Saying "I'm excited" for DC's upcoming fighting game really doesn't do my anticipation any (in)justice. Have you played Mortal Kombat 9 by NetherRealm Studios? If so, you likely share my absurdly high level of enthusiasm for this game. So far the Studio has shown us plenty of gameplay footage, but they've been quite a tease when it comes to revealing the roster. Creative Director Ed Boon has stated that Injustice will offer a playable list around the same size as Mortal Kombat 9. DLC and exclusives aside, that game was sporting 27 combatants. As of right now, we only have 9 characters officially confirmed for the DC fighter: Batman, Wonder Woman, Nightwing, Cyborg, Flash, Solomon Grundy, Harley Quinn, Superman and Catwoman.

The idea of making a list of characters I want to see was extremely tempting, but I've managed to resist the urge to spew my fanboy thoughts (here's looking at you, Bane). Instead, I came up with a list of characters that I believe need to be thrown into the roster. It was quite a chore, but I've managed to trim the list down to 5 characters and threw in a few mandatory honorable mentions. Once you're done reading this, be sure to chime in with your own thoughts. Do you agree or disagree with my picks? What would you want their power moves to be? And lastly, what alternate costumes would you like to see?

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

Green Lantern seems like an incredibly obvious choice and I would be very surprised if he didn't make the cut. He's one of the prominent names the publisher has to offer and a GL ring opens up a huge world of possibilities when it comes to special moves. He'd clearly fall under the "power" play style and there's a more than wealthy selection when it comes to alternate costumes. We could be bland and dive into different Hal costumes (classic, N52, jet pilot, etc), but it would be far more appreciated if they used this opportunity to make an alternate skin feel like a completely different character. We could have John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and even Sinestro.

Deathstroke

Having a DC fighting game without Slade Wilson would be a sin. This man was practically tailor made for fighting games. The mercenary has the physical means and talent to beat up the Dark Knight, is armed to the teeth with everything from basic swords to a blasting bo-staff, and he even has a healing factor. Naturally, he'd fall under the "gadget" style of gameplay. Thankfully, NetherRealm included The Terminator in Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, so it seems safe to assume they'll be wise and include him once again.

Green Arrow

Another one of the publisher's more famous faces, Ollie is about to receive even more fame with his own show on the CW. Falling under the "gadgets" gameplay style, it would be a thrill to control Ollie and his insane assortment of regular and special arrows. With so many characters focused on close combat methods, it would be a nice touch to have an option that excels at distance. While there's plenty of alternate costumes to select, it would be especially awesome to have a Red Arrow costume.

Aquaman

Say what you will about the New 52, but there's no denying that Geoff Johns has completely redeemed Aquaman's image. Confident, powerful and even rather intimidating, Arthur is no longer a character you should feel comfortable making a sushi joke about. He'd fall under the "power" gameplay style and could utilize his trident for a lot of special moves. It's tough to imagine how they'd include the likes of great white sharks and more for a potential power move, but seeing as Flash runs around the world and Superman punches his enemy into orbit, the though of Arthur knocking someone into the ocean, having them ravaged and then launched back into the arena isn't that far-fetched.

Joker

I think it's more than safe to say Joker will be playable, but he has yet to be officially confirmed. He's already made a minor appearance in the game, though. If you look closely in the bat-cave arena, you can spot an image and profile of Joker on one of the monitors. The legendary bat villain is simply too fun to pass up for a fighting game. The sky is truly the limit when it comes to ridiculous and hilarious moves with the "gadget" style -- ranging from acid flowers to hand buzzers. The Joker should be an obvious choice for a spot on the roster and hopefully NetherRealm Studios agrees.

Honorable Mentions:Lex Luthor, Darkseid (should be a boss and unlockable), Swamp Thing, Red Hood 

Gregg Katzman is a freelance writer for Comic Vine and IGN Entertainment. Follow him on Twitter for more fanboy gushing about this game.

I agree with all of these, but I think thatGrifter might make a cool DLC. Adding in the new 52 and all.

Poison Ivy would be fun

Agreed on all accounts. I especially like the idea of different skins for Green Lanturn and Green Arrow. And as long as we're mentioning characters worth throwing in, I think Black Canary would be a pretty good choice.

Well Hal Jordan, Deathstroke and the Joker already appeared in MK vs DC so we have a pretty good idea of what they are going to be like if they are confirmmed.

