“It’s a Pool Party” as Deadpool Joins Marvel Rivals With Season 6 Night at the Museum on January 16, 2026
NetEase Games is preparing to kick off 2026 for Marvel Rivals with Season 6 Night at the Museum, launching this Friday on January 16, 2026. The headline addition is Deadpool, arriving as the newest Duelist and instantly positioned as a marquee seasonal drop aimed at reigniting the meta and pulling both casual and competitive players back into the rotation.
Following Season 5’s additions of Rogue and Gambit, Season 6 will open with Deadpool in the first half of the season, with Elsa Bloodstone scheduled to arrive at the halfway point. Ahead of launch, NetEase has released a gameplay trailer spotlighting Deadpool’s kit, showcasing his weapon variety and the ways players can chain his skills into aggressive pressure plays.
Deadpool is being framed as more than a standard damage dealer. NetEase describes him as a triple threat hero, functioning across Duelist, Strategist, and Vanguard roles, with the ability to unlock mid match skill upgrades that push his lethality even further as the game progresses. That breadth of capability also comes with a major rules constraint: in both Quick and Competitive modes, only one Deadpool can exist per team, a clear balance lever designed to prevent mirror chaos and keep the character from warping team compositions into Deadpool stacks.
Season 6 also brings a meaningful progression update through changes to Hero Proficiency. NetEase says the proficiency cap will be raised for each hero, and new rewards will be added including Units, Unstable Molecules, Nameplates, Titles, Nameplate Frames, Badges, Dynamic Avatars, and more. For the long term health of a live service hero shooter, this matters because proficiency systems are retention engines, and raising caps with tangible rewards gives players a reason to stick with mains even when balance changes shift the meta.
On the content and feature side, Season 6 introduces a photo mode to Times Square, and Times Square itself is being expanded with a new area called the Clobberin Club, where players can challenge each other to duels. Later in the season, on January 29, 2026, NetEase will add the Museum of Contemplation map, bringing the seasonal theme deeper into the core rotation.
As always, NetEase is also shipping bug fixes and balance adjustments as part of the season rollout, but the full detail will be defined by the complete patch notes once they are published.
Season 6 is also notable because it is positioned as the real start of NetEase’s 2026 ambitions for Marvel Rivals. The studio has characterized 2025 as a warm up period, implying a faster and more confident content cadence this year. If that is accurate, Deadpool is a strong opening statement: a high visibility character, a kit designed to be expressive in play, and system changes that increase progression engagement.
Which part of Season 6 matters most to you, Deadpool’s triple role kit, the Hero Proficiency cap increase and rewards, or the January 29 map drop for Museum of Contemplation?
