Marvel Rivals Season 9.5 release date and what to expect from the mid-season update?

We are partway through Marvel Rivals Season 9, with launch early July. So far, we’ve had a bit of the roadmap appear, but, with the month close drawing in, we are mere days for the next part of the roadmap. Coming up in August is Marvel Rivals season 9.5, with its release date offering some more news on who and what else is coming in the season. 

Marvel Rivals Season 9.5 release date

Marvel Rivals Season 9.5 is officially confirmed for August 7th, 2026, as revealed in the Season 9 roadmap. Based on previous season patterns, expect the update to go live at around 3:00 AM PT on August 7th. Here is what to expect when it arrives.

The headline addition in Season 9.5 is The Hood, who joins the roster as a Vanguard, the game’s tank role. He’s expected to fight with twin pistols for ranged damage. That makes him a genuinely new profile for the Vanguard role, which has largely been melee and close-range focused. Deadpool had some hit-scan with his Desert Eagles, but, he mainly combo’d and survived and harassed with his Katanas.

 Exact details on how The Hood will play remain unknown for now, though speculation points to long-range poke damage from his twin pistols being his main identity. Though,some of the team ups with Jubilee might suggest what he can do. We’ve also seen a few teasers of him locked away in the Thebes map too

For anyone following the Death of Apocalypse event throughout Season 9, The Hood has been extensively teased across the seasonal lore, the investigation cases and datamines. WWE star Damian Priest has also teased on social media that he voices The Hood.

Outside of that, we don’t know much else. There’s anticipation that Gorr could be another hero coming in the season. He was part of the Death of Apocalypse event, being the guy that hired The Hood. Quite interesting we are getting some proper super villains for a change. 

There will likely be a balance patch for the mid-season too. Alongside more cosmetics and maybe some more events to start the half season off. We reckon Cloak and Dagger might get some tuning on her ice team up ability. Maybe Venom and Penny gets touched up with their rising prominence? Who knows?

Authored by Craig Robinson

Craig Robinson is an experienced gaming and esports writer with nearly a decade of coverage experience since 2015. With a background in software engineering, he combines his journalistic expertise with a strong understanding of technical SEO and web development fundamentals. He’s passionate about covering MMO games, competitive esports, and crafting guides that help players get the most out of their favorite titles. He's been writing about gaming and esports for over 10 years, which started as for fun project during university. He has since developed his skill set, contributing to newsrooms coverage of key games and event, and blending evergreen content strategy and a solid grasp of content marketing fundamentals. His work has appeared in Esports News UK, Gamer Guides, theEscpaist, and VideoGamer, and he now contributes to Gamehub's review team. When he’s not writing, Craig can usually be found running, at the gym, or tinkering with coding projects to keep his GitHub active.

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