Marvel Contest of Champions adds Phyla-Vell, Shatterstar and permanent Towers mode

The biggest change in Marvel Contest of Champions this month is not a new Champion at all. Towers is becoming a permanent mode on June 17, and Kabam has built it to punish the old habit of leaning on one overpowered fighter and calling it a day. In Towers, defenders can only be defeated at their strongest, which means you have to beat them from full health within the time limit or come back with a better answer. That is the sort of change that sticks, because it pushes roster depth, match-up knowledge and raw consistency far harder than a limited event ever does.

The new Champions still matter, and Kabam is spacing them out instead of front-loading everything into one week. Phyla-Vell lands on June 11, bringing her Kree and artificially created Eternal physiology into the Battlerealm with a story built around becoming the Avatar of Death and taking the title Martyr after trying to save Moondragon. Shatterstar follows on June 28, and Kabam frames him as Gaveedra Seven, the mutant gladiator from the Mojoverse, the time-travelling son of Longshot and Dazzler. Both Champions are tied into the Stars and Martyr event quest, which runs from June 3 through July 8 and gives the month a clean thread of Mojo-fueled chaos.

The rest of June is packed, but most of it will land as background noise once the first few weeks pass. Sparkles and Shade runs June 1-30 as the Pride Month event, with weekly solo objectives using event champions, profile pictures, titles and rewards folded into the mix. Kabam is also giving Thor (Ragnarok) an update, while the stream recap laid out a Science Champion Alliance Coliseum event for June 8-11, Saga Incursions from June 10 through July 8, The Champion’s Workout from June 10-24, weekly class Towers, Challenge Towers starting June 17 and a new Saga Showcase tower format.

There is also a clear crossover push aimed at Marvel Animation’s X-Men ’97. Marvel says Season 2 premieres on July 1, 2026 and follows the X-Men across different eras of time, and Kabam is using that momentum to hand new players a bundle of 20 X-Men Champions starting June 8. That is a fast-track roster boost, and it fits the month’s larger strategy of keeping mutant content in front of players while the calendar rolls toward July.

For regular players, though, Towers is the change that will shape daily play long after the June events age out. Phyla-Vell and Shatterstar will come and go, but a permanent mode that demands full-health clears is the kind of addition that forces the whole roster to earn its keep.