Five years ago, two very important things happened to change the landscape of DC's non-comics reality. The first was Injustice: Gods Among Us, a dark and gritty fighting game from Mortal Kombat developer Nettherrealm that saw the Man of Steel as a fascist dictator that forced most of the Justice League to help him in his rule of the world. Second was Man of Steel, a dark and gritty reboot of the character that ended with him making out with Lois Lane on the ruins of Metropolis shortly before snapping General Zod's neck.

Both of these things were met with divided responses from fans of the character and comic book community as a whole, and over the years, the only one of to have risen above its initially grim premise is Injustice. It's not a stretch to say that the games themselves are more popular and well liked than the movies at this point, which obviously isn't what Warner Bros. was hoping for.

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Thanks to both the games and DC's comics meant to fill in the history between each game, Netherrealm has created one of the most fun universes in the DC library. That isn't to say that Injustice is lacking in problems, of course; if fascist Superman isn't what turned people off from the universe, it may be the part where he heads down his dark road after being tricked into beating his pregnant wife Lois Lane to death.

Why this has become generally accepted by fans is because the creative forces on hand never try to go out of their way to let that be an acceptable justification for Superman's actions. The heroes (and villains) in and out of his inner circle repeatedly acknowledge that he's gone off the deep end and needs to figure out a way to deal with his loss in a manner that doesn't involve complete world domination. Compared to the way the DCEU fumbled with how to handle Man of Steel's titanic death count (perhaps the most common criticism made against the film), it's an serviceable admission of Superman's gross behavior, if nothing else.

What really separates Injustice from the films aside from the obvious interactive element is that it has something the DCEU very noticeably lacks: a sense of self awareness. With very few exceptions, there's the pervasive attempt in the films to try and make these characters feel like grand, mythic figures without really earning the right to present them as such.

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It's why the fight between the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel doesn't really work. For all the talk of Batman v Superman presenting "the greatest gladiator match in the history of the world," that title can't work because these two characters are just meeting for the first time. More, this is Batman's first appearance in this universe.

Conversely, Injustice is positively brimming with self awareness. One of the first things Superman does in his effort to rule the world is tweet that Bruce Wayne is Batman. It's an incredibly silly moment, but it lays out the careful balance that Netherrealm is aiming for with its universe.

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Injustice constantly straddles the line between grim and goofy. One moment, Superman will use his laser vision to murder Shazam, and the next moment, a Batman impostor will just blow up various members of the Suicide Squad because they're either useless or he just plain dislikes them. (Calendar Man, one of his would be victims, gets a pass just because the tablet controlling his bomb collar decides to stop working.)

Even when the story involves a truly grim death, there's something darkly funny about it, such as Tim Drake reuniting with Batman and getting immediately killed by General Zod in the middle of their moment together. The hands involved with steering the franchise are aware that this is primarily a video game universe, so tone and logic only matter when they really need to.

RELATED: A Whole New Superman Steps Up In Injustice 2

WB's DCEU films have gotten a fair amount of flack for seemingly having an incredibly narrow subset of fans that the studio wishes them to appeal to, one that seems to be predominantly male. But while Injustice may be a franchise built around costumed dudes punching each other into submission, the women are very much active players in the story, with their own arcs and development. Harley Quinn gets to finally beat down on the Joker after years of him doing that to her, for example, and the resulting evolution of her character following his death allows her to bond with Black Canary over what Superman has taken from them.

Injustice 2 makes a more concentrated effort to appeal to everyone's inner child. The Gear system that allows for the fighters to all have distinct looks. Sure, the Gear is tied to stats and is important, but don't be fooled, you're playing dress up with comic book characters like you're a kid again. Combined with guest characters like Hellboy and the Ninja Turtles, it's clear Netherrealm wishes to draw in anyone with an interest in DC's library of characters. And if that doesn't do it, the victory poses that look like lenticular comic covers will.

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The best part of Injustice's success is that it seems to have happened in part by accident. Sure, the game was destined to be a fun time, but it probably wasn't expected to be one of the most fun and audacious DC-branded franchises in the world today. Netherrealm's superhero fighting game isn't just well liked, it's one of the best fighting game franchises around, supported by a strong intersection of fans that happen to be nerds, fighting game fans, or both. And by having its roster encompass not just the more popular names, but also those in movies and TV shows, plus some more lesser known characters, Netherrealm has gotten its bases covered to be one of the most wide reaching DC media franchises out there. 

As the DCEU attempts to move forward on a better foot, it could do a lot worse than to look at what Injustice is doing and copy off of that playbook. For all the fighting franchise's faults, it's doing a lot of things right -- certainly more things than the DCEU seems to be able to.