Interviews | Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Blame Batman’s Watered Down Brutality On DC Comics
October 01, 2008
Hector Sanchez, associate producer on Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, sat down to talk about the upcoming release in the MK franchise. According to Ramirez the game is about 85% complete with most of the trademark fatalities and brutalities (finishing moves for the comic book characters that DC didn’t want to mix with simulated murder) set in stone.
As a fan of the post-Frank Miller, just right of evil Batman, I was excited to see what Midway had cooked up for the Dark Knight’s finishing move. I figured Bruce Wayne’s cloudy moral compass over the last couple of years in pop culture would open up plenty of options when it comes to putting an opponent out of their misery. Instead, of cracking a necks, curb stomping, or any physical contact whatsoever, Batman finishes his opponents by slipping a sonic emitter around his wobbling foe that summons a swarm of twenty or thirty squeaking bats. A crippling move, this ain’t. According to Sanchez it was all part of the challenge of working on the a title that includes licensed characters. And it could prove to be a major sticking points with the hardcore fans of the series. Hit the jump to see what Sanchez had to say and why, if anything, pulling the reins in on the MK team might be a good thing.
Das Gamer: What was the reaction from DC when you guys showed off the Joker’s execution fatality at Leipzig?
Hector Sanchez: DC got really kind of, well not up in arms, but were really like, ‘Didn’t know you were going to show [the Joker fatality].’ But once they saw the positive response they were cool with it.
Did it ever seem like they were getting cold feet at any point when they saw some of the fatalities for their characters?
Hector Sanchez:There were quite a few Batman fatalities that were really over the top that we’re too much. A couple of them were really bad, in your head they were cool but they were just too gruesome, they were too brutal, Batman just wouldn’t do them. We tried to say, ‘He would if he was mad.’ One of the key elements to the story mode is “combat rage”, it’s the force that causes these characters to do things that they normally wouldn’t do. It’s not really Batman doing this but he’s influenced by this rage which would lead him to break every bone in a guy’s body. But DC thought it was taking it too far. [DC] has been very protective of Batman and the Joker because that’s like their billion dollar baby right now.
But you guys wanted to include the character and DC didn’t want anything too brutal.
Hector Sanchez: Here’s the thing, we have to come up with a brutality for Batman what can we do. He can’t hurt someone really really bad so let’s stick a sonar device on him, summon a bunch of bats and they attack the person but they don’t kill them. It’s just one of those things…but with Deathstroke it’s totally cool to stick a sword in a woman and shoot’em in the face. People kind of dig that one.
Did you guys ever reference the Frank Miller Batman or the recent Dark Knight movie?
Hector Sanchez: We’re, that’s almost like a negative. We’d bring up, ‘But in the movie he does this.’ They would say, ‘You’re not licensing the movie you’re licensing the character.’ But I don’t want to spin it like it’s all been negative. It’s been cool working with them because it’s a give and take. It’s not us just going crazy with their characters. It’s a challenge but it’s a good challenge. We have to exist in this box that DC has created for us. It forced us to expand our horizons versus relying on what we know. All we’ve known for the last fifteen years was ‘rip his arm off and hit him in the fucking head with it.’ Now it’s like OK we have to work with these characters, we have to work with this brand. Let’s create something that fits within this box and that way for the next game the reins will be completely off and we can do whatever we want.
Stay tuned for more info on Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, hitting shelves November 25.
Related: An interview with Hector Sanchez, associate producer on MK vs DC Universe at E3
4 Responses to “Blame Batman’s Watered Down Brutality On DC Comics”
DC’s mistake. Totally missing the chance to do something iconic. They should have pulled in Frank Miller and just told him to go nuts.
Where the hell is Hawkman?
By christopher lambert on Oct 2, 2008
I’m hoping that the idea sounds bad on paper, but looks cool when you actually see it.
Also, Deathstroke’s fatality (or at least, it could be) seems simple, but to the point. :D
By Well... on Oct 3, 2008
Lol Hawkman…
By LOlboy on Oct 5, 2008
“We’d bring up, ‘But in the movie he does this.’ They would say, ‘You’re not licensing the movie you’re licensing the character.’”
o_0 If DC said that, the if you look at it, even though it was a movie…the movie was licesning the Batman, JOker and Two-Face characters.
By Philly1UPer on Nov 11, 2008