Injustice: Gods Among Us is a DC ComicsFighting Game developed by Netherrealm Studios, the company behind the Mortal Kombat reboot in 2011.The game features a cast of DC Universe heroes and villains fighting each other in the aftermath of an incident that claimed millions of lives.A weekly tie-in comic has been released and an omnibus of the entire comic will be included with the Collector's Edition of the game.The game was released in April 2013. The first trailer can be viewed here.
All The Myriad Ways: The Injustice universe and the main one are two different dimensions. Insurgency!Batman intended to send the heroes back to the main universe, but they insist on fighting for the Injustice universe. And Batman eventually brings Superman over for the final battle.
Alternate Continuity: There are two in the game. A "main" one and an alternate one. Even the "main" continuity is alternate from the comics, though, seemingly taking on aspects from the current New 52 books, the "New Earth" continuity before that, and a few nods to the DCAU.
Alternate Timeline: The game involves heroes and villains from a "normal" timeline being pulled into a Dystopian timeline where only one or two major events turned out differently.
Anyone Can Die: This is prominent in both the comics and the game.
Armor-Piercing Question: Batman asks Flash one in issue 13 of the comic after Superman and Wonder Woman take down a protesting superhuman named Galaxor.
Batman: How do you think he felt when his heroes broke him?
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The detailed profile of the Joker in the Batcave stage lists his various crimes, which include all three and end with the latter.
As You Know: When Aquaman is sent to the alternate universe, he asks an Atlantean historian to review Regime!Superman's rise to power. The historian gets confused as to why he would ask something everyone already knows, but tells the tale.
Badass Normal: Non-superpowered heroes and villains like Batman, Catwoman, Nightwing, Joker, and Harley Quinn go toe to toe with superhumans like Superman and Solomon Grundy.
Empowered Badass Normal: In the story mode, Alt Superman creates a Kryptonian nano tech drug that gives regular humans thousands of times their normal durability.
The Bad Guy Wins: The situation in the alternate universe is kicked off by Joker managing to not only destroy Metropolis but, most importantly, totally break Superman: twisting him into something as evil and monstrous as himself - creating a result that is his dearest goal. He was killed as a result, but to him it didn't matter: the fact that he is laughing maniacally as Superman kills him and begins his Start of Darkness says it all.
Beam-O-War: Some STAR Labs missions feature this, such as an Eye Beams duel between Supermen from alternate universes.
Berserk Button: In Issue #11, Superman sends Bruce into a rage by calling him a bad father.
Beware The Superman: The Regime is a dystopian tyranny of superpowered former heroes.
Big Red Button: There's one in the Batcave that players can use to launch missiles from the Batmobile.
Big Damn Heroes: Superman makes his appearance blowing up a car Black Adam threw at Aquaman.
Bilingual Bonus: On the screen of the device Regime Superman uses to control Doomsday, two short lines of symbols read "YONECA WELL" in kryptonian, although the significance, if any, is unknown.
Billing Displacement: Nightwing - Dick Grayson. Though the player plays as him by default and he shows up in advertisement, he is already dead by the time the storyline takes place, and the only Nightwing the player sees is a different person who killed him and took his moniker: Damian Wayne. The game also treats the player as Damian for the purposes of his Battles Ending, though not for the S.T.A.R. Labs Missions—the only place the player plays as Dick.
In fact, there are several characters who appear and are playable by default as their mainstream versions, even though they never or barely actually appear and their presence is instead taken up by their Regime/Insurgency versions - Raven, Shazam, Hawkgirl, Catwoman and Harley (though Harley at least does have a very brief one or two line appearance). Mainstream!Flash also plays a part in working behind the scenes with his universe's Cyborg and Superman.
However, Classic Battle takes the player as if using the main universe Shazam instead of Regime version. And while it looks ambiguous, it looks like the same goes to Raven.
Bloodier and Gorier: Ironically, while the game is slated for a T-rating and eschews any connections to the Mortal Kombat franchise, it goes for a considerably more graphical depiction of violence than the cartoony Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe. While the action is adequate to its Superhero universe, battles are accompanied by significant amounts of blood and most combat techniques are very visceral in nature, especially when blades like Wonder Woman's sword or Catwoman's claws are involved.
