Since
Injustice 2 is about the entire DC multiverse, there's plenty of references to go around.
- Supergirl's civilian outfit is heavily inspired by her appearance in the Supergirl TV series.
- Another reference to the TV series is in pre-match dialogue for a Supergirl Mirror Match, where one Supergirl asks the other if she's her sister.
- One of the dialogue interactions has Atrocitus tell Supergirl she "could wear a red ring" – which she did for several months in the New 52. Supergirl makes fun of the idea.
- One of her moves is called "Amazonian Charge", possibly referring to her training on Themyscira in the Post-Crisis origin, or possibly to her training with Wonder Woman in the game's story mode. There's also a move called "Matrix", which was the name of a shapeshifter that used the Supergirl identity in the 90's.
- In one of her intros with Grodd, Supergirl threatens him with a Megaton Punch, saying "You'll believe a gorilla can fly!"
- Early in the plot, Regime Clark laments that "the problem with fight for truth and justice, the battle never ends" - a reference to the phrase "the never-ending battle", which has long been associated with Superman. But while most Supermen use it to inspire people to never stop working for a better tomorrow, Regime Superman now believes the concept to be terrible and tragic.
- Atrocitus wanting to make Hal Jordan join his Corps may be a reference to the Rage of the Red Lanterns story arc, in which Hal became a Red Lantern temporarily.
- Aquaman's default armor design is based on Jason Momoa's costume in the DC Extended Universe, with most of the torso bare and tattoos on the shoulders and arms. Wonder Woman also resembles her DCEU design.
- Batman's Super starts with him using a Fulton surface-to-air recovery system, a la the Hong Kong sequence in The Dark Knight.
- As the Batplane flies in, removing the Fulton system, it silhouettes the moon in the same way that it did in Batman (1989).
- The way it catches the Fulton (between the "ears" of the silhouette) is similar to how it caught Joker's parade balloons in the same movie.
- Superman's Super is almost a shot-for-shot recreation of the airborne fighting seen in Man of Steel, only ended with a Facepalm of Doom instead. Said Facepalm of Doom is itself likely an allusion to the final battle between him and Darkseid in the final episode (As shown here
) of Justice League Unlimited. - One of Harley Quinn's Legendary tier Weapon unlocks is named Mad Love, the name of one of the most iconic Quinn stories in the comics, as well as the episode of Batman: The Animated Series that showed her origin story for the first time. The name is also used for one of her color shadings.
- Also, when facing off against the Joker hallucination in Chapter 2, Harley calls her relationship with the Joker "mad love". Additionally, she wears a stylized version of her classic jester outfit, which can be used in other modes as an epic gear set.
- Both Harley and Deadshot's primary costumes take a lot of visual inspiration from their outfits in Suicide Squad (2016), and during one of her mid-fight round transition animations, Harley mentions hearing voices in her head while gesturing, calling back to a similar line in the movie. Harley herself very much resembles Margot Robbie, who portrayed her in the Suicide Squad movie.
- The launch trailer for the Enchantress also references the movie, as it shows her primarily fighting Deadshot and Harley Quinn (Black Canary's the odd name out).
- The group that Gorilla Grodd formed in the wake of Superman's defeat in the first game is called The Society, which is essentially The Secret Society of Supervillains. It's also not the first time that Grodd has led such a group.
- Some of the armors worn by Superman and Supergirl bear different versions of the iconic S-Shield, including the iconic, the New 52 version, the Electric Superman style, even the version from the Superman Theatrical Cartoons.
- When Superman and Swamp Thing fight, Superman mentions that he's had some bad experiences with plants, which Swamp Thing recognizes stems from an encounter with the Black Mercy. Scarecrow and Supergirl have a similar conversation.
- One of Scarecrow's costumes, which consists of a burlap gas mask, a noose, and a lab coat, is based on his appearance in The Dark Knight Trilogy.
- Scarecrow also has a Gear set called The Scarebeast...which was a transformation that actually happened in the "As the Crow Flies" storyline.
- One intro exchange between Catwoman and Harley includes the latter proposing the idea for the Gotham City Sirens. The former is convinced that It Will Never Catch On.
