Marvel Rivals developers might be planting fake characters in the game files to expose leakers, it’s claimed.
Marvel Rivals, the third-person hero shooter developed by NetEase Games in collaboration with Marvel Games, has been in the spotlight ever since its release in December 2024. This free-to-play title, available on PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X/S, features a roster of Marvel Comics characters that have drawn comparisons to popular games like Overwatch.
Earlier this month, the game’s Season 1 release introduced iconic characters from the Fantastic Four, including Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, with The Thing and Human Torch set to drop mid-season. With each update, excitement grows—and so do leaks.
There’s a dedicated community where fans datamine new patches, finding potential future content. But now, it seems the developers might be fighting back against these leaks with a surprising tactic.
Are Marvel Rivals Leaks Fake?
Earlier today, “Keone,” a dataminer in the Marvel Rivals Leaks Discord server shared an update. According to the details, the developers might be trying to outsmart leakers by adding false information to the game’s code. One dataminer mentioned that not only are fake characters potentially being added to the files, but this strategy might also be aimed at identifying insider sources.
They wrote, “It has come to our attention that the devs have set up fake characters to catch leakers, not only the ones in the code – but potentially inside sources too. Kang will probably explain this more as we go on, but here is the current list as far as we can figure out”
The post was deleted shortly after. Following this, another dataminer urged caution, suggesting that some of the supposedly “fake” characters might not be decoys after all. “Several characters are speculated to be plants, there is no proof to suggest this though—it’s only based on the pattern of a bunch of new characters being dumped in at once,” the post reads.
“We’re only being cautious and not confirming or denying anyone’s existence. These characters are in the code for anyone to see,” they explained. However, they also noted that some reputable leakers believe the characters might be legitimate. “As always, though, take leaks with a grain of salt.”
Not everyone agrees with the idea that the developers would go to such lengths. X (Twitter) account RivalsInfo argued that the amount of work involved in creating fake characters would be impractical. They highlighted specific elements in the files, such as voice lines, gameplay tags, and ability data, as evidence that these characters might be genuine.
“There is a very low chance that most of the characters are bait just for the amount of work that would have to go into faking them,” they shared. “For some characters, there are voice line events between characters and gameplay tags related to their abilities as well as other things in the files that suggest they weren’t intentionally added as bait.”
At this point, it’s unclear whether these characters, like rumored additions from the X-Men lineup, are real or part of a clever strategy by the developers to catch leakers. Until more information surfaces, we suggest taking everything with a grain of salt.
Here’s the complete list of all the “leaked” Marvel Rivals characters. Check it out below:
- Angela
- Blade
- Captain Marvel
- Deadpool
- Emma Frost
- Hit-Monkey
- Professor X (Support)
- Jia Jing (Support)
- Jean Grey
- Paste Pot Pete (Damage)
- Colossus (Tank)
- M.O.D.O.K.
- The Hood
- Locus (Support)
- Ultron
- Cyclops
- Valkyrie
- Gambit
- Rogue
- Jubilee
- Beast
- Nightcrawler
What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
