Marvel Rivals Will Finally Give Players What They’ve Been Asking for Since Launch

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Currently, the roadmap for Marvel Rivals has been mostly tied to events, characters, and cosmetics tied with Season 7’s theme. According to the game’s story, Mayor Fisk is arresting vigilantes across New York City, in response to Alchemax’s time-based invasion slowly corrupting parts of the metropolis. While big gameplay changes to Marvel Rivals that arrived alongside this story continuation are the subject of most player conversations, many missed the year-long content plan the developers also shared.

Marvel Rivals’ Later Seasons May Finally Add Doctor Doom To Its Roster

One of the overlooked announcements for Marvel Rivals in Season 7 was the “Path to Doomsday” roadmap revealed along with other parts of dev visions. Nestled between balance changes and the new hero White Fox, this content plan was shown to let fans known how the game will continue collaborating with the MCU. With Avengers: Doomsday having a theatrical appearance in December 2026, Marvel Rivals will be doing several events celebrated the past Avengers MCU films throughout this year.

For example, Marvel Rivals will have events inspired by 2012’s Marvel’s: The Avengers, the first crossover movie to help the movie juggernaut franchise take off. Taking place in April 2026, The Avengers events will likely include MCU skins and other events tied to that movie. The roadmap is outlined below, with what movies from the MCU will be celebrated with events across 2026’s time line:

• Marvel’s The Avengers – April 2026
• Avengers: Age of Ultron – June 2026
• Avengers: Infinity War – August 2026
• Avengers: Endgame – October 2026
• Avengers: Doomsday – December 18, 2026

These events are planned to launch with Season 7.5 sometime in April, starting with a brand-new game mode featuring Loki. This mode sees a significantly powered up Loki face off against multiple heroes, using an Infinity Stone to fight off six heroes who can try to summon the Hulk to even the odds. This “villains” mode might change as Marvel Rivals shifts its focus to other MCU films, seeing existing characters like Ultron take a similar spotlight later.

However, this system has fans excited for the possibility of other villains getting highlighted, specifically Thanos and Doctor Doom. Thanos may be simply a reference for Infinity War and Endgame collaborations, but Doctor Doom has been teased since the game’s launch. In fact, Doctor Doom’s conflict with Doom 2099 was the basis of the game’s story events taking place, with both characters making moves and scheming the background through Gallery Cards and other events. In all likelihood, this is leading to a version of Doctor Doom finally becoming playable with the Doomsday synergy.

Past Seasons Of The Hero Shooter Have Neglected Seasonal Villains As Playable Characters

While Thanos has never appeared, several other big villains have, even beyond Doctor Doom and his future counterpart. Season 1 saw Dracula take over New York City, plunging it into Eternal Night. While Ultron’s invasion of Krakoa saw him become a playable Strategist, Season 3’s inclusion of the symbiote god Knull was another story-only appearance. Newer Seasons in Marvel Rivals have been reluctant to craft a central antagonist, but Mayor Fisk in Season 7 repeats this pattern, as the crime lord is also not on the roster.

Doctor Doom was the antagonist of Season 0, marking the game’s first villain. In many ways, Doom remains the big bad of Marvel Rivals, despite his aversion from becoming a Vanguard, Duelist, or Strategist. Fans have long clamored for Doctor Doom to become playable, with many insisting that it was only a matter of time. However, as characters like Dracula and Knull came and went, Doctor Doom’s status became even more unclear.

The Doomsday event and subsequent Season around that MCU movie’s release might be the best time to firmly place Doctor Doom into the roster at last. The roadmap involving the MCU movies is the best evidence players have gotten toward Doom’s inclusion, which could finally break the disappointing trend of leaving villains behind once their Season concludes. For now, this is a strong theory for Marvel Rivals‘ future, even if we don’t know what role Doom or Doom 2099 will play if they do become fully fledged characters.

Do you think villains like Doctor Doom will become playable in 2026? Leave a comment below or join the conversation in the ComicBook Forum!