There's plenty of evidence to suggest that Doom's Slayer is coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate next. Nintendo initially blindsided fans with the reveal of Persona 5's Joker before proceeding to knock the socks off of players with confirmation that Banjo-Kazooie will cross over in Smash Ultimate. The long-rumored Hero from Dragon Quest joined the fray along the way too, and now gamers are wondering who the final two characters of the game's Fighters Pass will be.
Speculation is all over the place, and there are a number fan-favorites that many are hoping to see make the cut. It's really anyone's guess in terms of who or what will show up after Banjo and Kazooie arrive in fall 2019, but there is evidence floating around for Doom's Slayer to make the cut. Much like the Hero from Dragon Quest was teased by a supervisor on Smash Ultimate, employees at Bethesda have been dropping hints that the publisher may have something in store for Nintendo fans.
Related: Banjo-Kazooie In Super Smash Bros Ultimate? Evidence That It'll Happen [Updated]
Bethesda is a large company that holds a number of franchises that could be brought into the Smash Bros. fold. Anything from The Elder Scrolls and Fallout to Wolfenstein and Rage are under the ownership of Bethesda, which leaves ample room Nintendo to collaborate on any number of IP. After a lot of thought, though, it seems apparent that Doom's Slayer is the frontrunner for inclusion in Smash Ultimate. Truth be told, there are a number of reasons for why this might be the case.
Pete Hines Has Admitted to Speaking with Nintendo About Super Smash Bros.
During an interview with Metro UK, Bethesda's vice president of PR and marketing, Pete Hines, was asked about whether or not his company had spoken about Smash Bros. with Nintendo. His response? "Oh yeah." This may not seem like much, as many companies likely approach Nintendo about collaborations. What's of interest in this comment, however, is Hines's admittance earlier in the same interview that he's not present for every licensing discussion with Nintendo.
"We’re always having conversations with [Nintendo], but again those conversations wouldn’t necessarily take place with me, they’d take place with a dev to say, ‘We have an idea for a this or a that and we wanna do a game that is a crossover with the Switch’."
So, if Hines is in on discussions with Nintendo about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, then it can be assumed that they progressed quite far up the chain. That still isn't a guarantee that anything came of these chats, but it's the biggest indicator present that Smash is at least on Bethesda's mind–and Nintendo not only knows it but entertained such ideas. Then again, Nintendo could have been the one to start these discussions, and if that's the case then former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime's comments to THR indicate that a Bethesda character is coming to Ultimate.
"I personally have not been involved in those discussions [about getting a third-party character in Super Smash Bros.], but as I have talked with Mr. Sakurai and others in the development area I’ve never heard of a story where we’ve been turned down as we pursued a particular character."
Doom's Composer Was Hiring Heavy Metal Screamers for "a Video Game"
Admittedly, this is the flimsiest piece of evidence, but it's something to note. The composer behind modern Doom titles, Mick Gordon, sent out a since-deleted request for heavy metal singers in January 2019 for "a video game." Despite the fact that Doom Eternal was already announced by that point in time, Gordon didn't refer to the project as "Doom Eternal" in any of the postings or followup tweets. Since Nintendo had been using its own, chosen composers to remix music (as well as simply adding licensed tracks from respective games), it was believed that this was probably for Doom Eternal. But the only hints fans ever received was that it is Doom-related.
Truthfully, it was and is still widely believed that this was for the latest Doom game, but then Nintendo confirmed something that added a little more depth to fan speculation. The house of Mario hired Banjo-Kazooie composer Grant Kirkhope to compose tracks for that franchise's appearance in Smash, so could Mick Gordon have been given the nod to do the same for Slayer? Again, the heavy metal choir recording is likely for Doom Eternal - there were heavy metal singers in the background of the game's E3 2019 trailer - but maybe "a [different] video game" will receive those vocal tracks as well.
Bethesda Promises "More Surprises for Nintendo Fans"
Pete Hines recently dropped a hint during a post-E3 2019 Nintendo Power podcast, where he talked about Doom's 25th anniversary before going into a how Nintendo fans may have a few more surprises in store for them. This tease could be for almost anything, and may not even relate to Doom at all. Even if it does, it could be as simple as a suit that makes Slayer look like Samus Aran in Doom Eternal - Bethesda did add Link's Breath of the Wild costume into Skyrim on Switch, after all. But the tease from Hines is especially worth noting given the context leading up to it.
“Yeah, this is the 25th anniversary of Doom. I mean, it was not the first first-person shooter, that goes to Wolfenstein which is also an id [Software] game. But Doom is definitely the one that made it massively popular and widened the appeal of it, so it’s pretty cool to be in the midst of shipping a new Doom game while we’re also in the 25th anniversary. We’ve got a lot of stuff planned at QuakeCon and, who knows, maybe some more surprises for Nintendo fans on the way."
Super Smash Bros. fans will likely be left guessing for several more months as Hero from Dragon Quest arrives this Summer, while Banjo-Kazooie drops into Ultimate this Fall. That would most likely line up the next DLC character for a Winter release date, while the final one will drop in early 2020. It's hard to predict where everything will land, but Bethesda hasn't been shy about teasing a possible crossover for one of its franchises.
There's also nothing specifically pointing to Doom's Slayer as the character of choice. It could just as easily by Dovaahkin from Skyrim or Vault Boy from Fallout. Given that this year marks both Doom's 25th anniversary and Doom Eternal's arrival on Nintendo Switch, it's clear that Slayer would be the rep chosen from Bethesda. Finally, given Nintendo's ability to incorporate M-rated gaming characters like Snake, Bayonetta, and Joker into Smash Bros. Ultimate, Slayer really isn't that much of a stretch.