Marvel Rivals Avengers: Endgame PvE Guide: Thanos Session Times in CT, Free Winter Soldier Cap Skin and Every Mission

Marvel Rivals finally put Thanos in front of us, and NetEase did not make him a hero you lock in. He is the raid boss. The new Path to Doomsday - Avengers: Endgame mode throws 50 players into one lobby against the Mad Titan and his army, and anyone who sees the fight through to the end walks away with a free Captain America costume.

The catch is the schedule. This is not a mode you can queue whenever you feel like it. It opens in short, fixed windows, and if you sleep through them you wait a week. I went through the patch notes, the in-game rules text and the first wave of community testing, so this guide covers every window converted to Central time, every reward and what unlocks it, how each Thanos phase works, and the hero picks that make the missions much less painful.

Everything official here comes from NetEase's Version 20261022 patch notes. Where I lean on community testing or in-game rules text, I say so.

What Avengers: Endgame Mode Actually Is

The patch notes frame it the way you would expect. Thanos from the past has breached the timeline, his forces are trying to tear the cosmos apart, and the heroes have to assemble one more time. In practice it is a large cooperative boss fight, and it is the next chapter of the Path to Doomsday event chain that is building toward the Avengers: Doomsday film in December.

If you played the October 9 update, you already met the previous chapter. The Season 10.5 Infinity War mode was a small 2v2 PvP scramble for Infinity Stones. Endgame flips that completely. There is no enemy team made of real people, nobody is trying to eliminate your duo, and the whole server is on the same side.

The in-game rules text, as mirrored by the rivals.gs mode database, fills in the structure:

• 50 players share one match, split into teams of 6 inside the bigger group.
• The only map is the Avengers Compound.
• You pick a hero, load into the map and wait for the portals to open before the battle starts.
• If matchmaking times out before 50 humans join, the game adds AI heroes to fill the gaps.
• When you die, you respawn after a short delay and you can swap heroes while you wait.
• The player who lands the final hit on Thanos in the last phase is crowned match MVP.
• NetEase says certain hero abilities were adjusted to work in a 50-player format.

That last point matters. Some kits that feel average in 6v6 behave differently here, and a few heroes are clearly better suited to the fight than others. More on that below.

Session Schedule in Central Time

Here is the official wording that trips people up. The event period runs from October 22 at 09:00 UTC to November 26 at 09:00 UTC, but the mode itself "officially starts on Oct 24 (UTC) and runs for 4 consecutive weeks" and is only "available for limited times each subsequent week." So the event being active does not mean the queue is open.

The patch notes list three sessions for the opening day, all in UTC. Because October 24 UTC starts at 7 PM Central on Friday, the first window actually landed on Friday night for us. Central is UTC-5 until daylight saving ends on Sunday, November 1, and UTC-6 after that, so the later weeks shift by an hour on our clocks.

A few honest caveats about that table:

• Only week one is confirmed in the patch notes. The week two to four dates come from the MarvelRivals.gg schedule, which assumes the same three UTC slots repeat every Saturday for four weeks, for twelve sessions in total. That matches NetEase's "based on this schedule" wording, but check the in-game event page each week before you plan around it.
• The in-game rules text lists only two windows for October 24 (01:00 and 18:00 UTC), while the published patch notes list three. If your client disagrees with this page, trust your client.
• Daylight saving matters. Weeks three and four start an hour earlier on Central clocks because the UTC times stay fixed while we fall back on November 1.

My advice is simple. Do not leave the free costume for the last week. Two-hour windows on fixed days are easy to miss once real life gets in the way, and the final weekend is also when the Season 11 start date reported for November 13 is expected to pull everyone in different directions.

Every Reward and How to Unlock It

There are four mission tracks tied to the mode. The patch notes confirm the Winter Soldier costume is free, and the full mission list below matches what players see in the event tab, as compiled by Beebom and esports.gg.

The good news is that none of these are grindy. 20,000 damage sounds like a lot until you realize Thanos is a giant target that 49 other people are also shooting, and community testers on esports.gg report Phoenix players landing well over 100,000 in a single run. Healing 10,000 is easy if you play a Strategist for one match. Ten enemy defeats will happen naturally because the Chitauri and Sakaaran troops keep pouring in.

If you want everything in as few matches as possible, the cleanest plan is two runs. Play a ranged Duelist first for the costume, the damage track and the enemy defeats. Then queue a healer for the second run to finish the healing track.

The Winter Soldier costume

This is the headline. It is Steve Rogers in the stealth suit look from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and it is an Epic costume you get by completing a match, no Units required. The "Complete 1 match" mission is what unlocks it, and according to Beebom it lands in the wardrobe after the run where Thanos goes down. If you get dropped from a match midway, queue again rather than assuming it counted.

