Marvel Rivals, the new hero shooter based on Marvel comics characters, is about halfway through its first full season. The free-to-play game launched season 0 on Dec. 6 and quickly reached 20 million players before starting its first full season in early January.
Friday’s midseason update will bring two new heroes, one new map and (thank Odin) will not feature a rank reset as originally announced.
Marvel Rivals season 1.5 start time
The second half of season 1 will start on Friday, Feb. 21, with maintenance beginning at 1 a.m. PT and expected to last 3 hours, according to Rivals devs. Here’s the approximate start time across a few major US time zones:
- 7 a.m. Eastern
- 6 a.m. Central
- 5 a.m. Mountain
- 4 a.m. Pacific
[embedded content]
Read more: Marvel Rivals: How to Choose Which Heroes and Roles to Play
New Marvel Rivals heroes and maps
Season 1 brings the Fantastic Four — Invisible Woman, Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch and The Thing — to Marvel Rivals. They’re a fitting addition to the game, given its premise that two Doctor Dooms from different timelines are warring for control. (It also helps build hype for the new Fantastic Four movie, First Steps, coming this July.)
We’ve already gotten Invisible Woman in the strategist role and Mr. Fantastic as a duelist. The midseason patch will add The Thing as a vanguard and Johnny Storm as yet another duelist. The preview trailers for The Thing and Human Torch show off brief glimpses of their abilities, including The Thing’s clobbering punches and Human Torch’s free flight and ability to combo ultimates with Storm.
A new map, Central Park, will be added in the midseason patch, allowing players to take the fight to Dracula’s Castle. So far in season 1, we’ve gotten one new convoy map, Midtown, where players escort the Fantastic Four’s robotic ally H.E.R.B.I.E. to Avengers tower. We also got an all-new arcade game mode, Doom Match, which takes place in Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum.
[embedded content]
The devs said this is twice what they have planned for future seasons, so it’s probably safe to expect one new hero at the start of future seasons and another about six weeks later, with one or two new maps per season. That would mean eight new heroes per year, and four to eight new maps. That’s an impressive amount of content for a live-service game.
There have been many other Marvel Rivals leaks recently, including hero models or abilities for characters like Ultron, Emma Frost and Jean Grey. These all have yet to be confirmed and won’t show up in season 1, but they do suggest a healthy content roadmap for the game, essential for keeping players engaged over the year.
Battle pass
