For FIFA 23 new FUT heroes, or “Heroes” have been announced – with ratings. These are former football stars who will receive special cards – this time in the Marvel comic look. But what exactly does this collaboration bring?
These are FUT heroes in FIFA 23: We already know the “FUT Heroes” or “Heroes” from FIFA 22. They will also be there with the FIFA 23 release .
These are strong players from past days who did not quite reach legendary status to land as “Icon” in Ultimate Team but still remain memorable due to specific moments or special achievements.
And to set themselves apart from the remaining cards, EA Sports has teamed up with Marvel.
FIFA 23: Hero ratings revealed – Here’s how strong the Heroes are in Ultimate Team
Update, August 19, 2022: EA has now revealed all the official ratings for the heroes. Rudi Völler receives the best card of the new heroes:
- Völler: 91 (ST)
- Forlán: 91 (ST)
- Lúcio: 90 (IV)
- Papin: 90 (ST)
- Yaya Touré: 89 (CDM)
- Okocha: 89 (CAM)
- Mascherano: 89 (CDM)
- Márquez: 89 (CDM)
- Brolin: 89 (ST)
- Carvalho: 89 (CB)
- Marchisio: 88 (CM)
- Kuyt: 88 (RM)
- Donovan: 88 (RM)
- Nakata: 88 (CAM)
- Kewell: 88 (LW)
- Smolarek: 88 (ST)
- Al-Owairan: 88 (CAM)
- Capdevila: 88 (LB)
- Park Ji Sung: 87 (CAM)
- Govou: 87 (CAM)
- Crouch: 86 (ST)
Update, August 18: Six more heroes are now known. This time Rudi Völler and also two former icons are included:
- Rudi Völler
- Jay-Jay Okocha
- Hidetoshi Nakata
- Saeed Al-Owairan
- Wlodzimierz Smolarek
- Joan Capdevila
Update, August 17: EA announced six more heroes:
- Peter Crouch
- Tomas Brolin
- Harry Kewell
- Sidney Govou
- Jean-Pierre Papin
- Dirk Kuyt
Which players are included? Some heroes are already known who will be new in FIFA 23. These players are:
- Landon Donovan
- Landon Donovan is the all-time leading scorer for the US national team, with 57 goals in 157 international matches. He spent most of his career with LA Galaxy, and also briefly played for Bayern Munich – after a short loan, the collaboration ended again.
- Ricardo Carvalho
- The Portuguese center-back will get a Premier League card after his amazing performances for Chelsea there. Previously, he won the UEFA Cup and the Champions League with Porto, and also became a champion with Real Madrid.
- Claudio Marchisio
- Claudio Marchisio collected a total of seven Italian championships with “la Vecchia Signora”, Juventus Turin. In the national team, he narrowly missed out on a major title: in 2012, he was vice-European champion with the team.
- Yaya Touré
- One could argue whether an icon card would have been appropriate for Yaya Touré. The midfielder moved from Barcelona to Manchester City after three years and became the undisputed midfield chief there. He was voted African Player of the Year four times in a row – no one had accomplished that before him.
- Ji-Sung Park
- The South Korean national player Ji-Sung Park also managed to spend many years at a single club: Seven seasons at Manchester United, with 134 appearances and 19 goals, stand for the midfielder. This resulted in four English championships.
- Diego Forlán
- Diego Forlán made several stops throughout his career, having played for ManU, Atlético Madrid, Villarreal, and Inter Milan, but his fantastic World Cup 2010, where he won the Golden Ball as the best player, remains unforgettable.
- Lúcio
- Bundesliga fans will still remember Lúcio, who performed strongly at both Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich. He then moved to Italy, where he won the Champions League with Inter Milan. Additionally, he won the World Cup with the Brazilian national team in 2002.
- Javier Mascherano
- For 8 years, Javier Mascherano played for FC Barcelona, winning the championship four times. He also secured the Champions League title – both in 2011 and 2015. He is expected to become a strong card in defensive midfield.
- Rafael Márquez
- Just like Mascherano, the Mexican defender Márquez spent years at FC Barcelona and was active there from 2003 to 2010. He also won the Spanish championship four times, once the cup, and twice the Champions League.
What role does Marvel play? As shown in the image above, the “heroes” are presented in comic form, including a nickname. Mascherano, for example, is called “Octo-Boss”, Forlán is referred to as “Sunstrike”.
EA already implemented the comic approach last year with the first FUT Heroes, such as Mario Gomez.
What is new this year, however, is that the card design of the heroes will actually be kept in comic style. So you will no longer see the real face of the players on the card but rather an illustration. This way, they set themselves apart somewhat from the other special cards in Ultimate Team.
In addition, further cosmetics such as balls, jerseys, or choreographies for Ultimate Team seem to be planned.
Overall, however, it seems to be purely a cosmetic collaboration; the gameplay in FIFA 23 is expected to remain unaffected by the “Marvel” factor. The heroes do not have superpowers or similar abilities on the pitch and are expected to be represented as “normal” players in jerseys instead of capes. How deep the Marvel-EA collaboration will reach over the year remains to be seen.
What can the heroes do? The Hero cards still bring a few advantages compared to “normal” cards. They will likely have strong ratings but primarily provide an advantage in chemistry.
This was already the case last year, but through the new chemistry system in FIFA 23 it is being changed:
- They always have full chemistry when played in their correct position
- They give two chemistry points for players from their league and one chemistry point for players from their country.
Moreover, EA Sports has announced that there will be special “World Cup Heroes” versions of the cards for the World Cup. These are to be released on November 11, 2022, and will have improved ratings.
In addition, there will be more FUT heroes that are expected to be revealed in the coming weeks. Leaks suggest that there might even be “downgrades” for some legends to become heroes – but this is not yet official.
