[SPOILERS] Injustice 2: Rumors, Leaks, and our potential roster

Compbros said:

I also have to say that "dark" doesn't mean good either. Not attacking you or anything but dark always seems to play in people's mind that it means more serious which means more good. Nearly all comics have that balance, Spider-man has it in spades. Flash, Superman, WoWo, X-men, it goes on. Some are more balanced than others but Batman isn't really the top of the balance.

Mirror Master just had an episode in flash, Weather Wizard was his very first villain in the series. Regardless, trying to please hardcore is fine but when those hardcore pleases combined are less than one universe it's ugly.

They have an extra 4 characters in the base roster and lost other fan favorites like Hawkgirl but retained Bane/Catwoman. So while there are more obscure people (I for sure wouldn't count Cold/Grodd) there's also unique characters lost while Catwoman is retained.


Whose attention is getting grabbed by Bane/Catwoman right now? Starfire/Static would grab a ton more attention. It's funny because the "show only watchers" are the Batman fans that are fans from his cartoon. The same people asking for Static and Teen Titans characters.

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I get what you are saying.

There's only going to be 28 characters in the base game, it's going to feel weak somewhere. I agree that Starfire and Static would be cooler than Bane and Catwoman, but it's also about who NRS thinks is "core-roster necessity" and not just who would be cool to see. Putting Catwoman in the game is probably more important to NRS and WB than Static will ever be, unfortunately.

There are multiple factors on why certain characters make it into the game:

• How popular they are
• What their moveset in the game will be
• What will they contribute to the story
• Whether or not they were in a recent/upcoming movie or show, so they can cross promote.
  
• If they have to be in the base roster, or if they can wait as a potential

They are obviously going to prioritize popular characters, characters that can help move the story, and characters that will make more sense in a fighting game -- especially if they are in one of their movies or shows (Deadshot is an example of this, he was pretty much added just because of the Suicide Squad movie). They will make cuts here and there to make sure there is diversity, but for the most part, the things I mentioned above will be prioritized.

It's understandable why they would add Catwoman over Mirror Master. She is far more popular, and to be honest, more people would rather her be in the game over MM.

Bane makes sense because he's perfect for a fighting game, in my opinion. He is literally a muscular dude that likes fighting his enemies in hand-to-hand combat, but he is also smart and has a "super" side to him with the venom and stuff.

Again, I understand all of your points. And I completely agree that there are cooler and more unique characters that could be added.

I also want to add that they could be holding certain characters as DLC. We already know that Black Manta, Spawn and Sub-Zero will probably be in there, but there was some discussion earlier (I can't remember if it was in this thread or not though) about Constantine and Starfire having good chances of being DLC because of a pattern in the polls that was going around. Long story short, if a certain pattern continues, they could be apart of the 9 DLC coming.

Basically, just because a character isn't in the base-game doesn't mean they won't be added later. And I'm sure there's a lot of characters that NRS wants to do, but I highly doubt that it's as simple as just adding them to the game -- as weird as it sounds.

EDIT: Spelling fixes, corrections, clarifications, etc.

I'm hoping Sinestro'll be a premium skin. As for Lex ihni how they'll reintroduce him.

CrazyFingers said:

Honestly would've preferred Killer Croc over Bane.

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Blasphemy!

While i doubt that "leak" is real, i dont get why Wildcat cant be a Cheetah skin.

She is hinted to be a grappler what could work and maybe its the female Wildcat who exists.

This could be "Catwoman and Cheetah cant be 2 seperate characters" all over again haha

Gamer68 said:

I get what you are saying.

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I think it's more WB than NRS with some of these. I'm sure NRS didn't really care for Zod but WB had him put in. The roster only feels "weak" in that we still don't Aquaman's archnemisis and we lost both Green Lanterns and Superman while Bane/Catwoman stay. People always say "popular" when it comes to the amount of Bat people we get but I always ask: how many less people would buy the game because Catwoman or Bane didn't make it? How many more people would be interested with Terra/Etrigan over those two? People are looking at I2 that wouldn't because of Swamp Thing, people said if Lobo was added they'd buy IGAU. You've hit the Batman hype for casuals, Bane and Catwoman slots could've easily been Terra and people would flip.

