Tom Taylor Discusses “Injustice 2” Comic Book Series

Writer Tom Taylor returns to the alternate reality of “Injustice” to write the new series of comic books, which will tie-in to the new video game “Injustice 2”.

With Chapter #1 of “Injustice 2” available digitally today, Tom sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss the story, in which the world is no longer under the despotic rule of a Man of Steel gone bad, but that doesn’t mean that it’s out of trouble. Here’s a portion of the interview…

Superman almost comes across as surprisingly sympathetic in this first issue. It’s unexpected, because while there’s a lot of nuance (and tragedy) in the Injustice version of the character – especially in his comic book incarnation – he’s also someone who has clearly overstepped many boundaries in both the first Injustice comic and the larger storyline of the franchise as a whole. Will Injustice 2 offer some kind of redemption for the character, especially as Supergirl gets to show up and could act as the moral compass Superman once was?

I don’t think anything in Injustice is completely black and white, and a lot of grievances Superman has are pretty well-founded. The reasons for why he did what he did, in his mind, are still right. He may have overstepped – hell, he may have been a murdering tyrant – but he did stop wars. He was working for the environment. He was acting against inequality, even if it was all done with an iron fist.

Batman isn’t exactly a shining beacon of good in all of this, either. He’s done … questionable things as well, and we’ll see more of this in the early chapters [of the new series]. Supergirl certainly offers us something more pure. But this could turn when you realize why she comes to Earth.

You mention the Injustice Batman, and he’s an interesting take on the character – in many ways, he feels like the paranoid/emotionally-closed-off idea on Batman taken to an extreme. In many ways, he matches the emotional journey of Superman because he, too, has lost his way as a result of everything that’s happened – although he’s aware of that, because he’s Batman. I know you’re a fan of the World’s Finest concept of Batman and Superman as a crime-fighting duo – has that influenced the way you’ve written the collapse of their friendship?

I’m a huge fan of the World’s Finest. I do think Clark and Bruce, outside of Injustice, bring the best out of each other. One of the cores of Injustice really is the break-up of the World’s Finest friendship, and I think both men feel this. They both know what they’ve lost, and wish it were otherwise. If either had been able to compromise at the beginning, maybe everything wouldn’t have gone off the rails. If Bruce had stood with Clark and accepted him after Joker’s death, maybe the world could have changed for the better with both of them working together. If Superman had accepted he’d done the wrong thing, I think Batman would have done anything to help him. That’s the problem with writing an epic tragedy, it all has to be a bit tragic.

Read the complete interview at THR website

Purchase INJUSTICE 2 – CHAPTER #1 (Digital Comic) for iBooks.