Marvel Rivals adds X-Men's Jubilee in season 9: first look at gameplay

Beloved X-Men character Jubilee is joining the ever-growing roster of Marvel Rivals, developer NetEase Games announced Tuesday during a livestream. Jubilee will debut in season 9, which is set to be released on July 10.

NetEase, which develops and publishes the Marvel-branded Overwatch competitor, announced Marvel Rivals‘ latest roster update during a broadcast that officially revealed the game’s next season. Jubilee will be a Strategist (Marvel Rivals‘ version of a support hero), which might come as a surprise to those familiar with her powers. Jubilee’s mutant ability is pyrotechnics, meaning she literally creates fireworks that can be launched around like little bombs. That feels more in-line with a Duelist (DPS/assassin), but NetEase has made unexpected choices in the past about what roles characters are, and it has largely worked out. Gambit, for example, has a similar power set (albeit throwing cards rather than fireworks) and is also a Strategist.

Here’s how Marvel Rivals’ developers explain Jubilee’s Strategist gameplay:

Ready to fight the world and be a shining beacon for her son, Jubilee generates bursts of pyrotechnic plasma as she shapes radiant energy into vibrant projectiles that shimmer with gleaming light. Combined with her vampiric powers, every firework she releases is an invigorating celebration on the battlefield!

The design of Jubilee in Marvel Rivals stays close to the iconic elements of her comic look, with a long yellow jacket, yellow gloves, stylish pink sunglasses, and a top that is predominantly pink as well. She wears a belt that has an A on it rather than an X. Of particular interest, however, are her eyes. They have the same yellowish tint that Blade and Dracula have in the game, which means that Jubilee is a vampire in Marvel Rivals.

To wit, Jubilee’s Team-Up abilities pair her up with two of Marvel Rivals‘ supernatural heroes. Those abilities are Hellfire Sparks (Jubilee + The Hood) and Vampiric Kin (Jubilee + Blade).

It might come as a shock, but Jubilee’s vampiric nature has a long history in the comics. During the “Curse of the Mutants” arc by Victor Gischler in X-Men (2010), Jubilee was bitten by Xarus (the son of Dracula). Surprisingly, Jubilee remained a mutant for several years. She was eventually cured in 2019 when Quintin Quire gave her a piece of the Phoneix Force. To this day, Jubilee still deals with vampiric problems as a nod to her own past as one of the undead. This piece of her history appearing in Marvel Rivals is a nice nod to some of the sillier aspects of the comics.

Marvel Rivals is going deep on Jubilee lore, revealing her place in the game’s story as: “Due to the effects of the Timestream Entanglement, Jubilee’s son, Shogo, became trapped in his dragon form. Desperate to save him, Jubilee sought help from Apocalypse in Thebes, and in exchange, she became his Horseman of Famine.” Both Jubilee and Apocalypse are having something of a moment right now, as both have prominent roles in X-Men ’97 season 2.

Jubilee will be joined by The Hood as season 9’s other new character. The new season will be themed around the iconic X-Men story Age of Apocalypse, including a new Egyptian-themed map. In addition to her usual ensemble, Jubilee will get a vampire-inspired “Midnight Mutant” look in season 9.