Phoenix and Blade headline the new Marvel Rivals season, and it starts next week

Something Marvel Rivals has over the other hero-based games is that it doesn’t have to waste any time trying to make you love its new characters. You already know them from all those movies, comic books, plushies, hoodies, mugs, backpacks, and ill-advised vehicle wraps! So even a guy like me, a lifetime comic geek who only sort of enjoys Marvel Rivals, will throw my hands up and redownload it because it’s finally letting me play as Blade.

That’s right, a trailer dropped earlier today revealing the next season’s newest character additions: Phoenix, a telepathic mutant linked to a fiery manifestation of life itself, and Blade, a sick-ass half-vampire who hunts monsters with a giant sword and Matrix trench coat.

It’s telling that the trailer immediately starts bumping EDM synths as soon as Blade shows up; he’s the sort of character that just makes everything happening seem cooler because he’s in the room.

It’s a brief animated spot that shows both characters doing their iconic moves as they fight a ‘Queen in Black’ version of Hela that’s been transformed by Knull. We still haven’t seen them heroically escorting a payload or using their abilities in-game, so there’s few concrete details to sift through right now; but players won’t be waiting long to get stuck in. The season, The Abyss Awakens, drops July 11—though it’s not clear when exactly each hero will drop. For all the details on the new release, check out our Season 3 guide.

Still, it’s a tantalizing teaser for what’s to come and keeps Marvel Rivals’ momentum going strong. Both of these characters were among the many leaks and rumors that have floated around social media since the game’s launch. Blade in particular is a weird case given that a season all about Dracula came and went without him and he was last found stranded in a spawn room.

While adding so many characters so quickly might be a bit of a balance nightmare, it’s certainly more exciting than a cautious drip-feed. Even as someone who only occasionally pops in to see the new stuff, it’s cool to see the radical visual reinventions these characters get while being Rivals-ified.