Mortal Kombat 1 hasn’t had its full roster revealed yet, let alone shown any gameplay. But if its early leaks hold true, there are already some incredibly exciting characters planned for the roster that pull from excellent animation and series’ in popular culture. NetherRealm has created an interesting theme with its latest Mortal Kombat games in this way, where Mortal Kombat X was horror movie-themed and Mortal Kombat 11 was action movie-themed, but that seems to place Mortal Kombat 1 in a more unique theme with its potential batch of guest characters.
Regardless, this leak would also prove that NetherRealm still holds the DC mythology near and dear to its heart. The Flash is going to be the next DC movie to release, and it is reportedly supposed to be the official tether between the Snyderverse’s continuity and James Gunn’s new DCU proposal. The Flash’s characters might not make compelling candidates for a Mortal Kombat adaptation, but Max’s Peacemaker is a perfect entry point that the DCU should and likely will strive toward at the same time.
DCU Characters Might Only Join Mortal Kombat if They’re Not Afraid to Get Bloody
Peacemaker is easily the goriest and raciest superhero entry in a long while, but its marriage of preposterous immaturity and somber emotionality also helped land it as one of the most celebrated DC endeavors in some time. More than the sum of its parts, Peacemaker is gratuitously violent and sexual, and those are two tonal expressions that the character Peacemaker could be adapted with in Mortal Kombat 1.
Indeed, because Mortal Kombat is reserved for characters who must be readily brutalized, dismembered, and disemboweled, the net NetherRealm can cast for guest characters is only so wide. It seems like a miracle that the Joker was even selected from DC to have a place in Mortal Kombat 11, for example, but if the DCU continues to put up entries that fall in line with Peacemaker’s brand of indulgence it could offer a bunch more character adaptations in future DLC or sequels for Mortal Kombat.
Nearly anyone featured in Gunn’s The Suicide Squad could be adapted already, for example, and that includes its slightly realigned depiction of Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie. However, there is a second complication that NetherRealm might need to be mindful of when considering other future guest characters drawn from the DCU.
DCU Characters Likely Need to Be Portrayed by Their Actual Actors in Mortal Kombat 1
If Mortal Kombat 1 does feature Peacemaker, then it is almost guaranteed that he will feature voice lines from John Cena himself. This would not be the first time that a guest character’s famous actor provided voice work for their role—with recent examples of Sylvester Stallone voicing Rambo and Peter Weller voicing RoboCop in Mortal Kombat 11—but it is an interesting detail now that Gunn’s DCU plans suggest that these actors will need to commit to their roles across all media.
So in the event that a DCU character is even considered for their brutality, their actor seemingly needs to be available to voice the character in Mortal Kombat 1 as well. Therefore, the DCU’s Harley might only be a plausible DLC character if Robbie is available, and Injustice’s and Mortal Kombat’s Joker might not have another appearance unless the DCU introduces another new iteration of the Clown Prince of Crime for NetherRealm to adapt in the future.
This could be the cross-promotional opportunity of a lifetime for both NetherRealm and the DCU, though. Besides, if eventual installments like Creature Commandos prove to be worthy DCU successors to the likes of The Suicide Squad, NetherRealm might have a bunch more DCU characters to litter its post-launch rosters with.
Mortal Kombat 1 launches on September 19 for PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