Enticement is what draws people to something. You entice Batman fans with Batman, a Robin, Joker, and Quinn and that's a large, large amount of the people who care. You add Ivy and Scarecrow and you've satisfied the vast majority of Batman fans. Catwoman and Bane are not adding significantly to a Batman fans hype when you have those 6 but Terra/Etrigan/Animal Man/etc. can add to the enticement of people that are on the fence and aren't Batman fans. Do you not think that people that would be interested in the game with Terra and Black Manta would surpass the Batman fans interested just because Catwoman/Bane are in?


- How popular they are is hard to judge. Is Heatwave more popular than Bane right now considering Legends of Tomorrow while Bane hasn't been in anything in about 4 years? Is Deadshot more popular than Deathstroke considering he was just the star in a big budget movie? Recognition isn't the end all for popularity otherwise Superman would be the most popular hero considering his symbol is the most recognizable in the world in terms of Heroes and one of the most recognized symbols in the world. So, again, hard to judge.


- Weather Wizard controls the weather; Mirror Master can cause light refractions, become invisible, and teleport thanks to his mirror world so think Zatanna's special move where there's three of her or him throwing mirrors around the battlefield and acting like Warlock Quan Chi's; Vixen/Animal Man channels various animals for flight, strength, speed, camouflage, etc.; Catwoman has a feline motif (which Cheetah already has) and a whip; Bane is a hulking martial artist with a respect to the Luchadors.

-Etrigan is a demon and could be a threat to Superman, Circe is a magic user which is one of Supes' weaknesses, Mirror Master has already trapped Superman in Mirror World before in the Injustice comic. In the first IGAU Bane/Killer Frost/Grundy basically contributed nothing.

- Bane and Catwoman aren't in anything, meanwhile Steppenwolf is for the Justice League, Lex was just in BvS, Enchantress was just in Suicide Squad, Ares is apparently in Wonder Woman.

- The people in upcoming movies could be either, makes more sense to wait though skins can be added instead of the character for promotion.



Refer to my second paragraph.


When is it "enough" for the popular characters? The JL, the main 4 Batman characters and Ivy/Scarecrow, you've pretty much hit what you need. Again, How many people would love to have Terra in the game over Catwoman since they have 6 characters already? She's popular enough, why not? Why 8 Batman characters and a skin? You can't say "popularity" when many popular, non-Batman characters are left out so Bane/Catwoman can make it in when there's already 6 (7 with a skin) is absurd. When is it enough Batman characters?



Amazo is the same as Bane while having the abilities of many DC characters. He could be like Imposter Shinnok with absorbing a move while having moves of people that didn't make it in.


It's not okay to oversaturate the roster with Batman characters because DLC is coming especially considering that a Batman character is almost certain to be a DLC character.

Etrigan is a demon who IS a threat to superman. Back to the topic: using less familiar characters could open up new streams of revenue when people buy comics/movies/whatever from a fighter that they like who they've never been introduced to before. Batman gets them in the door, the B list sells new merch.

Compbros said:

I think it's more WB than NRS with some of these. I'm sure NRS didn't really care for Zod but WB had him put in. The roster only feels "weak" in that we still don't Aquaman's archnemisis and we lost both Green Lanterns and Superman while Bane/Catwoman stay. People always say "popular" when it comes to the amount of Bat people we get but I always ask: how many less people would buy the game because Catwoman or Bane didn't make it? How many more people would be interested with Terra/Etrigan over those two? People are looking at I2 that wouldn't because of Swamp Thing, people said if Lobo was added they'd buy IGAU. You've hit the Batman hype for casuals, Bane and Catwoman slots could've easily been Terra and people would flip.

