When it comes to DLC fighters, the Mortal Kombat series generally uses a combination of key characters from Mortal Kombat’s history, and guest characters from other forms of pop culture that are relevant to that time. With Mortal Kombat 11, the first Kombat Pack included six new DLC characters in total with series veterans Shang Tsung, Nightwolf, and Sindel accompanied by a Dark Fate themed Terminator T-800, Spawn, and everybody’s favorite DC villain, the Joker.
It was inevitable that NetherRealm would choose to include at least one DC Comics character for Mortal Kombat 11 DLC, considering it is owned by Warner Bros. and develops the Injustice series, but why not go with a big name hero like Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman? With the first four characters in Kombat Pack 1 already available, Joker is the next character to be released in late January 2020, and he’s the perfect fit for Mortal Kombat 11 DLC. Here’s what we know about the Joker DLC and why he works.
NetherRealm Studios has a long history with DC Comics and easy access to its characters as the studio is owned by Warner Bros., the parent company of DC Comics. While NetherRealm hasn’t had a DC hero or villain in its Mortal Kombat games so far, both of the Injustice games received guest DLC characters from the series with Scorpion having appeared in Injustice and Sub Zero showing up in Injustice 2. The Injustice series also wasn’t the first time DC and Mortal Kombat have crossed over. Back in 2008, Warner Bros. Interactive released the fighting game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, one year prior to NetherRealm’s complete reboot of the franchise.
Right now, very little is known about the MK11 version of the Joker character and how he differs from other iterations. The Joker character is best known as the arch-nemesis of Batman, the clown prince of crime, and one of the most influential and celebrated villains in pop-culture today. As a top-tier supervillain, Joker has done some truly horrific things in DC comics that don’t translate to the big screen very well but could make the character a strong fit for a game like Mortal Kombat 11. Two very notable examples include the murder of Jason Todd/Robin in A Death in the Family or crippling Barbara Gordon/Bat-Girl in The Killing Joke.
Whether it's the Terminator or Aliens Xenomorph, all of Mortal Kombat’s guest characters generally fit into either the villain or anti-hero category, so immediately it seems unlikely that Warner Bros. would be doing any sort of tie-in for the release of Wonder Woman 1984. With that said, DC and Warner Bros. wouldn’t be too keen to have big-name heroes like Batman or Wonder Woman facing off against Scorpion and being brutally killed by fatalities. It goes against what the characters represent and how they have been portrayed in other media, which makes a supervillain and criminal mastermind like Joker feel like the perfect fit for MK11, a human manifestation of chaos and anarchy.
NetherRealm is yet to reveal any gameplay details for Joker in keeping with previously released characters, so it’s unlikely that a full gameplay trailer will be revealed until two weeks before his release. A short teaser trailer for Joker was shown at The Game Awards earlier this month confirming January 28, 2020, as the release date and showing off the characters redesigned look following fan backlash that claimed the original design looked more like cosplay than a fitting artistic interpretation to the same level of quality as Injustice 2.
Of all the available characters on DC’s long roster of heroes and villains, The Joker makes the most sense in the current pop culture and video game climate. Like Batman, there seems to be no end in sight for the popularity of the character, having been featured prominently in the Batman Arkham series, both Injustice games, the Suicide Squad movie, and his own solo Joker film starring Academy Award-nominated actor, Joaquin Phoenix. If there was ever a time to capitalize on the Joker's popularity and success, it's now.
After nearly three decades, the Mortal Kombat franchise is at the absolute top of its game. Releasing back in April, NetherRealm has previously stated that MK11 had the strongest launch of any release in the franchise so far, and has continued to remain one of the highest-selling games of 2019, only surpassed by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, NBA 2K20, Madden NFL 20, and Borderlands 3. With just shy of a month left until the release of Joker, NetherRealm plans to support MK11 for years to come through the two remaining Kombat Pack 1 characters and a second Kombat Pack of DLC fighters on the way.
Mortal Kombat 11Â is available now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
