Marvel Rivals season 1 starts on January 10 as Dracula and Doctor Doom team up to 'disrupt the moon’s orbit' and unleash an army of vampires on New York City

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The Fantastic Four will take their place in Marvel Rivals on January 10, to fight for truth, justice, and extreme stretches against the diabolical duo of Doctor Doom and Dracula.

Yes, I'm talking about that Dracula, Vlad the Impaler, who has a long-standing if relatively low-key history as a Marvel Comics villain. In season 1 of Marvel Rivals, he and Doctor Doom have teamed up to enact a nefarious scheme seemingly inspired by none other than Montgomery Burns: They've somehow messed with the moon's orbit, "plunging the city into eternal night" in which an army of vampiric creatures can roam freely and do... whatever it is they do. Probably nothing good.

"With the world on the brink, the Fantastic Four join forces with iconic Marvel heroes, standing together in the epic battle to break the mystical darkness with science. Ignite the battle against Dracula with the Fantastic Four in Marvel Rivals!"

I'm not sure how rampaging agents of terror really fits with Doctor Doom's typical modus operandi—I haven't kept up with comics in recent decades but generally speaking his megalomania is bounded by a relatively firm code of honor, so terrorizing people for the hell of it doesn't strike me as his kind of thing—but regardless of all that, superheroes throwing hands with vampires because a guy who wears full plate and a cloak dicked around with the moon is definitely a full-on comic book story setup.

Drawing again on my dated-but-probably-still-relevant understanding of the art form, I'd guess that this Doom-Dracula partnership, rather like some political alliances we've seen form in recent times, is destined to crumble under the weight of its combined egos. I can't imagine those two guys in the same room for more than five minutes without things getting out of hand.

Also of note, Doctor Strange has been trapped in the "Entangled Astral Plane," and the pages of the Darkhold are scattered. You might want to keep eyes open for those, I bet they'll come in handy at some point.

Marvel Rivals season 1 is set to kick off at 1 am PT/4 am ET on January 10.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.