Enticement is what draws people to something. You entice Batman fans with Batman, a Robin, Joker, and Quinn and that's a large, large amount of the people who care. You add Ivy and Scarecrow and you've satisfied the vast majority of Batman fans. Catwoman and Bane are not adding significantly to a Batman fans hype when you have those 6 but Terra/Etrigan/Animal Man/etc. can add to the enticement of people that are on the fence and aren't Batman fans. Do you not think that people that would be interested in the game with Terra and Black Manta would surpass the Batman fans interested just because Catwoman/Bane are in?


- How popular they are is hard to judge. Is Heatwave more popular than Bane right now considering Legends of Tomorrow while Bane hasn't been in anything in about 4 years? Is Deadshot more popular than Deathstroke considering he was just the star in a big budget movie? Recognition isn't the end all for popularity otherwise Superman would be the most popular hero considering his symbol is the most recognizable in the world in terms of Heroes and one of the most recognized symbols in the world. So, again, hard to judge.


- Weather Wizard controls the weather; Mirror Master can cause light refractions, become invisible, and teleport thanks to his mirror world so think Zatanna's special move where there's three of her or him throwing mirrors around the battlefield and acting like Warlock Quan Chi's; Vixen/Animal Man channels various animals for flight, strength, speed, camouflage, etc.; Catwoman has a feline motif (which Cheetah already has) and a whip; Bane is a hulking martial artist with a respect to the Luchadors.

-Etrigan is a demon and could be a threat to Superman, Circe is a magic user which is one of Supes' weaknesses, Mirror Master has already trapped Superman in Mirror World before in the Injustice comic. In the first IGAU Bane/Killer Frost/Grundy basically contributed nothing.

- Bane and Catwoman aren't in anything, meanwhile Steppenwolf is for the Justice League, Lex was just in BvS, Enchantress was just in Suicide Squad, Ares is apparently in Wonder Woman.

- The people in upcoming movies could be either, makes more sense to wait though skins can be added instead of the character for promotion.



Refer to my second paragraph.


When is it "enough" for the popular characters? The JL, the main 4 Batman characters and Ivy/Scarecrow, you've pretty much hit what you need. Again, How many people would love to have Terra in the game over Catwoman since they have 6 characters already? She's popular enough, why not? Why 8 Batman characters and a skin? You can't say "popularity" when many popular, non-Batman characters are left out so Bane/Catwoman can make it in when there's already 6 (7 with a skin) is absurd. When is it enough Batman characters?



Amazo is the same as Bane while having the abilities of many DC characters. He could be like Imposter Shinnok with absorbing a move while having moves of people that didn't make it in.


It's not okay to oversaturate the roster with Batman characters because DLC is coming especially considering that a Batman character is almost certain to be a DLC character.

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To be honest, I doubt NRS and WB looks a character that would otherwise fit the game, and say "no, we can't do that because we have to many X-series characters already"

If they feel the need to add Bane, whatever their reasons may be, they will add Bane.

Once again, I agree that there are better choices, but really, they can do wait ever they feel needs to be done -- even if it doesn't make sense to us.

"You can't say "popularity" when many popular, non-Batman characters are left out so Bane/Catwoman can make it in when there's already 6 (7 with a skin) is absurd."

I didn't say it was just popularity. I also said it's whether or not they fit the game, if they were in something recent, etc.

You did give some examples of some moves that certain characters to use in the game, but do they fit the other roles/requirements? Can they cross-promote them? Where they heavily requested? So on and so on. I highly doubt that NRS/WB would want to cut Catwoman and Bane just because they have a certain amount of Batman characters. Again, I don't think there's a max number of characters from a series you can put in. And honestly, do you think the millions of casual players who will buy this game would want Catwoman and Bane to be cut so they can have Mirror Master or Circle? Most probably don't even know who those characters are.

"It's not okay to oversaturate the roster with Batman characters because DLC is coming especially considering that a Batman character is almost certain to be a DLC character."

I don't think that most people care, to be honest. I've seen fans of the game say that they wish there wasn't as many, but they go on to say that the roster is fine. Some even go on to ask for Red Hood and Deathstroke. Like I mentioned above multiple times, it doesn't matter how many characters from a certain series make it in.

