Homura Akemi
Chance: 1%
As Tougon succinctly put it, WB only distributes the Madoka movies and while Madoka is a big series for fans of the medium, it's no longer the early-2010s. It was once a cultural powerhouse in its circles but now I think it's just a series that is fondly remembered and fairly influential but not large enough to make it into a crossover like this. They would definitely go for bigger anime first if they wanted to add an anime character at all.
Want: 40%
I admit, I don't really like Madoka that much. I think it has great music, it does what it does well enough, and in a vacuum it's very emotional and succeeds on a lot of levels. But holy hell, I hate Gen Urobuchi. From his vile comments about the show and its purpose in interviews to the fact that I've seen him write the same story (which is just Kamen Rider Ryuki) constantly I just don't trust anything he makes. It's too edgy and grim for me, and it's a shame as said because Madoka is basically fine but man. He really did just come into the magical girl genre and decide that it wasn't dark enough and that girls deserved to be punished for daring to have ambitions.
...Anyway...
Homura is awesome. I hate what Rebellion did (which is wild because normally I'm all about stories about idealization and hyperfocus on the image of someone versus their actual self - this one just didn't hit at all for me) but in the series proper Homura has tons of cool powers, a great backstory, and you follow along with her as she goes through hell again and again trying to do the right thing. She'd be amazing in a platform fighter just because of her powers - time powers, bullet powers, magical girl powers...you know, powers. I'd love to see how she'd work mechanically and despite my feelings on the Madoka franchise and Gen Urobuchi he really stumbled into a great character with her.
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MULTIVERSUS is ALL ELITE
Chance: 10%
This is something very interesting. Warner Bros Discovery owns TBS and TNT, and AEW has actually become a HUGE "pillar" for them in the two short years they've been on the air. For those who don't know their history, wrestling returning to TBS/TNT was a
HUGE deal. The last time WarnerMedia and TBS/TNT had wrestling on their networks was WCW back in the 90s/00s. WCW is one of the most historically important companies ever as it is one of the only companies to ever take on Vince McMahon's wrestling empire and make a massive dent in it. In fact, WWE buying WCW and becoming the only game in town is a massive reason why a lot of people don't watch wrestling anymore - WCW's fans were that loyal. And guess what? With AEW on the air, we FINALLY have another alternative to WWE that has great talent, marketing, budget, and smart people involved. It's modern, it's unique, and it's only growing. In fact, after the Warner/Discovery merger,
AEW was highlighted in the advertiser pitch so corporate still sees big bucks in the company. Now, will that translate to Multiversus? Hmm, I'm not sure. We know that the dev team is fine with real-world athletes getting into the mix, and you know they're gonna want to push the NBA and other big names. And hey, these are athletic combat theater actors. It's not hard to make a wrestler moveset. I think it's a small chance...but there's still a chance.
Want: 100%
Some of you who have been around Smashboards for a while may know that I was once a professional wrestler who trained under major TV names. I've since left the ring, but my love for pro wrestling will never truly leave me. Unfortunately, it's been tough being a wrestler or wrestling fan in today's climate. WWE is a cesspit of scandal and talent misuse that has only gotten worse since the pandemic, independent companies are places you'll never get paid unless you're willing to break your body and travel all across the country on your own dime, backstage is a difficult minefield of egos to navigate, and other companies never seemed to reach the heights needed to provide a true alternative...until AEW. AEW is fresh, it's modern, and it's run by some of the biggest never-WWE guys in Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. They've managed to get massive names, like bringing back retired wrestler CM Punk seven years after he left WWE because they nearly destroyed his body and his love of pro wrestling. They've created new stars like "Hangman" Adam Page and re-created ex-WWE wrestlers like Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) and Jon Moxley (Dean Ambrose) to the point that they feel more authentic and themselves, bigger stars than they ever were before.
It's a fledgling company! It's only been around for, what. three years? But in that three years it's established itself as the company that made wrestling cool and alternative again! You get legends like Sting and Chris Jericho teaming up with new names that will become your new favorites like Dr. Britt Baker, Sammy Guevara, and Eddie Kingston. Every episode of AEW Dynamite has fun and electricity to it, giving you crazy matches and spectacular athleticism with an adult edge.
AEW made me love wrestling after wrestling itself tried to stamp it out of me. I want AEW to continue to thrive, and that means I want someone awesome in Multiversus. I think my pick would definitely be Kenny Omega as he's a singles star who made himself without ever touching WWE and is as "AEW Original" as it gets, and he's also a huge gamer and is just super fun as a guy in general. The Young Bucks are great as a team and would be amazing to add though., with their signature Superkick Party being a killer double team move. Lots of potential there, but I don't think they'd want to add two brothers as two slots and as a singles slot they seem a little odd.
Wrestler characters in games will always be fun. It allows them to take the artform of wrestling and turn it into real, exaggerated combat. It makes wrestling
feel as amazing as it seems when you watch it on TV.
I know not everyone here is a wrestling fan, but I really do ask you to, if you ever were in the past, give AEW a shot. You'll find some of the coolest atheletes in the world putting on a stunt show for the ages. I'm gonna post a five minute clip from this week's AEW Rampage show of Dante Martin, a new wrestler with crazy athleticism, versus Jon Moxley, one of AEW's biggest names. You really understand the excitement of AEW from this clip, from the hot crowd to the athletic maneuvers of Martin to Moxley's rough, smash mouth style. I hope you enjoy.
Nominations: Sam Spade xMax
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but otherwise I'm cool with either the OG or comic version. 