The Infinity Finale title

The title shares its name with the Infinity Finale season event from Season 10.5, the one that hands out Thor's The Avengers costume for free. They are separate rewards. Finishing an Endgame match does not complete the Thor event, so keep working those quests too.

How the Thanos Fight Works, Phase by Phase

The official rules describe four combat phases that change based on Thanos's health. The specific stone attacks below come from player testing collected by MarvelRivals.gg and esports.gg, so treat the details as community notes rather than patch-note text.

Phase 1: The Double-Edged Sword

Thanos opens with his Double-Edged Sword, mixing melee swings with ranged slashes. The swings have slow, readable windups. Watch which direction his shoulders turn and you will usually know whether you are the target.

The real danger early is not Thanos. It is the troops. Chitauri and Sakaaran soldiers clump together and chip your health down while you are staring at the boss. Ground heroes who wander into a pack die fast.

Phase 2: Sword plus Infinity Stones

The sword stays, but now he starts using stones for crowd control. Testers report he teleports around the arena and stuns players. The one to remember is a large red zone from the Reality Stone that turns projectiles into bubbles. If you are shooting from inside that red area, you are doing nothing. Step out and keep firing.

Phase 3: The Gauntlet and the fleet

This is the phase that wipes careless lobbies. Thanos drops the sword and goes full Infinity Gauntlet while his ship, Sanctuary II, bombards the map. The official rules call it indiscriminate map-wide bombardment, and that is accurate.

The stone moves reported so far:

• Power Stone: two homing projectiles. Two hits can kill most heroes without healing.
• Reality Stone: the bubble zone again, larger.
• Space Stone: he teleports away, so keep your eyes up.
• Mind Stone: a stun that roots you in place.
• Soul Stone: a straight yellow beam, often aimed at flying heroes.

The tell for the missile barrage is easy once you know it. When Thanos raises the Gauntlet and stops attacking, look up at the sky, find where the missiles are heading and move. Flyers are the most exposed here, which is the trade-off for how safe they are in the first two phases.

Phase 4: The Snap countdown

Around the last tenth of his health, Thanos stops moving and prepares the Snap. An Endgame Countdown bar appears. Every player, damage and support alike, needs to dump everything into him before the timer runs out. Ultimates, burst cooldowns, all of it. Healers still need to keep people alive because the troops do not stop attacking, but this is the moment to commit.

Whoever lands the final blow gets match MVP, which is a nice bonus if you play a high-burst hero and time your ultimate for the very end.

Best Heroes for the Endgame Mode

Hero choice matters more here than you might think, because the fight punishes melee and rewards range, flight and area healing. These recommendations come from the community testing collected in the esports.gg guide plus how the kits behave against a single huge target.

Damage picks

• Phoenix is the standout. Her damage output against a giant target is huge, and her flight helps you stay above the Chitauri in the early phases.
• Iron Man and Storm can stay airborne and keep steady pressure on Thanos without dealing with the ground troops.
• Doctor Strange gets mentioned by testers for the same reason: ranged pressure while staying away from the packs.

Just remember that flight stops being safe in phase three. When the Gauntlet goes up, get moving.

Healer picks

• Jubilee and Cloak and Dagger are the safest recommendations for hitting the 10,000 healing mission quickly.
• Any Strategist with area healing works, because 50-player lobbies mean there is always someone standing near you who is taking damage.

If your lobby is struggling to get Thanos below half health, it is usually because too many people died and are sitting on respawn timers. Swapping to a healer while you wait is often the best thing you can do for the whole server.

What to avoid

Melee-heavy Duelists and even sturdy Vanguards have a rougher time. You end up surrounded by troops and spend more time respawning than fighting. Swapping heroes is allowed while you wait to respawn, so there is no penalty for trying a melee hero first and changing your mind.

Tips That Make the Missions Faster

A few habits that the early lobbies are already pointing to:

• Use your ultimate the moment it is ready. This is not ranked. Holding an ultimate for the perfect moment just delays your next one. The only exception is phase four, when burst is worth saving for the Snap countdown if it is close.
• Stay near the healers. No spot in the arena is completely safe, but standing near Strategists turns a lot of near-deaths into nothing.
• Respect red indicators. Red ground markers mean big damage incoming. Step out first, shoot second.
• Do not chase stray troops across the map. You will get your 10 defeats near the boss anyway, and every second away from Thanos slows the team.
• Queue early in a window. A two-hour window sounds generous, but if the queue fills slowly near the end you may get a lobby padded with AI heroes, which tends to make the fight slower.

Store Bundles and Times Square Extras

The same patch added a batch of cosmetics and two quick Times Square activities. Here is what is new, with Central conversions.

