Mortal Kombat 1 now has Homelander as a DLC character, and players are already finding cool Easter eggs with the supervillain.
Homelander, from the phenomenally popular Prime Video show The Boys, launches in NetherRealm's gory fighting game with a number of references, but one Brutality in particular was found to include unique dialogue that hat tips an infamous scene.
Warning! Spoilers for The Boys Season 2 follow:
In The Boys Season 2 premiere The Big Ride, Homelander is introduced to Blindspot, a candidate for replacing the now-deceased Translucent's spot in The Seven. Blindspot is blind but possesses superhuman hearing and agility. Homelander, clearly unimpressed, bashes Blindspot’s ears in, declaring him “just another useless f***ing blind guy.”
All Mortal Kombat 1 characters have Brutalities — unique moves that end a match in a particularly brutal fashion. They’re triggered by doing an extra input command on top of a specific combo ender or move that wins the final round. Most of the characters in the game have six brutalities, but ever since Mortal Kombat 1 launched in September last year, players have discovered secret Brutalities, too.
Homelander’s Brutality is similar to the ear bash he performs on Blindspot in the show, leaving his opponent screaming in agony on the floor. But, if Homelander performs this Brutality on Kenshi, he says the line from the show: “just another useless f***ing blind guy.” Kenshi, Mortal Kombat fans will know, is a blind swordsman who uses telekinetic abilities to defeat his opponents — and perfect fodder for Homelander’s quip.
Homelander has a unique line when performing a brutality on Kenshi. pic.twitter.com/OQOgXxk32m
— Noah Hajnasr (@DIZZ_NH) June 4, 2024
It's a cool nod to The Boys, but not everything about Mortal Kombat 1's Homelander is a perfect recreation of the on-screen character. For example, Warner Bros. has remained coy about the voice actor behind Mortal Kombat 1’s Homelander. Antony Starr, who plays Homelander in The Boys, does not voice the character, much to the disappointment of fans. Omni-Man voice actor J. K. Simmons reprised his role for Mortal Kombat 1, as did Peacemaker actor John Cena. It is unclear why Starr did not do the same here.
The Mortal Kombat 1 Kombat Pack includes the Jean-Claude Van Damme character skin for Johnny Cage (available now), and one-week early access to six playable DLC characters: Omni-Man (available now), Quan Chi (available now), Peacemaker (available now), Ermac (available now), Homelander (available now), and the upcoming Takeda Takahashi, as well as five DLC Kameo fighters. The Boys Season 4, meanwhile, kicks off June 13.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