Blue and Orange Morality: In a way reminiscent of Order Vs Chaos, Ares' perspective cares only about Less Vs More Conflict, with more conflict being what he prefers. Interestingly, this puts him on the heroes side - because The Regime stands to cow the entire world under their rule and rob him of his power completely.
Bluff The Impostor: Regime Catwoman tricks main universe Cyborg into revealing himself by asking if they are still on their (non-existent) date that night.
Bond One-Liner: Several in the story mode. Albeit, there are no actual fatalities, characters do have their chance to throw in their quips after kicking the living daylights out of their opponent.
After the defeat of Doomsday.
Superman: Doomsday's not today.
Joker gets one as well whenever he wins as he douses the opponent in gasoline and then utters, "You're fired," just as he drops a lit match.
Green Arrow, perhaps the king of one-liners in the game, utters this one.
Green Arrow (after defeating Killer Frost): Thought that would warm me up.
Brainwashed and Crazy/Cold-Blooded Torture: Various character bios reveal that villains who joined the Regime were "reeducated" in the Phantom Zone to make them loyal. Due to his nature, Doomsday required a mind-control collar to allow him to serve the Regime.
Break Them By Talking: The Regime-Universe Joker delivers one of these to Superman in the beginning of the game - comparable to the kind of speeches he's been known to give Batman to goad him into killing him, or the speech the alternate Luthor gave to kick off the Justice Lord Universe in Justice League. Sadly, there's a moment where it looks like it might not work and Superman might not fall after all... but then Joker keeps talking and getting worse by the second. It ends badly for everyone.
The Red Son Solomon Grundy skin was created just for the game. The Archives even give a backstory for his character, along with traits he possesses. Red Son Grundy is the same as Regular Grundy, but lacks the limited intelligence to act on his own.
Combat Pragmatist: Environments are said to be a part of the game, with characters being able to use them to hurt opponents. Different characters however, have different ways of doing them. For example, Batman slams enemies onto a car, while Solomon Grundy slams a car onto enemies.
Co-Dragons: Regime Wonder Woman and Yellow Lantern split The Dragon role between them for High Councilor Superman, but with an interesting variation: Both double as a Dragon with an Agenda, each with their own ideals and plans separate from Superman.
Yellow Lantern is the more morally ambiguous of the two. While serving as a loyal enforcer commanding the other Regime members with the same desire to end the Insurgency, he's shown to be an Anti-Villain legitimately regretting his actions. He believes that he's truly fighting for justice, and is always trying to "do the right thing" no matter what. Which he ultimately does in the end by relinquishing his Yellow Ring.
Regime Wonder Woman is by far the more devious one. While serving as his enforcer by leading an entire Amazon Brigade to serve the Regime, she's also a Manipulative Bitch with every intention to replace Lois Lane in Superman's life and become a legitimate Battle Couple with Superman. This ultimately doesn't pan out however, as her Good Counterpart defeats her and turns the Amazons against the Regime.
Cool Versus Awesome: It's a fighting game set in The DCU and starring both flagship characters and fan favorites. The trope is inevitable.
Clothing Damage: All characters who take enough damage will start to show wear and tear. For Lex Luthor's armor, it gets burned, dented and chipped up. For everyone else, they get serious abrasions that even show exposed muscle.
Cross Counter: A variant: when a counter is initiated, both characters are knocked back, recite character-specific lines and attack each other simultaneously. During the clash, players need to bet portions of their super meter to earn the upper hand. If the initiator wins, they receive health proportionate to their win, while if they lose, they receive damage proportionate to their opponent's bet.
In the Story Mode, the two characters in a clash have a short conversation instead of their normal lines.
Certain characters who have extensive relationships (like Hal Jordan and Thaal Sinestro) have an alternate exchange as well.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Superman versus well, everyone, really. And it goes for both the "normal" and Injustice versions. Injustice Superman pretty much curbstomps everyone who opposes him throughout most of the story proper, and when his opposite is summoned to the Injustice universe, he returns the favor. Big time. So much so that after watching the treatment Injustice Sinestro gets, Yellow Lantern just hands over his ring without a fight.
