan favourites and lesser known characters in the roster, saying, "When it comes to designing characters in our game, we usually dive really deep into the background and personality of each Marvel character, so every character's gameplay mechanic and skill is really crafted to reflect who these heroes really are in the comics."
Playable characters are divided into three main roles: Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist. Vanguard heroes function like tanks. Duelist heroes are designed to deal maximum damage and secure kills. Strategist heroes support their teammates through healing, buffs and other utility abilities. Each character's skillset is based on their comic book counterparts and typically features active and passive abilities, as well as a basic primary attack. Furthermore, each character possesses a unique ultimate ability that can only be used after the build-up of an ultimate charge meter, either passively over time or by engaging in combat.
Unique to Rivals is the idea of Team-ups, where a hero gains an additional ability from another hero. Initially at launch, there were a limited number of Team-ups, and required the allied team to have both heroes selected to take advantage of this. With the launch of Season 9 in July 2026, each hero gained at least two different Team-up abilities regardless of what other heroes their allies were playing, selecting this Team-Up from the character select screen. Having the associated hero of a Team-up on the allied team grants an enhanced effect to the ability. For example, The Hulk can either choose either a Captain America Team-up that grants a ground slam ability and a cooldown reduction passive or a Wolverine Team-up that grants a fury state ability and the Unstoppable status effect at low health. If Captain America is on his team, then his ground slam Team-up deals more damage and applies the Vulnerability status to enemies hit. Whereas Wolverine on his team grants Hulk the ability throw Wolverine towards foes in a "Fastball Special" when Hulk's fury state Team-up equipped.
The game does not require players into a "role queue", which would otherwise mandate a specific blend of heroes on a team; Chen said this was "to offer a wider variety of team composition", as well as to allow players to use team-up abilities without restrictions.
The list of playable characters in the game currently includes:
+ VanguardsHeroReleasedAngelaAldrif OdinsdottirSeason 4 (September 11, 2025)Bruce Banner / HulkLaunch (December 6, 2024)Captain AmericaSteve RogersLaunch (December 6, 2024)DeadpoolWade WilsonSeason 6 (January 16, 2026)Devil DinosaurSeason 8 (May 15, 2026)Doctor StrangeStephen StrangeLaunch (December 6, 2024)Emma FrostSeason 2 (April 11, 2025)GrootLaunch (December 6, 2024)MagnetoMax EisenhardtLaunch (December 6, 2024)Peni ParkerLaunch (December 6, 2024)RogueAnna MarieSeason 5.5 (December 12, 2025)The HoodParker RobbinsSeason 9.5 (August 7, 2026)The ThingBen GrimmSeason 1.5 (February 21, 2025)ThorLaunch (December 6, 2024)VenomEddie BrockLaunch (December 6, 2024)