Netease’s Marvel Rivals typically releases two heroes every season, but Season 10 marks a worrying change with just a single new character coming to the game. While the reduced hero count has worried some fans, creative designer Guangyun Chen promises this is not “the new normal”.

With Marvel Rivals Season 10, alongside a host of balance changes, players are able to take the role of infamous Thor villain, Gorr the God Butcher. A brilliant comic book villain, and wasted MCU adaptation, Gorr will be the only villain of the series as the team continues its ongoing preparations for Avengers Doomsday.

“We’re locking our crosshairs on just Gorr the God Butcher,” Chen explained in a recent dev vision. “In the first half of the season we’ll be rolling out one new hero and one new map. In the second half our focus will shift to phase 3 and phase 4 of the Path to Doomsday events. These will feature two brand-new game modes, with specific details dropping closer to the start of season 10.5.”

Chen understands, though, that having just one hero a season instead of two is a worrying sign for some live-service games. While Marvel Rivals player counts have dropped since launch, the game isn’t planning on slowing down content drops, and Chen assures players that multi-hero seasons will return soon.

“We want to reassure the community that a single-hero season isn’t the new normal,” Chen said. In fact, the developer confirmed that Season 11 is already set to launch with two heroes, just like fans are used to.

While Season 10 will only have one hero, the season does come with the most balance changes we’ve seen in a while for Marvel Rivals. For this season, Netease has made sweeping changes across 70% of the game’s roster, and the team have also changed how the game’s competitive ban system works.

Additionally, the new season does come with a new map on September 24^{th a, and} two new game modes when Season 10.5 launches at the end of the month. While the season does lack an additional hero, it’s not without merit, and Gorr the God Butcher himself is a fantastic addition to the superhero hero shooter.