Developer NetEase Games announced that the X-Men character Jubilee will join the roster of its upcoming hero shooter, Marvel Rivals, with the launch of Season 9 on July 10. The announcement was made during a recent developer livestream.
Jubilee will function as a Strategist, a role typically assigned to support characters in Marvel Rivals. This classification may come as a surprise to players familiar with her powers, which involve generating and launching pyrotechnic plasma. However, developers have previously assigned characters with similar offensive capabilities to the Strategist role, citing Gambit as a comparable example.
Her in-game abilities are described as generating bursts of pyrotechnic plasma and shaping radiant energy into projectiles. These are augmented by vampiric powers, a nod to her history in Marvel comics. Visually, Jubilee's design in Marvel Rivals incorporates iconic elements such as a yellow jacket, pink sunglasses, and a pink top. Notably, her eyes share a yellowish tint with Blade and Dracula, indicating her vampiric nature within the game's universe.
Jubilee's Team-Up abilities will allow her to synergize with supernatural heroes like The Hood and Blade. Her vampiric affliction stems from a storyline in the comics where she was bitten by Dracula's son, Xarus. While she was eventually cured, the experience left a lasting impact.
The game's narrative places Jubilee in a difficult situation, where her son, Shogo, becomes trapped in a dragon form. Her desperate attempt to rescue him leads her to make a pact with Apocalypse, becoming his Horseman of Famine. This storyline development aligns with Jubilee's current prominence, also featuring in the second season of X-Men '97.
The Hood will be the second new character introduced in Season 9. This upcoming season will adopt an Age of Apocalypse theme, featuring a new Egyptian-inspired map. Players will also have access to a "Midnight Mutant" skin for Jubilee, a variant inspired by her vampiric alter ego.