Lighter and Softer: Compared to the absolute darkness present in the prequel comic, the actual game itself is much less dark. That's not to say that it's all a picnic, though - the alternate universe itself is pretty oppressive and unpleasant, and several characters meet particularly gruesome deaths.
Deus Exit Machina: The regular Superman is busy fighting Doomsday in space when Insurgency Batman pulls the other heroes into his dimension; keeping him out of the way for most of the story. Alternate Batman is also reluctant to bring him there. When he does eventually get pulled into the Injustice Universe, he takes on and defeats Black Adam, Sinestro (effortlessly), Yellow Lantern (without a fight), Regime!Aquaman, Doomsday, and his Evil Counterpart in rapid succession.
If Doomsday is being used on the Fortress of Solitude stage, where he also appears in the background, the appearance of the background Doomsday will change to the attire not being used. If it's a Doomsday Mirror Match and both costumes are in use, then the Doomsday in the background will change to the green spacesuit from his first appearance.
If Green Lantern's "Yellow Lantern" costume is used, in addition to the changes seen in story mode, then his super move teleports the opponent to Qward instead of Oa, and his victory pose has him declaring "Yellow is power" in the orbit of Qward instead of joining his fellow Green Lantern Corps members.
On Stryker's Island, one stage interaction for Gadget characters has them take a gun from a nearby guard, fire it, and hand it back to them… that is, unless you're Batman or Batgirl, who instead jump off of the guard like they would off of various other objects.
Dueling Player Characters: The single-player campaign has you swapping characters at the end of most chapters, and every so often you'll end up in a fight with a character you controlled in a previous chapter.
Earn Your Happy Ending: For the "Main" Universe. Regime!Superman's plan to invade their Universe is thwarted before it even begins, The Joker's super strength pills are implied to wear off shortly after the ending and Everybody Lives.
Bittersweet Ending: For the "Injustice" Universe. The Regime's rampage through Gotham and Metropolis is put to a stop, and the surviving leaders of the dictatorship are either apprehended or willingly turn themselves in. That being said, hundreds of people have died as a result of the conflict, including two morally decent people (Lex Luthor and Shazam), and the best chance that this Universe had at world peace has been fragmented.
Endless Winter: Killer Frost's classic ending ends up with her freezing the entire northern hemisphere and ruling it as "The Winter Queen."
Environmental Symbolism: Just before the heroes are transported to the Regime world, we see a golden statue of Superman lifting up a globe in a lush green park under a blue sky. Batman and Joker appear in the world near a silver statue of Superman standing atop the globe in a cold, grey district under a dusk-toned sky.
Evil Costume Switch: Characters on the side of the Regime tend to have more ominous secondary costumes than their defaults. For example, Shazam's alternate swaps his white cloak for a collared black one, and his lightning bolt insignia no longer has magical lightning coursing through it. Green Lantern changes over to Yellow Lantern. This is the first thing that Hal points out when he first meets his counterpart.
Face Heel Turn: The heroes are called "our greatest threat" in the trailer. They even sport darker designs for their costumes.
The "New Regime" teaser and information from Blur Studios suggests that Superman has been pushed into He Who Fights Monsters territory due to some terrible tragedy that killed millions.
And the prequel comic reveals that the tragedy was the nuclear obliteration of Metropolis, the death of Lois Lane and their unborn child. At his own hands. Thanks to the Joker.
Flip Flop of God: After hinting on Twitter that certain characters might join the roster, Ed Boon had mixed opinions on the inclusion of Aquaman. A portion of his feed is alternating between "of course" and "no way" before finishing with this statement.Then he was confirmed as a character.
Of course, Ed Boon is a VERY notorious Trolling Creator in his twitter feeds.
For Want of a Nail: Subverted, there's more than one difference that lead to the Injustice Universe becoming a dictatorship. They include Lex Luthor not being a villain (according to him), Wonder Woman being more aggressive and The Joker being a sorer loser.
