Avengers: Doomsday might still be eight months away, but every facet of Marvel wants to start getting people eager—including Marvel Rivals, which will let you show off your excitement for the new film by letting you sit your ass down and take a break from playing to watch Avengers clips instead.
NetEase has released a first look at a bunch of content coming to Rivals this week to kickstart its “Path to Doomsday” initiative, which will see the game count down to the arrival of the film with content drops themed around each MCU Avengers movie, kicking off with 2012’s The Avengers. While there are more traditional Rivals additions in the drop, like MCU-inspired skins for Loki and Iron Man based on their designs from the film and an asymmetrical PvP mode where teams of Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, Thor, and Hawkeye can face off against a player cast as the boss-sized Loki, perhaps the oddest slice of it all comes in Rivals‘ free-roam lobby map, Times Square, which will be transformed into an in-game theater/photo op for the next month.
🎉 WATCH. CAPTURE. CELEBRATE.
The Avengers have taken over Times Square, and you’re invited to the front row! Witness iconic moments on the big screen to earn “The Avengers” gallery card, then head over to the Gift Shop for an exclusive photo op with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.… pic.twitter.com/0HokT4iusp
— Marvel Rivals (@MarvelRivals) April 29, 2026
As well as an area where you can sit down and just watch a highlight reel of scenes from the first Avengers‘ climactic New York fight scene, you’ll be able to interact with quasi photo booths that let you recreate moments from the film with whatever custom skins you want for each of the MCU Avengers’ characters—although sadly, it doesn’t seem like you’ll be able to imagine your own “what if” moments and replace characters with any other members of Rivals‘ roster. No Luna Snow hulk-smashing Loki in an act of support-on-support violence, alas.
What’s coming in this week’s Avengers update gives us a pretty good indicator of Rivals‘ plans for the other movies, but still, it does feel a bit weird to be rewarded for watching Marvel movie clips in-game instead of simply just playing Rivals itself. The “Path to Doomsday” update will go live in Rivals starting tomorrow and runs through May 28.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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