The Best Mortal Kombat Characters Of All Time

Oct 24, 2024

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Since 1992, Mortal Kombat has garnered fans worldwide with its arcade-style fighting game. Now, the series is even more popular, with in-depth titles being released on various platforms. Though the first game only had a roster of seven characters (and three unplayable fighters), its subsequent entries have developed an arsenal of Kombatants that have contributed to the game's story in many ways.

Mortal Kombat 1 features many popular and obscure fighters, but a handful of the franchise's more recognizable faces didn't make the cut.

While some older characters remain as popular as ever, several newer fighters have made big names for themselves, and fans hope to see them in future releases, too. From the classic arcade machines and consoles to movies and books, the famous faces of Mortal Kombat are household names in the video game world.

Updated on October 21, 2024, by David Heath: Mortal Kombat 1's 'Khaos Reigns' update finally came out, and it's a fitting name, as MK1's life thus far has been chaotic. Its existence was leaked in a memo, the game's new setting is more divisive than the last reboot, and its wacky guest characters have left fans more tired than intrigued (the killer from Scream? Conan the Barbarian?). That's perhaps why, despite being considered part of the 'Big 3' with Street Fighter and Tekken, it was one of the bottom 3 in entrant numbers for Evo 2024.

Though compared to past fighting game-based fiascoes, like Street Fighter X Tekken or Marvel Vs Capcom: Infinite, MK1's troubles are more like mild hiccups. Particularly as the update came with some fan favorites, like Noob Saibot and the redesigned Cyrax and Sektor. So, now's a fitting time to look at more of Mortal Kombat's most iconic characters.

Rain wasn't meant to be a playable character. He was hidden in UMK3's intro as a gag reference to the Prince album 'Purple Rain'. But much like the red ninjas Ermac and Skarlet, people wondered how they could play as him, whether they got the reference or not. So, he was made an official character as an Edenian prince who inherited his water-based powers from his father, the god Argus. His divine blood gave him a chip on his shoulder, where his arrogant, self-serving personality saw him become one of the series' slimiest characters.

MKT players had another reason to hate him, as his Water Bubble held the opponent in place for a nasty combo. The worst being his Super Kick, which he could use to juggle his opponent infinitely. It became notorious enough to become a brutality in MK11. In MK1, he lost his divine and regal status, but remains an arrogant water mage. However, he seems to have taken a humble turn, as his flooding of Seido has made him more penitent and willing to face his flaws than before.

Mortal Kombat 2 already had yellow, blue, green, gray, and black ninjas, let alone the blue and purple female ninjas, and they'd add more spectrum-based shinobi along the way. Even so, they must've felt the need to diversify the cast a little for Mortal Kombat 3, as Sub-Zero took off his mask, Scorpion took off completely, and Smoke became a robot to join the new robo-ninjas, Cyrax and Sektor. They were part of the Lin Kuei's Cyber Initiative to make their forces more effective in combat, and subservient to the Grand Master's will.

Cyrax was one of their more reluctant members, an African ninja who managed to break his programming and fought to regain his humanity. In the classic timeline, he had help from Sonya and Jax, while Sub-Zero managed it in the alternative timelime in MK11. In MK1's new timeline, Cyrax is a woman in a cyber suit who breaks from the Lin Kuei to aid her childhood friend, Kuai Liang. This direction adds some interesting wrinkles to the old robot-with-a-soul plot.

Sonya Blade was among the first Mortal Kombat fighters to be introduced to the world. Originally, she was going to be a male character called Kurtis Stryker, but with Street Fighter's Chun-Li proving to be one of their rivals' biggest hits, the developers thought the character would catch on better as a woman. Needless to say, it worked, given Sonya's status as an MK mainstay. As a Special Forces agent, she was originally on the hunt for Kano, a weapons dealer for the Black Dragon crime syndicate.

Having a roster of great characters makes fighting games so enjoyable, and these games have some of the most playable characters in it

He killed her old partner, and she sought revenge, tracking him down to the MK tournament. Other than her incredible tenacity, one of Sonya's distinctive characteristics was her ability to blast energy beams. Sometimes, they're technological, but other times they're as mystical as her immolating blown kisses. While she's one of the sterner characters in the series, she's shown her softer side with fellow Special Forces agent Jax, film star Johnny Cage, and her daughter Cassie.

That latter attribute sounds odd, yet there aren't a lot of Mortal Kombat characters from Down Under. Tekken's Craig Marduk and Virtua Fighter's Jeffry McWild are big hitters, but only Kano received the full Aussie characterization. Not that this was the plan. In MK'92, he was merely a weapons dealer for the Black Dragon syndicate. It wasn't until actor Trevor Goddard depicted him in the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie with an accent that he was associated with Australia (which is ironic as Goddard was trying to make him sound like a Londoner).

