As you might have heard, Warner Brothers are putting out a Justice League fighting game by Netherrealm, the devs that made the most recent (and excellent) Mortal Kombat. We already know a few of the heros including Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. Who else do you want to see in the game though? For this list, we look not just at the best hero’s, but the heros with the powers that would make them the most fun to play. In other words, we want to pick the heros whose powers would be interesting, fun or sneaky in a fighting game. Here’s our picks. Remember, if you disagree tell us why in the comments!
5. Black Canary
Any fighting game needs a good grappler, and Black Canary could be ideal. Proficient in Judo, it would be great to see a smaller female character possess the same basic gameplay as a grappler like Zangief. Of course Black Canary needs her “Canary Cry” attack, an audio sound blast that is powerful enough to hurt heros as strong as Wonder Woman. This power could form the basis of her characters gameplay, allowing her to stun enemies before executing complex multipart throws and breaks with her keen Judo skills. Her costume also makes her look fairly similar to your average fighting game character too.
4. Captain Marvel
While his origin might be a complex one, Captain Marvel remains an interesting character and many of his powers would transfer well into a fighting game. Captain Marvel uses the word “Shazam” to engage his super powers. Each of the letters of this word stand for one of his abilities. For exmaple the “H” stands for the strength of Hercules while the “M” stands for the speed of Mercury. Crucially, you can imagine how each of these words could be used to correspond with his special moves in game. He could shout “Wizdom of Solomon” as he uses his hypnotism power which could stun an enemy, allowing him to hit them with a big combo.
Captain Marvel is also comparable in strength to Superman, meaning that matches between the two make some kind of sense and would be analogous to the Ryu vs Ken or Sub Zero vs Scorpion matches of rival games.
3. Catwoman
Just an obvious one really. As anyone who reads the site often knows, Catwoman is one of my favourite characters of all time. Every time we write about her we attract so many new visitors that I genuinely consider remaking the whole site as a Catwoman tribute page.
As an antagonist Catwoman makes a great enemy to many of the Justice League. It was her love/hate relationship with Batman that brought her into the series with Arkham City, and that game showcases just how to make Catwoman work in a combat scenario. Feline and ferocious, her combat was more brutal and vindictive than Batman’s. While fighting with enemies with her whip, caltrops and other gadgets was great in that game (and would work just as well in a fighting game) it was her stealth animations that really made her a convincingly effective. Her silent takedowns were sensuous, gorgeously animated and full of character and cruelty. If these can be captured in a fighting game she could have a number of grapples and take downs that would make Nina Williams jealous.
2. Green Arrow
Green Arrow has had a number of different radically different comic persona’s, but one thing has remained consistent: his penchant for archery and his fondness for special arrows of various types. This makes him the projectile character par excellence. Playing against Green Arrow would be a constant battle to get close as he littered the arena with explosive arrow-mines and homing arrows. As you finally got close he would then swing away with a hookshot arrow before landing on the other side of the screen and stunning you with a blinding light-arrow.
1. Green Lantern
We go green one more time! One of the great things about the Green Lantern is that as well as the basic superhero powers like flight and strength, he also has the ability to manipulate matter. While the (average) movie had Green Lantern making complex mechanical items like a chaingun, the more interesting thing to do with him in a fighting game is to create solid objects to help him. He could make armour that you have to chip away at. It could work like focus armour in Street Fighter 4. He could also create barriers on screen that enemies had to smash through or jump over. This would be fun to play against, but could also make him an amazing zoning character.
So what do you think? Are there much better ideas I missed? No doubt there are. I remain optimistic though that this could be a great game as well as a worthy rival to the MVC games made by Capcom. Here’s hoping!