Mortal Kombat will kontinue its run with Khaos Reigns. With the expansion comes six new characters. Noob Saibot has received a new look. Cyrax and Sektor will get changes to their look and perhaps backstory. But the most captivating thing to come out of the new DLC are of course the guest characters. Neatherrealms will dip their toes in The Terminator franchise once more by incorporating the T-1000 into the game. In addition, they will add yet another Arnold Schwarzenegger character in Conan the Barbarian. The hottest, and maybe most controversial, character will be Ghostface from the Scream franchise. Like it or not, one of the main factors in Mortal Kombat games, but more precisely Neatherrealms games, are the guest characters. When a new game is announced from the studio, speculation quickly goes to which guest character will appear. It’s easy when the game in question is an Injustice game but obviously a Mortal Kombat character will appear. Two of them appeared in Injustice 2. But what if Neatherrealms decided to add two DC characters into a Mortal Kombat game to even the odds. The most recent game has Peacemaker, but what other character can be added?
Doomsday is a character that is a straight up monster. His look alone screams violent tendency. The one villain that killed Superman – or “killed’. But Doomsday has the nature to in him to rip people apart, just like how characters in Mortal Kombat do. Depending on who is writing him at the time, Doomsday is a simple instinctually driven creature. He wants death, destruction and blood. As he carries out his lethal, chaotic deeds, he is animalistic, savage, ferocious, raw, and unsympathetic. Doomsday doesn’t need anything fancy like weapons or tools. He is an old fashion brawler who wants up close and personal combat because he can take it and give it back tenfold. DC does a great job to show his raw, powerful side but rarely ventures into his gruesome violent side. A game like Mortal Kombat could give him the opportunity to fully unleash.
Red Hood has so much anger in him that is tamed pretty well. But not contained indefinitely. Once that stored rage is released that could easily open up violent path. He is an expert in firearms, and bladed weaponry and has been resurrected. That bit of bio already fits nicely in the Mortal Kombat universe. Red Hood was a victim of barbaric violence and in his early days of colliding with Batman, he flipped the script to use it as a weapon to stop crime in Gotham. A common thought experiment is ‘what will Batman look like if he actually killed?’. The answer is in the Batcave. Red Hood was trained by Batman to do many of things the Dark Knight does. But once Red Hood felt betrayed by Batman, he embraced that frustration then redirected it to everyone. A mature game like Mortal Kombat could create creative with his guns, throwing stars, and his shortly used gauntlet blades and his limited access to mysticism.
Rorschach definitely has the brutality to enter the savage world of Mortal Kombat. He may be one of the most raw characters to get into the fighting game since there isn’t any finesse or flash to his style. It’s up close, personal, and crude but each hit is filled with rage. Rorschach is brutal and blunt to everything he does from fighting to interrogating to even talking to some of his fellow Watchmen. And he doesn’t deter from anything. Even outmatched by Ozymandias, outnumbered when he was in prison with everyone he helped lock up, and outpowered by Dr. Manhattan, he punched above his weight and held his ground. So clashing with lightning gods, undead ninjas, and humanoid lizards will just be targets for him. The mad geniuses at Neatherrealms could get creative with his grappling hook, the cleaver, DIY flamethrowers, and cooking oil. One of his fatalities, he can have Dr. Manhattan do to other characters what Dr. Manhattan did to him at the end of Watchmen.
Lobo loves the extreme. He loves overkill. And he does it with a sinister glee. His brash and harsh personality could make Johnny Cage’s own personality seem tamed. Just for background, Lobo has killed his entire population on his planet and has been banned from Heaven and Hell. In the face of death, he laughs because he has a very impressive healing factor. Pain and death mean nothing to him. They’re just little annoyances. Lobo makes perfect sense to slide into the Mortal Kombat universe because of who is. He is an intergalactic bounty hunter who goes after anybody if the pay is good enough. This has put him on a collision course with Superman and the Lanterns, and he goes toe to toe with them and survives. So he could withstand the attacks of many Mortal Kombat fighters. His chains and shotgun and even his bike could all be used to inflict the most amount of pain of Scorpion and company. Neatherrealms does have history with Lobo since he was the very first DLC character in Injustice: Gods Among Us. In that game, his aura was present but the full accuracy of his character was still laying under the surface. Having Lobo in a game where his nature could fully be portrayed is doing justice to him.
And Deathstroke has many of the qualifications to enter the Mortal Kombat universe. He has standard, yet advanced, weaponry that military operators could get their hands on. But at the same time, Deathstroke could also come across other weapons and tools that have some influence from other supervillains and superhero heroes. Between bladed and explosive weaponry and firearms, Deathstroke is a one-man army. He has a strong understanding of strategy and tactics that would make the Special Forces in MK envious. His healing factor keeps him in fights against other characters that would otherwise quickly defeat him. And much like Doomsday, Deathstroke is someone on the cusp of truly showing off his cruel and violent nature. He’s been there but just hasn’t crossed the line. Mortal Kombat could give him so much room to live that through. Deathstroke has been rumored to be in Mortal Kombat since Mortal Kombat 11 where fans hoped he would join The Joker. Then he was also going around the rumor merry-go-round for Mortal Kombat 1 once Peacemaker joined the roster (and quite honestly, Deathstroke should have been in that slot instead). Plus, this could have done some good for Deathstroke since, as a character, he is on the edge of breaking out. Fans know him and love him but the general audience don’t. Giving him a chance to show off in a major game, could help.
Mortal Kombat and DC have had a relationship since Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe. Each character has been put into each other’s game frequently. DC has published some Mortal Kombat comic books while Neatherrealms also treats DC characters with much respect. So having another DC character in Mortal Kombat 1 makes sense. Plus, the characters mentioned above have a following, have a pre-established familiarity with fans before their hypothetical inclusion in the game. And have more reasons to be in the game compared to Peacemaker who quickly got fifteen minutes of fame. But it’s an idea for Netherrealms to explore because there are plenty of DC characters that fit well in the brutal world of Mortal Kombat.
