Gaming

Hellboy, Raiden to Battle the DC Universe in 'Injustice 2' DLC

Hellboy is crossing over into the DC Universe. On Wednesday, NetherRealm Studios unleashed the trailer for its next DLC release, “Fighter Pack 2,” for the popular DC fighting game Injustice 2. The trailer advertises three new incoming playable fighters that will round out the game’s roster: Aquaman villain Black Manta, the thunder god Raiden from the Mortal Kombat series, and Hellboy, the popular Dark Horse Comics character created by Mike Mignola.

Fans of Injustice 2 have been speculating Hellboy’s entry for quite awhile now; months before the game’s release in November 2016, game director Ed Boon tweeted out a poll asking for the best “non-MK” (Mortal Kombat) guest characters for Injustice 2. The list included Spawn (from Image Comics), Hellboy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the Terminator. The next day, after Spawn won the poll with 45 percent of the votes, a Twitter user (rather rudely) tweeted at Boon: “no we wanted hellboy wrong character.” Boon replied back, “Why not both?”

Through its parent company Warner Bros., the heroes and villains of Mortal Kombat have frequently crossed paths with the icons of DC Comics. But the inclusion of Hellboy in Injustice 2 is one of the most recent prominent examples of an original comics character outside the Big Two to cross over; in 1994, DC and Image teamed up for Spawn/Batman, and in 2014, Kodansha teamed up with Marvel for an Attack on Titan crossover, titled Attack on Avengers.

It is unknown if Spawn will end up appearing in Injustice 2, but NetherRealm have proven themselves as the masters of unexpected crossovers in the world of fighting games. NetherRealm’s previous game, Mortal Kombat X, featured a bevy of horror characters like the Xenomorph from Alien, Leatherface, Jason Voorhees, and even the Predator. Injustice 2’s previous pack included DC’s Starfire, Red Hood, and Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat.

A release date for Injustice 2’s Fighter Pack 2 has yet to be announced.

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