From simps to saps: Marvel Rivals is now targeting ships in Season 5, starting with Gambit

Marvel Rivals’ initial strategy to remain relevant in the hero shooter category was to shove heroes’ asses in our faces in TikTok. NetEase already did the gooner route, however, and is now looking to appeal to more romantic gamers.

On November 14th, Season 5 will go live in Marvel Rivals, bringing us “Love is a Battlefield.” (Way) ahead of Valentine’s Day, NetEase is now leaning in to players’ fan-favorite ships, apparently leaning in to the stereotype that the French are romantics. That’s because Gambit, a strategist, is coming alonkg with Season 5, followed by his lover mid-season.

So don’t worry, there will be a new female butt to stare at.

Playing into ships is not a new concept for shooter games, interestingly enough. Apex Legends has basically shaped its lore around legends’ relationships. Fans were obsessed with seeing the story behind Bloodhound and Fuse (who are now getting married) and we also have confirmed relationships between Loba and Valkyrie (broken up), Rampart and Mirage, and Wattson and Crypto. This is probably the only time you’ll see people talk about Crypto.

Overwatch 2 is also very into hero lore as a way to keep the game interesting. While Blizzard hasn’t fed into the fan fic like Respawn has, who can forget people shipping Mercy and Genji (constantly) and D.Va and Lucio. Devs have also created a mini-game, Loverwatch, where you can romance its heroes.

Now, it’s Marvel Rivals’ turn. And we are gettting Scarlett Witch and Venom…?

Marvel Rivals Season 5 updates

On top of more butts, Marvel Rivals Season 5 has a few other updates in store.

Gambit is a Strategist with kinetic energy control, tossing around his playing cards and moving around the map. We don’t know what Rogue will be like yet, but we are pretty interested to see how her abilities play out.

Speaking of heroes, we will get some Team-Up abilities. This is right on brand for Love is a Battlefield, I’d say. This includes the only confirmed ones:

• Gambit and Magneto: Explosive Entanglement
• Cloak & Dagger and Hawkeye: Sword of Duality
• Blade and Moon Knight: Blade of Khonshu

Season 5 also has a new map, New York Times Square. This can support up to 100 players in a peaceful environment where you can socialize, relax, twerk, whatever. There will also be the new 18v18 Annihaltion mode, which should be insane. This will go live November 27th.