When Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios released Injustice: Gods Among Us for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Wii U in 2013, the premise was dark but interesting. A fighting game set in an alternate version of the DC Comics universe, it allowed players to choose from one of several iconic characters and battle it out. Considering NetherRealm previously released Mortal Kombat in 2011, it wasn’t a surprise the game bloody, dark, and a lot of fun.
As with all great fighting franchises (looking at you Tekken) the reasoning behind all these former friends beating the tar out of each other in Injustice reached soap operatic levels. The quick and dirty: Superman accidentally kills Lois Lane, the Joker detonates a nuclear weapon in Metropolis, and everything goes to hell. Superman kills the Joker in retribution and sets up a New World Order with Superman serving as the supreme ruler to stamp out crime. As these kinds of governments tend to lead to abuse of power, Superman is the villain. Some of the main DC continuity’s heroes are ported into this dystopian nightmare to set things right, and the brawling begins.
Now, four years after the release of the first game, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and NetherRealm Studios have released the first trailer for the sequel, Injustice 2. If you thought Batman and company were just going to put society back together without a few hiccups, you were sadly mistaken.
From the official press release:
Batman and his allies work towards putting the pieces of society back together while struggling against those who want to restore Superman’s regime. In the midst of the chaos, a new threat appears that will put Earth’s existence at risk.
I’m still interested in Injustice 2 and I think throwing Brainiac into the mix is a great way to keep the heroes on their toes. I’d just probably enjoy it more if this goofy yet gritty (groofy?) alternate take on the character hadn’t bled through so thoroughly into the main universe. Superman isn’t supposed to be the bad guy!