Injustice 3 Now Faces a Brutal Ultimatum (2024)

NetherRealm’s Injustice duology is a cherished slice of the DC mythology, particularly in how it adapts certain characters and how it finally allows them to demonstrate semi-graphic violence, unlike Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Injustice still isn’t remotely as macabre and gory as Mortal Kombat is, and yet it’s as effective as it can be—on a granular level it wouldn’t make any sense for Catwoman to battle Doomsday, anyway, and so logic vanishes from the discourse immediately.

There’s currently no telling if a third Injustice game will ever be made with several odd obstacles in its way, but its narrative is at an even stranger impasse. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League stripped the wind from Injustice’s sails and essentially robbed it of its plot, perhaps with Warner Bros. knowingly conceding to no future Injustice game being in active development. So if an Injustice 3 does enter into development now, it either needs to double down on a plot that’s already been executed and highly maligned or retcon its past narrative for something wholly separate.

Injustice Doubling Down on a Brainiac Invasion Could Be a High Risk, High Reward Scenario

The only reason NetherRealm and WB should ever want to continue the narrative that Injustice 2’s divisive endings delivered is if they believe they can tell it better than Rocksteady did because where Suicide Squad picks up is where one of Injustice 2’s cliffhangers leave off. It would be nothing short of outlandishly bold if Injustice 3 was announced and revealed to be a direct continuation of Injustice 2, but doing so could yield potentially favorable results.

NetherRealm and WB could see the response to how Suicide Squad approached this plot and drastically course correct for Injustice, delivering a more agreeable take on the same story of Brainiac’s invasion being successful and having characters forced to put down beloved DC legends. Still, it might not be enough to either cleanse or chase the taste of Suicide Squad, especially so soon after its release. It seems unfair that NetherRealm didn’t get a chance to see this plot through before it was scalped; on the other hand, that hopefully and ideally would present NetherRealm with a tenable excuse to start Injustice anew.

Injustice Retconning Its Entire Lore May Be for the Best

The Batman ending in Injustice 2 is a blank slate as it is, but rewriting the lore and canon wholly could offer NetherRealm even more creativity without needing to pigeonhole itself to whatever loose threads still linger. A clean slate with a retconned narrative or a full-blown reboot of the lore might be a dizzying pain, but enough time has passed and a hard reset may be the simplest course of action on paper following how poorly Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was received.

Staying clear of that game’s ongoing narrative would be a no-brainer, and in many ways help NetherRealm dodge a proverbial bullet itself because it could avoid that storyline and offer another original story that has had more time in the oven since then. Suicide Squad’s loose tethers to Rocksteady’s beloved Arkhamverse were partly to blame for why it didn’t go over well and maybe NetherRealm’s take on Brainiac-infested DC characters would’ve been phenomenal.

A reboot could whisk Kal-El back to his boy scout roots without having to explain how or why. Of course, NetherRealm doling out two franchise reboots back to back might be a hard sell and it would be difficult not to see that as a lack of creativity, though it could be a necessary path to take if players ever want to see their favorite DC characters in a fighting game again.

Maybe this time around it might not depend on Batman and Superman as much, electing instead to have two unique mascots or factions in a warring conflict. Characters can return reinvented and new characters can debut unhindered by a lack of previous development. Either way, the farther NetherRealm can get from the story it originally established, the better.

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Injustice 2

Power up and build the ultimate version of your favourite DC legends in INJUSTICE 2.

EVERY BATTLE DEFINES YOU: With every match you'll earn gear to equip, customise and evolve your roster.

A NEW THREAT RISES: Picking up where Injustice left off, Batman struggles against Superman's regime, as a new threat appears that will put Earth's very existence at risk.

THE BEST OF DC: Choose from the biggest DC Universe roster ever and battle across iconic locations in epic-scale battles.

BUILT BY NETHERREALM: Developers of the best-selling and critically acclaimed MORTAL KOMBAT franchise.

Fighting

Franchise

Injustice

Platform(s)

PS4 , Xbox One , PC , Android , iOS

Released

May 11, 2017

Developer(s)

NetherRealm Studios

Publisher(s)

Warner Bros. Interactive

ESRB

T for Teen: Alcohol Reference, Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence

How Long To Beat

10 Hours

File Size Xbox Series

33 GB (November 2023)