Mortal Kombat 11 has found itself on the receiving end of some undesired criticism for the portrayal of a certain beloved DC character.
Joker, the self-proclaimed clown prince of Gotham, was confirmed for NetherRealm’s fighting game earlier this year alongside a number of other guest characters. The reveal of both Terminator T-800 (now available in-game) and Todd McFarlane’s Spawn have been met with near-universal positive reception from respective fans for their authentic designs, though many had considered the studio’s handling of Joker to be disappointing, to say the least.
The source of most criticism came down to the interpretation looking too clean-cut and comical, with some derogatorily labelling it as looking like a low budget cosplay. Retreating back to the drawing board in light of those negative reactions, the developer finally unveiled a brand new look for Joker during last week’s Game Awards. Thankfully, early reactions to this iteration have been infinitely more positive, but one fan still believes NetherRealm has missed a trick by not modelling their version on Joaquin Phoenix’s recent performance.
In fact, Twitter user Aaron Gall has decided to do the work themselves. Check out their fantastic edit below:
Impressive stuff, no doubt, but it remains to be seen whether NetherRealm will go the extra mile and include its own collection of skins for the character. With so many wildly varying versions of Joker spread across TV, comics and film, it can’t possibly account for them all, but Arthur Fleck would undoubtedly be top of many wishlists.
But what do you think of Gall’s edit? Would you love for a similarly-styled alternate skin to be made available in Mortal Kombat 11, or would you rather one of the character’s myriad other designs be given top priority? Sound off in the comments below!