Will NetherRealm Studios make Injustice 3? This is arguably one of the big questions currently being asked by the fighting game community right now, with many fans unsure on the state of the game in the midst of the Warner Bros Discovery merger.
It goes without saying that there’s clearly an appetite for another entry in the Warner Bros DC Comics brawler, and there are certainly a lot of storylines yet to be resolved from the end of Injustice 2.
Whilst we do know that NeatherRealm Studios have been working on a new project since July 2021 – when the dev announced they were ending support for Mortal Kombat 11 – it’s still not entirely clear what this “next project” is. It might even be a Marvel fighting game, which has been rumoured to also be on the cards; and when you look at the rate of Studio’s currently working with Marvel Games on new titles, it wouldn’t be the craziest idea right now.
For now, we’ll assume Injustice 3 is up next and if you’re keen to know more about the potential project, we’ve got everything you need to know in one place, so keep reading.
14 September Update - Checked for the latest Injustice 3 news. All the most recent updates are found just below.
Latest News
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August 2, 2022 - No MK12/Injustice News from EVO
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IGN had previously tweeted: “The developers behind Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Tekken and Guilty Gear are all expected to make announcements during Evo 2022.” But it turns out that’s not actually the case, at least based on a few quote tweets from NetherRealm’s Ed Boon, who poured cold water on any MK12 announcements, suggesting instead that it was time “for Street Fighter and other great fighting games to be in the sun”. We doubt this means we’re getting any Injustice news, but it is interesting that all the focus currently seems to be on a new Mortal Kombat without so much of a sniff of news suggesting that Injustice is on the cards. |
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July 4, 2022 - EVO Coming soon
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The Evolution Championship Series (EVO) for 2022 is now a month away, starting on August 5 and lasting until August 7. Could we finally get some big news from NetherRealm at the event. We sure hope so and with any luck it ends any speculation over what game the studio could be working on next! |
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June 21, 2022 - Johnny Cage actor teasing next MK game?
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The actor for Johnny Cage might be hinting at something going on with Mortal Kombat in a new twitter video released earlier today. Andrew Bowen, who portrayed Cage in Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11, has tweeted a video of himself at the Warner Bros. Studio lot. What’s even more intriguing is that the background music appears to be from 1988 martial arts movie Bloodsport, which directly inspired the original pitch for Mortal Kombat. If that wasn’t a big enough clue that something fishy is going on, Bowen swiftly deleted the tweet once it caught fire. We wonder why… and also what does this mean for Injustice? |
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June 9, 2022 - Summer Games Fest Livestream
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Summer Game Fest starts later today with a confirmed start time of 11am PT / 2pm ET / 7pm BST. You can watch via YouTube or Twitch by following the links listed. Or just watch the live stream embed down below. |
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June 2, 2022 - Summer Game Fest Is Next Week
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Don’t forget that the third Summer Game Fest takes place on June 9, and promises to showcase “what’s next in gaming with huge new game announcements, world premieres, special guests, and much more”. It’s also worth noting that the show’s creator Geoff Keighley has let fans know that the show will be “primarily focused” on already announced games. But this isn’t to say it won’t have some new game announcements. Plus with Warner Bros confirmed to be part of Summer Game Fest, it sure would be a good time to announce what NetherRealm is working on. Could it be a new Injustice? One can only hope. Either way, tune it, it’ll be fun! |
Injustice 3 Release Date
At the time of writing, there is no official release date for Injustice 3, since Netherealm has yet to formally announce the game. As we’ve touched on, there’s still a lot of debate as to what the studio is actually working on internally.
Regardless, we know that NeatherRealm usually follows a similar pattern for their release schedules. As the table below shows, we typically see the studio release a new game every two years and had it not been for the COVID 19 Pandemic and the ongoing issues surrounding Warner Brothers’ merger with Discovery, it’s possible they might have released something by now. As it stands we’re still waiting and we imagine that whatever the studio is working on, be it Injustice or something else, will likely be revealed and released in 2023.
| Release Date | Game |
| 2011 | Mortal Kombat |
| 2013 |
Injustice Gods Among Us
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| 2015 | Mortal Kombat X |
| 2017 | Injustice 2 |
| 2019 | Mortal Kombat 11 |
| 2020 |
Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath DLC
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Injustice 3 Leaks
28 January 2022 – Jonathan Andersen, a NetherRealm senior production manager may have revealed a big clue that the studio’s next game could be Mortal Kombat 12.
