Super Smash Bros. clones have grown popular in recent years, no doubt due to the increasing appetite for crossovers. Fans just love seeing their favorite characters from various franchises go at it.
The latest among these is MultiVersus. With this royal rumble, Warner Bros. throws its hat into the crossover ring, unveiling several mismatched characters right out of the gate. The excitement at these fictional fighters is matched only by the anticipation over who might be next. Fans are already voicing their wishlists and theorizing who'll join the fray. Warner Bros. definitely has a vast array of properties to choose from across its movies, TV shows, and video games. Sadly, not all characters from these works would suit the MultiVersus style.
8 Pinky & The Brain
Warner's cartoons are rife with characters who would fit MultiVersus like a glove. Pinky & The Brain seem like two such figures at first glance. While they may suit the game's tone and style, however, they have a slight problem: their size.
Simply put, they're a couple of mice. They compensate for this through convoluted schemes and inventions, but it's tough to convey those aspects consistently in a character model, let alone in gameplay.
True, Jerry of Tom & Jerry is also a mouse, but he works together with his feline rival to form one fighter. Unless the developers size them up, Pinky & The Brain would be in over their heads. All the other characters have to do is step on them.
7 The Gilmore Girls
Another iconic TV duo, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore would be undoubtedly out-of-place. The reason for that should be obvious to anyone with eyes. This tight-knit mother and daughter aren't fighters. In fact, they don't have much physical prowess at all. Whenever they need some heavy lifting, they mostly get Luke to do it.
Instead, the Gilmore Girls' strength comes from their dialogue. They've endeared themselves to viewers through their mile-a-minute mix of comedy and drama. To be fair, the game has a fighter – Velma from Scooby-Doo – who uses words as projectiles. She's not limited to this, though, as she also comes equipped with makeshift traps and gadgets. Lorelai and Rory have no such variety.
6 Gandalf
The fighting title already has Arya from Game of Thrones, so why not flex Warner's other biggest fantasy property: The Lord of the Rings? Regarding whom to include, the obvious choice would be Gandalf. Not only is he one of the franchise's more recognizable characters, but he's already gotten in on the crossover action with LEGO Dimensions. That said, the developers have more freedom with who would fit in a LEGO world. MultiVersus would presumably aim for more authenticity, which is not ideal for this format.
That mainly comes down to movement. Taking the form of an old man, Gandalf is not known for the agility or verticality shown in Smash-style fighters. He can swing a sword and sling spells like no one else, but the other fighters would easily outmaneuver him. Considering that drawback, the developers might be better off with an Elf hero like Legolas, whose grace lets him easily leap around like an acrobat.
5 Ash Williams
Star of the horror-comedy franchise, Evil Dead, this cult hero made his mark with demon-slaying antics, macho one-liners, and slapstick pratfalls. All of these seem perfect for MultiVersus. Despite all the game's cartoon violence, though, the fighters have no visible signs of injury. Thus, the nature of Ash's genre eliminates him from the standings.
Part of Evil Dead's dark humor comes from how much blood and guts Ash deals with on a daily basis. He even wields a chainsaw, ripping enemies to shreds and covering everything in gratuitous gore. Having him fight a clean battle, either figuratively or literally, would feel like a waste. After all, he thrives in messy carnage.
4 Courage The Cowardly Dog
MultiVersus already pays tribute to recent Cartoon Network shows, so it might pull some characters from the channel's golden era. Among the more unique is Courage the Cowardly Dog. Here, the titular mutt must save his adoptive family from paranormal freaks and extraterrestrial enemies on a weekly basis. However, he doesn't achieve this through any offensive effort.
As the name suggests, Courage is a coward. When he encounters a threat, his instinct isn't to fight it. Instead, he screams and runs away, carrying his dimwitted humans with him like a sack of potatoes. If he does confront a villain, it's usually through some contest or misdirection. It's hard to do justice to such an evasive character in a fighting game; the genre is about meeting foes head-on. The developers admittedly included Shaggy, but that's only because the power of memes has given him Ultra Instinct straight out of Dragon Ball. Courage has no such meta abilities.
3 Scorpion
This ninja is the poster child for Mortal Kombat. His retractable chain and "Get over here!" line are known even outside of gaming circles. It's no surprise, then, that he's seen his share of crossovers, going against the DC Universe in a few titles. Sadly, his inclusion in MultiVersus meets with some of the same barriers precluding other characters in this list.
Not only is gore a core part of Scorpion's appeal, but the verticality issue also applies here. Mortal Kombat duels are strictly horizontal. If the fighters get any airtime with a jump attack, it's very brief. Scorpion is built for that gameplay and that type of arena. Unless the developers change him from the ground up, he'd feel awkward in the multi-leveled maps of MultiVersus.
2 Agent 47
Few gaming protagonists are as good at killing as Agent 47. He's piled up countless bodies in the stealth series, Hitman, but therein lies the issue with his inclusion in MultiVersus: the style of killing.
47 is a master of stealth. His skills don't lie in brawling; they favor infiltration and assassination. The whole point is that enemies don't see him coming. Granted, Batman also has a stealth element, but that's simply one facet of his MO. It's absolutely integral to Agent 47. Plopping him in an arena to duke it out in broad daylight defeats the purpose. He might as well be any old guy with a gun.
1 Anyone From The MonsterVerse
A few years back, Warner Bros. embarked on a different crossover endeavor, and it's definitely paid off. The MonsterVerse brings Godzilla, King Kong, and other giant creatures together for one titanic universe. The renewed popularity of its animalistic stars speaks for itself with Godzilla and Kong's recent appearance in Call of Duty. However, they literally wouldn't fit into MultiVersus.
These guys are the size of skyscrapers. They have a similar problem as Pinky & The Brain, albeit on the other end of the spectrum. Game balance goes out the window when some combatants can swallow the whole arena in one gulp. That's saying nothing of their cataclysmic capabilities. Godzilla alone has burned entire cities to the ground. What chance does anyone in MultiVersus have against that kind of power?
MultiVersus is expected to launch in 2022 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.