We’ve reported a few times these last few weeks on how Injustice 3 seems to be an inevitability, first due to playtests of an unannounced AAA 2D fighting game, then through resumé leaks and once again for more leaks from workers on the game.
With Injustice 3 seeming like such a certainty at this point, it’s high time we have a look at what characters could potentially be joining the fray. Across the first two games in the series, the vast majority of important DC characters are actually already covered, but I decided to cobble together six DC characters (and one honorable mention — you’ll get it later) that I would love to see on the roster in Injustice 3 if it is indeed happening.
Most of this list will focus on the main DC Comics universes, but given that there are a wide variety of imprints under the DC Comics label, including their Vertigo line, we’ll be looking at a few different picks from DC’s wide variety of publications. It’s also worth mentioning that although some of these characters may be dead or incapacitated via the Injustice comic books line, there’s plenty of room to incorporate alternate timelines or other shenanigans to still include them in the roster, so I’m keeping everyone on the table for inclusion.
Although not part of main DC Comics continuity, Watchmen is one of the most storied and beloved tales from the library of the comic publisher and in later years, we have seen some incursions of elements and characters from Watchmen interacting with the prime DC Universe as well.
In a game series like Injustice which already deals with multiple universes and continuities, and even brings in crossovers from entirely different publishers (like Hellboy and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles back in Injustice 2), incorporating Watchmen characters would be an easy slam dunk.
Perhaps the most interesting character to bring into the fold, at least in my opinion, would be Dr. Manhattan, clearly the most powerful character in the philosophically charged literary work.
Once a regular man working in nuclear physics, Jonathan Osterman was caught in a lab accident and ended up transforming into something very different.
With his new perspective and his extremely superhuman powers, the now-dubbed Dr. Manhattan gradually loses his connection to humanity and deliberately distances himself from them.
Given his extreme detachment from humanity, he’d not only make an interesting addition due to his wildly different perspective to most characters in the Injustice world, but he might even make a fantastic main antagonist, especially given how immensely powerful he is.
In short, if they were to include Watchmen, I’d really love to see Dr. Manhattan take center stage and it’d be even better if they included other characters from Watchmen such as Ozymandias or Rorschach as counterparts to him.
Originally from the Vertigo imprint, John Constantine was completely separate from the main DC Comics continuity for a long time, staying self-contained to the Hellblazer series.
Nowadays, though, Constantine is fully part of the regular DC Comics world and has been more clearly established in his abilities and how they interact with the superpowered beings surrounding him, making him a more focused character in his power set and skills.
Although not much of a traditional fighter, John Constantine does stick out as one of the more popular DC Comics characters who hasn’t made the cut for an Injustice title so far.
Not a physical fighter by any means, Constantine is a magic user but more than that, he’s a magically charming man who often manages to talk himself out of or manipulate situations to take the upper hand.
Given that his forté is deception and trickery, it could lead to a very interesting trick-based moveset where a lot of his attacks are based around deluding the opponent and setting them up with traps or other tricks, largely overcoming them outside of a physical fight.
Obviously this sounds a bit difficult to implement in a fighting game, but given all the creative depictions we’ve seen in Injustice so far (one of my favorites was Captain Cold and his freezing field), I would not put it past NetherRealm Studios to be able to put out a satisfying depiction of Constantine if they really wanted to.
They’ve also already used magic users who fight differently with Zatanna in Injustice: Gods Among Us and Doctor Fate in Injustice 2, so seeing a much more grounded take on such abilities through Constantine would be a fun alternative.
Originally presented as something of a braggart and fame-seeker who stages heroics through time travel and his knowledge of future events, Booster Gold started off something of an obnoxious character.
However, he eventuallywas developed into a very interesting hero in his own right who commands great respect from many of his compatriots, including Batman, with his earlier reputation being something that weighs him down if anything.
An interesting character with a lot of good connections to other DC heroes which would make for cool interactions (something that’s key to the Injustice games in general), he also has a lot of cool abilities including many which are tech-based, such as projecting force fields and shooting energy blasts.
What I’d want to see from him for his moveset, though, is incorporating not just time travel for potentially some interesting moves where he could roll back previous events to restore his HP or reverse situations at a significant meter cost
More importantly though, to also incorporate Skeets, his guide robot, which carries the archive of all the events that have happened in the present (which is the past from Booster Gold and Skeets’ perspectives.)
A way to implement this would be for example to have him use Trait to make him automatically counter the next mid attack, meaning the opponent now needs to open him up specifically with highs, lows or throws — frustrating to deal with, but quite unique and a very interesting way to incorporate his character gimmick.
Time travel has been used in fighting games in the past, but it would be nice to see a modern character making use of it, especially coupled with something more pre-cognitive like Booster Gold’s gimmick is, so I’d be hoping for something along these lines if we saw him in the roster.
Mostly known as the wife of Aquaman but a very strong character in her own right, Mera truly shines in the best of Aquaman comics with a very strong showing throughout which I personally loved throughout Dan Abnett’s Aquaman run during DC Rebirth.
As the Queen of Atlantis and a part of the Xebellian sub-race, Mera has full capability of breathing underwater and enhanced abilities across the board much like Aquaman himself does, but also possesses innate hydrokinetic abilities.
At first glance she might seem like just another flavor of Aquaman due to also using a trident and being a seadweller, but her hydrokinetic abilities basically make her into a full-on water-based mage, so it would be more than easy to differentiate her from her husband.
