Injustice 2 is one of the best fighting games to come out in years, bursting at the seams with both single and multiplayer content. NetherRealm Studios had already established the art of adding a worthy story mode in a fighting game through the Mortal Kombat series, but they would repeat this success again with the Injustice series, using a worthy comic book storyline that rivals both live-action and animated movies.
Injustice 2 features a diverse set of superheroes and supervillains to choose from, some are easier to use than others, but there’s an argument that could be made for each character being as dangerous as the next in the right hands. However, many characters can be organized by pros and amateurs into categories that range from overpowered to utterly useless, and there are some clear winners when trying to determine who the best characters in Injustice 2 are.
Updated May 5th, 2021 by Gene Cole: Injustice 2 has not received new support in a while, but there are several DLC characters that were released since this list was first revealed, and many balance updates to change how certain characters play. Since most new players will experience Injustice 2 through the Legendary Editions that feature all these additional characters, we felt this list should include the game’s newest stars and the more current rankings of the best Injustice 2 characters.
37 Cheetah
The villain Cheetah was formerly known as the archaeologist Barbara Ann Minerva. Minerva betrayed Wonder Woman to claim the powers of a God, unaware that she would be cursed forever in the physical manifestation of Cheetah. Cheetah somehow blamed Wonder Woman for everything that went wrong, and became obsessed with drawing her out into the open so she can kill her once and for all.
Cheetah has some amazing combo chains and tremendous speed. Unfortunately, this speed and agility does come at a cost, because she deals very little damage and is extremely vulnerable, due to having low durability and health stats. It’s a shame too, because the character is still well rendered in the game itself, but looks can’t make up for this near-unusable character’s abilities.
36 Black Manta
This nemesis of Aquaman was somewhat of an odd inclusion for Injustice 2, being a fairly underrated and lesser-known villain that often looks more silly than serious. His inclusion was likely due to his presence in the Aquaman film, but for a fighting game there was a lot of uncertainty how he would play out.
Unfortunately, this ended up being quite underwhelming, as his powerful laser vision is the only real move that ends up being effective against most foes. His other forms of damage are still too weak to make a statement against most foes, and while it’s incredibly satisfying to blast foes with an intense beam of red energy, it’s not enough to keep him in the higher tiers of competitive play.
35 Atom
Atom is a particularly odd character in the DC Comics world, being confused often with Captain Atom and having several variations throughout different forms of media. Many will know Atom from the CW Arrow-verse shows played by former Superman Brandon Routh where he’s much more similar to Iron Man, while many animated forms will just keep him as a scientist without powers at all.
He’s slightly more consistent in Injustice 2, as Atom actually has a fair number of skills that can make up for his poor damage. His shrinking and growing abilities let him dodge opponents in a much more effective way, but that doesn’t really help him from taking down opponents. It’s hard to kill Atom, but you’ll probably have plenty of time to get him out of his dodging cycle.
34 Cyborg
With the Snyder Cut of the Justice League film reinvigorating excitement of the character among DC fans, it’s a shame to see him not be as effective in this game. After losing his friends in the destruction of Metropolis, Cyborg’s anger turned his loyalties towards Superman and The Regime. Still loyal to Superman, he reluctantly joins Batman and others to combat the invasion of Brainiac.
Cyborg has a lot of useful moves and is capable of working well in both close and long range with his high ability stats, but his mix of abilities don’t end up giving him a consistent enough strategy. His charge move is capable of stopping a combo chain dead in its tracks, but requires far more precise timing and skill than most players are going to be capable of.
33 Brainiac
Brainiac is an intelligent being with megalomaniac aspirations of absorbing all the universe’s knowledge so he can become the ultimate supreme being. In the Injustice 2 timeline, he was responsible for destroying Krypton, and makes for a great villain as he works to take down the misinformed Supergirl and villainous Superman.
Despite being the primary villain of the game, his health stats are on the lower side. He makes up for this by being a powerful long range fighter, but much like Cyborg his abilities are especially complicated and hard to master. He’s not suited to newer players, but for those who enjoy fighting on the outside will do well with Brainiac.
32 Firestorm
The Firestorm character has gained some recent popularity through his appearance as a regular character on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow television. Firestorm is the joining of two minds in one body, the young Jason Rusch and Professor Martin Stein, and it’s established early in the story that they’re some of the strongest entities in the Injustice universe.
