Ok, strap in here because this one is a bit of a doozy. As you all know by now, even if you’ve only played the game a little bit, Multiversus is one of the more unique “franchise battlers” out there because of how the brand isn’t a single network like with Nickelodeon All-Stars Brawl, or even a single entity per se like with Smash Bros, but rather, a massive entertainment company that is now Warner Bros Discovery. This has allowed them to bring in not just “obvious” characters like Batman, Shaggy, Taz, and so on from classic shows, but others like Arya Stark, The Iron Giant, Stripe from Gremlins, and eventually Rick and Morty.

That “wide net” has allowed a LOT of people to guess on who was going to be next into the game. The next two characters are set to be Black Adam and Stripe, and then possibly Beetlejuice and the Wicked Witch of the West. But one franchise that is conspicuously absent from the title as of right now is that of the Lord of the Rings. Why is that so odd? Well, WB has not only helped make the original six movies by Peter Jackson, but helped produce many of its hit video games. So given that, they were an “obvious choice” to bring into the title.

But now, all of that is in question do to the fact that the Embracer Group has bought, among other things, the entire IP to The Lord of the Rings saga. Everything, from start to finish, it’s all under their banner now. Which got a lot of dataminers to look at the code in the game and have them notice that a LOT of data that had pointed to the franchise being in the fighting game are now gone.

This is too close together to be a coincidence, and so the obvious answer is that Warner Bros Discovery is pulling back a bit until they can either confirm a deal to get character from the franchise into the game…or until they actually know what they can do with the IP, if it’s anything at all.

This is a huge loss for Multiversus for various reasons. Not the least of which was that an expected character in the game was that of Gandalf the Grey or White. The wizard would be a very different kind of character for the game via his magic, and that would’ve been cool to see. We also could’ve seen one of the Hobbits show up, or Legolas, or even the Balrog if they wanted to get really creative.

Again, this isn’t to say that the franchise is banned, it’s just that it might be a bit harder to get that crossover to happen now.

Source: Reddit