Complete Marvel Rivals Character List: All 39 Heroes Explained
Have you ever wanted to play as your favorite character from the Marvel Universe? In Marvel Rivals, one of the best free games on Steam, you can turn this dream into reality. With characters like Spider-Man, Black Widow, and more, the Marvel Rivals character list includes dozens of fan-favorite choices to play and master.
Below, discover all the characters currently available on the Marvel Rivals roster. Plus, learn more about each character’s role in the game and their abilities to find your main today.
We also had the opportunity to get some thoughts from Hogz, a professional Marvel Rivals player who has won multiple tournaments and was formerly on team Sentinels.
“When deciding which Marvel Rivals characters to practice, my primary focus is almost entirely on their competitive viability. It’s about what will give me the best edge in ranked and tournament play.”
— Hogz
Who Are the Marvel Rivals Characters?
Marvel Rivals is a hero shooter revolving around the characters seen in Marvel media, including the comic books and movies. Like other hero shooters, this title is multiplayer, meaning you can play with friends online.
Although the characters in this game revolve around Marvel, the mechanics themselves are similar to other hero shooters you may be familiar with, like Overwatch or Valorant. However, Marvel Rivals isn’t a first-person shooter — instead, you control your character from a third-person perspective.
There are currently 39 characters, known as heroes, in this fast-paced game, and more to come. According to a video announcement released by the developers, you can expect to see new Marvel Rivals characters soon, with one released each month starting in the third season.
While you wait for new releases, here are all Marvel Rivals characters you can currently play, as well as their role, difficulty level, and Team-Up options (additional buffs granted when certain heroes are on the same team).
| Character | Role | Difficulty Level | Team-up options |
Adam Warlock | Strategist | 3/5 | Mantis, Star-Lord |
| Cloak and Dagger | Strategist | 3/5 | Moon Knight |
| Invisible Woman | Strategist | 4/5 | Mister Fantastic, The Thing, Human Torch |
| Jeff the Land Shark | Strategist | 1/5 | Groot, Venom, Storm |
| Loki | Strategist | 4/5 | Hela |
| Luna Snow | Strategist | 2/5 | Iron Fist, Hawkeye |
| Mantis | Strategist | 1/5 | Adam Warlock |
| Rocket Raccoon | Strategist | 1/5 | Groot, Peni Parker |
| Ultron | Strategist | 2/5 | Iron Man |
| Black Panther | Duelist | 4/5 | Magik |
| Black Widow | Duelist | 4/5 | The Punisher |
| Hawkeye | Duelist | 4/5 | Luna Snow |
| Hela | Duelist | 3/5 | Loki, Thor |
| Human Torch | Duelist | 3/5 | Invisible Woman |
| Iron Fist | Duelist | 4/5 | Luna Snow |
| Iron Man | Duelist | 2/5 | Ultron |
| Magik | Duelist | 3/5 | Black Panther |
| Mister Fantastic | Duelist | 3/5 | Invisible Woman |
| Moon Knight | Duelist | 3/5 | Cloak and Dagger |
| Namor | Duelist | 2/5 | Hulk |
| Psylocke | Duelist | 5/5 | Emma Frost |
| Scarlet Witch | Duelist | 1/5 | Doctor Strange |
| Spider-Man | Duelist | 5/5 | Squirrel Girl |
| Squirrel Girl | Duelist | 1/5 | Spider-Man |
| Star-Lord | Duelist | 2/5 | Adam Warlock |
| Storm | Duelist | 3/5 | Human Torch, Jeff the Land Shark |
| The Punisher | Duelist | 1/5 | Black Widow |
| Winter Soldier | Duelist | 3/5 | Captain America |
| Wolverine | Duelist | 3/5 | Hulk, The Thing |
| Captain America | Vanguard | 2/5 | Winter Soldier |
| Doctor Strange | Vanguard | 2/5 | Scarlet Witch |
| Emma Frost | Vanguard | 3/5 | Magneto, Psylocke |
| Groot | Vanguard | 2/5 | Jeff the Land Shark, Rocket Raccoon |
| Hulk | Vanguard | 4/5 | Wolverine, Namor |
| Magneto | Vanguard | 2/5 | Emma Frost |
| Peni Parker | Vanguard | 4/5 | Rocket Raccoon |
| The Thing | Vanguard | 1/5 | Invisible Woman, Wolverine |
| Thor | Vanguard | 3/5 | Hela |
| Venom | Vanguard | 1/5 | Jeff the Land Shark |
Adam Warlock
Role: Strategist
Adam Warlock offers a range of support-based abilities mainly focused on healing and damage mitigation. His Soul Bond ability distributes damage taken across all those affected by the ability, and gives a small healing effect over a few seconds. Karmic Revival, Adam Warlock’s Ultimate ability, can revive nearby fallen teammates — a powerful ability that can turn the tides of a game.
