Injustice 2’s Guest Characters Demonstrate DC Comics’ Strength

Over the weekend, Netherrealm finally put out a trailer for the third and final Fighter Pack for their superhero fighter, Injustice 2. Along with DC Comics characters The Atom and Enchantress, the third character to join was actually a set of characters--namely, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The Turtles join an impressive roster of guest stars; the game’s first Fighter Pack featured Mortal Kombat’s icy ninja Sub-Zero as a guest star, and the second featured thunder god Raiden (also a Kombat kharacter) and Dark Horse icon Hellboy.

Both the Mortal Kombat and TMNT guest spots make a weird degree of sense, when you think about it: Netherrealm previously had the DC characters fight their MK crew in 2008, back when they were still owned by Midway and yet to be bought by WB. Meanwhile, the Ninja Turtles had a crossover comic with Batman in 2016 that was well liked and led to one of the greatest comic book panels of all time; a sequel, featuring Bane as the antagonist, will begin the first week of December.

Guest characters are nothing new to fighting games, as any fan of Super Smash Bros. or Marvel vs. Capcom will tell you. But Netherrealm’s guest characters go above and beyond by pulling from universes you wouldn’t expect. Everyone kind of expected Cloud Strife or Bayonetta to join Smash Bros 4, but the same can’t be said of Freddy Krueger, Leatherface, or Alien joining Mortal Kombat, for example. Having a foot in the already ridiculous world of comics, Injustice 2’s entire roster has covered all the bases for fans--those coming in via big icons (Batman, Wonder Woman), movies (Deadshot, Enchantress), TV shows (Captain Cold, Supergirl), and animated movies (Starfire, Robin, Swamp Thing). Turtles and Hellboy are just an extension of TV and movies, since both have or are getting one in the near future.

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As superfluous as these guest stars are -- it’s a fighting game, so they kinda have to be -- they do speak to a greater positive that looms over at DC and WB. Despite the divided reactions that some of their products lead to, it can’t be denied that creative freedom really thrives over at DC. Whether it’s because there was something in the water during a writing summit or Geoff Johns told everyone that nothing was off the table, the last two years in particular have been great for the publisher. Whether it’s the surrealism of Mr. Miracle, or the exploration of questioning of capitalism in The Flinstones, or the twisted family dynamics in Deathstroke, this is very clearly a different DC Comics than what we got with the New 52, and it’s a welcome change at that.

What certainly helps is that WB began to finally see that these characters less as people to have a stringent hold on and more like the toys that they certainly are. And as we all know from our various childhoods, part of the fun of having different toys is making them do whatever we want with no real rhyme or reason for doing so. I2 knows this as well, and goes all in on the “toys” angle with a ton of customization options to make your character look as ridiculous or badass as possible, complete with goofy names.

You can see this best with the comparison to the distinguished competition over at Marvel. Since their acquisition by Disney, many have imagined that they’ll join the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III, something which has been met with equal parts anticipation and dread. There’s a certain tight hold that the House or Mouse has over on Marvel characters, and in cases where they theoretically should be successful, as was the case with Disney Infinity, there was only failure. See also the recently released Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite. That game, which has a legacy on par with that of Mortal Kombat, came under huge fire up to release for only having MCU-related characters in its roster. Previous games featured the X-Men, and the lack of them is a glaring omission that turned many off from that game. Disney may be in the process of acquiring those characters, but by then, it’ll be too late. It may get a few people to come back to MvC if the X-Men or Fantastic Four are included in a later game, but it'll also just lead to discussions of how Marvel screwed them over with Infinite.

The reaction to seeing the Turtles at the end of the trailer was widespread applause and freak outs. Crossovers like these are only able to work in full because fighting games don’t need to waste time (usually) explaining why everyone is punching each other. Injustice 2 could only be a fighting game for any of this nonsense to really work; were it an action game, it would almost certainly be one where you play as Batman the whole time, and an RPG clearly isn’t something WB has any interest in doing with these characters. In this context, no other explanation is needed beyond “everyone is already punching each other, what’s a few other weirdos added in?”

Injustice 2 is a great game, and it’s likely going to pick up some awards by the end of the year. There’s plenty to love about that game, and its clear love for the ridiculous comic book characters it has on hand is proof of this. DC has had a good year overall, and the inclusion of the Turtles and Hellboy have made this game one to remember for years to come.