Aside from that, he made for a nice, vile counterpart to the human heroes. Willing to sell out Earthrealm for a buck, let alone his 'friends,' he's one of the scummiest, most untrustworthy characters in the series. Yet he delights in being a villain so much that he makes for an entertaining watch, no matter which game he appears in. He's like Shang Tsung in this way, only with worse manners, but it was just as satisfying to see him get the business end of a Nut Punch.

After Sonya Blade appeared in MK'92, Midway planned to use the 'Kurtis Stryker' character for Mortal Kombat 2 instead. They would be Sonya's commanding officer and a headband-wearing kickboxer. Fearing they looked too similar to Street Fighter's Balrog, the character was reimagined as a muscleman with a penchant for powerful dashing punches, hard ground pounds, and yelling "Gotcha!" after catching his goes in midair for a nasty backbreaker. This time, 'Stryker' became Jackson "Jax" Briggs.

Surprisingly, his most iconic appearance wouldn't come about until Mortal Kombat 3, when the character got metal arms as an upgrade. Other timelines, like in Mortal Kombat 9, would make them full prosthetics (ironic, as his MK2 fatality involved ripping off his opponent's arms). Either way, he's become famous for his proverbial guns, smashing his foes with them in a variety of ways. Not as stiff as Sonya, but more serious than Johnny Cage, he has an underrated charm that's made him a series' mainstay.

The 2000s era of MK games, from Deadly Alliance to Armageddon, are often unfairly maligned. While they weren't the strongest fighting games around, they played out quite well for their time. That said, it's hard to defend their original characters. MK: DA's Hsu Hao is often the target of ire for fans and critics alike, but at least his weird Village People-esque look is memorable. Mavado, Dairou, Kira, and Hotaru were much more generic and forgettable. Yet they had their highlights, too.

Khaos Reigns has made several important changes to Mortal Kombat lore. These are some of the best.

The brightest was Kenshi, a blind swordsman who gained telekinetic and telepathic powers via his katana, Sento. He originally sought revenge against Shang Tsung. Then, by MK9 and MKX, he was after the Red Dragon crime gang. Mortal Kombat 1 changed him again to an ex-yakuza seeking to free his family from their grasp, losing his sight to Mileena in a mission gone awry. Either way, he'd use his powers to throw his opponents around or use his sword to dice them into bite-sized chunks.

Nowadays, Ermac is familiar as MK's gestalt entity: a compression of hundreds if not thousands of souls within one body, using their combined strength and their telekinetic powers to pull their opponents apart. It's stuck around since Midway began redesigning their pallette-swapped ninjas in the 3D era, where they've sometimes been a good guy (MK: D, MK1) or a bad guy (MK9, MKX). But their true fame comes from being the first urban legend character in the series.

The MK 1992 cabinet had an in-built menu that would record how many times the cabinet had error macros, or "Ermacs." Fans thought this meant there was another secret character in the game. Possibly a red ninja, as behind-the-scenes footage showed that the ninja outfit was originally red to stand out against the blue screen. Not only would Midway eventually make him real, but it would inspire similar legends about other characters (Scarlet - a red female ninja) and also inspire Midway to mess with their audience (MK2 has a "Kano Transformation" ticker on its menu).

Kitana has her fans (the weapon, not her enthusiasts), and Mileena has her daggers. Jade has her staff and razor-edged boomerang projectiles. Or at least she would once she became playable in UMK3. She made her debut in MK2 as perhaps the first secret female character in fighting games, where players had to win a match with just Low Kick attacks and no blocking. Once they took her on, they'd find out she was basically Kitana, with fans, only green, dark-skinned, faster, and immune to projectiles.

She'd later become established as Kitana's best friend, the Kung Lao to her Liu Kang, swinging her staff around to shut down her opponents. Jade's a fairly underrated character, as she's been pretty low on the tier list for most of her appearances. But whenever she appears, she's always a fan favorite, whether she's more outgoing a la MK9 or more reserved and regal like in MK11.

Noob Saibot didn't have much to him to begin with. He was an all-black ninja palette swap players could fight if they won 25 matches in a row on MK2, and his name was the surnames of MK creators Ed Boon and John Tobias spelled backwards. Then, he became playable in MKT and became so broken with his Teleport Slam juggles and block-disabling projectiles he was often banned from tournaments. It wasn't until MK: Deception that his plot got fleshed out.

He was Bi-Han, the original Sub-Zero, resurrected as a shadow wraith by Quan Chi. Though he often followed orders from Shao Kahn and Shinnok, his allegiance was ultimately to himself and his Brotherhood of Shadows. 'Khaos Reigns' sees Bi-Han return to this dark visage, mixing his opponents up with his portals, projectiles, and shadow clones. The additional sibling rivalry with Kuai Liang made him a more interesting character than being another ninja, alongside his contrasting powers to fellow undead fighter Scorpion.