Cloak and Dagger
Role: Strategist
When you lock in as Cloak and Dagger, you’re in control of two separate characters. First, you start as Dagger, who can heal teammates and damage allies. You can then switch into Cloak, whose kit focuses on pure damage instead. These characters have a combined Ultimate that creates a lingering ground effect that heals teammates and harms any enemy characters that walk over it.
Invisible Woman
Role: Strategist
As her name may suggest, part of Invisible Woman’s kit involves her going invisible. She can trigger this ability with a double-jump or as a result of her passive, which triggers automatically after 5.5 seconds pass without her attacking or being attacked. With support-focused abilities, she can offer her team both healing and shielding — abilities that can be life-saving for teammates when paired with the stealth her invisibility grants her.
Jeff the Land Shark
Role: Strategist
Don’t let his cute face and low difficulty fool you — Jeff the Land Shark is a powerful addition to any team, with a flexible support-focused kit and an Ultimate that affects both allies and enemies alike. With his Ultimate ability, It’s Jeff!, activated, Jeff the Land Shark swallows all nearby heroes. Swallowed enemies receive damage throughout the duration of this ability, while any swallowed allies are healed instead.
Loki
Role: Strategist
True to his mischievous nature, Loki’s kit focuses mainly on his Doppelganger ability. Using this ability, you can launch up to two illusions of this hero at a time. Although these illusions won’t move after you place them, they can use Loki’s primary fire, Mystical Missile, healing allies and damaging enemies.
Luna Snow
Role: Strategist
Most healers so far have been melee or mid-range. However, Luna Snow blends a kit full of healing opportunities with a long-range, allowing her to heal teammates and deal damage from afar. Her secondary fire, Absolute Zero, can also freeze enemies for a short period of time.
Mantis
Role: Strategist
Mantis pairs healing and buffing with damage in a long-ranged kit that makes her a perfect support hero. She can heal her teammates as well as provide damage buffs, and her primary fire deals damage through a projectile. Using Mantis’ Spore Slumber, you can also put one enemy to sleep for a short duration.
Rocket Raccoon
Role: Strategist
Rocket Raccoon is one of the easier heroes to play, which makes him the perfect choice if you’re new to Marvel Rivals. Although he’s geared more toward supportive play, his kit is flexible enough that you can experience different parts of gameplay. If someone on your team is playing Groot, you will also gain the ability to jump on Groot’s shoulders.
Ultron
Role: Strategist
The 39th character to hit the roster in the second season of Marvel Rivals, Ultron is a Strategist who functions well in a support role. With his continuous free-flight, he can easily navigate the map and reach teammates in need of an extra hand.
Although he does have some health-related buffs in his kit, specifically through the use of his secondary fire, Imperative: Firewall, much of Ultron’s abilities revolve around movement and agility. For instance, Dynamic Flight gives him a dash that increases his movement speed for a short time.
Black Panther
Role: Duelist
Whereas many of the previous heroes focused on long-ranged abilities, Black Panther is more geared for melee action. He’s agile, quick, and does more damage when under full health because of his passive, Panther’s Cunning. From Vibranium Claws to his Ultimate ability, Bast’s Descent, Black Panther is a strong offensive character with ample opportunities to deal damage.
Black Widow
Role: Duelist
Like Black Panther, Black Widow pairs the capacity for dealing large amounts of damage with agility. She has both a melee and ranged attack, and her Ultimate, Electro-Plasma Explosion, pairs damage with a slowing effect. As a result, her kit allows for powerful combos that can take time to master.
Hawkeye
Role: Duelist
As a sniper, Hawkeye works best away from the action. But when you look at other Duelists, Hawkeye actually has a higher health than most. This, paired with his double jump, allows him to survive close situations and get to a distance where his high damage-dealing attacks can pick off the enemy team.
Hela
Role: Duelist
Hela offers a high damage output designed to pick off heroes with low health. Her efficiency in targeting enemies one by one works perfectly with her Nastrond Crowstorm passive, which creates small explosions when she defeats an enemy, keeping her damage spreading for longer.
However, her high damage and explosive passive aren’t the only powerful abilities in her kit. When you take advantage of Hela’s Team-Ups ability, you can resurrect allies playing Loki or Thor. This allows Hela to turn what could be a game-losing situation around.
Human Torch
Role: Duelist
Human Torch is a Duelist introduced in Season 1. With long-range abilities, Human Torch can create area of effect (AOE) zones that deal damage to enemies who step within them. This is perfect for controlling the enemy team’s movement, denying objectives, and helping set up plays with other damage dealers on the team.
Iron Fist
Role: Duelist
When you play as Iron Fist, your gameplay often consists of dodging attacks before diving in to deal damage with your own abilities. Iron Fist is agile, with the ability to jump three times while in the air and run on walls. These traits allow you to move around the battlefield with unmatched agility, getting in close when needed before escaping.
