Trans people are awesome
Chance: 30%
The Wizarding World is a huge brand for Warner Bros. It's the third highest grossing movie franchise of all time, only behind Marvel and Star Wars. Think about that for a moment; it's bigger than DC, bigger than Lord of the Rings! There is absolutely no way they waste a chance to put it in anything they're able to, and that obviously includes MultiVersus. The franchise is still ongoing on many channels, from Fantastic Beasts (for now anyway), to Hogwarts Legacy, to a very likely Cursed Child adaptation, so there are plenty of opportunities for promotional brand synergy.
However it's not completely up to Warner now is it? The property is still controlled by author and overall human garbage JK Rowling. Accounts on the level of control she exerts over the franchise vary, but at the very least, she insists she write the Fantastic Beasts movies and WB is seemingly powerless to stop her. JK Rowling also hates trans people because she is a very ****ty human being, and has made her transphobia into her defining public trait. So the argument many have made is that JK could refuse to allow her characters in a crossover that also includes trans representation directly or through the brands involved. It's an argument with merit, and I certainly won't claim to understand JK's ****ed up process, but I have two counterpoints to make.
The first is that I think JK somehow perceives herself as the good guy in all this mess, so she wouldn't make an active effort to disallow Harry and friends to interact with trans characters. Simply allowing it, patting herself on the back and going on to pick fights on Twitter seems more like her M.O. The second, and more unfortunate reason I don't see that panning out, is that, well, due to the state of media today, there just aren't many trans characters that I think would be represented in this game. There is The Matrix and Steven Universe but that's more subtext and general positivity rather than outright textual representation (also unlike Harry Potter, WB is fully in control of those brands and can include characters against the potential protest of creators). Seeing it from a purely business perspective, I can see execs at Warner figuring Harry Potter in this game will make it popular/lucrative enough to offset any trans representation they might otherwise be able to include. It sucks but I don't think it's unrealistic.
Harry is, as everyone knows, the iconic main character and mascot of the franchise. Depending on your age, you either grew up along with him or watched him grow up in real time. He's known and beloved the world over. He seems like the obvious choice. But present-day Wizarding World revolves around everything but him, so he's not the only option. Fantastic Beasts main characters like Newt, Grindelwald and franchise stalwart Dumbledore also make sense. It's not like every franchise is represented by its main character. Still, Fantastic Beasts is widely disliked, controversial due to the involvement of JK, Johnny Depp and Ezra Miller (****, by the time I'm writing this Jude Law will probably be accused of murder or something, this series can't catch a break), and Warner Bros. is still deciding on whether to scrap it or carry on (as always, the great decider will be money). Which gives the Boy Who Lived the advantage, hence why he gets 30 out of the 50% I give the franchise as a whole (I say the chances of JK stopping the deal is 50/50 just because who can predict that monster)
Want: 100%
Now I understand why all the zeroes. I get it. It's hard to look at anything about the franchise and not be reminded of the awfulness of JK's rhetoric. And there's a lot of highly problematic aspects in it (that someone above has already mentioned). I respect anyone who feels hurt or betrayed by it and wants nothing to do with it whatsoever.
However at its core, I think Harry Potter is a series about love and respect and tolerance and camaraderie and no matter how much she tries JK can't take that away. Rowling is a millionaire; that won't change whether people boycott it from now on because whatever she gets from Fantastic Beasts or whatever will be a drop in the bucket of the money the HP movies + the theme park licensing nets her. She's made. The way to boycott her that would really hurt her, in my view, is if the franchise lives on, but in the hands of people who remove all her heinous politics and replace them with the opposite. And I think people online are making strides towards getting there! The calls for the option to choose your pronouns in Hogwarts Legacy have been deafening, and if the devs comply, it would be pretty groundbreaking for a mainstream game. I'm ranting but basically the path forward I see is not to stop supporting the franchise altogether but to start demanding it be nothing less than a leader in LGBTQ+ representation. Maybe I'm just being optimistic but I think it can be done.
As for how that affects MultiVersus... not sure, heh. Maybe give Harry or whoever pride month alts? Idk. But the game is free to play so there's definitely no money being made for JK.
Noms: Stede Bonnet (maybe let the people behind OFMD tackle the next Wizarding World project? Because they do queer representation right)