Who’s getting buffed (or nerfed) in Marvel Rivals Season 9?
NetEase Games has released Marvel Rivals’ Dev. Vision Vol. 19, diving into the upcoming new heroes and gameplay changes coming to Season 9: The Mystery of Thebes later this week. While the season’s two new playable characters, Jubilee and The Hood, have been revealed, we now have more details on upcoming balance changes and story content.
Marvel Rivals Season 9 storyline explained
In Marvel Rivals Season 9, we’re getting a storyline much akin to X-Men ‘97’s ongoing second season: one that centres on the iconic mutant supervillain Apocalypse. The trailer seems to hint at Apocalypse having a horseman in Jubilee, and being well on his way to enact some grand scheme. Unfortunately, he gets unceremoniously offed, seemingly by The Hood, before the trailer ends.
The heroes of Marvel Rivals then arrive in Thebes to investigate the death of Apocalypse, only for three more murders to crop up among their ranks. That’s where Season 9 begins.
Is Jubilee a Strategist in Marvel Rivals Season 9?
Jubilee will join Marvel Rivals Season 9 before The Hood, employing her explosive fireworks-like abilities in battle as a Strategist. Her abilities also mix in some references to the time she spent in Marvel Comics as a vampire, having been turned into one by Dracula’s son Xarus.
Here is Marvel Rivals’ description of the new character:
“Jubilation Lee enters the battlefield with flying sparks. She's ready to ignite the battlefield with firework displays that are almost as explosive as her personality! Due to the effects of the Timestream Entanglement, Jubilee's son, Shogo, became trapped in his dragon form. Desperate to save him, Jubilee sought help from Apocalypse in Thebes, and in exchange, she became his Horseman of Famine.
“Ready to fight the world and be a shining beacon for her son, Jubilee generates bursts of pyrotechnic plasma as she shapes radiant energy into vibrant projectiles that shimmer with gleaming light. Combined with her vampiric powers, every firework she releases is an invigorating celebration on the battlefield!”
Jubilee has an auto-fire primary attack that heals teammates and damages enemies, as well as a bubble that can be deployed in the battlefield. She can also knock enemies back in battle. Her ult is an area-of-effect attack that also knocks enemies back, and deals both damage and heals within a certain radius.
She also has a vampiric life steal ability, along with a quick dash.
Marvel Rivals Black Widow rework explained
Black Widow is getting a massive rework to make her more viable for competitive play, while staying in keeping with her style as a DPS-focused Duelist. Now, her primary fire can be fired more rapidly without an aim-down-sights scope available by default. Her charged Electro-Plasma blast can also be fired off without the use of her ult, applying a slow effect on enemies.
Her ultimate is getting a bigger change. Now, Black Widow’s ultimate ability will give her an ADS sniper mode, lasting for a set duration or for a limited number of bullets. She still can’t one shot enemies on critical hits, but her sniper bullets now pierce enemies and have a wider hitbox width. Hence, she’ll still be able to deal lots of damage.
Black Widow can still sprint and super-jump, only now without stamina restrictions. She also still has a spinning kick, and can now launch towards enemies while airborne and deal Widow’s Bite.
All-new content in Marvel Rivals Season 9, including new Thebes map and Avengers: Age of Ultron crossover
A whodunnit minigame is coming to Marvel Rivals, allowing players to find clues and solve the mystery of Apocalypse’s enigmatic murder. The minigame is called “Death of Apocalypse” and it allows players to sort through lies and clues in order to figure out who killed the mutant.
Additionally, a new convoy map is coming: Thebes, themed after the ancient Egyptian city. The map will launch on 23 July, 2026. Marvel Rivals is also continuing its MCU collabs with a Path to Doomsday–Avengers: Age of Ultron game mode on 30 July. The game mode will have players battle Ultron in the Avengers Tower, along with his robot counterparts.
New updates will also come to Times Square as part of the Age of Ultron update.
Marvel Rivals Season 9 team-up changes explained
Marvel Rivals Season 9 is also getting a massive change regarding the Team-Up mechanic. First off, heroes are now getting Team-Up loadouts for each character, with each loadout either replacing or enhancing specific hero abilities.
These loadouts will give heroes two unique effects. The Base Effect can be activated no matter whether or not the Team-Up heroes are actually on your team. “Enhanced” Team-Up abilities, however, will need specific heroes to be on the team to be activated.
As a result, these loadouts will allow for more flexible hero-swapping–but you will still want to stay within existing Team-Up her compositions to make the most out of your loadouts. Team-Up Anchors also no longer exist, which means that the buffs they afforded will have to be compensated for in future updates.
Older Team-Up abilities are being added back to the game to join loadout kits, alongside new ones. Future seasons will no longer add and remove Team-Up abilities so often.
Marvel Rivals Season 9 balance changes
There are a few big changes coming this season regarding Team-Ups and Black Widow specifically, so a balance pass is coming to roughly 80% of the roster to keep everyone on the same level. Some heroes are losing out on Team-Up Anchors, while others generally are affected by the loadout changes, thus a few characters will need buffs and nerfs to compensate.
Additionally, the health mechanic is changing. If certain heroes stop getting attacked for more than five seconds, they’ll begin healing with Regenerative Shields. This change is being targeted for high-mobility heroes that need to dive in and out of combat quickly, allowing them to stay alive more easily.
A full list of hero balance changes will be made available later, as it is said to be too long to be included in a single Dev. Vision video.
Marvel Rivals Season 9 battle pass: Deaths on the Nile
Marvel Rivals Season 9: Mystery of Thebes will come with a new battle pass, featuring new cosmetics for Elsa Bloodstone, Rocket Raccoon, Mantis, Deadpool, Namor, and more. The battlepass title is a fun Hercule Poirot reference: Deaths on the Nile.
