Marvel Rivals Season 9.5 Will Begin August 7 With The Hood and Storage Savings

Marvel Rivals Season 9.5 will begin on August 7, 2026, at 09:00 UTC. Version 20260807 adds The Hood as a new hero, introduces fresh event content, and includes an estimated two-hour maintenance period. NetEase’s official Steam patch notes also detail storage reductions and a group of hero and map fixes.

The update follows an earlier Season 9.5 schedule that outlined The Hood and the mid-season event lineup. The new build now provides the launch details for those additions.

The Hood Leads Season 9.5 Content

The Hood is the headline addition for the mid-season update. Two new lore entries will also arrive, one focused on The Hood and another on Moon Knight. The store is adding a PYO Bundle format that lets players select the specific costumes and Emote Emojis they want, with the price adjusting to match the selection. Equivalent content will keep the same overall price as previous standard bundles.

The scheduled store lineup includes The Hood’s Sinful Blackout Bundle and Oblivion’s Whisper, Iron Fist’s Furious Flow Bundle, Moon Knight’s Fist of Khonshu Bundle, several Emoji Bundles, new color variants, Ultimate Ability VFX, and The Hood’s Madrecita Plush accessory.

New Events, Movie Clips, and Twitch Drops

The Creed of Akabba event will let players complete missions for The Punisher’s Sandstorm Soldier costume at no cost. Some premium rewards will also be available for purchase with Units.

Times Square will host a continuous screening of clips from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Watching for two uninterrupted minutes will unlock an exclusive Spray. The screening will run from August 7 at 09:00 UTC through August 27 at 09:00 UTC, with clips from Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: The Winter Soldier alternating at the top of each hour.

A new Twitch Drops period will begin on August 7 at 12:00 UTC and continue until September 4 at 09:00 UTC. The rewards include Elsa Bloodstone’s Will of Galacta costume and related bundle content.

Smaller Installs and Hero Fixes

The compression changes are planned to reduce the game’s installed size by about 30% on PC, 20% on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5, and 7% on PlayStation 4. The bug fixes cover Peni Parker, Rocket Raccoon, Cloak & Dagger, Namor, Angela, and Team-Up behavior on Times Square.

Marvel Rivals Version 20260807 Patch Notes

This build combines The Hood’s launch with new stories, store options, event rewards, Twitch Drops, storage reductions, and fixes across heroes and maps. The complete changelog follows.

All-New Content

New Hero

Dark magic meets street hustle: The Hood enters Marvel Rivals!!

New Stories

• New The Hood Lore – Carved in Stone
• New Moon Knight Lore – Faces of the Moon

Store PYO Bundle

With over 2 new costumes released weekly, the Store introduces the new PYO format. Players can check which specific costumes and Emote Emojis they want to include, and the price will automatically adjust based on the selection. The adaptive price of the PYO Bundle remains exactly the same as the previous standard bundles for equivalent content.

This week’s 3 new Store costumes will roll out using the PYO Bundle format.

New In Store

• The Hood – Sinful Blackout Bundle
• Iron Fist – Furious Flow Bundle
• Moon Knight – Fist of Khonshu Bundle
• The Hood – Oblivion’s Whisper
• Furious Flow – Emoji Bundle
• The Hood – Emoji Bundle
• Iron Fist – Furious Flow Chroma Blackened Rage/Cobalt Cruiser and Ultimate Ability VFX
• The Hood Accessory – Madrecita Plush

Available from: August 7th, 2026, at 09 : 00 : 00 (UTC)

Season Event: Creed of Akabba

Complete missions to earn The Punisher’s Sandstorm Soldier costume for FREE. Some Premium rewards for this event can also be purchased with Units.

Times Square: Captain America – The Winter Soldier Highlights Screening

Head over to the viewing area in Times Square to watch iconic clips from Captain America: The Winter Soldier! Watch the screening continuously for two minutes to unlock an exclusive Spray.

Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: The Winter Soldier movie clips will alternate at the top of the hour throughout the event.

Event Period: August 7th, 2026, 09 : 00 : 00 to August 27th, 2026, 09 : 00 : 00 (UTC)

Twitch Drops

As Season 9 kicks off, get ready for a new round of Twitch Drops.
This round’s drops include the Elsa Bloodstone – Will of Galacta costume along with related bundle content.

Drops Period: August 7th, 2026, at 12 : 00 : 00 (UTC) to September 4th, 2026, at 09 : 00 : 00 (UTC)

Fixes and Optimizations

All Platforms

• Optimized texture resource compression strategy across all platforms, reducing hard drive footprint after installation: PC expected to decrease by ~30%, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 by ~20%, and PlayStation 4 by ~7%.

Heroes

• Peni Parker’s Panther Problem: Fixed a bug where Peni would occasionally show an incorrect KO icon when defeating enemies with her Cyber-Web Cluster after activating her Team-Up with Black Panther. Error wiped, we’re back to firing clean clusters!
• Rocket Raccoon’s Repair Mode Reload: Fixed an issue where Rocket’s Repair Mode charges could abnormally refill after using the Planet X Pals Team-Up ability. Rocket’s tech is now officially up to spec.
• Cloak & Dagger’s Frosty Fix: Addressed a bug where Cloak & Dagger would still be affected by Emma Frost’s Ultimate Ability control effect after using the Frozen Haven Team-Up to freeze themselves. The Divine Pair can now chill out in peace.
• Namor’s Monstro Mix-up: Fixed an issue where Namor’s Monstro Spawns were incorrectly detecting Vitality Acorns released by Rocket Raccoon. The Sub-Mariner’s pets now have their eyes trained on the real prizes.
• Cloak & Dagger’s Hooded Hiccup: Fixed a bug where, when selecting The Hood Team Up, Cloak would occasionally be unable to use Terror Cape. The Darkforce Dimension channels are fully restored!

Maps

• Angela’s Ancient Anomaly: Fixed an issue on the Thebes map where Angela would occasionally get stuck and become unable to move after passing through the corridor. The Hunter is back on the hunt!
• Times Square Team-Up Tangle: Corrected a bug in Times Square where Team-Up statuses were improperly removed after exiting a team in a party state. The synergy remains strong once more.

Season 9.5 gives players a new hero, fresh event rewards, and a smaller install footprint. Share your thoughts in the comments, and stay connected through X, Bluesky, YouTube, and Instagram.

Marvel Rivals

Developed by NetEase Games

Marvel Rivals is a super hero team-based PvP shooter developed by NetEase Games! Assemble an all-star Marvel squad, devise countless strategies by combining powers to form unique Team-Up skills and fight in destructible, ever-changing battlefields across the continually evolving Marvel universe!

• Genre Shooter
• Platforms Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5
• Perspective Third person
• Modes Multiplayer, Co-operative
• Release December 6, 2024
• Publisher NetEase Games, Marvel Games
• Age Rating

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