Five new heroes/villains are allegedly coming to Marvel Rivals as playable characters, according to a recent leak found by dataminers.
According to the newly uncovered information, Amaranth, Armor, Forge, Hive, and White Fox will all be playable in Marvel Rivals soon.
The information was posted on social media by X (formerly Twitter) user X0XLEAK, who also revealed some new upcoming team-ups, including an amusing pairing of Jeff and Venom which should be fun to see.
It’s bad news for MCU fans as none of the aforementioned five characters are big-name heroes. There’s still going to be quite the wait until Thanos, Deadpool, or Dr Doom finally come to Marvel Rivals.
Instead, the leaked heroes are more niche and mostly comic-exclusive. Some of them haven’t even appeared in the digital trading card game Marvel Snap which features hundreds of characters as powerful cards.
Still, the additions to the roster have fascinating abilities and should make for exciting new characters in the hero shooter. Here’s a deeper dive into Marvel Rivals’ newest characters:
Armor – Tank
Abilitiy names:
- Unbreakable Object
- Psionic Armor – 1. Form
- Psionic Armor – 2. Form
- Psionic Armor – 3. Form
- Mountain-Breaking Strike
Judging by the ability names found by datamining, it appears Armor will be able to take on different forms which will likely allow her to shield her allies in various ways.
In the comics, Armor (real name Hisako Ichiki) is a young mutant from Japan who dreams of one day joining the X-Men and enrolls at the Xavier Institute in hopes of doing just that. Her mutant abilities allow her to create nearly impenetrable, red psionic armor that forms around her body like an exoskeleton. She can grow this psionic armour to giant sizes and the armour also gives her super-human strength and durability.
This won’t be Armor’s first video game appearance as she was a character in Marvel Snap who could protect both her own and her opponent’s cards from being destroyed at a location with her red armour stretching across the chosen destination.
Hive – Tank
Ability Names:
- Deadly Parasite
- Painful Lashing
- Accelerated Transformation
Another tank coming to the game, Hive could be a very unique character.
The Hive, also known as the Hive Mind, is a group of parasites created by Hydra which can take control of humans. However, after being given a human host these parasites evolved intelligence of their own and took on a rather grotesque, single humanoid form and would later join Hydra’s High Council.
Hive makes an excellent tank as its body is not solid but rather made up of a huge group of parasites, meaning it can shrug off damage rather easily. These parasites can also shoot off at very fast speeds, which makes them great projectiles.
Most will know Hive from the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show but this will be the character’s video game debut. However, there was already a tiny reference to Hive in Marvel Rivals with its logo appearing on the Hydra map.
Amaranth – DPS
Ability Names:
- Chaos Spike
- Spell Counter
- Chaos Rain
- Frenzied Deterrence
The only DPS in this list, Amaranth is a very new character who only debuted in the comics in November 2024 as Scarlet Witch’s protege. That alone tells you how strong she is.
Amaranth is the child of two powerful abstract entities, Witchcraft and Chaos, and she was created to be the human embodiment of these entities’ newly agreed truce.
She is able to wield all kinds of magic innately but has a natural talent for Abjuration, the suppression of other magical works. This is clearly the direction her gameplay will take in Marvel Rivals as she will be able to counter or possibly even shut down abilities used by her opponents.
Forge – Support
Ability names:
- Structural Analysis
- Creative Modification
- Spirit Realm Walking
- Limitation-Breaking Modification
Perhaps the best-known character on this list, many will know Forge from X-Men content, including an appearance in the recent X-Men ’97 show.
Forge is a mutant with the ability to intuitively understand and design technology. He instinctively knows and understands the potential and functional operations of any machine or technological device in his visual range, and using this skill, he is able to conceive, design, and build cool new devices.
These gadgets will likely be key to his support gameplay in Marvel Rivals. He will probably have a focus on ‘upgrading’ his teammates too, considering in Marvel Snap his card would double the power of the next card you played.
White Fox – Support
Ability names:
- Life Drain
- Life Transfer
- Rapid Hypnosis
- Fox Shadow Evasion
Last on this list is another support, White Fox, whose design is based on the Korean legend of the nine-tailed fox. In the Marvel universe, she is the last survivor of a mystical race of nine-tailed fox shapeshifters from South Korea known as Kumihos.
White Fox could be a very mobile support, considering the hero has superhuman speed, agility, and stamina. Though most interestingly, she has the ability to absorb the energy of others to restore her own strength. Judging by the ability names Life Drain and Life Transfer, it appears she’ll be able to drain energy from her opponents and then redistribute it to her teammates.
This will be White Fox’s second video game appearance as she was also playable in the mobile game, Marvel: Future Fight.
In my seven years of esports writing, I’ve introuduced esports coverage to newspapers, interviewed some of the biggest names in the industry, and driven viewers mad with the puns in my YouTube scripts. I’m most proud of the latter.
