Injustice 2 release date confirmed for May 2017

NetherRealm Studios creative director Ed Boon has revealed the launch date for highly-anticipated fighting game Injustice 2. Boon announced on Twitter that the DC-based superhero brawler is set to release on 16 May 2017 for PS4 and Xbox One.

The announcement follows a listing on Microsoft's official Xbox Live Rewards website earlier this week, which suggested that Injustice 2 would launch on 28 March. Boon, however, quickly took to Twitter to quash the circulating rumour.

The sequel to the hit fighting game Injustice: Gods Among Us, which released three years ago, was officially announced by Warner Bros and NetherRealm in June 2016, with a brutal cinematic trailer teasing an epic battle between Superman, the Flash, Batman, Aquaman and Supergirl.

Injustice 2 will continue the storyline of Gods Among Us, in which Batman and his team of superheroes and villains, work to restore society while battling a similarly super-powered group who want to reinstate Superman's regime.

"In the midst of the chaos, a new threat appears that will put Earth's existence at risk," the developer teased. "Players can play from the biggest DC roster ever offered in a fighting game, from classic fan favourites such as Batman, Superman, Supergirl and Aquaman, to astonishing new villains like Atrocitus and Gorilla Grodd. Battles will take place across arenas that have evolved in scale and span across iconic locations such as Metropolis, Gotham City and Atlantis."

Injustice 2 will also feature a new gear and stat upgrade system that will allow players to customise their DC heroes and villains as well as loot drops at the end of fights that can strengthen characters.

"When you finish a fight, we're going to have these drops where basically the victory screen awards you with this gear, and you're going to have the choice of equipping your character with that gear or not," Boon said last year. "There's a moulding so to speak, as you keep getting gear you keep deciding if you want to use it and if you want to focus on offense or defense or enhance certain moves or unlock certain moves.

"It really results in visually and gameplay-wise, it's your Grodd, it's your Superman, your Batman, your Aquaman, and that's really the foundation on what we're building our main gameplay on."

NetherRealm has yet to announce the complete cast of characters for the forthcoming game that already seems to be much larger than its predecessor. Besides mainstays such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Flash, Injustice 2's super-powered roster will also include Supergirl as well as villains including Gorilla Grodd, Atrocitus and Suicide Squad members Harley Quinn and Deadshot.

Meanwhile, Boon has continued to tease fans about the possible additions to the growing roster, including those beyond the DC Comics realm.

After holding a few polls on Twitter to ask which guest character from Mortal Kombat and non-MK character they would like to see join the Injustice 2 line-up, Subzero and Spawn were fans' top choices for the guest character slots. In November, Boon also asked fans if they would like to see Watchmen characters in Injustice 2.

In response to a fan query on Twitter, Boon noted that there are "so many more" DC characters coming.