Following games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, and of course the virality of Ultra Instinct Shaggy, Warner Bros. decided to use its own iconic creations for a game, MultiVersus. From classic timeless characters like Bugs Bunny and Batman to contemporaries like Arya Stark and Morty of Rick and Morty fame, the game grabs impactful characters of all stripes. Additionally, the presence of a Game of Thrones character indicates that the game is open to having live-action characters in its roster, further separating it from its Nickelodeon counterpart, which only focuses on the company’s animated works.
While MultiVersus is showing a promising future with its roster, especially with the datamined characters for future updates, it is rather lacking when it comes to stages. Other fighters, whether they are traditional or platform-based such as the aforementioned Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, tend to dedicate entire stages to particular characters. Logically, this means that the number of stages is usually equivalent to the number of playable characters. While MultiVersus does have obvious inspiration behind its stages, there are only a few of them, meaning that several characters have yet to get a home stage.
MultiVersus Stages and their Potential Future
Excluding the Training arena and Trophy’s EDGE, all the MultiVersus stages are based on preexisting properties. However, despite the obvious representation, it is unclear if certain stages are supposed to represent a certain character or not. For example, Scooby’s Haunted Mansion is named after Scooby-Doo, who isn’t even playable as of now. Instead, Shaggy and Velma are the franchise’s current representatives. The Tree Fort represents Finn and Jake’s house in Adventure Time, so it can easily be seen as both characters’ home stage. The same applies to Sky Arena, based on Steven Universe, a show the game represents through its titular protagonist and the character Garnet. Lastly, there is the Batcave, which obviously represents Batman, and the Cromulons Stage, which currently represents Morty.
There are plenty of characters in the roster that have yet to receive their own home stage. There is currently no evidence of the developer planning on doing so, but adding a few extra stages based on Scooby-Doo, Adventure Time, and Steven Universe to accommodate the additional characters would be welcomed by fans. Otherwise, there is plenty of material with franchises without any stage representation. Bugs Bunny and the Tasmanian Devil of Looney Tunes fame, as well as Tom and Jerry, have plenty of classic shorts for the game to pick from. Harley Quinn, despite a Batman representative, should also get a stage of her own, supported by the fact that she has her own show and the current Batman stage is clearly meant to represent Batman himself and not just the franchise.
Superman and Wonder Woman, the other two DC superheroes on the roster, do not have any stages of their own, but their histories are extensive enough for the developer to be creative with the stage selection. That being said, their home worlds of Krypton and Themyscira are the obvious contenders. The remaining characters without dedicated stages include Iron Giant, Game of Thrones’ Arya Stark, the Space Jam: A New Legacy version of LeBron James, and an original character called Reindog.
Their works of origin, while not as prevalent or even long-lasting as some other franchises, still have plenty to work with. Anything Stark-related in Westeros could fit Arya, the “Toon” universe from Space Jam 2 fits LeBron’s depiction, and The Iron Giant could either be represented by the town of Rockwell or even space. Reindog is the only one that cannot be easily associated with a stage due to being an original creation for the game.
Overall, MultiVersus seems to be more into its characters than its stages, which is understandable. However, playing on the same few levels over and over again will get repetitive after a season, so hopefully more will be on the way soon.
MultiVersus is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.