Ed Boon has proven that franchises can last a long time, have multiple entries, be “reborn” several times over, and still be incredibly hyped. The upcoming Mortal Kombat 1 is a testament to that, as we’re getting another new timeline with various changes to mainline characters. But true to his nature, he and the team at NetherRealm Studios are putting as much care and attention into things as possible. Even with his focus on that game, he’s never been afraid to tease what he might do next. We know he has ideas for another run at the DC Comics universe, but he’s also got bigger ideas.
You might recall that Ed Boon posted a poll not too long ago asking fans what they would like to see from NetherRealm studios in the future, and the winner of that poll was a Marvel vs. DC Comics fighting game. The idea has always been floated out there but has never officially been done. In a chat with ComicBook.com, Boon admitted that he’s up for doing this for the most “childish” of reasons:
“I mean, we did a number of games with DC characters. When you’re kids and you’re like, ‘Who would win in a fight, Mighty Mouse or Superman?’ Just these dumb different universe things. There’s part of us that still [has those] immature conversations,” Boon revealed. “To me, Spider-Man and Batman would be the coolest thing in the world. So of course we’d love to do that. But it’s probably very difficult to jump that hurdle.”
He’s not wrong. This isn’t simply a matter of asking Marvel and DC Comics to come on board; it’s asking both Warner Bros Discovery and Disney to come on board, and those two aren’t exactly on the best of terms with one another.
The other issue here is that whatever storyline takes place between these two universes, NetherRealm Studios would have to do some serious balancing to ensure that one side doesn’t “look better” over the others or that some of their characters don’t seem weak.
Granted, one could argue that NetherRealm Studios would see that as the “ultimate challenge” and want nothing more than to take it on, but that’s not their call at present.
There would need to be plenty of hoops jumped through to get this to happen, but that’s not to say it couldn’t happen. As long-time comic readers know, a Marvel/DC Comics crossover event did officially happen in the comics in the 90s. So perhaps in the 2020s, we can get the gaming version of that.
