Marvel Rivals, a free to play 6v6 shooter game based on Marvel comic book characters, has a new update that launched on February 21 that adds Human Torch and the Thing to the roster, completing the Fantastic Four team.

In reported leaks in late December, concept art of Johnny Storm and his move set were discovered, leading to fans anticipating the Human Torch getting added to the roster. However, players were surprised when developer NetEase added Mr. Fantastic and Sue Storm, the other two Fantastic Four members, instead in early January. e

The new characters, Human Torch and The Thing, have been well received but possibly in need of balancing. 

The Human Torch

The Human Torch, aka Johnny Storm, is a flying character who throws fireballs like a shotgun.

One of his moves, Plasma Body, lets him fly faster. His attack Blazing Blast and Pyro-prison are kind of in sync with each other because he has to shoot fireballs then once they land on the ground his other move lets him connect them making a fire wall. It depends on where you put the fireballs so it could take on different shapes. His last move lets him dive down into the ground doing a lot of knock back. 

His ultimate ability called “Supernova” changes his Blazing Blast attack to fire tornadoes. He has a team up with Storm when they both have their ultimate Storm could absorb the Human 

Human Torch throws tornadoes that lets Storm’s ultimate ability do more damage and lasts up to 12 seconds longer!

The Human Torch’s attack spreads depending how close or far you are. According to Flats, a Twitch streamer who often streams Rivals, has said Torch has “one of the nastiest head shot damage.”

The Thing

The Thing, aka Ben Grimm is a vanguard who’s job is to protect his teammates, but many people believe that The Thing isn’t like how a regular tank is supposed to be played. 

According to TimTheTatMan, a Twitch streamer, “This tank isn’t like any tank we have had before…The Thing is very well designed.” The thing is different because unlike the majority of tanks he counters opponent movement strategies instead of just blocking damage.

When left clicking, instead of punching once you punch twice. Stone Haymaker is an attack that you could use almost instantaneously that can pierce through enemies with a range of 15 meters. He has a rush move called Yancy Street Charge and when finished you slam the ground doing tick damage. His final move called Embatted Leap lets him jump to an ally and let them take reduced damage. His ultimate ability is called “Clobberin’ Time” it slams the ground knocking enemies up stunning them. The stun lasts for about 2 to 3 seconds. 

Balance Fixes and Maps

In addition to the new characters, some characters have been adjusted to be more balanced, which changes the meta to some extent. They are nerfing the rate that the main healers, Luna Snow and Cloak and Dagger, get their ultimate, making it so that the game feels more fast paced. They also teased Blade’s character design on the map and toward the end of a trailer.

Now the final thing of this update is a new map. “Empire of Eternal Night – Central Park” has a cool map design but the thing is it is more advantageous to the people defending. If you are defending you have an advantage because certain points are hard for the attacking team to get through so area control is a huge advantage for the defending team. According to TikTok user, ttv_x2savage, “If you’re [defending the objective], then you have a high ground advantage and just like any shooter game, high ground matters.” In certain places the choke points are so small and at the final objective the people defending have a high ground advantage.

Ongoing Events

They are currently doing an event where it promotes playing the new characters. The tasks are super easy to do and don’t take much time. One of the quests you had to do was deal 100,000   damage. Once you finished all the quest you could get a free Groot skin, “Carved Traveler.” You could get chrono tickets and units from this event. 

PC Players can download the game on Steam, Playstation and XBOX players can download it from the online store.