Season One

Lore & Background

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.

Reader's Guide

Season One introduces players to the core competitive landscape of Marvel Rivals, a six-versus-six hero shooter set across diverse multiverse arenas. The primary objective varies by map but generally revolves around controlling territory or escorting payloads rather than simple elimination counts. Teams must coordinate their composition of Vanguard, Duelist, and Strategist heroes to secure objectives before time expires. 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. Ranked matchmaking places heroes into tiers based on performance, rewarding skill progression with seasonal ranks. Competitive mode is unlocked at Level 15.

Players occupy one of nine ranks, 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 three heroes per team to be banned from use.

Depending on their final rank, players are rewarded with cosmetic items at the end of each season. Victory is achieved by completing the specific map goal, such as pushing a payload to its destination or holding control points for longer than opponents. 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.

Players are encouraged to experiment with team synergies, as certain combinations unlock enhanced tactical options during combat. Success requires not only individual aim but also strategic positioning and objective focus within the dynamic environments.

Did You Know?

• Season One launched with the game's release on December 6, 2024 for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.
• The game is free-to-play with a current lineup of 53 playable characters from Marvel Comics as of August 2026.
• The game features cross-play across all supported platforms.
• Marvel Comics has released two digital ongoing series based on the game: Marvel Rivals Infinity Comic (2024) and Marvel Rivals: Unleashed Infinity Comic (2025).
• The game features destructible environments, allowing players to alter the battlefield overseen by Galacta.