Due to the premise of the game, when reading the tie-in comic, the audience knows that not only will Superman succumb to He Who Fights Monsters and become a Well-Intentioned Extremist but he will also create the NewRegime and other characters will go down the route of Fallen Hero with Superman. On the flip side, they also know several members of Batman's Insurgency will die since they're never seen in the game or are stated to have died prior to the start of the game, such as Nightwing & Green Arrow.
During the marketing for the game, there was a tournament containing most of the characters in the game. As it was based on public votes, which meant it was a popularity contest, the final battle was always going to be Batman vs. Superman.
Free Floor Fighting: Hitting an opponent with a strong enough attack (Back + A or X) will send them hurtling into another stage of the area if they're standing in the right spot.
Freeze Frame Bonus: When beating the standard fighting game mode, Regime!Superman is knocked into the phantom zone (this happens for every character) after the fight, as his life flashes before his eyes one can see a set of gravestones for Lois Kent and Baby Kent.
From Bad to Worse: Oh, boy. Metropolis is left in ruins due to a nuclear weapon that Joker detonated, killing millions (including Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, as well as the latter's unborn child). Superman responds to this by becoming an Unscrupulous Hero and even killing Joker. After this, he decides that he has the ultimate moral authority in the world and dismantles a dictatorship in a less-than-legal manner, demanding a ceasefire in the process. When the U.N. rightfully calls him out for this, he apologizes and reveals his secret identity, unintentionally endangering a number of people. He then forges an alliance with Wonder Woman just after herStart of Darkness (wounding Ares). He then ruins his relationship with Batman with a Motive Rant about how people can only be ruled through fear, and how killing an evil person is necessary to save thousands. Aquaman breaks the ceasefire by attacking whalers, causing much of the Justice League to attack him and fracturing the team when Superman orders them to throw Atlantis into the Sahara Desert. Meanwhile, Damien Wayne kills Dick Grayson. After this, the New Regime forms, with Superman and Wonder Woman taking lead. This all happens before the game starts, and the state of the Injustice Universe gets much worse over the course of the game before it gets better.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Numerous examples here and there, but the most notable is that the earlier fights take place before the "survive punches to space and back" durability pills are introduced. The environmental damage remains the same too, so a fight between Batman and Joker somehow results in a building collapsing.
Martian Manhunter floats around in the background in the Watchtower stage (in story mode, both the main and alternate universe Watchtowers). You'd think such a powerful character would affect the story (or gameplay for that matter), but nope.
At one point in Superman's story mode chapter, you must fight Doomsday in the Fortress of Solitude. For some reason, there's another Doomsday held captive in the background, though there's been no mention of cloning. You can even throw Doomsday into Doomsday.
Both Doomsdays are shown with both Main and Regime costumes.
Also, sending certain characters through the Scarecrow transition, including ones who are immune to poisons (Joker) or who the needles shouldn't even scratch (Superman).
Genre Savvy: When suddenly transported somewhere strange and ominous, the characters quickly pick up on the fact that they are in a parallel universe and act accordingly - there is very little confusion about where they are, and though they are mildly shocked by what their alternates have done, they adapt very quickly and aren't bent up much over fighting people who only look like their friends.
In addition, before it's confirmed that it's an alternate dimension they point out that it could their own dimension but with an altered timeline.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: A variation of the Gotham Streets stage has graffiti on the Ace Chemicals vehicle reading "F#QK Superman." The same message is written on the walls in Joker's Lair, which is prominently displayed for a lengthy amount of time during a story cutscene.
Likewise, Joker nearly gets to let out the same curse during Lex's story before Harley interrupts him.
Joker: Humpty Dumpty fell on a truck. Humpty Dumpty's suit is all-
Twice during the story mode, Green Arrow mutters "Shit".
Regime Catwoman wonders if she could find Cyborg's "off" button. After defeating her, he says "I'm still turned on."
Gods Need Prayer Badly: The alternate Ares decides to help the good guys because Regime!Superman's rule over the planet is wiping out conflicts, which starves him of his power.