MIdnighter , as a secret character or DLC , he screams fighting game character

Green Lantern does seem like a shoe in. It would kind of be cool to include different Green Lanterns if they did a good enough job differentiating them. I could see John Stewart playing more like a gadget character (in spite of the fact that all of his gadgets are made with his power ring) while Hal Jordan is more of a power character.

Red Hood would be rad, but the Bat family is already pretty heavily represented here. I don't know that another Bat character is especially necessary. I bet Luthor shows, given his presence in the trailer. Plus, there are characters like Black Canary and Wildcat or something, some older (or Earth 2, now I suppose) golden age characters that I could see being a good fit given their focus on martial arts.

Oh, and Deadshot. He'd fit well within the aesthetic of the game and would be a good ranged character.

I have to agree with most of what was listed. And consider that IF you create Green Lantern you get a free villian version (you mentioned Senestro but other could be subsituted possibly) the same goes for Green Arrow (Merlyn) and Aquaman (Ocean Master). I would love to see Poison Ivy, and Batgirl as DLC (BG could be a Console Specific Exclusive even- with the other versions being DLC for her).

This Game needs:

HEROES- Green Lantern (Hal, John, Guy, Kyle, Alan or Baz) Captain Marvel, Aquaman, Zatanna, Huntress, Green Arrow, Hawkman, Big Barda, Orion, Blue Beetle

VILLAINS- Sinestro, Black Adam, Black Manta, Bane, Mongul, Captain Cold, Cheetah, Lex Luthor w/ K-suit, Darkseid, Stepenwolf, Deathstroke

Yep, I want all of these in the game, with maybe a Black Canary or Zatanna, or Starfire or Raven or Captain Marvel or Martian Manhunter or Red Hood or Tim Drake or Damien Wayne or Batgirl or Darkseid, or Doomsday or Supergirl or Superboy or Krypto or others...

Agreed with all the ones posted in the article...

Mighnighter could be a cool fighting game character. I wa also thinking in Black Hand, so he can unleash the undead on the other characters. What about some Dark characters like zatanna, the shade (his dark abilities remind me of noob saibot). And lets throw some diversity characters to acompany cyborg, like Mr. Terrific (gadget character with his T balls) katanna (swordmaster, reminds me of MK's Kenshi), an ice manipulating character, an of course Booster Gold, as the Johnny Cage of the game, haha.

I know we all love him but I don't think Joker is neccesary here. I just don't want to see a rehash of everyone who was in Mortal Kombat vs DCU. I'd love to see Swamp Thing, Martian Manhunter, Atrocitus. For the version of the game they are making for me personally, there is some Killer Croc and Man-Bat action.

It would be cool not just to see Hal, but a rep from all the colors of the spectrum. That seems like it would be hard to do, but maybe a Lantern DLC down the line.

Also I would love Superboy, Animal Man, and Shazam for heroes, and Brainiac, Gorilla Grodd, and Two Face for Villains.

Elongated Man, Harper Row, Catman, Knight, and Squire please.

i hope they have kara and powergirl.

horrible puns. but yeah they must be in the game.

I would like to see Etrigan, Brainiac, and Creeper

1. Talon assassin

2. Graves

3. Lex Luther

4. Bane

5. Cheetah

These is pretty much what I had in mind.

Since it is a must have's list I agree that Deathstroke, a GL and Joker should be included...not so sure about GA or Aquaman (but would be pretty predictable if they are).

Those I want to appear beyond those:

1. Captain Marvel
2. Captain Atom
3. Etrigan
4. Ra's al Ghul
5. Bane
6. Darkseid

And please throw in some magical character that don't always rely on their fists, but can use them like;

• Zatanna (I imagine some freedom will be have to be taken to get past the casting aspect)
• Dr. Fate
• Eclipso/host
• Raven

I agree with all of them

I am super stoked for this

All your picks are fairly obvious.

I'm personally waiting til all the overhyped big characters get in and we start seeing, you know, interesting picks.

Agreed with all but Joker, so swap him out for The Creeper on this list and I would be super much happy.

I really really want Swamp Thing, Black Lightning, Shazam, Zatanna and Martian Manhunter!

I agree with all except Joker. Swap him for the Creeper. As for GL, do what the did in Justice League Heroes and give Hal skins resembling the other Lanterns each with their own voice and animation.

The one character I doubt but I would love to see is Lobo.

captain marvel as an unlockable...

I want Hal Jordan and Yellow Lantern Sinestro!

