Mortal Kombat 1had barely been revealed before rumors of its DLC characters were already beginning to circulate on the internet. Unconventional DLC characters have been a thing for the franchise since the release of the 2011 reboot and the latest game does not appear to be an exception to this rule. If the latest DLC leaks are to be believed, developer NetherRealm has a big challenge to overcome inMortal Kombat 1.
Mortal Kombat 1had its DLC leaked by Amazonnot long after the first trailer for the game and its release date were revealed. While none of these characters have been officially confirmed, among them were two Superman parodies from unrelated popular media: Omni-Man fromInvincibleand Homelander fromThe Boys.If this leak is true, the developer is going to have one big problem to overcome when depicting them.
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Omni-Man and Homelander’s Roles in Invincible and The Boys
In both of their respective franchises, Homelander and Omni-Man are dark, deconstructive takes on the Man of Steel. Like theInjusticeversion of Superman, both characters are effectively nightmare versions of the character whose motivations are often the polar positive of what audiences associate with the Last Son of Krypton. Homelander is selfish, arrogant, impulsive, egotistical, and murderous.
The main difference between Homelander and Omni-Man rests in their personalities. At the end of the day, Omni-Man is a solider and does care about his family in his own way, and genuinely believes that what he is doing is the right thing. On the other hand, Homelander commits heinous acts inThe Boysand is driven by baser, selfish desires and recognizes that no one can really stop him. Therefore, differentiating them in terms of their personalities wouldn’t be that difficult. However, NetherRealm will have more of a challenge when it comes to differentiating their powers.
Having Omni-Man and Homelander in Mortal Kombat 1 Presents a Problem
Arguments forOmni-Man appearing inMortal Kombathave been around for years, but the addition of Homelander presents another quandary. The big issue that comes with having both characters within the game is that the two have very similar power sets. Both of the characters can fly, have super speed and super strength, and function as their world’s version of Superman.
If they were both to appear inMortal Kombat 1it is likely that both of their powers will be scaled down. Still, this presents a problem where players have two characters with Superman abilities in the game, and it raises the question of how the developer can differentiate the two uniquely. It turns out, though, that NetherRealm has done something similar in the past.
General Zod appeared inInjusticeas DLC in 2013. Traditionally, General Zod has the same power set and abilities as Superman, but the game changed things up a bit. Rather than give him the same abilities as Superman, NetherRealm opted to give the character weapon-based special abilities that make him different from his fellow Kryptonian. If the rumors aboutMortal Kombat 1’s DLC characters are true, then perhaps NetherRealm is planning to do something similar with one of these characters.
It’s too soon to say what NetherRealm has planned, much less if Homelander or Omni-Man will make it intoMortal Kombat 1. Thefirst gameplay footage forMortal Kombat 1will premiere in June, and it is possible that these questions could be addressed sooner rather than later. Only time will tell, but it would be interesting to see if NetherRealm can make them distinct from one another.
Mortal Kombat 1releases September 19 on PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
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