Liu Kang has Kung Lao, and Kitana has Jade. Smoke was Kuai Liang's friend when he took up the Sub-Zero moniker, though he only appeared in MK2 as a secret character, where opponents had to press Down+Start on the Portal stage whenever they got a "Toasty." Like his future human appearances, he basically played like Scorpion on speed with smoke bombs. He'd teleport across the screen, peppering his opponent with swift strikes, and even had Scorpion's spear.

Even when cyberized, he was deadly, from blowing up the earth in his UMK3 fatality, to backing up Noob Saibot as a deadly tag team in MK: Deception. MK9 saw him avoid becoming a robot but did see him dominate online play as his combos did plenty of damage, were hard to defend against, and were easy to learn. His rebooted form in MK1 also saw him rise through the ranks, inducing salt with his smoke balls and range. He may not be as popular as his yellow and blue counterparts, but he's possibly the strongest ninja in the series gameplay-wise.

Although Kitana wasn't among MK's first fighters in Mortal Kombat, she's arguably the most iconic woman in the series. Her blue ninja outfits, sharp fan blades, and key role in the story as Liu Kang's rival-turned-lover made her a staple character. She's an Edenian, a long-lived human-like race whose world of Edenia got merged with Outworld before they set their sights on Earthrealm.

She was adopted by Shao Kahn and served him dutifully until she discovered he had murdered her father, King Jerrod, and had Shang Tsung create a more psychotic yet more loyal clone of herself. Or so it went in the original timeline. After decades of being at each other's throats, Mortal Kombat 1 reset the timeline to make the two twin sisters, who would aid each other against General Shao and other schemers in Outworld.

Kitana may be more iconic, though she isn't necessarily the most popular woman in MK. Her monstrous half-sister Mileena has often given her a run for her money by essentially being her evil counterpart. Made by Shang Tsung when he mixed Kitana's DNA with a Tarkatan, Mileena is almost an exact duplicate of the Edenian Princess, except for her mouth full of fangs and hunger for flesh. With her mask, she's often used her sex appeal to pull in unsuspecting foes, only to reveal her true face and eat them alive.

From Motaro to Reptile, Mortal Kombat has featured at least one monster character in every game, with many testing their might to be iconic.

Her mix of seduction and horror made her a perfect fit as the anti-Kitana, as she'd try her best to get one-up over her "twin sister." But even with Kitana's turn to the dark side in MKX, she'd find herself coming up short. But it did add more nuance to her character as Shao Kahn's "true daughter" and heir to Outworld's throne. It led to MK1 rebooting her as Kitana's true twin sister whose toothy mouth and bloodlust is now a medical condition she has to control. Some may prefer her as a villain to a hero, but she'll still chew her foes up and spit them out.

Before it became a fighting game, Mortal Kombat began life as a tie-in project for the Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Universal Soldier. Once that fell through, creators Ed Boon and John Tobias commemorated their near-run with the Muscles from Brussels by creating Johnny Cage, a Hollywood star who lucked into the first MK tournament to revive his flagging career. He dressed like Van Damme's character from the movie and also did some of his moves, like the infamous Nut Punch.

His smug attitude, contrasted with his heart of gold, made him a neat source of levity throughout the series. When all the gore and mutilation became too much, he'd lighten the atmosphere with a movie line or a smarmy one-liner. He'd even break the 4th wall, giving the player his autograph, or turning his old glitches into features (e.g. uppercutting his opponent's head off 3 times somehow). Without him cutting his foes down physically and verbally, MK just wouldn't feel the same.

At first, Johnny Cage seemed like the equivalent of Street Fighter's Ken to Liu Kang's proverbial Ryu. Yet the Shaolin monk and the arrogant movie star didn't have as much in common with each other as Capcom's shotos. So, Midway made a new Shaolin monk in Kung Lao. He's a descendant of the Great Kung Lao, who first stopped Outworld from taking over Earthrealm by defeating Goro. Unfortunately, Goro got his own back at the next tournament and killed him.

Kung Lao joined the White Lotus and trained alongside Liu Kang to avenge his ancestor and aid Earthrealm. He's often talked down to by his friends and enemies, and treated as a lesser monk compared to Liu Kang. Yet he doesn't hold it against his friend. Probably because he's arguably got more style than him anyway. His razor-brimmed hat made him stand out from the crowd, cutting through foes, and lopping off their heads if players threw it just right in his MK2 fatality. Few characters in MK could match his panache.

Liu Kang was the original hero of MK's canon storyline, serving as Earthrealm's champion and beating Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn, Shinnok, and more. But Mortal Kombat 9 would switch things up, where he'd lose faith in Raiden, get killed, and become an evil Revenant. Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and her daughter Cassie would step in as the new heroes. But ultimately, by MK11, it took a time imbalance to bring the good Liu Kang back to aid Raiden and co. once again.