Andersen tweeted the image below before scrubbing it 10 minutes later. Eagle-eyed fans spotted that on his monitor was a file named MK12_Mast. Those fans willing to enhance the image further will also spot part of an email that reads “our fans eagerly scrape the internet for any trace … Take extra care with this material.”
Some fans believe this might have been a deliberate leak. We certainly know how much Ed Boon loves to tease fans. NetherRealm has refused to comment on the post, so we’ll just have to wait for an announcement from the studio.
Warner Bros Discovery Merger Issues
21 August 2021 – Many fans would rightly have assumed that the next project after Mortal Kombat 11 would be a new entry in the Injustice series. As we’ve touched on before, that’s partly to do with NetherRealm’s pattern of flipping between each series. However, according to VentureBeat reporter Jeff Grubb that could be about to change.
Speaking on the Giant Bomb podcast, Grubb suggested that the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Warner Brothers Games, and the Merger with Discovery, led to NetherRealm changing projects or potentially abandoning any hope of working on an Injustice 3 project.
“It lines up with the reality and it lines up with what I’ve heard, where Mortal Kombat 12 would make the most sense because that’s a game they know will make money, it will sell well… Mortal Kombat 11 was great, it’s doing well, but if you come out with Mortal Kombat 12 it will also sell and do well,” Grubb said.
“At the same time, you don’t have to use any of these Batman or Superman characters that might be tied up in licensing if you try to get rid of NetherRealm or sell it to whoever.”
Injustice 3 Story Predictions
SPOILER WARNING FOR ANYONE WHO HASN’T PLAYED INJUSTICE 2 AFTERMATH
What will happen in Injustice 3? To get a sense of what to expect we suggest having a watch of the below video from History Behind The Warrior, which essentially looks at the two endings from Injustice 2 Story Mode.
More specifically it’s trying to work out which is the ‘true’ canon ending which might lead into Injustice 3, and what the various permutations could mean for the game moving forward.
Naturally, this is just a prediction and for the time being it’s impossible to say what the narrative leads at NeatherRealm could be planning.
Injustice 3 Characters List
At this point, it’s impossible to say for certain what characters might be included in Injustice 3. For one thing, it will depend a lot on Warner Bros and licensing for the DC characters.
The first Injustice game had 30 characters, with Injustice 2 increasing to 38. Normally NetherRealm tends to stick to that mid-30s sweet spot, so we might expect to see a similar number of characters.
However, it means we might see some new characters or potentially returning characters. Ares, Batgirl, Doomsday, and Shazam were all cut from Injustice 2, despite the roster size increasing. These characters could well return, but it also means we’ll probably see some characters from Injustice 2 cut. For a full overview of what characters featured in both games, check the table below.
| Injustice 1 | Injustice 2 |
| Aquaman | Aquaman |
| Ares | Atom |
| Bane | Atrocitus |
| Batgirl | Bane |
| Batman | Batman |
| Black Adam | Black Adam |
| Catwoman | Black Canary |
| Cyborg | Black Manta |
| Deathstroke | Blue Beetle |
| Doomsday | Brainiac |
| Flash | Captain Cold |
| Green Arrow | Catwoman |
| Green Lantern | Cheetah |
| Harley Quinn | Cyborg |
| Hawkgirl | Darkseid |
| Joker | Deadshot |
| Killer Frost | Doctor Fate |
| Lex Luthor | Enchantress |
| Lobo | Firestorm |
| Martian Manhunter | Flash |
| Nightwing | Gorilla Grodd |
| Raven | Green Arrow |
| Scorpion | Green Lantern |
| Shazam | Harley Quinn |
| Sinestro | Hellboy |
| Solomon Grundy | Joker |
| Superman | Poison Ivy |
| Wonder Woman | Raiden |
| Zatanna | Red Hood |
| Zod | Robin |
| Scarecrow | |
| Starfire | |
| Sub-Zero | |
| Supergirl | |
| Superman | |
| Swamp Thing | |
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
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Wonder Woman
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For now, there’s no real suggestion as to what sort of ‘guest’ characters we could see, but for quite some time fans have been calling for the likes of The Watchmen – like Dr. Manhattan, The Comedian, Rorschach, Silk Spectre, and Nite Owl – as well as more standalone characters like Neo from the Matrix series. We’ll be sure to keep this list updated as we get more info about what characters could feature in the Injustice 3 roster.
