Injustice 2: Static Was Ready to Go, But Got Cut From the Roster

05/25/2017 10:57 am EDT

A fan-favorite DC hero was originally planned to hit the Injustice 2 roster, but tragically ended up getting cut. The hero in question is Static (who most of you are probably still calling Static Shock), and his designer Marco Nelor recently shared some concept art on his Instagram page showing Static's final design for the game. He looks incredible -- much better than in Injustice: Gods Among Us -- and it baffles us that he wasn't included. Check it out:

"So sad about this one," Nelor said in his post. "He was all cleaned up and ready to go, but unfortunately Static didn't make the cut for Injustice 2... damn. I had him all worked out too. Oh well. Enjoy!"

It's kind of hard to enjoy knowing that we won't actually get to play as Static. In some cases we'd be willing to speculate as fans that Static is still on the way as DLC, but Nelor didn't leave any room for speculation here. This is a straight up denial of Static's inclusion in the roster. If the image isn't enough to crush your hope, we found an interview from Dual Pixels from back in August where Aquaman's voice actor (Phil LaMarr) also confirms Static getting cut.

Talking about other characters that he'd be interesting in voicing, LaMarr says: "Someone who is not in the game, my favorite would be Static Shock. You know, he made it into the mobile game… But, yeah. As far as the characters in the game, it's so tough because all I hear are the voices of my friends. Like I hear Kevin Conroy doing Batman and I'm like, 'Yeah, can't do a better Kevin Conroy than Kevin Conroy, so I don't want to do that. I can't do a better Superman than George.' It just feels like eh, I'll stick with what I can do. Because I can't do better than those guys."

In case you're wondering, the mobile game he mentions is the original Injustice: Gods Among Us, and not Injustice 2, so don't get your hopes up and go Googling for Injustice 2 DLC leaks. It's a dead end, believe us (we already tried out of desperation).

Keep hoping, Static fans. With enough fan support maybe we'll see Static in Injustice 3!

Disclosure: ComicBook is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of Paramount. Sign up for Paramount+ by clicking here.