Injustice: Gods Among Us preview - first look

Like a flurry of fist-to-face punches, Mortal Kombat mastermind Ed Boon bombards us with ambitious adjectives before revealing his new fighting game. Tossing out terms such as "blockbuster-sized", "massive-destruction", and "epic scale", Boon's boasts would have seemed brash…had he not possessed the goods to back them up. Lifting the curtain on Injustice: Gods Among Us, Boon not only has said goods, he's got freaking Batman!

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From the Man of Steel to the Caped Crusader, Injustice's impressive cast of DC comic ass-kickers could make even Marvel vs Capcom's roster of superheroes soil their spandex. The final line-up will include close to 30 characters, but Wonder Woman, Solomon Grundy, Harley Quinn, and the Flash have been so far confirmed to join the two aforementioned fighters.

Our demo opens in the Batcave, where Supes and Grundy are duking it out. While he's enthusiastic over the fighters' fluid animations and character-specific powers - such as Superman's heat vision and Solomon's ability to pull daggers from his own body before unleashing them on opponents - Boon seems most excited about the interactive arena their brawling in.

More than a pretty backdrop, Bruce Wayne's top secret lair can be weaponized in variety of table-turning ways. When Grundy tosses Supe's into Batman's wall of wonderful toys, for example, grenades spill onto the floor, making them fair game for whoever gets to them first. Taking the concept even further, a computer console can be activated to fire rockets from the Batmobile.

These interactive items also react differently depending on what character uses them. During a later bout between Wonder Woman and Batman, for example, we see the two use an abandoned vehicle in ways that reflect their specific strengths. While Wonder Woman tosses it at her opponent like an empty Coke can, Bat's forcefully slams the star-spangled heroine's head into its hood. Each superhero and villain will, of course, possess their defining powers and abilities, but these interactive arenas add a nice layer of unpredictability to the action.

On top of turning the world into a weapon, players can also tear it a new one. Each arena features multiple levels, and violently introducing adversaries to them is a literal blast. During Wonder Woman's and Batman's brawl, which unfolds in a futuristic metropolis, we witness the latter hero chuck the lasso-wielding lady through concrete walls, plate glass windows, and steel girders…all in the same throw. Following a seconds-long sequence which actually shows Wonder Woman cinematically crashing through all these structures, she lands - no joke - on a roof two blocks away. After tangoing atop a skyscraper for a bit, the two then take the fight below...30 stories below. These long-distance records pale in comparison, though, to Supe's ability to literally uppercut his opponents into orbit.

A nice visual byproduct of potentially putting victims in back braces is witnessing the world erode as fights progress. The environments are highly destructible, so whether players are interacting with makeshift weapons or chucking adversary's through skyscrapers, the world takes as much of a beating as the brawlers.

Details on Injustice's story are still locked away in the Fortress of Solitude, but Boon promises no matter how crazy the combat gets, the characters will remain true to their comic book counterparts: "One of our goals is to introduce new features that haven't been done in the fighting genre before and move it forward, while also maintaining these iconic characters from the D.C. Universe." So fanboys concerned there won't be any explanation behind Superman getting his ass whupped needn't get their Underoos in a bunch.

The story isn't the only thing Boon and his team at NeatherRealm are keeping under wraps; from a full list of characters to what moves - and supermoves - each will possess, there's still a lot to learn. And that's not even getting into the gameplay mechanics or modes; while the demo has no trouble  dropping our jaws, our thumbs are much harsher critics.

Still, if our hands-off look is any indication, Injustice has already got a lot going for it. On top of the fan-pleasing roster of pugilists and above-mentioned features, it sports near-photorealistic visuals, silky smooth animations, and more comic book call-outs than you can shake a Batarang at. Oh, and then there's that tag line: "What if our greatest heroes became our greatest threat." That tease alone has us dusting off our capes, cowls, and fight-sticks in anticipation of its 2013 arrival.