Iron Man
Role: Duelist
A low-difficulty Duelist, Iron Man’s primary fire blends on-contact damage with AOE effects. When it makes contact with an enemy hero, it deals damage directly to that hero. However, it also deals damage in a radius around the impact zone, an ability that’s perfect for targeting enemy heroes in close quarters.
Magik
Role: Duelist
While much of Magik’s abilities revolve around dealing damage with her sword, her Ultimate ability transforms her into her Darkchild form. When transformed, Magik’s other abilities are enhanced, such as her secondary fire, Magik Slash, dealing more damage with a shorter cooldown. She’s one of few heroes whose Ultimate revolves around transformation.
Mister Fantastic
Role: Duelist
With a gameplay style built on durability and damage, Mister Fantastic fares well on the frontline in team battles. He can deal damage as needed while also using his abilities to shield and absorb incoming damage. His Ultimate ability also offers a burst of mobility since it’s based on leaping, making him a well-rounded Duelist fit for most in-game situations.
Moon Knight
Role: Duelist
Moon Knight thrives in team fights where he can utilize his long-distance abilities. His primary fire, Crescent Dart, bounces between enemies, including Loki illusions, which makes it great when you have multiple enemies in close quarters. He also packs plenty of crowd control in his kit, from a pull to a knock-up.
Namor
Role: Duelist
When you play Namor, your gameplay will often revolve around the creatures this Duelist summons. His spawns auto-attack nearby enemies, which makes them perfect for protecting the backline of your team. However, while he thrives in fights, he does have a fairly slow attack speed, which may put him at a disadvantage compared to some heroes.
Psylocke
Role: Duelist
Because of her high levels of mobility, Psylocke is a textbook Duelist who excels in diving the enemy team and flanking to pick off strong opponents. She deals large amounts of damage and has a dash built into her kit for kiting.
Scarlet Witch
Role: Duelist
When it comes to dealing damage, Scarlet Witch is one of the strongest heroes in the game, with her Ultimate’s damage second only to Iron Man. Plus, both her primary and secondary fires focus on dealing high damage, allowing you to wear down the enemy heroes quickly.
One thing to keep in mind about her primary fire is that it does best within a certain range of enemies. This is because it can auto-lock on enemies in range, turning what’s already a powerful ability into a targeted attack rather than a skill shot.
Spider-Man
Role: Duelist
Similarly to how he is portrayed in other Marvel media, Spider-Man is highly mobile. He has both web swinging and wall climbing in his kit, which allows him to cover distances other heroes may not be capable of. However, knowing how to control this Duelist even with his high agility is key, making him one of the most difficult heroes to master.
Squirrel Girl
Role: Duelist
Squirrel Girl is another easy character that’s perfect for beginners. When playing her, you want to focus on staying out of the action and attacking from afar using her powerful kit. For example, her primary fire, Burst Acorn, allows her to launch an explosive acorn at enemies without getting too close. This is perfect if you’re still learning the game, as you can focus on navigating your abilities rather than close combat.
Star-Lord
Role: Duelist
If you need to get out of a sticky situation, look no further than Star-Lord’s secondary fire, Stellar Shift. This ability allows him to dodge any attack in the game in any direction. His Ultimate ability also gives him a short duration of free-flight, while the rest of his abilities are tailored to damage.
Storm
Role: Duelist
Storm pairs damage with team buffs, helping her allies sweep opponents in team fights. Both her primary and secondary fires deal damage, although the latter deals AOE damage rather than a projectile. Through Weather Control, she can give herself and allies either a movement speed or damage buff.
The Punisher
Role: Duelist
Although The Punisher is easy to learn with simple abilities, he has a useful kit that scales from short to long distances. His Ultimate doesn’t just give him several weapons with infinite ammo; it also provides him with complete immunity to crowd control.
Winter Soldier
Role: Duelist
Winter Soldier is a medium-difficulty hero to navigate, if only because successful gameplay requires a strong knowledge of how his abilities interact to rotate through his cooldowns. His passive ability allows him to reload his primary fire, Roterstern, whenever you use one of his bionic arm abilities, like Bionic Hook. This means you’ll want to learn how to effortlessly use his ability to activate his passive to excel with this Duelist.
Wolverine
Role: Duelist
Like Winter Soldier, Wolverine has a kit revolving around the synergy of his abilities for the best combos and plays. He has two passives as well as a variety of abilities, although his gameplay focuses on constantly dealing damage to keep his passive activated.
Captain America
Captain America is a tank-like character with abilities meant to block damage and boost teammates. With his Living Legend ability, Captain America can block and even deflect some abilities with his shield, turning the enemy’s attacks against them. His Ultimate ability provides health and speed boosts, bonuses that are also given to nearby teammates upon cast.
