Marvel Rivals First Meta May Have Been Uncovered Thanks to Adam Warlock’s New Trailer

The hype train for Marvel Rivals continues to pick up steam as fans eagerly await the chance to get hands-on with the game’s extensive roster of Marvel heroes, anti-heroes, and supervillains. With the closed beta just around the corner, speculation is running rampant about what the first meta of the game could look like.

The recent character reveal trailer for Adam Warlock, a Strategist (read: Support) Hero set to join the upcoming hero shooter’s roster in the upcoming beta, has sparked speculation about the game’s first meta and the potential synergy that could very well shake things up.

Adam Warlock’s Ultimate: A Game-Changer?

The speculation centers around Adam Warlock’s Ultimate (Q) ability, rumored to be named “Karmic Revival.” This ability seems to take a page out of Overwatch‘s playbook—specifically the initial version of Mercy’s “Resurrect”—allowing Warlock to bring multiple fallen teammates back into the fight with the press of a button.

There’s a catch, however: these revived allies will have lower health but enjoy a brief period of invincibility. And this is exactly where our beloved King of Wakanda comes into play in the (plausible) future Marvel Rivals meta:

Adam Warlock character trailer is up on IGN, but the re-encode is a little rough so I’m gonna wait for the main channel upload in 25 minutes after their exclusivity window ends. Ability thread incoming 🚨

Initial thoughts: Does his revive work with Black Panther’s passive? 👀

— Miller Ross (@mmmmmmmmiller) July 19, 2024

Ross raises an intriguing question about the potential synergy between Warlock’s Ultimate and Black Panther’s passive ability, “Panther’s Cunning,” which allows the Wakandan hero to dish out higher amounts of damage when at low health.

The Marvel Rivals Duo That Just Makes Sense

If Warlock were to revive a fallen Black Panther teammate and intentionally not heal them up to full HP, it could activate the latter’s passive while also granting him temporary invincibility. This combination could make for a mighty “trump card” on the battlefield.

As Ross points out in a follow-up tweet:

I think it might! You can see here that Groot is marked as critical, but he’s fully healed. Adam and T’Challa sounds like a great combo actually, if this works the way it appears to pic.twitter.com/e4LW87pwUw

— Miller Ross (@mmmmmmmmiller) July 19, 2024

The potential synergy between these two abilities is obvious, and it’s hard not to imagine what other similar combos we’ll get to see in the upcoming closed beta. And, with NetEase Games set to kick off the two-week-long closed beta on July 23rd at 3:00 PM PDT (which will last until August 5th at midnight PDT), fans won’t have to wait long to put these theories to the test!

While console sign-ups have already concluded, PC players can still sign up for the Steam Playtest starting today at 3:00 PM PDT. Additionally, interested players can claim a Marvel Rivals beta key, provided they meet NetEase Games’ rather generous conditions.

Which hero combinations do you think will reign supreme in the game’s upcoming Closed Beta Test, and how do you plan to leverage their unique abilities? Let us know in the comments below!