One of Marvel Rivals’ Leaked Season 3 Characters is Under Far More Pressure Than the Other

Marvel Rivals‘ Hellfire Gala-themed Season 2 is coming to a close. Season 3 is expected to start next month, and it will supposedly pit the game’s roster against Knull, the god of symbiotes. As with every season of Marvel Rivals, Season 3 will bring new cosmetics, new maps, and, most importantly, new characters.

While Season 1 of Marvel Rivals introduced the entirety of The Fantastic Four to the game, the developers at NetEase have stated that the season was an outlier. Season 3 will add two new characters just as Season 2 did, but unlike Season 2, Season 3 will only last two months as the development team transitions to its new release schedule. This means that Season 3 will introduce one new character when it launches in July and then another halfway through the season in August. NetEase has yet to officially announce which characters will be added in these updates, but leaks and teases have all but confirmed who will be coming to the game.

Marvel Rivals is on the Verge of Repeating Its Biggest Character Mistake So Far

Marvel Rivals continues to bring players new characters, but for the second time, it may be missing a huge opportunity with one who should appear.

Every Hurdle That Blade Will Need to Overcome in Marvel Rivals Season 3

Joining the fight against Knull in Marvel Rivals‘ Season 3 are none other than Jean Grey and Blade. Both characters have long been rumored additions to the game’s roster, but a recent leak about Marvel Rivals has indicated that they will finally be arriving in the next season. This is no surprise, as the Marvel Rivals development team has been teasing both Jean Grey and Blade in recent updates.

Moon Knight received his Phoenix Knight skin, and a lore drop in the Season 2.5 update had Adam Warlock warning that the heroes would need to recruit a “primal force of the universe” in order to combat Knull. Blade, on the other hand, was teased throughout Marvel Rivals‘ first season. He was referenced in the lore multiple times, featured as a prisoner in Dracula’s castle on the Central Park map, and when Season 2 began, he could be found recovering in a bed on the Wakanda map. However, in the game’s most recent update, Blade finally disappeared from the bed — a change that was specifically pointed out by the official Marvel Rivals X account.

Why Blade Will Have a Hard Time Meeting Fan Expectations

While fans have been begging for Blade to be introduced as a playable character in Marvel Rivals, he has been set up to be a far more contentious addition to the game than Jean Grey. Marvel Rivals has kept players waiting for Blade for two full seasons — one of which was an entirely vampire-themed season — and has cheekily referenced the character multiple times. This desperation for Blade content is only exemplified when taking into account the lack of updates on Arkane Lyon’s Blade game and the Blade film’s continuous descent into development hell. The stakes have been raised regarding Blade’s addition to the game, so if Marvel Rivals doesn’t deliver, it will be all the more disappointing for longtime fans of the character.

The Poor Timing of Blade’s Arrival

Adding to the pressure of Blade’s arrival, the development team has also chosen an odd time to drop him into the game. Blade would have been an obvious addition to a season that had Dracula as its villain, but with the cast of Marvel Rivals now preparing to face a cosmic-level threat like Knull, he not only feels thematically inappropriate but seems like one of the last heroes that should be recruited for this fight due to his limited power set.

On the gameplay side of things, leaked information regarding Blade states that the character will be a Duelist. With Jean Grey also rumored to be a Duelist, this season could easily frustrate Strategist and Vanguard players who have already complained about there being too many Duelists in the game. Marvel Rivals‘ roster currently has 20 Duelists, 10 Vanguards, and 9 Strategists. If Marvel Rivals ignores fan demands for more healers and tanks by adding another Duelist in the form of Blade, then his kit will need to be properly balanced. Bringing yet another overpowered DPS character to Marvel Rivals will almost certainly lead to more backlash from the community.

When to Expect Blade in Marvel Rivals

Blade and Jean Grey are both set to join Marvel Rivals in Season 3, which kicks off on July 11. Blade’s kit has already supposedly been leaked by RivalsInfo on X. The character will have access to a sword, a shotgun, siphon attacks, and the ability to reduce the amount of healing that an opponent receives. However, it is still unknown if Blade will release at the start of the season or be added in Season 3.5 in August. Whenever Blade does release, the pressure will be on for Marvel Rivals to nail this highly anticipated character.