Unfortunately, this high power also comes with some bottom-tier health stats. Firestorm has some devastating special attacks, and elaborate particle effects that can keep an opponent guessing your next move, but his combo chains can be difficult to pull off even for some experienced players, meaning he doesn’t quite have a good home or playstyle.
31 Black Canary
Black Canary is the alter-ego of Dinah Laurel Lance and the wife of Green Arrow in the Injustice universe. She’s an expert martial artist, a member of the Justice League and the Birds of Prey, and a remarkably unique power that allows her to create supersonic vibrations from her mouth, something that puts her surprisingly ahead of many other superheroes.
Black Canary’s moves and speed are quite easy to utilize in Injustice 2, and her Super Power move is one of the most easy and effective stop opponents in their tracks. Despite these great power moves, though, her normal attacks don’t deal a lot of damage, and just like Cheetah this can prevent her from dealing enough consistent damage.
30 Atrocitus
Atrocitus was once a struggling psychologist from the planet Ryut who survived a massacre at the hand of the Manhunters, a race of robots who were built to punish criminals. He vowed to take revenge on the Guardians of the Universe which would eventually lead him into becoming the leader of The Red Lanterns.
Atrocitus is a character with excellent strength and health stats, and has fast combo chains when you unleash his feline companion Dex-Star. However, the player needs to be on the offense all the time, and his large size means you can have your attacks telegraphed from a mile away. This doesn’t make him anywhere near the worst character in Injustice 2, he’s definitely one of the most deceptively fragile.
29 Catwoman
Catwoman is often seen as something of an anti-hero in the DC Universe and is sometimes seen as both an annoyance and a help to Batman. This often prevents The Dark Knight from completely trusting her, but she has had his back more often than not and is a plenty capable fighter in her own right..
Catwoman can be a joy to play, and has an excellent amount of speedy moves coupled with good range through the use of her whip. However, she is in the lower tier of fighters because of her lower strength and attack stats, and while she has more broad utility than Cheetah and Black Canary, she still lacks in the places that a fighting game character needs to reach.
28 Darkseid
Darkseid is the Lord of Apokolips and is one of the most powerful characters in the DC universe. The character is so influential that artist-writer Jim Starlin admitted that his creation of Marvel’s supervillain Thanos was influenced by Darkseid. Darkseid has limitless strength, invincibility, and commands an army of Parademons, making him seem potentially overpowered in a fighting game.
Despite this powerful reputation and inspiration, Darkseid is quite underwhelming when it comes to Injustice 2. His speed is extremely minimal and he relies on using heavy attacks at the right moment, which simply won’t work against a large number of foes. If you’re an expert player who can get his timing down perfectly, he’s far from useless, but be ready to get disappointed when using this cosmic terror for the first time.
27 Wonder Woman
In this game, Wonder Woman’s strength and health stats are fittingly good, but she’s surprisingly slow given her thinner frame, leaving her open against the higher-tiered speed characters. It can also be a little hard for beginners to get a grasp on beginning a combo chain, as they aren’t as easy to pull off in comparison to other characters despite being fairly effective.
26 Bane
Bane is popular among DC fans as “the man who broke The Bat,” and was a previous member of Superman’s Regime. However, Bane was betrayed by the Regime and was pursued continuously by Batman. Determined to get revenge against both Batman and The Regime, Bane’s ultimate ambitions are to rule unchallenged over Gotham City.
Bane is a very strong character with good health and ability stats, but his defenses let him down. Much like Atrocitus, he’s extremely oriented towards fast and ruthless aggression, but is significantly strong Injustice 2 character thanks to a fairly simple moveset. He’s not spectacular, but certainly capable of putting up a fight against most other B-tier characters.
25 Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing is considered a living elemental who protects all plant life (also known as “The Green”) on Earth. Upon finding out that his precious Earth is in danger, Swamp Thing joins the other heroes in order to protect the planet from Brainiac and all those who are a danger to it, giving him one of his few major appearances among other DC Comics heroes.
Although Swamp Thing is big and strong, he isn’t quite the tank that Bane or Atrocitus are. His health and ability statistics are some of the lowest in the game, but some of his more powerful moves aim low and can often catch unsuspecting opponents off-guard. He’s extremely vulnerable to faster opponents, but he’s also fairly good if you have a rival who you think he can easily counter.