Groin Attack: One of the disadvantages of playing one of the larger characters is that your groin is at the height were most fighters have their belly, which is where several attacks, including throws involving Cyborg's electric clamp and Joker's stabbing knife, are targeted. However, none of the character specifically have groin attacks in their arsenal, not used for the intended effect at any rate.
Heel Face Turn: Regime!Flash. Harley and Deathstroke in the backstory of the Regime universe, though Deathstroke shows himself to be more of a neutral and Harley goes back and forth along the good-evil line before settling on good near the end.
Heel Face Door Slam: Regime Shazam starts to question the actions of the side he chose, but makes the mistake of thinking the other members of the Regime still have enough good in them to agree. Regime Superman ultimately kills him for speaking out during his Villainous Breakdown.
How Much More Can He Take: In a DC game made by the makers of Mortal Kombat, this was pretty inevitable. Badass Normal characters like Batman and Green Arrow and Supers alike can be punched through a building, impaled, crushed and hit with all sorts of super moves and still keep going. This is partly explained by all the Badass Normal characters taking a special Kryptonian pill that confers super-resilience.
Humans Are Flawed: How the Regime views humanity, especially Superman and Wonder Woman. Regime Superman even calls them disobedient children that need to be punished. Both his and Regime Wonder Woman's heroic counterparts are disgusted at such a thought.
Ignore the Fanservice: Injustice Superman is not all that impressed by Injustice Wonder Woman showing up in a Stripperiffic dress, as Superman still has lingering feelings for Lois. In fact, his entire mental focus is entirely elsewhere, with Diana's presence only barely being acknowledged.
I Have No Son: Alternate Batman's feelings regarding Damian Wayne, after Damian killed Dick Grayson.
Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Two S.T.A.R. Labs Missions have Harley Quinn and Hawkgirl using this on Catwoman and a brainwashed Cyborg, respectively.
Jerkass Has a Point: When Superman rants to Batman about how the Joker should not be allowed to live.
Jiggle Physics: Batman's Super involves attacking his enemy with two tazers, causing them to spasm uncontrollably. This presents some issues with more cleavage-y characters like Harley Quinn.
Killed Off for Real: In the prequel comic series leading up to the events of the game, Jimmy Olsen, of all people, is killed by Joker thanks to a Moe Greene Special through his camera. And that's just in the first issue.
And now there's Scarecrow who is found OD'ed with Joker Toxin. Don't have to explain who did that kill.
As of the third issue, Lois Lane and almost all of Metropolis.
Issue #16: Damian Wayne threw an escrima stick at Dick Grayson. Dick fell and his neck broke against a rock.
Kneel Before Zod: In a nod to the trope namer, High Councilor Superman's win pose forces his opponent to do this.
Kraken And Leviathan: The Injustice Universe Aquaman summons a massive Kraken to fight against Superman's Regime when they threaten Atlantis. It's probably one of the few versions of a Kraken that actually matches the "size equal to a chain of islands" description in mythology.
Legacy Character: Killer Frost is actually the original Killer Frost's friend, who took up her powers and name after the original was killed.
Limit Break: All character have these as Supermoves. For example, Cyborg does a massive, point-blank energy blast while Superman punches you into orbit before smashing you back to Earth.
Male Gaze: To Wonder Woman in story mode, pretty much constantly. She tends to walk out of scenes (towards the camera) chest first, and into scenes (away from the camera) with focus on her behind, and the camera tends to focus on those areas via various angles when she's standing still as well.
Mercy Invincibility: The dual life bars. After the silver one is depleted, absolutely nothing in the rest of the combo, super move, or stage transition will roll over into the red until the opponent does his taunt and controllable play resumes.
Meteor Move: The Supermoves of Hawkgirl, Shazam, the Flash, Sinestro and Batgirl are all variations, but Superman tops the game, as stated above.
Mirror Match: Several times during the storyline. The Final Boss is one of these, with the Regime Superman fighting his heroic, mainstream universe counterpart.
Mood Whiplash: The good versions of Superman and Wonder Woman were having probably the most lighthearted conversation after the good Amazons triumph over the evil Atlanteans...then Doomsday smashes Superman through a skyscraper.