Rice said:

While i doubt that "leak" is real, i dont get why Wildcat cant be a Cheetah skin.

She is hinted to be a grappler what could work and maybe its the female Wildcat who exists.

This could be "Catwoman and Cheetah cant be 2 seperate characters" all over again haha

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A female with a male skin or a male with a female skin would look wonky with their animations, and possibly would create a bit of phantom hitboxes. The way Cheetah moves would be distinctly different from the way you would expect Wildcat to move, and it doesn't seem like it would be worth the effort NRS would have to put in to make it happen unless there was 2 characters that are really similar like the ones that have already been announced. Not to say it wouldn't be cool.

I think this new 'leak' is nonsense. The author of it's grammar is far too poor for someone who conveniently works at NRS. Then again, I didn't believe the original leak because of the absence of Shazam, Sinestro, Lex Luthor... So here we are.

Gamer68 said:

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Of course they can, ultimately everything is up to them.


Can they cross promote? Yep,Through the various CW shows. Heavily requested falls into that "known name" popularity area. I can say mirror master was requested a lot but not as heavily as others. Terra/Starfire were and Teen Titans: The Judas Contract comes out soon so request and promotion there. It's not about having a certain amount of Batman characters so they should cut some, it's about having representation of other series and if you're looking at who to cut the guy with 8 names on the roster should be looked at before Lex Luthor.

The millions of casuals that will play this game want Superman, Batman, WoWo, GL, Flash, Aquaman, Joker, Harley Quinn, Robin. That's who appeals to casuals the most, Ivy/Scarecrow is just icing. Those 10 characters are the vast majority of your sales right there. Those millions may not want Circe/MM over CW/Bane but they got who they actually want regardless of if those two get cut or not and you've already locked down a large portion of your sales with them.

"Most probably don't know who they are".

How are people gonna learn if you don't put them in anything? Casuals interested in Injustice 2 that never heard of Swamp Thing are gonna learn some stuff about Swamp Thing and can become a fan. My brother became a fan of Grundy through IGAU. Never heard of him before that game.



I care. As a hardcore DC fan I care a lot. Here's the Breakdown of characters (not including skins).


Superman: Superman, Brainiac, Supergirl.

Batman: Batman, Robin, Joker, Quinn, Ivy, Scarecrow, Bane, Catwoman.

Wonder Woman: Wonder Woman, Cheetah

Flash: Flash, Grodd, Captain Cold

Green Lantern: Green Lantern, Atrocitus

Green Arrow: Green Arrow, Black Canary

Miscellaneous: Swamp Thing, Blue Beetle, Cyborg, Aquaman, Black Adam, Firestorm, Dr. Fate, Deadshot.


Batman is tied with people that have one representative. His list ties the entirety of the miscellaneous list. Tone it down.

SoundsLikePAUSE said:

Beast Boy was a representative of the red for the first bit of the New52. Personally, I wish they had kept him this color but far as know, even green he's still considered "red".

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the only time i liked Beast Boy. He didn't act like an annoying twat. but people only care about him because of that Weeb-lite Teen titans cartoon.

pls starfire leak be real pls

Gamer68 said:

There's only going to be 28 characters in the base game.

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Preeeeeeeeetty sure there's going to be more than 28

Jokers potential face revealed through the mobile game.
This image of the Joker is from the Injustice 2 mobile game. Why do you think that the joker looks like this. I'm thinking possible heath ledger joker skin but just wanted to know what you guys think of this.
https://www.reddit.com/r/INJUSTICE/comments/5wn5sj/this_image_of_the_joker_is_from_the_injustice_2/

First leak is real, second one is obviously bullshit. Why would someone tell you what department they are working in AND still be working there while leaking info?

Also, the grammar is fucking awful.. They also have weird skin choices like shazam over black adam and batwoman over batman and have starfire and red hood on the list when they clearly aren't in the base game at this point.