The easiest way, but also slightly boring way, to incorporate Mera in the game would be for Aquaman to sit this one out, since Mera traditionally tends to involve herself whenever there’s a threat to her husband (something she takes very seriously.)
Ideally, though, we’d have both Aquaman and Mera in the roster working in tandem with each other since their different abilities very much lend them to being totally unique characters in their own right.
Another reason why she’d be a good inclusion is the fact that she was a major part of the highly successful 2018 Aquaman film and its 2023 sequel, meaning that she is a much more relevant character in the public consciousness than she was back during the release of Injustice: Gods Among Us in 2013 and Injustice 2 in 2017.
I’d generally just love to not just see their interactions between each other, but also to see what Mera has to say to all the other heroes and villains who have been plaguing the world throughout the Injustice storyline so far.
It wouldn’t be a new Injustice game without throwing in a healthy dose of villains from Batman, DC Comics’ most popular property.
In Injustice: Gods Among Us we had The Joker as the impetus of the game’s main storyline and also had Bane and Harley Quinn in the roster with Injustice 2 adding onto that group with Deadshot and Scarecrow. Now, as my personal wish for Injustice 3, I present to you: Two-Face.
I will admit that there’s a very large portion of personal bias here, considering Two-Face is my #2 (fitting, right?) favorite character in DC Comics, second only to Superman, and while I realize that there’s not much that separates Two-Face from other characters as far as abilities go, I want to present my case for how he could work in a fighting game.
Given that Two-Face is obsessed purely with random chance and uses coin flips to generally make his decisions for him after an acid attack destroyed half of his face (but more importantly, completely fractured his psyche), I think using this element in his moveset could make for an exceptionally interesting, albeit also undeniably frustrating, character in a fighting game.
Essentially, my pitch is that Two-Face would have two different versions on each of his special moves with no control for the player on which one actually happens. Basically, invoking the classic fighting game adage “If I don’t know which side my mixup hits on, you won’t either.”
I’m not advocating for some kind of undetectable mixup on every move since that would obviously be a bit too toxic, but having a character where random chance determines what you’re getting on his special moves and the player having to continuously adapt to it with what followup or combo route they need to take sounds like just the kind of stimulation which would keep technical players invested.
Add to it that, as the opponent, you’d have to be on your toes specifically to try and counter these abilities, I think it’d lend to making some very dynamic — and again, obviously frustrating — fights which stay incredibly in character for a villain like Two-Face.
I honestly doubt that fighting game developers would really want to go for something like this, but I do think it’d create an interesting archetype which is practically never seen in fighting game rosters and good ol’ Harvey is sure as hell the perfect candidate for it.
Honestly, my main reason for wanting Star Sapphire in the game is because we’ve gradually seen more parts of the Green Lantern lore’s color spectrum incorporated throughout the previous Injustice games with Sinestro representing the Yellow Lanterns in Injustice: Gods Among Us and Atrocitus showcasing the Red Lanterns in Injustice 2.
With this in mind, I think the ideal candidate to include at this point is Star Sapphire, more specifically Hal Jordan’s longtime love interest Carol Ferris, for another part of the color spectrum to participate in a potential new Injustice game.
Although originally portrayed as a villain with the Star Sapphire persona taking over Carol, she is now far more known as a hero and ally of not just Hal Jordan but also other Green Lantern characters like Kyle Rayner in their continued adventures and heroics.
Representing the emotion of “love”, Star Sapphire seems like she’d be incredibly needed in a grim and dour world such as the one of Injustice, and it would also be a nice change of pace to include a more positive Lantern group after having the sinister Yellow Lanterns and Red Lanterns in previous titles.
It’d also be a good way to focus more on Hal Jordan and give him more to work with in the storyline with a more personal investment through a character he has such a strong history with, regardless of if they’re presented as being actively a couple or not.
This could also be a fun way of incorporating something similar to the “Friendship” finishers from Mortal Kombat and have a special scenario where Star Sapphire can solve the conflict through love instead of hatred in the end. Just a thought.
This is just an honorable mention, because Reverse-Flash was playable in Injustice 2 as a premium skin, meaning that he had the same moveset as The Flash but with his own voice lines and interactions with other characters.
Despite this, I’d love to see Barry Allen’s nemesis get to be a character in his own right and employ much more brutal ways of using his speed powers, including the iconic vibrating hand pushed inside his opponent to stop their heart or pierce the brain, a move which Reverse-Flash has employed for murder several times.
Having a much more brutal speedster would be a fun way to see more creative uses of speed-based abilities, would inevitably add more conflict to The Flash and his involvement in the story and most importantly, there’s huge potential for Reverse-Flash’s supers.
It’s a recurring theme in The Flash’s storyline and even a very well-liked meme that Eobard Thawne is basically behind everything that goes wrong in Barry Allen’s life, with the line “It was me, Barry!” often appearing in internet culture surrounding the character.
Incorporating this specifically to have Reverse-Flash be behind every character’s deepest trauma, in a callback to character-specific type supers such as Midnight Bliss in Darkstalkers or similar old ones, would be a very funny way of incorporating the absolutely dastardly approach of Reverse-Flash and applying it to different characters.
The destruction of Krypton? The shooting of Bruce Wayne’s parents? The complete destruction of Coast City? “It was me” every single time. It’s silly, but it’s the exact type of thing that would be a perfect fit to making Reverse-Flash an amazing standalone character in the roster.