The two Times Square activities take about five minutes together and work any time during the event, not just during the PvE windows:

• Highlights Screening: go to the viewing area in Times Square and watch the Avengers: Endgame clips continuously for two minutes. Walk away early and the timer resets.
• Photo Ops: find the iconic scene photo walls outside the Avengers' Gift Shop and take a group photo with the NPCs for an instant 100 Units.

The Shawarma emote is a fun nod for anyone who stayed for the post-credits scene in the first Avengers film, and The Snap bundle is the obvious companion to this event. Neither is needed for the free rewards.

Bug Fixes in the Same Patch

Version 20261022 also shipped a short list of fixes that are worth knowing if you play these heroes in regular modes:

• Black Cat can use wall portals right after casting Fortune's Favor - Phantom Pursuit again.
• Black Widow no longer shifts direction strangely during Widow's Bite Slam.
• Hawkeye's hands no longer look empty when swapping from Psionic Arrow back to standard arrows, and an audio bug with the Psylocke Team-Up was fixed.
• Competitive Team Wipes now count toward ACE! achievements even if someone on the other team already quit.
• The Punisher's Dangan Ronin costume no longer has a sound glitch with the Daredevil Team-Up.
• The wrong MVP animation no longer plays if you swapped heroes and the other team surrendered.
• Clipping fixes landed for Doctor Strange's Infinity War costume, Blade's Vampire King costume and Thor's The Avengers costume.

Where This Fits on the Road to Doomsday

NetEase has been walking players through the MCU's Infinity Saga across Season 10 and 10.5, and Endgame is the payoff chapter before the Avengers: Doomsday film releases on December 18. From what has been shared and reported so far, the next big beats are the Night of Illusions Halloween event and Season 11, which LFCarry reported for November 13 with two new heroes promised but not named.

Thanos as a boss rather than a playable hero follows the same pattern as Dracula and Kingpin. Leaks have pointed at other villains for future seasons, but nothing official names Thanos as a future hero, so I would not count on him joining the roster.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get the free Captain America Winter Soldier skin in Marvel Rivals?

Play one full match of the Path to Doomsday - Avengers: Endgame PvE mode during one of its scheduled windows. Completing the match unlocks Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the Infinity Finale title. You do not need to spend Units or buy a battle pass, and the costume should appear in your wardrobe once the run where Thanos goes down is finished.

When is the Marvel Rivals Thanos mode available?

Only during fixed two-hour windows. Week one ran Friday, October 23 from 8 to 10 PM CT and Saturday, October 24 from 5 to 7 AM CT and 1 to 3 PM CT. Community schedules expect the same three UTC slots every Saturday through November 14, which on Central clocks means Friday evening, early Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. Check the in-game event page to confirm each week.

When does the Avengers: Endgame event end?

The event period ends on November 26, 2026 at 09:00 UTC, which is 3:00 AM Central on Thursday, November 26. The playable windows are expected to finish before that, on the weekend of November 14, so do not wait for the final week.

How many players are in the Marvel Rivals Endgame mode?

Up to 50 players share one match, organized into teams of six inside the larger group. If not enough real players join before matchmaking times out, the game fills empty slots with AI-controlled heroes.

Is Thanos playable in Marvel Rivals?

Not right now. In this mode Thanos is a PvE boss, similar to how Dracula and Kingpin have been used before. NetEase has not announced him as a playable hero, and the current leaks point at other characters for Season 11.

What are the best heroes for the Thanos fight?

Ranged heroes who can fly do the most damage while avoiding the ground troops, with Phoenix, Iron Man, Storm and Doctor Strange getting the most recommendations. For healing, Jubilee and Cloak and Dagger are reliable. Melee heroes struggle because they end up surrounded by Chitauri and Sakaaran soldiers.

Can I swap heroes during the Endgame match?

Yes. When you die you respawn after a short delay, and you can switch heroes while waiting. That makes it easy to finish the damage mission on a Duelist and then flip to a Strategist for the healing mission in the same run.

Does the Endgame mode count toward the Infinity Finale Thor event?

They are separate. The Endgame mode gives a title called Infinity Finale, but the Season 10.5 Infinity Finale event that rewards Thor's The Avengers costume has its own quests and ends on December 10. Keep working on both.

Final Take

This is the most fun Path to Doomsday chapter so far. A 50-player boss fight with readable phases, a real panic moment when the Snap countdown starts and a genuinely good free costume at the end is exactly what a limited event should feel like. The only thing working against you is the schedule. Put the next window in your calendar now, finish the Winter Soldier mission in your first run, use a second run to clean up the healing track, and do the two Times Square activities while you wait in queue.