Literally nothing on that second list looks legit. Reminds me of a troll post someone would make to stir hype.. meanwhile the first list has been right and dropped way back in december.

Compbros said:

I hear it at lot though and I'm like "why?". I always ask, what is the definitive Two-face arc? Or Killer Croc? Or Clayface? The best Mr. Freeze backstory was given in a cartoon, the same cartoon that produced one of the biggest properties DC has in Harley Quinn. What makes Batman's villains the best? Because people actually know the characters or because they genuinely believe they're better than anyone elses?

To me the galleries go:

Spider-Man
Flash
Superman/Batman go back and forth

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Batman's villains as a whole are very interesting because they force character study stories, and those are the best types of stories. Surface conflicts in comics are all fine and dandy, but character study stories that force the reader to question the main character or link the antagonist and protagonist in a deeper and thematic way are revolutionary.

Take, for example, the Batman Animated Series episode Heart of Ice. Mr. Freeze was introduced as a tragic character that seeks revenge rather than justice (this is a direct character study of Batman's method of dealing with loss).

A lot of great Joker stories (Death of the Family, Killing Joke) dabble in the relationship that both of the feed from one another. Hell, even the recent Endgame dealt with the idea that Batman is an everlasting symbol and Joker is an immortal insanity.

Scarecrow morphs the fear of others to a sinister purpose, whereas Batman combats his own internal fears through his vigilante persona. That is a perfect thematic clash if I've ever seen one.

I could go on for a long time, but the point is Batman's rogues gallery (Spider-Man's is also at the top because of this same concept) doesn't just create an external conflict, but also an internal one that pushes the main character to the brink of his ideological principles. Character studies produce the stories with the most nuance and depth, and the villains make that possible.

Bane is probably back because of how proud they were that they fuckin nailed it with him. Conceptually, from a gameplay standpoint, they couldn't have done a better job with that character. Same reason I expect Doomsday to be back as DLC.

Johnny Based Cage said:

Bane is probably back because of how proud they were that they fuckin nailed it with him. Conceptually, from a gameplay standpoint, they couldn't have done a better job with that character. Same reason I expect Doomsday to be back as DLC.

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I'll be very surprised if they include any Injustice 1 characters as DLC.

Also as emotionally appealing as that recent leak is, no one actually believes it, surely? Wishful thinking can only go so far...

AA25Mamba said:

Batman's villains as a whole are very interesting because they force character study stories, and those are the best types of stories. Surface conflicts in comics are all fine and dandy, but character study stories that force the reader to question the main character or link the antagonist and protagonist in a deeper and thematic way are revolutionary.

Take, for example, the Batman Animated Series episode Heart of Ice. Mr. Freeze was introduced as a tragic character that seeks revenge rather than justice (this is a direct character study of Batman's method of dealing with loss).

A lot of great Joker stories (Death of the Family, Killing Joke) dabble in the relationship that both of the feed from one another. Hell, even the recent Endgame dealt with the idea that Batman is an everlasting symbol and Joker is an immortal insanity.

Scarecrow morphs the fear of others to a sinister purpose, whereas Batman combats his own internal fears through his vigilante persona. That is a perfect thematic clash if I've ever seen one.

I could go on for a long time, but the point is Batman's rogues gallery (Spider-Man's is also at the top because of this same concept) doesn't just create an external conflict, but also an internal one that pushes the main character to the brink of his ideological principles. Character studies produce the stories with the most nuance and depth, and the villains make that possible.

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Character crisis stories are prevalent in comics. Nearly every big Spider-man story has it. Nearly every big Superman story has it, hell Lex might have it more than any singular mainstream comic character. Nearly every big Batman story has it. Invincible is one of the most prevalent I've ever read. It's not exclusive to Batman and his Rogues Gallery, it's the driving force of comic story telling. No one just wants to see a good guy show up, revolve a crisis with action, then go. It's boring. There needs peaks and valleys emotionally and morally.