- The Flash's outfit seems to have taken a bit of influence from his TV show. Captain Cold's outfit resembles his show outfit as well.
- One of Flash's Mirror Match intro dialogues is a reference to the cover of Flash #163 (1966):
- With the right gear and shaders, Flash can look like Godspeed, the newest villainous speedster who was introduced in DC's Rebirth line.
- Black Canary mentions Ted Kord in a clash with the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle. Dan Garrett is also mentioned in an intro between Jaime Reyes and Jay Garrick.
- Brainiac heavily resembles the Jose Lazaro design.
- One of Superman and Flash's intro exchanges is lifted directly from the pages of The Flash: Rebirth.
- Possibly unintentional, but in one of his intros, Barry says 'I'm back, this time on my terms', which was said almost verbatim in the fourth issue of the aforementioned comic.
- Some of Catwoman's mid-round lines: "I am Catwoman, hear me roar." and "I feel so much yummier now." From the same movie, she can also be revived by a cat if low on health.
- A Death in the Family is referenced in the pre-fight dialogue between the Joker and Robin.
- It is also referenced in Joker's super move, along with Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker: Joker beats his victim with a crowbar, electrocutes them, and finishes them off with explosives.
- One of Red Hood's mid-battle taunt also references it. "Should I kill you? Let's take a vote!"
- One intro conversation between Batman and Atrocitus where the former asks the latter what would happen if he takes his ring out, to which Atrocitus replies that "he would die", is very similar to one memorable exchange between Bane and the CIA agent from The Dark Knight Rises.
- In one intro conversation between Batman and Bane, Bane declares that he will be Batman's "night fall".
- Brainiac views the Joker with absolute disgust, vowing that "[he] will not let [the Joker's] cancer spread". Brainiac's creation Telos felt the same way about the Joker in Convergence.
- In Green Arrow's Arcade Ending, he joins a reality-travelling Justice League composed of Flashpoint Wonder Woman, Soviet Batman and Earth-23 Superman after they saved his home.
- This version of Green Arrow is actually his counterpart from another universe, as the original was killed by the Regime, and he's now in a relationship with this universe's Black Canary. In the original comics continuity, Black Canary was the one who jumped universes and started a relationship with Ollie.
- In one of the introductions between Barry Allen and Jay Garrick, Barry says that he can go back in time and fix things, which Jay says is a good way to tick off the Speed Force, which happened in both the comic book and The Flash (2014) versions of Flashpoint.
- In one of their intros with each other, Mr. Freeze calls Green Lantern "one of Batman's superfriends".
- One of Brainiac's gear pieces is called 'Decent Pants', referencing a Cartoon Network commercial dub-over of the Superfriends.
- In Darkseid's arcade ending, he corrupts Supergirl's mind into serving him, the artwork even dressing her in the same attire she wore during the same scenario in Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.
- Some of the chapter titles reference golden and silver age comic titles, such as "The Brave and The Bold" and "The World's Finest"
- Vixen and John Stewart's intro dialogue references their relationship in the Justice League cartoon. Similarly, dialog between John and Catwoman references the fact that he has a thing for Hawkgirl, just like in Justice League and Unlimited.
- The names of Green Lantern's shaders reference each of the Lantern Corps and where they derive their power: Willpower is green, Rage is red, Avarice is orange, Fear is yellow, Hope is blue, Compassion is indigo, Love is purple, Life is white, and Death is black.
- One of Green Arrow's Epic items is "The Bow That Took Slade's Eye".
- The bartender in the white smock at the Ace O' Clubs? None other than Bibbo Bibbowski.
- Brainiac temporarily corrupts Firestorm by adding a third personality to him, just like Deathstorm in Brightest Day.
- The intro for Multiverse mode refers to both Infinite Crisis and Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- Both Superman and Firestorm reference "This looks like a job for Superman!" during the penultimate chapter of story mode, tweaking it to "me" and "Firestorm" respectively.
- Supergirl also references the quote in some of her pre-fight banter, stating "Sounds like a job for Supergirl!"
- Ditto with Bizarro, who states "This/That am job for Bizarro!" in some of his pre-fight banter, as well as Atom, who instead tweaks it to "quantum physics".