Mook Face Turn: Sinestro can be seen ordering the execution of several troopers who attempted this before Regime!Flash saves them. During the fight or rather extermination at Metropolis, several mooks turn on the majority.
The inmates of Arkham Asylum (Killer Croc, Penguin, Riddler, Two-Face, Scarecrow) are identical to their appearances in Batman: Arkham City. The Asylum's environments even seem to be partially based on those seen in Batman: Arkham Asylum.
Some of the Clash dialogue contain references as well. For example, when Clashing against Grundy, Batman call him an "overgrown gorilla." To which Grundy responds: "Me Grundy, not Grodd!"
Grundy also references his friendship with Shayera in the cartoon - "Thought bird-nose was friend!"
In the story, Regime Aquaman leads his Atlantean forces into battle against the Amazons, following the main universe Wonder Woman.
In addition, he is the only character in the storyline to refer to Deathstroke as "Slade".
Bane's design seems to take some inspiration from his appearance in Batman & Robin, including his skin turning green briefly when he doses up on Venom.
Raven uses her mantra from Teen Titans as a powerup move, although she missed out "Metrion, Zinthos."
Also, the physical appearance of her "main" version, features her with grey skin like in the cartoon.
Starro's physical appearance and his position in Superman's alien zoo are reminiscent of his portrayal in Batman Beyond.
One of the costumes you can get via interplay between the iOS and console versions is a Batman Beyond outfit for Batman.
Scarecrow injects a fighter with fear toxin, which causes them to experience a nightmare identical to the Scarecrow levels in Arkham Asylum.
The Flash's supermove bears resemblance to his assault on Brainiac-Luthor in Justice League Unlimited, notably showing a clip of the Flash speeding across a body of water framed exactly as it was in the cartoon.
Some S.T.A.R. Labs mission titles include:
Cyborg Mission 130 "Injustice For All", named after episode title from the Justice League cartoon.
Raven Mission 176 "Titans Go", named after Robin's catchphrase in the Teen Titans cartoon.
Once Regime Sinestro's ring is taken from him, his non-Lantern clothing is the same as the character's classic blue/black suited comic appearance.
If 2 Doomsdays in default and secondary costumes fight each other in the Fortress of Solitude, the one in the background is wearing his old green jumpsuit from the comics.
Superman tackling Doomsday into space, then smashing him into the ground is similar to the case in Superman: Doomsday and Smallville.
One of the environment interactions that Superman (or any other power character) can perform at the Metropolis museum stage is the flinging of a green 1930's automobile. Don't blink and it's an exact reenactment of Action Comics #1.◊
One of Hal Jordan's ring construct moves, is a gatling gun.
The exterior of the Fortress of Solitude appears to be styled after the one in the Christopher Reeve films.
At the completion of the "Classic Battle" mode, Regime Superman is defeated by the player kicking him into the Phantom Zone. When we cut to him again, he's trapped in a floating mirror-like object.
Explained in her introductory video, The Killing Joke is the reason for Batgirl's involvement in the game.
The player 2 colors on Batman's default costume make it a dead ringer for the Nolan batsuit.
NanoTech: Used in the Alternate Universe to give the normal human Heroes and Villains super strength and durability.
Never Trust a Trailer: Without giving anything away, let's just say the trailers can be very misleading as to how the plot and characters develop.
No Sell: Most characters who activate their super move need to make contact before it engages. This gives opponents a chance to attack first and cancel out the entire move. Solomon Grundy's super move cannot be canceled. He gains super armor, and the only way to avoid his attack is to completely stay away from him until the super armor wears off.
Offhand Backhand: A variation. In the first chapter, Batman does an Offhand Punch Catch when the Joker tries to strike him after warping to the Injustice Verse.
Oh Crap: In the prequel comic, Batman's look of horror when Superman puts his hand right through the Joker's chest.
And in Superman's chapter, the good versions of Superman and Wonder Woman are talking when Doomsday appears and smashes him through several skyscrapers.
Kalibak in the prequel comic has this exact reaction (with a little Symbol Swearing) when he fails to kill Superman after attacking Paris with a legion of parademons and blasting Supes in the chest.
