Summary
TheMortal Kombatfranchise has a pretty rich history of antagonists. Over the last three decades,Mortal Kombatmay have only had a handful of unique primary villains, but each of those has been incredibly iconic, and each has surrounded themselves with almost equally iconic minions. Of course, the most memorableMortal Kombatvillain teamis the original one, with Shao Kahn leading the pack, and Shang Tsung acting as his vice-villain.
But then there are characters like Shinnok and Onaga, along with minor antagonists like Baraka, Mileena, Reptile, Kano, and Kabal. And whileMortal Kombat 1is undoubtedly going to be using a lot of these familiar faces, it’s all still a bit of a mystery. Taking place inFire God Liu Kang’s new universe,Mortal Kombat 1sees its iconic roster flipped on its head, with each character having a wholly new background and origin. And with this new universe changing things up, fans don’t really know what this altered set of heroes is going up against. Right now,Mortal Kombat 1’s main antagonist is a complete mystery, and it’s all very exciting.
RELATED:Fatalities That Mortal Kombat 1’s Peacemaker Needs
The Mystery Surrounding Mortal Kombat 1’s Antagonist is Very Exciting
In the past, fans have always had a good idea of what to expect when going into aMortal Kombatstory mode. In the original set of games, thoughMortal Kombat’s story was minimal, fans still knew that Shao Kahn was the main villain that the Earthrealm warriors were going up against. And when NetherRealm Studios rebooted the timeline in 2011, fans still knew what they were in for, with the game retelling the events of that original trilogy.
ThoughMortal Kombat X’s now-iconic first trailer focused on a CG fight between Sub-Zero and Scorpion, it was quickly revealed that Shinnok would be taking the role of the sequel’s primary antagonist, and for long-time fans of the series, this was more than enough information to get a good idea of what lay in store, with Shinnok having already played a major antagonistic role in severalpreviousMortal Kombatgames. In the very first trailer forMortal Kombat 11, Kronika is revealed, along with a past version of Scorpion, and while fans didn’t know all the details yet, it didn’t take much to put two and two together and uncover thatMortal Kombat 11would revolve around this new antagonist bringing past versions of characters to the present day.
But for possibly the first time in franchise history, fans don’t really have a clue who will be the main antagonist ofMortal Kombat 1. Over the last few months, a handful ofMortal Kombat 1trailers have dropped, each one introducing a new set of fighters and revealing how they fit in Fire God Liu Kang’s new universe.
But while through these trailers fans have learned quite a bit about these new versions of iconic Kombatants, they haven’t learned all that much aboutMortal Kombat 1’s wider story, or really anything about its antagonist. All that’s really been revealed so far is that Fire God Liu Kang is putting together some kind of team to defeat some mysterious oncoming threat. Inthe latestMortal Kombat 1trailer, the guardian of the Hourglass Gerascomes to visit Liu Kang and warns him of some threat coming to disrupt his new peaceful timeline.
Naturally, this has led to a lot of speculation among fans, and a lot of that speculation is only getting fans more hyped forMortal Kombat 1’s story mode. AlthoughMortal Kombat 1’s new universe is sure to have plenty of surprises already in store with its tweaked character backstories, keeping its central villain a mystery is giving the game’s story mode a sense of intrigue that isn’t usually present in the fighting game genre.
Mortal Kombat 1releases on September 19 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
