NetherRealm has been in a bit of an awkward predicament lately, with its newest game seemingly announced via an earnings call, despite NetherRealm still not offering any sort of confirmation or reveal for it. Supposedly Mortal Kombat 12 is in development and the rumors of what game NetherRealm is currently working on can finally be put to rest. This would seem like the most obvious course of action for NetherRealm based solely on what has been successful for it in the last several years, and it will be interesting to see if it borrows characters like The Walking Dead's Negan.
Mortal Kombat and Injustice are widely known for all the licensed DLC characters that are introduced after each game’s respective launch. Some of these characters have become fan-favorite staples of the games they were brought to, such as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in Injustice 2 or the Xenomorph in Mortal Kombat X. Because Mortal Kombat is primarily known for being gory and violent, Mortal Kombat 12 would have its hands full trying to top the gratuity expressed in Mortal Kombat 11. However, after his role in Tekken 7, Negan seems primed for a Mortal Kombat role.
The Walking Dead’s Negan is Wasted in Tekken 7
In what seems like an odd choice for a DLC character in a Tekken installment, The Walking Dead’s Negan made his fighting game debut in Tekken 7. This Negan is stripped straight from the AMC adaptation using actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s likeness and voice talent. Negan was an exciting get for Tekken based solely on the fact that The Walking Dead was in its prime at that point with the character offering a polarizing spin on the show’s direction. Unfortunately, Negan is arguably wasted in Tekken 7 because he is unable to truly commit to any of the heinously gory attacks he is known to dole out.
Negan is hardly what anyone would consider a fighting game character based on his own combat approach, but the same could also be said for Marvel vs. Capcom’s Frank West. In terms of whether Negan would be able to make the leap from Tekken to Mortal Kombat, Spawn was a playable character in the Xbox version of Soulcalibur 2 and would eventually go on to appear as a playable character in Mortal Kombat 11, so a licensed character hopping between games is not out of the question.
Negan’s Full Potential Could Be Reflected in Mortal Kombat 12
Now that Mortal Kombat has already had so many iconic licensed characters, Negan would make a lot of sense, considering how much his character was centered around violence as a means of revenge in his original appearance. Further, putting Negan in Mortal Kombat 11 would give the character full freedom to be as profane and merciless as he was in The Walking Dead, resulting in some creative Fatalities and Brutalities.
Mortal Kombat 12’s Negan would be remiss not to have a Fatality where he walks around a lineup of NetherRealm characters before selecting the player’s opponent to bludgeon. Tekken 7 already does have these sorts of attacks and special moves for the character that adapt the show’s dialogue and imagery, but because they are toned down and non-gory, it takes away all that makes Negan exciting in the first place. Mortal Kombat would not need to tone the character down at all. If anything, Negan’s barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat would be able to dish out far more excruciating damage than it did in both The Walking Dead and Tekken 7.
Mortal Kombat 12 is in development.