Lex over Joker, Joker has had his time, in gaming, then again, he's probably already in it. Grifter over DS

^-^

All pretty good choices, though I think its understandable to have GA out of the game.

They don't have Hal Jordan and Aquaman already in there? Wtf...

Also.. if GB are doing a quick look, it would be awesome if it was like one person from GB doing it and one person from CV on it, assuming you guys have time.... of course the release is like april next year, the world will probably have ended by then.

This is a great article btw :) I hope NetherRealm announces more characters soon

i agree with all of these. i want RED HOOD as a playable character.

Enough with the batman characters! The game is called Injustice gods among us not batman and friends.No red hood, no robin, and even though he's already in the game no joker! Also green lantern and aquaman are in the game.

Enough with the batman characters! The game is called Injustice gods among us not batman and friends.No red hood, no robin, and even though he's already in the game no joker! Also green lantern and aquaman are in the game.

This is a great article btw :) I hope NetherRealm announces more characters soon

Darkseid should be a boss but not a vs playable character. He is supposed to be more powerful then Superman

I love and even thought the same thing about Hal's possible skin alternates before i saw you mentioned them. Giving him the ability to be any of the Earth GL's would be great and would allow a lot more diversity for fans that dont necessarily like Hal.

I think Deathstroke and Joker are great choices and while i like the addition of Aquaman and Green Arrow they are still to much watered don versions of Superman and Batman. I agree it would be nice to get some long distance type characters in the game though. I would keep Green Arrow just bc of him being well known as well as the ability to give him skins similar to Hal Jordans. I would make it so you could play as Modern or classic Ollie as well as Connor Hawke, Red Arrow (with an option of Arsenal) and Mia (speedy)

I think they should throw someone like Elongated Man or Plastic Man in there.

I also saw someone mention Etrigan the Demon. Im not sure if i have missed them or not but i feel like they need some mystic people (say Dr Fate, Zatanna, or someone like that),

Martian Manhunter would be great. While he is similar to Superman he has the ability to phase thru his opponents as well as mentally take control of them for a short amount of time. While he could still float and fly like Superman but his moves could be much more based on the abilities Superman doesnt have.

How about Ray Palmer. He could shrink and grow in size for different moves. He could shrink to evade and grow in size for powerful punches and throws.

How about The Ray or Dr. Light (Hoshi).

Vixen would be a good choice too. Big in the animated series and bring a different type of ability to the arena being able to use abilities from various animals

replace nightwing with Damin Wayne...I don't really want joker bc he's not really a hand to hand villain, more of a psychological villain than anything. Definitely would like to see Captain Marvel and Black Adam. Aquaman and Black Manta for sure. Martian Manhunter would be a sick addition.

1. Swamp Thing

2. Animal Man

3. Phantom Stranger

4. Dead Man

5. Dr. Fate

I'd love to see Martian Manhunter, Etrigan and/or Zatanna. If they need another gadget character I wouldn't mind Red Hood.

I'm not that bothered about Joker, Harley Quinn is in the game already.

1. RedHood

2. Blue Beetle

3. Martian Manhunter (Can easily be replaced with Miss Martian in my book)

4. Firestorm

5. Dr. Fate

I don't care which character they put in the game as long as it's not yet another bat-character. Green Lantern, Lex Luthor, Deathstroke and Darkseid are must-haves, though

Doctor Fate, Spectre, and Phantom Stranger alt. worlds of the justice league like owlman and scarab beetle

here are mine:

1. Starfire

2. Steel

3. Captain Marvel

4. Booster Gold

5. Red Hood

• Bane
• GL (Hal)
• Red Hood
• Deathstroke
• Aquaman

I think that GL and Aquaman are definite must haves. Red Hood would be great to see, but given the number of Bat related characters already I doubt we will see him. Captain Marvel (Shazam) would be a great addition, and he was in MK v DC

1. Wildcat

2. Guardian

3. Killer Croc

4. Metamorpho

5. Killer Frost

and for fun

6. Andrian Chase Vigilante

I would like to see any of the following

Katana/Lady Shiva/Black Canary

Hal Jordan/John Stewart/Kyle Raynor

Red Tornado/Hawkman/Black Lightning

Zatana/Dr. Light/Vixen/Hawkgirl

Cheetah/Circe

Lex Luthor/Doomsday/Bizarro

here is what you need for the game to sell well.

Batman

Batman (Dich Grayson)

Batman (Damian Wayne)

Batman Beyond

Batman 1mil

Batmanoff

The Dark Knight Returns Batman

Adam West Batman