You’d think after several years of being out on the Nintendo Switch, we’d have a simple, agreed-upon number for the total roster in this game. But if you check three different forums, you’ll probably get four different answers. Some people count the base roster, others include the "free" updates, and everyone seems to forget exactly which X-Men were paid DLC versus just patched in.
Honestly, it’s a mess.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 all characters lists usually cap out at 52 playable heroes if you’ve bought the expansion pass and finished every single gauntlet. It's a massive jump from the 36 we started with at launch. If you're coming back to the game in 2026 to finally finish that Superior difficulty run, you need to know who is actually worth the ISO-8 investment and who is just taking up space in the selection menu.
The Secret Unlocks You’re Probably Missing
Most of the roster hands itself to you like candy. You play Chapter 2, you get the Avengers. You hit the X-Mansion, you get the X-Men. Simple. But then there are the "Secret" characters that require you to actually sweat in the Infinity Rifts.
If you haven't unlocked Thanos yet, you basically haven't finished the game. You have to beat the "The Black Order" level 65 mission in the Lambda Rift. It’s a brutal boss gauntlet where you fight Proxima Midnight, Corvus Glaive, and the rest of the family before the Mad Titan himself steps in.
Loki is another one people miss. He’s hidden behind the Sigma Rift in a level 45 "Boss Wave" mission. It’s weird because he joins the alliance in the story during the Asgard chapter, but you can't actually select him until you beat that specific Rift. Magneto and Elektra follow the same logic—they’re story-critical but technically "locked" behind the Psi and Gamma rifts respectively.
The DLC Divide: Who is Actually Free?
There was a lot of confusion when the game was being updated about what you had to pay for. To keep it simple: Cyclops and Colossus were a gift. They were added in a free update for everyone. You just have to complete their specific Infinity Trials (the "Phi" Rift) to grab them.
Then you have the paid Expansion Pass. This is where the heavy hitters live.
The Marvel Knights pack brought Blade, Moon Knight, Morbius, and the Punisher. Then the X-Men pack dropped Phoenix, Gambit, Iceman, and Cable. Finally, the Shadow of Doom expansion gave us the Fantastic Four—Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and The Thing—plus the "final" final unlock: Doctor Doom.
Unlocking Doom is the ultimate endgame. You have to finish the Shadow of Doom story expansion, which is significantly harder than the base game’s final chapters.
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Ranking the Heavy Hitters in 2026
Is there a "meta" in a co-op brawler? Sorta. If you're trying to clear level 200 Gauntlets, you can't just pick four characters you like and hope for the best.
Phoenix is widely considered the best character in the game. Her "Cleansing Flames" ability is basically a cheat code because it restores EP (Energy Points) to the entire team. In a game where your damage output depends on spamming synergy attacks, having infinite energy is game-breaking.
Then there’s Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan). She looks unassuming, but her "Sweet Justice" spinning leg attack is the highest DPS move in the game when paired with a synergy partner like Wasp or Iron Man. You just hold the button and watch health bars melt.
If you prefer the DLC roster, Doctor Doom is a monster. His foot dive and beam attacks have massive AOE. Star-Lord is also surprisingly high-tier because he can self-synergize. Most characters need a teammate to trigger a synergy, but Peter can throw his elemental orbs and then shoot them himself to cause massive explosions.
The Teams That Actually Work
You'll see people talking about "Team Bonuses" all the time. Don't get too hung up on them. Getting a 10% boost to your Vitality sounds nice, but it's nothing compared to picking characters that actually have high synergy compatibility.
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A classic "Spin-to-Win" team usually looks like this:
- Ms. Marvel (The primary damage dealer)
- Wasp (To trigger the "Rapid Fire" synergy)
- Phoenix (For the EP battery)
- Wolverine or Black Panther (For high stagger damage)
Another popular one is the "Beam Team," which focuses on melting bosses from a distance. You take Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Cable, and Thanos. When all four of them fire their beams at once, the screen basically turns white and the boss’s stagger bar disappears in seconds.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Roster
The biggest misconception is that the "NPC" characters like Vision, Valkyrie, or Medusa are unlockable. They aren't. Even though they have full character models and appear in cutscenes, and even though data-miners found files for them years ago, they were never made playable. It’s a bummer, I know. We all wanted to play as Beast or Jessica Jones, but it just never happened.
Another mistake is neglecting the ISO-8 crystals. You can have the best team of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 all characters, but if you aren't equipping "Increase damage of element" or "Increase rate of health recovery" crystals, you're going to get flattened on Ultimate difficulty.
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Actionable Next Steps for Completionists
If you're looking to round out your roster today, here is the most efficient path to getting everyone:
- Finish the Story on Mighty: This gets you the bulk of the heroes and unlocks the first few rifts.
- Prioritize the "Boss Wave" Rifts: Don't waste time on the "Defeat 200 enemies" rifts until you've cleared the ones that unlock Elektra, Magneto, Loki, and Thanos.
- Download the DLC: If you haven't bought the expansion pass, the game feels incomplete. The Fantastic Four chapter alone is worth it for the Doctor Doom fight.
- Grind the Slimer Footprints: Use the "Ms. Marvel + Wasp" combo in the Wakanda "Rush" rift (Level 34) to power-level your characters to 100+ quickly.
Once you have the full 52-character roster, the real game starts—experimenting with the weirdest combinations possible. Have you tried a full "Web Warriors" team with Spider-Man, Miles, Gwen, and Venom? It's not the highest damage, but the mobility is wild.