Before becoming a crossover, the game was originally planned to be a darker reboot of the series under the title "Mortal Kombat 8", inspired by games of the era like Gears of War and taking advantage of Unreal Engine 3. During the planning process however, Midway managed to acquire the DC Comics license, transforming the game into the crossover. The pitch of the game stimmed from series creator Ed Boon always wanting to do a crossover game with another franchise, naming Street Fighter among potential candidates, and so they could have an opportunity to explain why Mortal Kombat and DC Comics characters were fighting each other in the first place, as opposed to Marvel vs. Capcom which Midway senior producer Hans Lo described as "random". Despite this, the game is still considered the eighth mainline Mortal Kombat game.