The best Mortal Kombat movies range from animation to live-action, but when mixed with shows, which one provides Fatality over the rest?

By the end of that game, he'd go on to replace his old mentor as Earth's new protector demigod in Mortal Kombat 1. Nonetheless, fans remember him best as the red headband-wearing human, serving as the original Shaolin monk of the series. He'd beat foes and woo Kitana with his Bruce Lee-style moves, acting as the straight man to his more comic rivals in Johnny Cage and Kung Lao. His turning into a dragon and chomping on his opponents left an impression as well.

As the franchise's very first main antagonist, Shang Tsung struck fear in the hearts of Mortal Kombat's long-time fans. Shang Tsung is a brilliant sorcerer from Outworld who was banished to Earthrealm. After taking control of the Mortal Kombat tournament, his champion, Goro, had become undefeated for centuries. He would've opened the door for his lord, Shao Kahn, to invade if the Great Kung Lao hadn't beaten Goro and reset the count on the victories Outworld needed to merge the realms.

This set the stage for the original MK game, where Shang Tsung served as the final boss. He wasn't too difficult, but his ability to shapeshift into the rest of the cast gave players pause for thought. Even when he became playable in the sequels, he could keep them guessing over which form he'd change into next. The 3D era curtailed this, but like his plots, Shang Tsung's gameplay offers other ways to bamboozle opponents. He's the snake to Liu Kang's dragon and every bit as sly as the comparison suggests.

When The Simpsons parodied MK as 'Bonestorm,' they didn't use copies of Liu Kang, Raiden, or the ninjas to represent the game. They used four-armed warriors akin to its original sub-boss, Goro. The game hyped him up as a big deal as; in between its starting screen and intro, it would declare 'Goro Lives' and reveal the giant warrior in all his monstrous glory. Even if players got past the Endurance battles, they'd have a hard time avoiding Goro's stomps, projectiles, and heavy punches.

He was the prince of a race of half-men, half-dragon hybrids called Shokan, who served as Shang Tsung's champion at the MK tournaments. His allegiances have switched over the years, where he's aided Shao Kahn in some games and fought with Earthrealm and the Edenians in others. The game has added other Shokan characters over the years, like Kintaro and Sheeva, but they haven't managed to outdo Goro.

As of MK1, Raiden may as well be two different characters. He essentially swapped roles with his former champion, Liu Kang, being reborn in his new universe as Earthrealm's new Shaolin monk champion, complete with his friendship with Kung Lao. Nonetheless, it's the original Raiden who's the most famous, where he gathered Earthrealm's finest warriors to defend it at the Mortal Kombat tournaments, often training the kombatants throughout various Mortal Kombat games.

Not that this was always the plan. His ending in MK'92 saw him inadvertently destroy the Earth after organizing a fighting tournament for all the Elder Gods ("Have a nice day"). His mentor role was established from MK2 onward, with the occasional twist in the tale. He's sometimes turned to the dark side, yet the games have preferred to keep him good, often stepping in to handle things personally when needed. As one of the strongest characters in MK's canon, he's a formidable force.

In the original timeline, Shao Kahn was the Emperor of Outworld and sought to take over Earthrealm via Shang Tsung's Mortal Kombat tournament. If his Outworld forces achieved enough victories in a row, he'd be allowed by the Elder Gods to merge Outworld with Earthrealm, just as he had done with other realms. Instead, Liu Kang defeated Shang Tsung, then defeated Kahn himself twice. Not that he had an easy time of it.

Shao Kahn is infamous as one of the hardest bosses in fighting game history, let alone just in MK. With unblockable projectiles, armored attacks, and constant taunts ("You weak, pathetic fool!"), he wears the player down physically and mentally. Even after future games made him fairer, playable, and surprisingly low-tier in most of his appearances, he's the series' most iconic big bad boss. Shinnok, Kronika, Onaga, and the Deadly Alliance can't hold a candle to him.

Until Mortal Kombat 1 redesigned him as a rather handsome ally to the good guys, Reptile had been treated like a jobber in the series. He was a goon for one big bad or another, and often left betrayed, murdered, or possessed as a 'reward.' It was an unfortunate turn of events for the fighting game genre's first secret character. If players followed his random clues in MK'92, they'd fight him as a green uber-ninja who had both Scorpion and Sub-Zero's moves.

Once he became playable in MK2, he was given his own moves and character. He was (to his knowledge) of the reptile-like humanoid Saurian/Zaterran race and had special abilities he'd use in combat. Like spitting acid to fight against his enemies, and the ability to turn invisible, making him more difficult to strike. Then, he'd finish his foes off by ripping off their heads with his tongue and eating them. He may have been a ninja, but he was much more animalistic before MK1.

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