Punch Parry: The "Clash" system has this, although some characters use weapons, others kick and so forth. The results however, are typical for this trope.
Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Sinestro smashes Superman repeatedly with a giant energy mace. Superman Flash Steps behind him and easily takes his ring from his finger.
Pre-Order Bonus: Those who preorder at Gamestop get the Red Son pack, which contains new outfits for Superman, Wonder Woman and Solomon Grundy, along with twenty missions set within the Superman: Red Son storyline, while those who preorder from Wal Mart get the Arkham City pack, which contains costumes for Batman, Catwoman and Joker based off their appearances from the game
Right Makes Might: In story mode, every time a hero faces their Regime Counterpart, they will briefly argue over whether their proper role is protecting people or subjugating them before coming to blows. Every time, the heroic versions end up winning.
Returning from the DCAU: Kevin Conroy (Batman), George Newbern (Superman), Susan Eisenberg (Wonder Woman), Adam Baldwin (Green Lantern Hal Jordan), Jennifer Hale (Killer Frost)
Returning from Arrow: Stephen Amell (Green Arrow), with his likeness/costume from the series as an alternate outfit.
Rule Of Cool: The entire game runs on this. For example, how is Batman able to do a flying kick that knocks Bane backwards a few hundred feet through several walls? It's cool.
Ryu and Ken: Several fighters have similar movesets and supers. Superman and Shazam are probably the closest, much like other comics and games.
Subverted for Shazam and Black Adam. Even tough they are counterparts Black Adam's fighting style is vastly different, even having a different gimmick function.
Sci-Fi Writers HaveNo Sense Of Velocity: Long story short, there is no way we should be able to see the water splashing during the Flash's Supermove as he runs across it.note The clip lasts ten seconds and consists of the Flash encircling the Earth, which has a circumference of 40,075 kilometres. That distance across that time frame would be 14,427,000 kilometres per hour. However, the opponent barely moves between when the Flash begins running and when he returns, so he was moving even faster than that.
Batman says "Get down here!" while using his grapple move against an airborne opponent.
Shazam's animation after depleting his opponent's first health bar has him turn into Billy Batson and then back into Shazam. This is almost identical to Shang Tsung's animation for doing the same in Mortal Kombat 9, in which he will turn into his opponentand back into himself. Even the pose is practically the same.
Speaking of Star Wars, the transition back to Insurgency's main stage is very similar to the factory sequence in Attack Of The Clones.
When The Joker douses his defeated opponent in gasoline and then sets them alight, the camera switches to first-person view, much like in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 when General Shepherd does this to Roach and Ghost.
Wonder Woman pulls a Kratos act on the Olympian Gods in her Classic Battles ending after they preemptively attack meta-humans in reaction to Regime Superman's despotism.
In his Classic Battles loss cinematic, Regime!Superman is done in by his cape among other things. No doubt Edna Mode is laughing…
Superdickery / Never Trust a Trailer: The trailers and previews kept it hidden that the story was about alternate universe Superman gone bad, making it look like there was only one.
Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Averted by Regime Superman in the prequel tie-in comic #14 and by good Superman in Chapter 12 of the game's Story Mode.
Take A Third Option: Nightwing is commonly portrayed using Eskrima sticks, but is also known to use a staff (more commonly as Robin). Netherrealm Studios decided to let players switch between them on the fly.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Particularly noticeable between Cyborg and Injustice universe Deathstroke, though the latter claims his attempts to kill the Teen Titans was Just Business.
This Is Gonna Suck: When "main" universe Batman first ends up in the Injustice universe and escapes from Gas Mask Mooks… he tells himself he's in a nightmare.
Those Two Guys: Regime!Flash and Regime!Shazam give off vibes of this early in the story.
A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: One Atlantean in Issue #10 decided to shoot Wonder Woman when she was reaching out for Aquaman. Cue battle between Aquaman and his forces, Shazam, Wonder Woman, Hawkgirl, and Green Lantern.
