As players continue to speculate when and where NetherRealm Studios will announce their next game, Ed Boon hints at the potential return of Raven to the playable roster inside of Injustice 3 after being absent in Injustice 2. Boon has been openly teasing players about the possibility of Injustice 3 or Mortal Kombat 12 being the studio's next game, and has only been ramping it up his teases ahead of the 2022 Game Awards. The possible rosters of both games have been among those teases, though Boon appears to be more driven to see mystical Teen Titan and Justice League member in the next Injustice game if his Twitter posts are any indication.Raven's first appearance in the Injustice series came in 2013's Injustice: Gods Among Us, where she was one of the playable characters in NetherRealm's DC Comics fighting game. She fought alongside the Justice League in the game's "prime" universe, while the parallel Earth's Raven had accepted the power and influence of her father, Trigon, and served as a member of Superman's Regime. Raven was absent in Injustice 2, only appearing in the ending cutscene for Starfire after completing the game's arcade mode.Boon addressed Raven's possible return in Injustice 3 while holding an impromptu "ask me anything" on his Twitter, where he was flooded with plenty of questions about Injustice 3 and Mortal Kombat 12. Among those questions was one from Twitter user MissSikandra asking if players can expect to see Raven return in Injustice 3. Boon responded by saying she would if he had "anything to say about it," which does not outright confirm Raven's inclusion or that NetherRealm is even working on it.
As mentioned above, Boon's answer to the Raven question and other posts have only been feeding player speculation about NetherRealm's next title ahead of the 2022 Game Awards. The Geoff Keighley-led award show has become a marquee event for game announcements over the last several years, such as Alan Wake 2 and Star Wars Eclipse being announced at the 2021 Game Awards. It wouldn't be the first time NetherRealm has taken advantage of this stage to do the same, either, as Mortal Kombat 11 was announced at the 2018 Game Awards.
Boon's response could also raise the question of which other characters from the original Injustice who were absent in Injustice 2 could return in a third game. The 2017 sequel had several other notable absences including Deathstroke, Ares, Lex Luthor, and Hawkgirl, though some were due to narrative reasons such as Luthor dying during the original game's campaign. It isn't out of the question for some of these characters to be brought back, but it then becomes a balancing act between these characters, characters from Injustice 2, possible new characters, and series regulars to fill out the roster for Injustice 3.
Injustice 2 is currently available on Android, iOS, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.