Freeze was given that in the cartoon, before that he was pretty bland and one note. The cartoon added a lot of depth and fleshing out that comics hadn't. On the flip side, look at Lex Luthor: Man of Steel, a fantastic character crisis story that explores Lex's hatred of Superman.



Just outstanding stuff. And that's what I mean when I say every comic has stuff like this. You can dig up dozens of arcs, one shots, what have you that explore things such as this.

One of my favorite New52 stories was a Scarecrow one, he's easily my favorite Batman character and one of the few I see as a great villain. That said, Batman is a fear based hero in that the costume he dons is his attempt to overcome his own fear. Scarecrow forcing fear on a man that's already really afraid and trying to overcome it doesn't add much to the character.


Internal conflict is what drives heroes, look at the X-men and their constant conflict driven not just by their villains and themselves but average people that see them as monsters.

That's a long post to quote so I won't take up the thread space, but you're exactly right, comp. I can't agree with your take on Scarecrow, though. Batman isn't just based in fear, his character has nuance in that he feels immense fear, but is also driven by willpower. Scarecrow is interesting in that bringing his fear to the forefront directly challenges the equal (if not greater) willpower he possess. Some of the best Scarecrow material plays with that idea in different ways. Some examples being Nothing to Fear (BTAS episode), Arkham series, and his appearance in Knightfall.

My point is that Batman's internal drive and motives can be challenged in multiple ways, and the multitude of villains in his gallery serve to do that in nuanced ways. I'm not downing Superman when I say this, but for example, he is challenged in primarily two ways: his absolute power and his sense of righteousness. Some great things have been done with that. I personally love the scene that Superman talks a woman on the verge of jumping from a building down. To me, that is the perfect embodiment of his character. But life isn't always as black and white as that.

I'll contend that Batman and his characters are some compelling to most people because they reflect feelings and ideals that us as humans encounter on a frequent basis.

I could talk about storytelling, writing, characterization, thematic consequence, etc. all day. You seem like the kind of guy I could kick ideas around with for hours on end! I'm really psyched about this game and all the characters in it (and hopefully some great ones to be added).

You think any casting discussions at WB/NRS are this serious, or they're just like hey you guys want to do some fire moves, somebody google fire and dc and pick the third name that pops up.

When's Snowflame though am I right?

Only tell me that Ras Al Ghul will be in...

Today, someone posted another "leak" on reddit.com, but the information was deleted after a few hours. Actually, I don't really believe in this list, because it repeats the names that we hear in all "leaks" almost every day. Anyway...

DLC: Constantine, Darkseid (pre-order), Deathstroke, Hawkman, Hellboy, Red Hood, Spawn, Starfire, Sub-Zero, Vixen. Constantine, Hawkman and Hellboy are in very early stages of development according to the source. Also he said, that NRS planned to add Beast Boy, but abandoned this idea because of the complexity of its implementation (Motaro flashbacks). As premium skins he named Mr. Freeze, Owlman, Shazam, Silver Banshee, Deathstorm, Sinestro, Ocean Master, Zod (for Superman), Kilowog & Ch'p (for Atrocitus) and some others.

Kokoko said:

Today, someone posted another "leak" on reddit.com, but the information was deleted after a few hours. Actually, I don't really believe in this list, because it repeats the names that we hear in all "leaks" almost every day. Anyway...

DLC: Constantine, Darkseid (pre-order), Deathstroke, Hawkman, Hellboy, Red Hood, Spawn, Starfire, Sub-Zero, Vixen. Constantine, Hawkman and Hellboy are in very early stages of development according to the source. Also he said, that NRS planned to add Beast Boy, but abandoned this idea because of the complexity of its implementation (Motaro flashbacks). As premium skins he named Mr. Freeze, Owlman, Shazam, Silver Banshee, Deathstorm, Sinestro, Ocean Master, Zod (for Superman), Kilowog & Ch'p (for Atrocitus) and some others.

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Doesn't have Black Manta, who was basically confirmed by a trusted source, so I don't trust it. Just sounds like ANOTHER person made a Reddit alt account to post a fake "leak". There have been a lot of these lately.