Marvel Rivals Characters List (All 51 Heroes)

How the Roster Is Organized

Marvel Rivals sorts its heroes into three primary roles plus one flexible outlier. Vanguards are the tanks who lead the charge and absorb pressure. Duelists are the damage dealers who secure eliminations and apply threat. Strategists are the healers and support players who keep everyone alive and provide utility. Deadpool sits outside this tidy split as a multi-role hero.

That three-role structure mirrors the shooter tradition of tank, damage, and support, but the comic-book kits give each hero a distinct flavor. Because the roster is now 51 deep, every role has real variety inside it, from close-range brawlers to long-range specialists.

When you read the lists below, remember that role membership tells you a hero's job, not their difficulty. Some of the hardest heroes to master live in the Duelist pool, while some of the most beginner-friendly picks are Vanguards and Strategists.

One more thing to keep in mind: the roster is not fixed. Each season tends to add at least one hero, and occasionally an existing hero is reworked in ways that change how it feels to play even if its role stays the same. That is why we date this list to Season 8.5 and update it as the game evolves. If you are reading long after that season, treat the counts here as a snapshot and confirm the current total in game, because the direction of travel is always upward.

Vanguards — The 13 Tanks

Vanguards create space, break the enemy formation, and shield the team. There are 13 of them in Season 8.5:

Angela, Captain America, Devil Dinosaur, Doctor Strange, Emma Frost, Groot, Hulk, Magneto, Peni Parker, Rogue, The Thing, Thor, and Venom.

Note that Rogue is a Vanguard here, a point that trips up players who assume her mutant power set makes her a damage pick. In this roster she leads the front line. The Thing and Emma Frost are two of the sturdier bruiser-style tanks, while Doctor Strange and Magneto bring the barriers and utility that anchor a slower, more defensive composition.

A good rule of thumb: if you enjoy starting fights, controlling where they happen, and protecting your healers, the Vanguard pool is your home. Most balanced comps run two of these heroes.

Inside the role you will find real variety. Some Vanguards are dive tanks like Venom and Thor that want to leap into the backline, while others such as Doctor Strange and Magneto are anchor tanks that hold ground behind barriers. Groot and Peni Parker lean into zoning and area control, dropping structures that reshape how a fight can be fought. Understanding which flavor of tank you are playing matters, because a dive tank that turtles behind a shield and an anchor tank that dives alone are both playing against their kit.

Duelists — The 26 Damage Dealers

Duelists are the largest role by a wide margin, with 26 heroes. This is where you go to deal damage, dive backlines, and close out rounds. The full list:

Black Cat, Black Panther, Black Widow, Blade, Cyclops, Daredevil, Elsa Bloodstone, Hawkeye, Hela, Human Torch, Iron Fist, Iron Man, Magik, Mister Fantastic, Moon Knight, Namor, Phoenix, Psylocke, Scarlet Witch, Spider-Man, Squirrel Girl, Star-Lord, Storm, The Punisher, Winter Soldier, and Wolverine.

Cyclops is the newest addition, arriving in Season 8.5, and joins a crowded field of ranged and melee threats. Phoenix and Storm anchor the high-mobility caster archetype, Wolverine and Magik reward aggressive divers, and The Punisher and Hawkeye reward players who prefer steady, positioning-based damage. With 26 options, there is a Duelist for nearly every playstyle, which is exactly why this role is the most volatile whenever balance changes land.

It helps to think of the Duelist pool in sub-archetypes. Hitscan and precision shooters like Hawkeye and Black Widow reward aim and positioning. Dive assassins such as Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Iron Fist collapse on isolated targets and then escape. Casters and area-damage heroes like Scarlet Witch, Storm, and Iron Man control zones and pressure groups. Sustained melee bruisers such as Wolverine and Magik want to stick to a target and grind it down. When the randomizer hands you a Duelist you have never touched, identifying its sub-archetype tells you immediately how you should be trying to play it.

Strategists — The 11 Healers and Support

Strategists are the smallest role at 11 heroes, but their impact on a match is outsized. They heal, buff, cleanse, and provide the utility that turns a good team into a winning one. The current list:

Adam Warlock, Cloak & Dagger, Gambit, Invisible Woman, Jeff the Land Shark, Loki, Luna Snow, Mantis, Rocket Raccoon, Ultron, and White Fox.

Gambit is a Strategist in this roster, which surprises players who picture him as a damage-focused card-thrower. Here his kit leans into support and disruption. Ultron and White Fox round out the more technical, utility-heavy end of the pool, while Luna Snow, Mantis, and Cloak & Dagger offer flexible healing with self-defense tools. If you like being the reason your team survives a fight, this is your role, and most comps run two Strategists.

Even within just 11 heroes the support pool covers distinct styles. Some Strategists, like Luna Snow and Mantis, blend solid healing with enough personal damage and self-defense to hold their own when dived. Others, such as Adam Warlock and Invisible Woman, lean on utility, protection, and burst healing to swing a fight at a key moment. Rocket Raccoon and Jeff the Land Shark bring mobility and unconventional tools that reward creative play. A common mistake is pairing two supports that both want to play the same way; the strongest support duos usually combine one healer who anchors and one who flexes forward with utility.

Deadpool — The Multi-Role Wildcard

Deadpool sits in a category of his own as a multi-role hero, which is fitting for a character who rarely respects any rules. Rather than locking into tank, damage, or support, he brings a flexible kit that can lean in different directions depending on how you play him and what your team needs.

This flexibility makes Deadpool a natural fill pick. When a draft is missing a piece, he can help paper over the gap without forcing you to commit hard to a single role identity. It also makes him a favorite of the randomizer crowd, since he plays differently game to game.

Because he does not slot neatly into the 2-2-2 framework that structures most compositions, treat Deadpool as a situational answer rather than a default. Learn what he covers, and pull him out when the standard role split is not serving your team.

His presence on the roster is also a useful reminder that role labels are a guide, not a cage. The developers can and do create heroes that bend the categories, and future additions may blur the lines further. When you scan any characters list, focus less on the label and more on the question the game actually asks in a match: who is holding the front, who is dealing the damage, and who is keeping everyone alive? Deadpool is the hero who reminds you those questions matter more than the tidy three-column table they usually live in.

Using the Roster With a Randomizer

A characters list is most useful when you actually play the heroes on it, not just read their names. Our fan-made hero randomizer pulls straight from this roster, so you can spin up a random Vanguard, Duelist, or Strategist and commit to learning it for a match.

This is the fastest way to close the gaps in your hero pool. Most players quietly avoid a third of the roster simply because they have never tried it. Forcing yourself onto Angela one game, Emma Frost the next, and Gambit after that turns abstract names into real matchup knowledge you can lean on when you draft.

As new heroes join in future seasons, this list will grow, and the randomizer will grow with it. Bookmark this page as your quick reference, and treat every unfamiliar name the randomizer throws at you as a chance to widen your comfort zone rather than a bad beat.

A practical way to use the two together is to keep this roster open in a second window while you play random heroes. When the randomizer lands on someone new, glance at their role here first so you know the job you are meant to do, then load in and focus on that one responsibility rather than trying to master the whole kit at once. Over a couple of weeks of this, the fifty-one names stop being a wall of text and start being a mental map you can actually draft from.