Role: Vanguard
Doctor Strange
Role: Vanguard
Doctor Strange is a medium-difficulty character with a highly flexible and versatile kit. One thing that stands out among his abilities is his secondary fire, Shield of the Seraphim. This large shield absorbs any incoming damage from the enemy team, including some Ultimates. This is perfect for defending teammates while denying the enemy damage.
“Doctor Strange definitely stands out as a ‘sleeper’ pick with competitive potential in the current meta. If you strategically ban heroes that counter him, he can be a super powerful and effective pick.”
— Hogz
Emma Frost
Role: Vanguard
Unlike other Vanguards with kits based on melee tactics, Emma Frost steps back from the action with mid-range attacks. Not only can she deal damage from afar with her primary fire, but she can also use Mind’s Aegis to create a shield that can be placed at a distance. Her Ultimate ability deals damage while also mind controlling enemies.
Groot
Role: Vanguard
Groot is another hero that excels as a mid-range Vanguard. His primary and secondary fires work at a distance, but his melee attack, Furious Flora, keeps him relevant in close combat. Plus, with his melee attack, he can knock back enemies with every two hits.
Hulk
Role: Vanguard
Hulk can switch between two forms. He begins the fight as Bruce Banner, with limited health but ranged attacks. However, unlike most other heroes, he begins each battle with his Ultimate ability, which allows him to turn into his Hulk form. He then receives another Ultimate ability, which turns him into Monster Hulk for a short period. With powerful melee abilities, access to ranged attacks, a second Ultimate, and high mobility, Hulk is perfect for dominating the frontline.
Magneto
Role: Vanguard
Although this Vanguard is fit for heavy defense, Magneto also packs a powerful punch with his secondary fire, Mag-Cannon. This scaling attack deals a large amount of damage, and it can even knock back enemies at max stacks. His Ultimate ability also deals high damage while adding to Magneto’s defensive abilities by absorbing incoming damage.
Peni Parker
Role: Vanguard
Peni Parker’s secondary fire, Cyber-Web Snare, is a perfect counter to many heroes’ abilities. This is what allows her to excel as a Vanguard, as she can use this ability not only to immobilize enemies but also to interrupt some Ultimates and block projectiles.
However, much of Peni Parker’s kit revolves around her mines, which are perfect for controlling the enemy team and defense. Peni Parker can place her mines in webs to block passageways or protect against diving enemies that would target allied Strategists.
The Thing
Role: Vanguard
With high health and durability, The Thing truly shines as a useful Vanguard in Marvel Rivals. Unyielding Will, his passive ability, makes him immune to knockbacks and other forms of crowd control, while the rest of his abilities are dedicated to a healthy mix of tankiness and damage. He can even share some of his tankiness with allies, with Embattled Leap granting himself and nearby allies a temporary damage reduction shield.
Thor
Role: Vanguard
Thor is another prime example of a Vanguard. However, unlike The Thing, his abilities revolve more around bruiser gameplay than The Thing’s tank play style. Although he excels on the frontline, he also has some range thanks to the Awakening Rune.
Venom
Role: Vanguard
Venom pairs the durability and hardiness of Vanguards with the mobility of heroes like Spider-Man. Along with being capable of web slinging and crawling on walls, he can deal large amounts of damage and gain bonus health. This makes him a notable threat in both teamfights and the occasional 1v1 encounter.
All Leaked Marvel Rivals Characters
Although Marvel Rivals already sports a hefty list of playable characters, you can expect to see more heroes joining the roster. Not only have the creators behind the game released information on some upcoming heroes to look out for, but data miners have also found potential leaks for characters that may be joining the game.
It’s important to remember that data miners aren’t official sources — while they may have found potential leaks for Marvel Rivals heroes, this isn’t guaranteed. That said, given the current roster and the characters still left in the Marvel Universe, you may be able to see heroes like these joining the roster in the future:
- Blade
- Deadpool
- Cyclops
- Captain Marvel
- Daredevil
- Hive
- Nightcrawler
- Gambit
- Beast
- Professor X
- Rogue
With so many interesting characters to look forward to, there’s no doubt that Marvel Rivals is one of the best PC games for players looking to enjoy regular new content.
“From the current list of leaked characters, I’m pretty excited about Hive. I think he could be a very cool and potentially impactful addition to the game’s roster.”
— Hogz
More Intense PvP Battles Await
First released in December 2024, Marvel Rivals has taken the hero-shooter world by storm, with the Marvel Rivals character list offering something for everyone. However, it isn’t the only video game in this genre.
If you’re looking for similar PvP games to play while waiting for the release of new heroes, there are plenty of options available. You might even try your hand at one of the hundreds of shooting games you can play today.
