Marvel’s greatest family, the Fantastic Four, is complete with the recent update to Marvel Rivals and fans may have gotten a hint as to who the next new character might be.
On Friday, the other two characters from the Fantastic Four superhero team, the Human Torch and The Thing were added to the game along with the Central Park map.
The third member of the Fantastic Four and brother to the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm), the Human Torch has the ability to control flames and coat himself in them. This makes him an obvious duelist, a character that focuses heavily on damage, and quite the powerhouse to boot.
Besides his primary attack, fire cluster, which acts as a sort of shotgun, the Human Torch has five abilities, with three of them focusing on dealing damage and the fourth serving as a movement boost.
His first ability, blazing blast, allows him to fire up to three fireballs which can be combined with two of his other abilities to deal massive damage to opponents. These fireballs remain on the ground for around six seconds and disappear afterward or when combined with his other abilities. This ability will serve as the main combo starter for the following two abilities.
His second ability, flaming meteor, causes him to dive towards the ground like a meteor and deal damage to enemies. If he hits any of the fireballs thrown with blazing blast, they will detonate and deal massive damage.
His third ability, pyro-prison, allows him to summon a small wall of flames from between the fireballs thrown by blazing blast and deal hefty damage to any enemies within. This ability is perfect for “king of the hill” type objectives as he can just coat the entire area in flames.
Lastly, his fourth ability isn’t damage-focused but instead helps him to fly faster. Plasma body allows him to fly slightly faster, about as fast as the character Storm when she’s using goddess boost to enhance her speed.
When activating his ultimate, supernova, it powers the Human Torch up and boosts the damage of his primary attack, makes him take less damage from attacks and turns the fireballs from blazing blast into fire tornadoes when they hit the ground.
The initial activation of supernova also releases a medium-sized explosion which deals a decent amount of damage.
Just like with all the characters in the game, the Human Torch has team-up abilities that can be activated when certain characters are on your team. In this case, he can unleash new combo abilities when Storm or the other members of the Fantastic Four are on his team.
When Storm uses her ultimate ability omega hurricane, Johnny can power her up by activating omega fire” while in his supernova state to deal an increased level of damage.
When his sister Invisible Woman is on his team, the Human Torch can use the ability storm siblings to grant himself damage reduction and healing for about five seconds.
The Human Torch has the potential to be a staple pick for the competitive genre thanks to his high damage, but isn’t too unbalanced of a character thanks to his slow flight speed which makes him an easy target for characters like Punisher or Spider-Man.
The second character added in the update, The Thing, (Benjamin Grimm) takes the role of vanguard, a defender who draws the attention of the enemy team and is less complex than the Human Torch.
The Thing has five different abilities, not including his primary attack rocky jab where he throws out one to two quick punches, with one of them being a passive ability that protects him over time.
His first and arguably most useful ability, stone haymaker, allows him to charge up a punch that deals high damage and gives him a small health boost for a short time when used. This ability also doesn’t have a recharge time making it a very reliable tool for dealing consistent damage.
Yancy street charge makes him charge forward before smacking the ground and launching up enemies. Vanguards are known for being some of the slower characters in the game so this could be a good movement option for The Thing.
Embattled leap allows The Thing to jump toward an ally and apply damage reduction on both the ally and himself which lasts for three seconds.
His fourth and only passive ability, unyielding will, prevents him from being launched into the air, staggered back and from other attacks with similar effects. This includes attacks such as Winter Soldier’s hook ability or Spider-Man’s web yank ability.
This passive makes The Thing the only vanguard in the game who can’t be budged or staggered by certain attacks that would normally eliminate a vanguard.
The Thing’s ultimate ability clobberin’ time has him punch the ground which releases a shockwave that deals high damage and launches the enemies into the air, stunning them temporarily.
While this may seem lackluster at first glance, this can be better used with yancy street charge in order to get close to the enemy or stone haymaker to follow up after the shockwave and dish out massive damage.
Like usual, The Thing has his own team-up abilities that are enabled when other characters, in this case Wolverine and Invisible Woman, are on his team.
When paired with Wolverine, The Thing can lob him towards opponents while with Invisible Woman, The Thing gains an ability that gives him damage reduction and health regeneration.
The Thing isn’t too crazy of an addition but that’s not to say he can’t be useful out on the field. His simple, yet reliable tool kit makes for a reliable and easy-to-learn character that can play his role well.
Just like with the release of Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman on Jan. 10, a new map is coming with the addition of The Human Torch and The Thing.
The map in question is a vampirized version of New York’s Central Park where Dracula, the antagonist of the current season of the game, has made his temporary home.
Hardcore Marvel comics fans might notice several easter eggs such as Squirrel Girl’s treehouse, Ratatoskr – the squirrel that carries messages up and down Yggdrasil in Norse mythology and even Dracula himself flipping through the pages of the Darkhold.
Even more interesting though is that the half-vampire and nightstalker Blade can be found chained up and captured on the map.
Considering that the theme of the current season revolves around vampires, it’s no surprise for him to make an appearance, especially since he was mentioned in the lore of several characters in the game, one of which being Spider-Man.
The game is currently only halfway through its first season, with it scheduled to end in April, so it is entirely possible for Blade to become a permanent addition to the roster later in the season given that there is no one more perfect for fighting vampires than him.
