Mortal Kombat 11's Joker references the 1989 Batman movie, MKvDCU and... teases Injustice 3?
Funny haha.
The Joker will soon be available to download and play in Mortal Kombat 11, but due to the character already being available to fight in-game and through the magic of early access granted to YouTubers, there's a lot about the way the DC supervillain works already out there.
We also know a lot about what Joker says in Mortal Kombat 11, and there are loads of Easter eggs, film references and cool nods this way and that for fans to find and enjoy.
But one exchange in particular sounds like a clear tease for the next fighting game from developer NetherRealm - despite the boss of NetherRealm saying otherwise.
When Joker fights Joker, the fight intro dialogue goes like this:
"We'll have to make do as a dynamic duo."
"Only two of us?! That's an injustice!"
"What we could do with a third."
Some have already pointed out this may be a reference to the upcoming Batman: Three Jokers comic book miniseries, and that may well be the case, but I think the inclusion of the word "injustice" is deliberately designed to get tongues wagging on another Injustice sequel. And why not? Surely Injustice 3 is NetherRealm's next fighting game, following a pattern established years ago. Injustice: Gods Among Us came out in 2013. Mortal Kombat X came out in 2015. Injustice 2 came out in 2017. And Mortal Kombat 11 came out in 2019. I'm kinda feeling like Injustice 3 is next.
And yet! NetherRealm founder Ed Boon took to Twitter to insist this Joker exchange has nothing to do with Injustice.
Ed Boon is infamous within the Mortal Kombat community for trolling fans over DLC characters, announcements and all sorts related to NetherRealm. So, if Ed says this has nothing to do with Injustice, well, I kind of think that means it has something to do with Injustice.
Meanwhile, the rest of Joker's dialogue will be of interest to Batman movie fans. He says "just wait 'til they get a load of me" to Johnny Cage, a nod to Jack Nicholson's wonderful "wait'll they get a load of me" line from Batman 1989. Also from Tim Burton's Batman, Joker tells Shang Tsung: "Never rub another man's rhubarb." In a reference to a more recent Batman movie, Joker says to Sonya Blade: "why so serious?" Heath Ledger really was a quite astonishing Joker, wasn't he?
Outside of movies, there's an odd line to Jacqui Briggs that suggests Joker has tortured Takahashi Takeda somehow, and there are a handful of Mortal Kombat v DC Universe and comicbook references.
The video below, from YouTuber MKIceAndFire, has all of Joker's dialogue in Mortal Kombat 11.