- Green Arrow and Green Lantern butted heads in past comics, with Lantern calling Arrow a "hippie". This is referenced in pre-fight banter between the two, with Lantern using the more modern invective "social justice warrior".
- In the Absolute Power ending, Superman crushes Hal's fingers to prevent him from using the ring. That's how Deathstroke incapacitated Kyle in Identity Crisis (2004).
- One exchange Robin has with the Joker is to dismiss him as Another Gotham City Impostor.
- An exchange between Harley and Green Arrow borrows dialog from the Injustice comic.
Green Arrow: "Arrowcave" is not a stupid name!
Harley: Bats have caves, arrows have quivers.
Green Arrow: That...actually makes sense.
- The quote also pops up within Green Arrow Mirror Matches, albeit paraphrased.
- Likewise, Harley's Arcade ending shows her interacting with her daughter Lucy, who's playing with a toy truck that has a tutu on it, another nod to the comic. note In the chapter where Harley tells Canary about Lucy, she says "She's four and she likes tutus and toy cars. She especially likes putting tutus on toy cars."
- Joker's Arcade Ending has him fusing the worst possible combination of worlds so that he can watch them destroy each other. He gets some popcorn and comments on how he just loves to watch the world burn.
- One of Scarecrow's intro quotes against Batman has Bats respond to Scarecrow's accusations of paranoia as "being vigilant." Scarecrow responds with "Why so vigilant, Batman?"
- Has quite a few for Poison Ivy and, surprisingly enough, Batman & Robin, with numerous quotes taken directly from the film, and a limited-time in-game event that features Bane as a 'henchman' who can be called in for assist attacks, Marvel vs. Capcom-style. Naturally, in order to obtain the special condition rewards, you must play as Poison Ivy.
- Red Hood has two movie-related quotes when he goes up against Batman:
- In Red Hood's arcade ladder ending, he's shown rescuing a young girl from Professor Pyg. The girl is likely the Injustice universe's version of Scarlett, Red Hood's sidekick from the Batman and Robin comic.
- One of Red Hood's round victory quotes is "Should I kill you? Let's take a vote." This is clearly a reference to the real-life telephone poll on whether or not Jason Todd, as Robin, should be killed by the Joker.
- Blue Beetle's win animation where he jumps in the air and points his hand cannons at the camera while upside down is visually based on the New 52 #1 issue of his series.
- Brainiac 5's Arcade ending features an Homage of the cover of Adventure Comics #247, with Cosmic Lad, Lightning Lad, and Saturn Girl putting Brainiac 5 (and not Superboy) on trial in (almost) the same arrangement. Brainiac also closes the ending with the familiar Legion Battle Cry "Long live the Legion!"
- One of the character intros has Power Girl bring up a "Monitor named Bob" and Red Hood responds by asking how she knows Bob. This is referring to the Monitor of New Earth who saved Jason Todd from being murdered for his corruption by the Monitor Solomon in Countdown to Final Crisis.
- One of Superman's Mirror Match dialogs has one Superman stun the other by saying "Two words: beef bourguignon". This is a nod to the story Who Took the Super out of Superman?, where Lois prepared that dish for Clark before a romantic evening; it's since become an in-joke among the Superman fandom.
- Superman has also used those words as a Trust Password at least once, so the implication is that he's the real deal - and, since the other Superman recognizes the phrase, that he's the real Superman as well.
- Starfire's Super Move references the animated Teen Titans (2003) opening, where she throws starbolts at the enemy◊ just like she does in the cartoon towards the camera◊.
- One Black Canary multiverse event has her facing off against a Captain Cold who believes they were both part of a "legendary time-travelling task force".
- Bizarro will have blue Kryptonite when entering a match as opposed to green Kryptonite.
- One of Bizarro's lines against Darkseid makes reference to Krypto the Superdog.
- Bizarro will sometimes announce "Me am not hero Metropolis deserves!"
- Starfire's Victory thing has her do a mustard and pizza party, and the original Titans was her, Dick!Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven. Wonder why? Her new Titans also including Blue Beetle is also a touch to the newer ones.
