Apex Legends Season 12 Launch Trailer Sees Maggie Framed For Olympus Map Falling Out Of The Sky

Respawn has released the Apex Legends Season 12 cinematic launch trailer. In it, new playable character Mad Maggie is reintroduced to the other legends. The trailer also teases Mad Maggie's abilities, showcases how Olympus will change in Season 12, and further hints that Duardo Silva (Octane's dad) is cooking up a sinister plot.

As seen in the trailer, Maggie is literally dropped into the latest Apex Games match as punishment for her crimes against the Syndicate. Duardo reveals that he placed Maggie into the games to act as a villain, a person for folks to blame and distract from his actions, as he teleports Olympus away to a new location.

The trailer also gives us a hint as to Maggie's abilities. At 0:38, Maggie shoots out a gadget at a wall between her and Horizon and Crypto. The two legends hot on her heels get a face full of fire as the gadget ejects flames on either side of the wall. This looks like a tactical ability--some way for Maggie to dissuade pursuers or flush enemies out of cover.

I think we see Maggie's passive ability at 0:54, 2:06, and 2:51. Maggie begins glowing, almost like she's on fire--it seems like she runs a little bit faster too. Maybe Maggie naturally runs faster when she's running in a straight line or when she's sprinting towards an enemy? We also see Maggie walking through Fuse's ultimate ability without a scratch so her passive ability might make her more resistant to flame damage.

What's most likely Maggie's ultimate ability is seen at 2:25--the giant bomb-looking spinning top that's launched at Fuse and temporarily stuns him. This looks like it may be the gadget seen in her character art, embedded below.

What we see in the trailer sort of lines up with the abilities for one of the datamined Apex Legends characters. Referred to as "Downfall," this supposed legend has fire-based abilities. Their passive ability is that they build "anger" when they deal damage, ultimately becoming immune to fire once their anger meter is filled. The tactical ability for Downfall is described as a Molotov cocktail-like explosive and their ultimate is a rocket-propelled bomb that drops mines. Based on the launch trailer, Maggie doesn't line up with those descriptions exactly, but maybe Downfall was the early blueprint for Season 12's legend.

The trailer also showcases that Respawn's insatiable desire to destroy the maps it lovingly creates has yet to be quenched, as Olympus suffers major damage after being teleported to a new location and falling out of the sky. Olympus was introduced as the most pristine of Apex Legends' maps, but after falling several feet through the air, it looks like plenty of the map is going to end up broken.

Apex Legends Season 12 is called Defiance and is scheduled to start February 8. Alongside the addition of Mad Maggie, Season 12 will introduce a new 9v9 limited-time mode.