Given the more subdued approach Netherrealm Studios employed the last time they featured DC superheroes in one of their fighting games, many fans are wondering how violent their next venture, Injustice: Gods Among Us, might be. Trailers for the game feature the same fluid animation style of Mortal Kombat 9, NetherRealm's reboot of their bread-and-butter franchise, but that doesn't necessarily mean the capacity for violence has also transferred over.

In that aforementioned DC heroes game, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, the trademark fatalities of the Mortal Kombat franchise were replaced with what essentially boiled down to "super moves." Villains from DC were able to get a little more creative with their finishers, but ultimately it was small potatoes compared to the spine ripping NetherRealm fans have come to expect.

But what about Injustice: Gods Among Us? As Creative Director Ed Boon points out, this is a completely different franchise than Mortal Kombat, and with that comes different expectations. Boon wouldn't rule out the possibility of excessive violence in the game, but his comments to Game Informer suggest DC Comics has the final say.

"Understandably, a lot of people ask, 'Are you going to have fatalities? Are you going to do this?' That’s specifically because we are NetherRealm Studios, we did Mortal Kombat, we have done a bunch of Mortal Kombats, and I think there is an assumption that this is part of every game that we do. But the real message is that this is brand new, that this game has its own identity and we don’t feel like we have to follow any kind of previous template of Mortal Kombat. While we are very proud of the Mortal Kombat legacy we have, it’s certainly not part of this game. This game has its own identity."

Extensive previews of the game at E3 and new character trailers from Comic-Con and Gamescom have proven that Injustice's handling of DC's most prized characters isn't with oven mitts but razor sharp claws. The brutality on display in many of the trailers is something fans of Superman and Batman have only hoped to see on the big screen.

That being said, this isn't going to be a game where blood soaks the combat arena, or Superman uses his super strength to rip his enemies limb from limb. Boon just wasn't interested in that:

We replaced gratuitous violence, like blood, arms and limbs being cut off, and all that with spectacular, over-the-top events. In Mortal Kombat you might swing a sword at somebody, in this game you’ll throw a car at somebody. In Mortal Kombat you might see blood come flying out from somebody when you punch them, in this game the person could fly through a building when you punch them. That’s really the identity of this game — an over the top, extreme battle of the gods-type experience with interactive backgrounds. We want these arenas to let players perform these over the top events that have something to do with the fighting, that make you care about where you are in the arena in regards to what opportunities are existing and mixing up that whole thing. I think that’s going to really be what this game is.

There's still a secret lingering behind the development of Injustice, one which Boon and his team have only teased but not explained -- how every day super heroes like The Flash can trade blows with ultra strong beings like Superman? We know there is an explanation there somewhere, we just haven't been given one yet.

As destructive and bone crunching as some of the hits in Injustice might be, they aren't going to have the excessive blood or anything that might be considered Mortal Kombat-style violence. We wouldn't rule out the possibility of fatalities in the game, but we don't expect NetherRealm to push things all that much.

Would you like to see fatalities in Injustice or do you think that doesn't stay true to the spirit of DC Comics' characters? How violent should the game be?

Injustice: Gods Among Us is targeting a 2013 release for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Source: Game Informer