Marvel Rivals players fear Human Torch’s arrival will make one hero obsolete

Marvel Rivals’ first mid-season update adds The Thing and Human Torch, completing the Fantastic Four—but players worry the fiery superhero could overshadow another hero.

In a Reddit discussion, Marvel Rivals players are getting worried about the possibility of Human Torch taking away the spotlight from Iron Man, who is one of the other aerial duelists in the game. “What will be even point in picking up Iron Man anymore,” one player asked, highlighting how Johnny Storm will be a perfect Duelist compared to Tony Stark.

In the Human Torch gameplay trailer, the Duelist’s abilities look amazing at doing AoE damage, something that Iron Man struggles with currently. Most of Tony’s damage is single-target, making him great at picking off priority targets but less effective against coordinated teams. Human Torch excels in taking down groups of enemies, and he might take Tony’s spot in the competitive matches. 

However, some think the hype is unwarranted, as the trailers usually show superheroes in their best form under curated conditions and not an accurate picture of the average game. For example, everyone thought Black Widow wouldd be “widowmaker on steroids,” as one player put it, but currently she has the lowest pick rate in the game coming in at under one percent, showing her abysmal state in matches. 

Making things worse, he has a Team-up ability with Storm. The superhero can use Human Torch’s fire tornado and make her ultimate do more damage, which can break through several healer’s ultimates. Storm already has the highest win rate in competitive matches, albeit a small pick rate of around four percent. With Human Torch, her pick rate will probably rise as players look for Human Torch’s synergies.

There’s a silver lining though, as Iron Man’s Hyper-Velocity is still one of the best mobility abilities in the game and has very little cooldown. It allows the superhero to reposition quickly while getting targeted, something that Human Torch might struggle with as he doesn’t have a quick getaway tool in his kit. 

Lastly, his iconic Invincible Pulse Cannon hides his AoE weakness a bit, as it’s capable of wiping a full team iwith a single use. I can’t stress enough how many matches I’ve won because a last-minute Iron Man ultimate completely swung the momentum in our favor—although as time has gone on, it’s become one of the easier ultimates to block with characters like Dr. Strange and Magneto.

While Iron Man’s win rate might drop due to Human Torch’s entrance, the superhero will likely remain relevant in competitive matches.