During their Street Fighter panel at EVO 2013, Capcom announced that they were adding five new characters to the Street Fighter IV franchise. Poison, Hugo, Elena and Rolento are finally making their appearance in Super Street Fighter IV, after being playable fighters in Capcom's Street Fighter X Tekken. Why let all that work on their moves and character models go to waste?
The fifth character was said to be a new one that hasn't been in a Street Fighter game before. That doesn't necessarily mean you should expect another Viper or Juri however. Cody, Guy, Poison and Hugo were originally from Final Fight before being characters in the Street Fighter games. Who knows what series Capcom might dip into for their new fighter?
I can't say that I'm surprised by their inclusion in the next Super Street Fighter IV update. Street Fighter X Tekken wasn't as big of a hit as Capcom wanted, and even after their huge update to the game, it remains a game that is primarily played by professional fighting game players. These characters have models and assets that could be translated into SSFIV, so why not?
Must be a bummer to all those Karin and Rainbow Mika fans though…