Trailers Always Spoil: Whilst a great effort was made to conceal that the story wasn't a straight up war between Superman's Regime & Batman's Insurgency, the Harley Quinn character trailer gave away Joker's presence in the storyline after his apparent death at Superman's hands whilst the Green Lantern trailer outright revealed that a group of heroes are pulled from another timeline and/or universe to help fight the Regime.
Unsportsmanlike Gloating: Done after depleting the opponent's first health bar. Examples include Cyborg shooting in the air and declaring "BOO-YAH!", and Shazam saying his magic word twice to briefly revert into Billy.
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Characters operating in the background in various stages do not react at all to the carnage raging around them. The few that do tend to get involved, either as interactables or stage transitions. Otherwise, they don't seem to bat an eye as the structures or objects immediately next to them get destroyed.
Use Your Head: Several occasions, but Doomsday headbutts a building hard enough to make at least four of them fall over like dominos.
Villain Team Up: The story in the game starts with the Justice League and the Titans taking on all the main universe villains, led by Luthor, which itself is just a distraction for the Joker and his attempted nuking of Metropolis.
Villainous Breakdown: Regime Superman really starts to lose it after the alternate Lex Luthor betrays him, he kills Luthor on live television and his super-hearing picks up the public's fear and disgust at the act. The next scene has him rather dementedly declaring he will totally destroy Metropolis and Gotham, in a sharp contrast to his calmer demeanor throughout the story and he heat beams though poor hero worshiping Billy Batson's head just for daring to question him. It goes downhill from there.
Earlier than that, Regime Superman notably becomes more agressive when he finds out Insurgency Batman has kryptonite, and presumably thinks Batman was trying to kill him.
Voodoo Shark: Kryptonian Nanotech that makes the Badass Normal characters stronger? A brilliant Hand Wave. ...But it does raise a few questions:
Why do gadget-using characters (like the Joker or Harley Quinn) get more resilient gadgets as well?
Why are nigh-invulnerable characters like Shazam and Green Lantern suddenly vulnerable to things like laughing gas and Catwoman's claws?
Wham Episode: The prequel comic has plenty, many of which happen early enough to turn the DC Universe upside down. In the second issue, Jimmy Olsen is murdered by The Joker. If you thought this was a "Wham", it would be in most DC stories, but it is nothing compared to the third issue. The Joker tricks Superman, using Kryptonite-laced fear gas, into murdering Lois Lane and the unborn child of Superman and Lois. Then, The Joker reveals that when Lois' heart stops, a nuclear bomb is set to go off... in Metropolis. The Justice League fails to stop Metropolis being reduced to wreckage and all of its citizens dying. "Wham" doesn't begin to cover that. Oh, andScarecrowwas killed too.
If that wasn't enough, Superman up and kills Joker at the end of the fourth issue.
Issue 16 features Batman losing two sons, as Damian Wayne kills Dick Grayson by accident.
What If?: The Backstory can be summarized as "What if The Joker tried to give Superman one bad day... and it worked?"
Whole Plot Reference: An alternate universe with Lawful Evil versions of DC superheroes deciding to create a new world order, who then get confronted by their main universe counterparts? It wouldn't be a stretch to say the game's plot is an Adaptation Expansion of the "A Better World" two-part episode from Justice League.
Women Are Wiser: Wonder Woman, in a speech to her alternate and the alternate Amazons, tells them that they are supposed council men and lead them away from anger instead of encouraging it.
World of Badass: Just look at the roster. If that's not enough, every playable character can both hurt Superman and survive his unrestrained might.
Would Hurt a Child: Regime!Superman kills Shazam, who is a just a kid who takes an adult form while super-powered.
X Meets Y: In terms of gameplay it's perhaps best described as Mortal Kombat 9 meets BlazBlue, with physics and move execution similar to Mortal Kombat but with a 3 button control scheme plus a 4th "Drive" button that does something unique to each character.
This trend also applies to gameplay styles to an extent. Harley plays like a combination of Noel Vermillion (frantic gunplay) and Platinum the Trinity (randomizing trait), Lex has Iron Tager's gravity pulls, etc. Not that it's a bad thing.
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