- The Titans Tower she's in also has the white and red colour scheme of the cartoon's main seating area, which is an even worse Player Punch, especially considering Tara Strong voiced Raven in the previous game...
- Raven and Cyborg in this scene bear designs that strongly resemble their original appearances in the comics, albeit modernised. Whereas Dick Grayson's Robin costume makes him look much like he's wearing a more adult version of his Young Justice (2010) Robin suit.
- A possible reference to Joker's face being removed in the New 52 continuity:
The Joker: Hello, Selina.
Catwoman: Don't give me that look.
The Joker: I could. It comes off.
- Black Manta's main shader is titled Forever Evil. He also boasts to Darkseid about fighting the Crime Syndicate and winning.
- Both Raiden and Black Lightning have intros that reference the Legion's resident lightning heroes:
- Starfire mentions that Raiden throws lightning like a Winathian. note Canonically, that's incorrect; the people of Winath do not have lightning powers natively - the Ranzz siblings gained theirs by accident.
- Harley calls Black Lightning "Lightning Lad" directly in one of her intros with BL.
- One of Scarecrow's lines before fighting Atrocitus says that he'll be more than happy to wear Sinestro's yellow ring, which briefly happened in Blackest Night in an effort to stop the Black Lantern core.
- A Darkseid Mirror Match has both characters paraphrase◊ the Darkseid vs Thanos scene from the 1996 Marvel vs DC limited series.
Darkseid 1: Disciple of Conquest.
Darkseid 2: Lord of Destruction.
Darkseid 1: Wish to wager on this battle?
- Enchantress' Ass-Kicking Pose as she activates her super move◊ appears to be a take on the one from this page◊ in Suicide Squad Vol. 5 #20 (2017).
- An Enchantress Mirror Match references the events of Justice League vs. Suicide Squad, where she fights Superman but then both groups fights the common enemy: Maxwell Lord.
- One of Flash's lines against Green Arrow is suggesting that he hit the salmon ladder, something his Arrow counterpart did frequently.
- The tie-in comic book reveals that Harley Quinn has a sister named Delia Quinzel—a nod to Harley having a granddaughter named "Delia" in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Presumably, Delia Dennis of the Dee Dee Twins was named after her great aunt.
- One of The Joker's possible intros against Brainiac and Vixen is a reference to The Killing Joke and its film adaptation:
The Joker: You know, it only took one bad day.
Brainiac: For what exact purpose?/Vixen: To do what, Joker?
The Joker: To reduce the sanest man to lunacy.
- One of Superman's clash quotes name-drops one of the most iconic Alternate Universe stories with one of the most iconic versions of Superman:
- One of the Joker's intros with Brainiac ends with a reference to The Dark Knight:
Joker: Your collection is pointless.
Brainiac: It preserves knowledge eternally.
Joker: Everything burns...
Injustice 2 being a
NetherRealm Studios game (even featuring Raiden and Sub-Zero as playable fighters) there are numerous references to their original game series and iconic kombatants.
- When the Turtles jump into combat in the Fighter Pack 3 trailer, the poses and attacks they use are similar to ones they used in both the 1987 and 2003 series' intros.
- In addition, their win animation has them eating a slice of pizza and tossing the rest of it at the screen, just like what Raphael does in the opening to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987).
- The Turtles' super move ends with them slamming the opponent between their shells while saying "Shell shock!", something they did in the original live-action movie.
- Among the stickers on Michelangelo's skateboard include an apple with the word "Big" written on it and a sticker reading "3AM". Together, this serves as a nod to the first stage in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.
- In modes where you don't have access to Gear, a character select sub-menu directly inspired by Turtles in Time will let you choose between the Turtles.
- If beaten, the Ninja Turtle will fall to the floor with stars floating over their head, similar to the Konami beat-em-ups like the aforementioned Turtles in Time.
- In one of their intro quotes, Raphael asks Leonardo what's up with the Justice League, leading Leonardo to compare them to the Mighty Mutanimals, a gathering of mutants who first appeared in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures.
- One of the turtles' Legendary Gear sets is called "Secret of the Ooze."
