The internet is currently a total minefield for Marvel Rivals fans. If you’ve been doom-scrolling through Reddit or hanging out in the Discord leaks channel, you’ve likely seen the flood of info regarding "Season 1: Eternal Night Falls." It's chaotic. Some of it's legit, some of it's clearly bait, and honestly, some of it might just be NetEase playing 4D chess with our heads.
Basically, we're looking at a massive drop that officially kicked off on January 10, 2025 (yeah, that's already in the rearview mirror for those keeping track of the timeline), but the Marvel Rivals Season 1 leak cycle hasn't stopped. In fact, it's gotten weirder as we move into the 2026 roadmap. The game just hit Season 6 with Deadpool, but players are still obsessed with those original datamines that predicted everything from the Fantastic Four to the "Empire of Eternal Night" map.
Why the Marvel Rivals Season 1 Leak Still Matters Today
People keep coming back to the Season 1 leaks because they weren't just about one update. They provided a skeleton for the entire year of content we've just lived through. Remember when everyone thought Ultron was a lock for the launch window? The datamines showed him as a two-star Strategist. That sent the community into a tailspin—Ultron, the guy who wants to erase all organic life, as a healer?
But that’s the thing about these leaks. They’re messy.
The original Season 1 leaks from reputable sources like @X0X_Leaks and @FumoLeaks gave us the first look at the New York City maps: Midtown, the Sanctum Sanctorum, and Central Park. While we’re now well into the 2026 content cycle, understanding how those early leaks functioned helps us decipher the current rumors. NetEase has been accused of planting "fake heroes" in the code to catch leakers. It's a classic counter-intelligence move. If you see a name like "Paste Pot Pete" show up in a datamine, you've gotta wonder if it's a dev having a laugh or a genuine character in the pipeline.
The Character Carousel: Who Actually Showed Up?
Looking back at the Season 1 roster leaks, it was a mix of "duh" and "wait, really?"
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- The Fantastic Four: Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman dropped right at the start. Human Torch and The Thing followed mid-season. This was the biggest win for the leakers—they nailed the timing and the roles.
- Blade: The "Empire of Eternal Night" theme was basically a giant neon sign for the Daywalker. He was teased throughout the Central Park updates and eventually became a staple of the meta.
- The "Plants": This is where it gets spicy. Rumors flew that characters like MODOK or Captain Marvel were "honey pots" meant to track which insiders were leaking info. While Captain Marvel eventually made it, some of the more obscure names from those early files are still nowhere to be found.
Honestly, the way NetEase handled the Season 1 transition was pretty smooth. They didn't do the whole "wipe the servers for 24 hours" thing. You could literally watch the Season 0 timer tick down and jump straight into the New York maps.
Maps and the "Empire of Eternal Night"
The leaked maps for Season 1 were arguably more interesting than the heroes. We got the New York City "Empire of Eternal Night" variant, which changed the vibe of the game completely. It wasn't just a skin; it added verticality that we hadn't seen in the Yggsgard maps.
If you’re still trying to figure out the current 2026 meta, you have to look at how these maps were designed. The Sanctum Sanctorum map, for example, introduced environmental interactions that leakers had whispered about months before launch. These weren't just rumors—they were foundational changes to how Marvel Rivals plays.
What Most People Get Wrong About Datamines
A lot of gamers treat a line of code like a signed contract. It isn't.
A character name in a .txt file could mean five different things. Maybe they’re a hero. Maybe they’re a boss in the rumored (and then confirmed) Raid Mode. Or maybe they’re just an asset for a background Easter egg. The Marvel Rivals Season 1 leak drama proved that even the "reliable" guys can get it wrong when the devs start hiding "poison" data in the updates.
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I’ve seen people get genuinely upset because a leaked "Team-Up" ability—like the one involving Wolverine, Magik, Psylocke, and Black Panther—got scrapped before it ever hit the live servers. But that's game dev. Sometimes things just aren't fun when you actually play them.
Actionable Insights for the Current Meta
If you're jumping into the game now, especially with the January 2026 "Chrono-Rush" event and the Deadpool Season 6 launch, here’s how to handle future leaks:
- Check the Source: If it’s coming from @X0X_Leaks, it’s usually solid, but even they have been "trolled" by NetEase recently.
- Look for Art, Not Just Text: Text files are easy to fake or leave as "legacy" code. Character models and ability icons are much harder to plant as decoys.
- The "Rule of Themes": Marvel Rivals loves thematic seasons. If the map is Krakoa, expect mutants. If the map is New York, expect street-level heroes or Avengers. Don't buy into a "Galactus" leak if the current season is focused on the Defenders.
The game is evolving fast. We just saw the Hero Proficiency System get a massive overhaul in the latest patch, and the mid-season "Disco Night at Times Square" event is right around the corner. Stay skeptical of the leaks, but enjoy the chaos. It’s part of the fun of a live-service game that actually seems to care about its lore.
Keep an eye on the official Discord, but maybe take that "leaked" Avengers Mansion map with a grain of salt for now. We’ve been burned before.
Your next move: Go check your Chrono Tokens in the "Chrono-Rush" event tab; they expire on January 16, and you don't want to miss out on those Lady Loki emoji bundles.