Marvel Rivals Season 7.5 Release Date & Overview + Black Cat

So here we are. Marvel Rivals Season 7.5 arrives on April 17, 2026, delivering the mid-season update the fanbase has been losing sleep over since the first tease of a certain cat burglar skulking around Lower Manhattan. Servers are expected to go offline for maintenance starting around 3:00 AM PT / 09:00 UTC, which, if you were planning to sleep that night, is your problem now.

The update is titled The Hunt Is On: a name that works precisely as hard as it needs to and not a single syllable more. Season 7 began on March 20, 2026 with White Fox entering the roster as the 48th hero and a Strategist, which rather neatly sets the stage for her thieving counterpart to take the 49th slot. The season runs through May 22, 2026, so you have a solid five weeks to decide whether you actually like Black Cat or just the idea of Black Cat.

The entire mid-season update hinges on one woman, one ring, and an absurd quantity of bad luck. Which, in fairness, describes every superhero game launch.

Key Dates at a Glance

Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. Black Cat Marvel Rivals hero #49, is one of Marvel's most recognizable anti-heroines and, frankly, the most overdue addition to a game that already has three Spider-Man-adjacent characters and no cat burglars whatsoever. She is almost certainly going to be a Duelist. White Fox took the Strategist role, and nobody in their right mind is making Felicia Hardy a Vanguard.

In the game's lore, Felicia has been hired by Mayor Kingpin to steal the Tablet of Life and Destiny from Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum, in exchange for criminal immunity and a clean record. Whether Kingpin will honor that deal is, diplomatically speaking, a topic for another patch. As part of her deal, she also obtains the Ring of Zona: one of Strange's sling ring variants, capable of creating portals and rendering targets invisible. Expect this artifact to factor directly into her kit.

Confirmed Lore Ability Source The Ring of Zona is explicitly mentioned in the Season 7 "Catch Me if They Can" gallery card. It allows for portal creation and invisibility. This is not speculation. This is in the game's own writing, which apparently exists for Marvel Rivals skins help.

Rumored movement speed buff granted to both characters when targeting the same enemy. Their entire relationship, condensed into a passive stat.

Her playstyle is projected to sit somewhere between Black Panther and Spider-Man: a high-skill Black Cat Duelist role ceiling, built around flanking, punishing isolated backliners, and getting out alive. She will not be an entry-level hero. You will die with her repeatedly before you look impressive with her. This is the way.

While the world waits for Black Cat, the final week of Season 7.0 delivers the Hospitality 101 event, running April 10 through May 8, 2026. The star of the show is Deadpool's maid costume: officially called Maid-Pool: which cannot be purchased in the store. Because of course it cannot. Instead, it is gated behind a Deadpool Maid event inspired by the gacha balloon system used previously for costumes like Psylocke's.

The mechanic works as follows: spend in-game units to pop balloons. Each popped balloon yields a cosmetic item. If you happen to burst the specific balloon containing the Maid-Pool costume, you automatically receive all remaining cosmetics in the event bundle at no additional cost. This means you can theoretically acquire a full premium costume bundle for almost nothing, if you are the kind of person who finds four-leaf clovers and wins radio call-in contests. The rest of us will simply pay.

Note on Jeff's Matching Maid Costume Jeff the Land Shark's "Maid to Chomp" costume IS available in the store starting April 9 at 10 PM ET. Deadpool's is not. If you spend all your units on Jeff and forget Deadpool's event exists, that is a personal failure and the game will not apologize.

All New Content: Season 7.5 Summary

Future Characters Teased in Lower Manhattan

NetEase continues its tradition of hiding entire character announcements inside decorative map assets, daring players to find them. The Marvel Rivals new characters 2026 teased within Lower Manhattan at launch included:

• The Hood: Confirmed upcoming playable hero, appeared in the official season trailer alongside new villain the Gilded Saint and a brief Kingpin appearance.
• Dr. Connors / The Lizard: Appeared via in-universe artwork, depicted in a design inspired by the TASM film version. Currently a lore prisoner in Kingpin's Vault. Coincidentally also the best live-action Spider-Man's villain.
• Norman Osborn / Green Goblin: Portrait discovered while exploring. Was previously teased in a community vote poll by executive producer Danny. His depiction includes a hairstyle suggesting he sleeps in a Durag, which is either an easter egg or a bold character choice.
• Gwen Stacy: Found taking a selfie with a young Peter Parker on the map. Fate within the Rivals continuity unknown. Comic law suggests this will not end well for her.

None of these are confirmed playable dates. They are breadcrumbs. Enjoy the breadcrumbs.

Revealed at the Marvel Rivals Assemble live event at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on March 3, 2026, Path to Doomsday Marvel Rivals is a six-month crossover roadmap running from April through December, timed to culminate alongside the theatrical release of Avengers: Doomsday on December 18, 2026. NetEase also confirmed that 10 new playable heroes will join the roster throughout 2026, which is either generous or terrifying depending on how attached you are to the current meta.

The first mode: the Avengers 2012 game mode Marvel Rivals: is confirmed as asymmetric PvP, not full PvE. The first Path to Doomsday PvE mode arrives later in the season alongside additional content updates. If you were hoping to team up and fight waves of Chitauri bots cooperatively in April, please adjust your expectations to approximately June at the earliest.

What to Actually Do Right Now

Given that Marvel Rivals Season 7.5 update does not land until April 17, the window between now and launch is technically free time. Here is a ruthlessly practical to-do list:

1. Stock units. The Hospitality 101 balloon event goes live April 10. If you have units saved, this is your moment to find out exactly how unlucky you are.
2. Buy Iron Fist and Jeff skins on April 9 if you want them: they are direct store purchases, no event required.
3. Learn the existing meta before Black Cat dismantles it. The Season 7.0 ultimate charge nerf already reshaped competitive play. Understand what you're working with before a new flanker makes all of it irrelevant.
4. Read the gallery cards. The Ring of Zona and Black Cat's Kingpin deal are in the in-game lore right now. NetEase puts actual plot in there and most people ignore it entirely.
5. Set a reminder for April 17 at 3 AM PT if you are that person. You know who you are.