• [Dailystar Icon]
• Tech
• Gaming
• Mortal Kombat 11

Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack 2: Ed Boon teases Ash Williams DLC complications

A brief new snippet of interview hints at what's been going on behind the scenes at NetherRealm

There's been an interesting story developing behind the scenes at NetherRealm ever since the studio started teasing DLC characters that would arriving in the game.

Guest characters like The Terminator, Joker, Spawn and RoboCop in MK11 have been a staple of Mortal Kombat games for generations now, and Ash Williams was teased and rumoured to be the latest addition in this prized tradition for NetherReal.

Whenever we link back to the Ash Williams leaks, it helps to explain the context: when Spawn appeared in-game, he had lines matched, word for word, a previous leak we'd seen that confirmed the Evil Dead character would be coming to MK11.

But after NetherRealm itself teased Kombat Pack 1, there was a little teaser at the end that featured a chainsaw buzz and that more or less confirmed to some people in the community that the Evil Dead character was coming to the game after Nightwolf, Sindel, Shang Tsung and Spawn.

Content cannot be displayed without consent

Ash even appeared in super early in-game files, proving that NetherRealm ha earmarked a spot in the roster for the chainsaw-handed, shotgun-wielding survivor.

And why not? He's a great fit for the game aesthetically, and we're sure you could make a pretty inventive pool of moves for him using his infamous appendage and shotgun.

Over a year later, though, and Ash is nowhere to be seen. All references to Evil Dead trademarks have been removed from Mortal Kombat marketing, and the studio has remained quiet about what's going on behind closed doors.

The most insight we've got into the whole messy situation comes from an interview with Fansided, where Campbell quite candidly talks about rights issues, and the struggles the folks at NetherRealm may be having with the rights holders of the Evil Dead IP.

Content cannot be displayed without consent

"I probably shouldnt emphasize yes or no because I dont know," Campbell responds when asked about whether he'll make the rumoured Mortal Kombat appearance.

"I have not been told. If it is not through my agent or proper channels than it usually means its wishful thinking.

"The reason why it may not happen, just so you and the readers can know this, a lot of time for legal purposes, that character cannot appear in other things because of the license," Campbell responds when asked about why he may or may not end up in the game after all.

"If you cant make a deal, that character is not going to show up. So, we may have been talked to about it."

Content cannot be displayed without consent

Now, more recently, NetherRealm boss and Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon has given us a little more insight into the whole situation.

"There's something I wish I could comment on," Boon explains in an interview with Vic's Basement (video above comment in question is located at 14:19 in).

"Perhaps in a future [interview], we can have a conversation about that."

It seems, similar to Campbell's comments, Boon has been hushed by legal departments and isn't allowed to really comment on exactly what happened with this situation.

If it's a rights issue which, let's be honest, it almost certainly is neither group is likely allowed to say anything whilst legal teams are trying to work out a solution to the problem.

Will we hear more about this situation in the future? We hope so: past datamines of the game had indicated that MK11 could end up with 42 characters in total.

So that means there's potentially 8 more characters to come, and it'd be wonderful to see Ash make up one of those numbers.

We'll keep you updated as we learn more about this situation.

[Google Preferred Source Badge]