Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls launched with 20 playable heroes and villains, which is not that many options for a 4v4 fighting game.
The September 2026 launch was seen as problematic due to game-breaking technical issues, a PlayStation Network account requirement and a general sense that the game wasn’t ready. One of those reasons was the small roster, one of the same issues that sparked debate with 2XKO players.
The FGC has continuously expressed that they are sick of “incomplete” games being shipped out, ones that require us to wait (and sometimes pay) for DLC fighters.
Marvel Tokon developers provided players with a Year 1 DLC roadmap, which shows four characters coming over the next 12 months. That’s arguably not a lot of characters for a roster that’s already quite limited, but there is still a lot of hope for Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls.
The first DLC fighter will be Phoenix Cyclops, coming between October and December 2026. Yeah, it’s not the most precise, but an interview with Director Kazuto Sekine has given a bit more insight into this surprising DLC.
Phoenix Cyclops is a special variation of Cyclops, a prominent X-Men character who was possessed by the Phoenix Force. Most comic book fans are probably more familiar with Cyclops as the leader of the X-Men, rather than this variation, leaving them to wonder why Arc System Works chose Phoenix Cyclops.
Cyclops was once a prominent addition to many of Capcom’s crossover fighting games with Marvel, appearing in X-Men vs. Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. But those were quite some time ago.
For some reason, Cyclops has been missing from the latest entries in of the Marvel vs. Capcom franchise, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite.
His absence was a major topic of discussion over the years, with many wondering why such a prominent X-Men character was not in these titles. Capcom’s Christian Svensson said back in 2011 that Cyclops wasn’t even considered at all for UMvC3, claiming they already had enough X-Men and didn’t want to add another one.
But why the other characters over Cyclops? Fans were never quite satisfied. And now that he’s finally back, why is it Phoenix Cyclops instead?
In an interview with Comic Book, Sekine explained this decision:
“Cyclops is a character that we definitely wanted to be sure to include in the game. However, we wanted to challenge ourselves to do something new,” said Sekine.
“That’s when the idea came up of using the version of Cyclops from the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline where he has the power of the Phoenix. From a gameplay perspective as well, I felt that designing him for battle we would be able to include these Phoenix elements in addition to the standard Cyclops abilities to [give him] that variety in his gameplay.”
After such a long-awaited return, it was also a bit surprising that devs opted to make Cyclops a DLC character rather than part of the main roster. According to Sekine, this was intentional.
“From the narrative perspective, since he would be in opposition to the rest of the X-Men, we weren’t able to include him in the base game roster as part of the X-Men team. But we felt that taking this approach would allow us to show this new side of Cyclops to many players.”
It will definitely be interesting to see how creative and dynamic Phoenix Cyclop’s moveset will be in Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls. This is a “new side” to the character that many players haven’t experienced, especially in a fighting game, giving him telekinesis and matter manipulation.
So far, the FGC has been hopeful about Phoenix Cyclops. It was most definitely a safe bet on Arc System Works’ side, since fans have been demanding a Cyclops return after his recent absence.
Will it be enough to bring some hype back to Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls?
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the 4v4 fighter recently, with competitive players predicting its demise due to a lack of players to grind against online. The hype has really died down, though fans are still rooting for Marvel Tokon for its actual gameplay.
In over 2 hours on Tokon I fought 3 people. Switching to Hades 2. pic.twitter.com/qolTBk22WW
— Chris G (@NYChrisG) September 24, 2026
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves faced a similar dilemma after its release. There was a lot of hype around the game at first, especially with a mainstage spot at Evo Las Vegas 2025. But the player count soon dwindled.
Producer Shinya Tamaki blamed the slow new content schedule since the gameplay itself seemed satisfying to competitive players. They were forced to speed things up.
He said to me at Evo Las Vegas 2026: “Now we have a one-character-per-month update schedule. It’s a very, very fast pace. And along with those characters, you’re releasing a stage, music, new gameplay, character balance… We have a new update with new content, and we’ve seen people coming back.”
It’s possible that Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls could see a similar pattern if Phoenix Cyclops is a hit. The issue is that four characters a year isn’t likely to cut it since the roster started off so small to begin with.