24 Green Lantern
After joining the Sinestro Corps in the previous Injustice game, Green Lanter, whose real name is Hal Jordan, was rehabilitated by The Guardians Of The Oa. He returned to Earth to redeem himself in the eyes of the other heroes, and help stop Brainiac’s invasion of Earth.
Just like the comic books, his power comes from his ring, giving him extremely balanced moves with a lot of room for different playstyles and combos. If you lose your combo chain, it can take a while for him to recover his stamina to start again, but if you’re a more experienced player you might be able to make use of his versatility quite well.
23 Aquaman
Aquaman is the King Of Atlantis, and since the events of the previous game he intended to keep the Kingdom of Atlantis independent from the rest of the world. He’s often seen as a joke by a majority of comic book fans, but with his recent film appearances this reputation has slowly faded, and he’s satisfyingly powerful when it comes to Injustice 2.
Aquaman has solid strength, and top tier ability and defense stats in the right hands, meaning he can often be a force to be reckoned with. Aquaman’s fighting style seems to be better suited to patient players who enjoy fighting defensively, and given his disappointingly low health stats, it means you’ll want to be blocking and taking your time as much as possible.
22 Starfire
Starfire is mostly known from the Teen Titans shows, but her existence in Injustice 2 is worth a discussion on its own. When she first released, her aerial combat style made her functionally overpowered, being nearly impossible to deal with and getting progressively nerfed with each patch.
At this point, she’s still fairly powerful, but hardly the disastrous metahuman she was before. She’s built around keeping a distance with your opponent through wide and long-distance attacks, but her impact is fairly low and her only major benefit still is her excellent aerial dodging.
21 Superman
Next to Batman, Superman is one of DC’s most well-known and popular characters. He’s remained an iconic hero in comic, film, and television forms, but Injustice 2 follows the story of a much darker iteration. Superman’s change of personality is the result of him being driven to contempt and bitterness after getting tricked by the Joker into killing Lois Lane and and destroying Metropolis, kicking off the alternate universe that Injustice takes place in.
Superman’s starting strength stats are only second-tier when compared to the likes of Bane, Gorilla Grod, and even Scarecrow. He has top-tier defense, but his ability stats are middling, and his health stats are near the bottom of the list. As a result, you are forced to fight defensively with him while trying to take advantage of his flying powers, which give him enough vulnerability to be better than most characters while controlling somewhat challengingly.
20 Poison Ivy
Poison Ivy, was formally known as Dr. Pamela Isley and was a botanical biochemist who had ambitions to make the world a safe place for plant life to flourish. During her time as a doctor, she was experimented on and injected with toxins. The toxins granted her the ability to produce mind-controlling pheromones and gave her the ability to control plants.
In the game, Poison Ivy is at her best when she is keeping her opponents at a distance, this helps protect her lower health statistics. She has good combo chains but they can be a little difficult to pull off, and if they fail she’s completely vulnerable to close range fighters that can take advantage of her low-tiered health.
19 Blue Beetle
Fans of the animated series Young Justice will be familiar with the Blue Beetle character. Jaime Reyes gained his powers because one day when he was out with his mother in Texas he stumbled across an artifact known as the Scarab. This alien tech binds onto him and gives him a wide set of technological powers from flight to energy blasts, and his appearance in this game is surely a huge surprise for many comic fans.
Thankfully, Blue Beetle is a decent all-around fighter with a good amount of speed and ability stats, and a variety of good moves. His combo chains can hit fast and hard from mid-range, but his strength stats are middling and can be difficult to pull off for newer players. Nonetheless, he’s absolutely the point where Injustice 2’s characters start getting substantially stronger.
18 The Joker
The Joker is Batman’s most well known and greatest nemesis. This version of The Joker is responsible for the destruction of Metropolis and the complete breakdown of Batman and Superman’s friendship and only appears as a hallucination in the story, but gets a full character identity with Injustice 2 that’s worthwhile for dedicated fans of this famous villain.
Despite The Joker not being one of the strongest characters in the game, he has the ability to close the distance very well with a variety of fast combos that you wouldn’t normally expect from this clown. This includes some special moves that can be chained with Meter Burn abilities, but also just a wide set of counter strategies that give him a wonderful edge above even some other speed-based characters.
