‘Marvel Rivals’ Reveals Season 1 Battle Pass Skins, Confirmed Nerfs And Buffs
Marvel Rivals has just released an eleven minute long developer insight video about season 1, arriving on Friday, January 10, and with it a whole lot of information about the new season, some confirming leaks, others with brand new info.
A lot still to go through, expect a bunch more reveals throughout this week with a special focus on Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman movesets specifically. Not sure if they’ll do the other two or just wait until they’re actually out. They may do a more detailed map runthrough as well. There was close to zero actual footage in this developer video so no doubt that more of that will be coming soon.
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Here’s The ‘Marvel Rivals’ Season 1 Release Date And Time, Plus New Trailer
We just got the first official trailer for Marvel Rivals’ first season, the blockbuster hit getting out of “season zero” and moving into its first official one with a boatload of new characters arriving, namely the entire Fantastic Four.
Along with the trailer, we also got perhaps the most important thing, confirmation of the season 1 release date and time. And so:
The official Marvel Rivals season 1 release date is Friday, January 10, 2025 at 1 AM PST, 4 AM EST. In other words, in the Americas you’ll be able to wake up that Friday morning and begin playing the new season. Here’s the new trailer:
The season is called “Eternal Night Falls” and features Dracula turning on a blood moon over the streets of New York City, which will be the new map. Facing off against him is the Fantastic Four, Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Thing and Human Torch. We still don’t know their confirmed roles nor do we have confirmation they are doing a two-at-launch and two-in-midseason release the way leaks have indicated. But between today and Friday we will no doubt get a lot more information. Here’s the official synopsis for the story of the season in a game where story is…let’s say, not exactly the focus:
“Darkness engulfs New York as the Timestream Entanglement leaves Doctor Strange trapped in the Entangled Astral Plane, scattering the Darkhold pages. 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 join forces with iconic Marvel heroes, standing together in the epic battle to break the mystical darkness with science. Ignite the battle against Dracula with the Fantastic Four in Marvel Rivals!”
The appearance of Dracula of course strongly indicates that vampire hunter Blade, already a datamined character, is going to be showing up. This season, for five characters in one season?” That seems unlikely, but maybe he shows up in the finale to cut Dracula down and arrive for the season 2 launch. I just don’t get how we’d be doing a Dracula plot here and not have Blade show up sooner rather than later.
Over the next few days I would expect featurettes for the Fantastic Four and blog posts about other additions and changes that are coming. Leaks indicate nerfs to characters like Hela and Hawkeye, and buffs to Captain America, Venom and others. More to talk about soon.
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Marvel Rivals teases Fantastic Four in Season 1 trailer
The Fantastic Four are joining Marvel Rivals' already sizable cast of playable characters when the multiplayer game's first full season begins. Developer NetEase made the announcement in a new trailer and revealed Jan. 10, 2025, as Marvel Rivals' Season 1 release date.
NetEase is also adding three new maps and a fresh game mode that addresses complaints of Rivals' being a bit too similar to those in Overwatch 2.
The Fantastic Four will be added to Marvel Rivals' roster in waves. Invisible Woman, a Strategist, and Mister Fantastic, a Duelist, join in the season's first half. The Thing and Human Torch, a Vanguard and another Duelist, respectively, make their debut in the second half, which is anticipated to begin around Feb. 21, 2025. NetEase still hasn't said how these heroes play in a match, though a brief trailer of Mister Fantastic showed him grabbing two opponents with his stretchy arms and slamming them together.
The Fantastic Four's inclusion is a bit of an open secret, since NetEase already teased the reveal in 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 the Timestream Entanglement leaves Doctor Strange trapped in the Entangled Astral Plane, scattering the Darkhold pages," NetEase's description of the new season reads. "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 join forces with iconic Marvel heroes, standing together in the epic battle to break the mystical darkness with science."
Dracula, like Peni Parker and Squirrel Girl, occupies a small niche in the Marvel universe. He turned up infrequently in a handful of comic series over the last 70 years, first in the "Dracula Lives" short that debuted in 1951's "Suspense: Volume 1" collection, before re-emerging in the 1971 series "The Tomb of Dracula." More recently, the vampire lord made cameo appearances in Deadpool, Old Man Logan, and Captain Britain.
Like with Season 0's introductory story, Dracula's involvement in Marvel Rivals will unfold as a series of short comic book panels. They will unlock as players reach certain achievement milestones by completing missions during the season.
The 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 rewards points to individual players, not teams, for eliminations. When the round ends, Doom Match crowns the top 50 percent of players as the winners, regardless of faction.
NetEase didn't say which modes Marvel Rivals' new maps are for or whether Doom Match will re-use existing maps.
The last headline addition for Marvel Rivals Season 1 and beyond is Midnight Features. Midnight Features brings a new set of missions each season. Completing them unlocks a range of rewards, including new galleries, which is where Marvel Rivals' bespoke comics live. These rewards are separate from those in Marvel Rivals' battle pass and will expire at the end of each season.
Here Are All The ‘Marvel Rivals’ Season 1 Battle Pass Skins
Marvel Rivals season 1 arrives this Friday, January 10, but a select group of high profile creators got their hands on the new content early, and on stream, we got to see things like Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman on display.
But we also got a look at the season 1 battle pass, which has a full 10 different skins in addition to all its other items for just $10. Now, thanks to these streams, we have the full roster of skins here, almost all of which are vampire-themed, and you can check out below:
Rocket Raccoon - Bounty Hunter
Scarlet Witch - Emporium Matron
Adam Warlock - Blood Soul
Iron Man - Blood Edge Armor
Namor - Savage Sub-Mariner
Peni Parker - Blue Tarantula
Loki - All-Butcher
Moon Knight - Blood Moon Knight
Magneto - King Magnus
Wolverine - Blood Berserker
As you can see, it’s quite the selection. Rivals has also gotten a lot of attention for its first two Reed and Sue skins that will be available in the shop which include an...eye-catching outfit for Invisible Woman specifically. But these ten skins? Only $10 in a game where most skins would be more like $15-20. Quite a deal, and a game like say, Fortnite, does not have that many skins in its battle pass.
In addition to all these skins, this is also a battle pass that does not expire if you buy it, so you will be able to unlock them at your own pace in the future. It’s a real player-forward system and though Rivals didn’t invent it (thank you Halo Infinite) it’s certainly great to see it employed here.
The battle pass also lets you unlock 600 Lattice and 600 Units if you complete it, so you will be well on your way to either next season’s battle pass, or another skin if you want it. Be forewarned though, NetEase has said that future seasons are not going to be as huge as season 1, so we may not get this many skins next time.
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