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| Armageddon pretty much provides the best possible here is everyone image to use. |
There is a bit of a lull in the Mortal Kombat series at the moment as it seems like Mortal Kombat 1 won't be getting anymore updates and all rumors are pointing towards Injustice 3 being the next game Nether Realm is going to make. That combined with the fact that I just marathoned a good chunk of the series over the past couple years makes now seem as good a time as any to rank my favorite characters. Since there isn't likely to suddenly be new characters to possible mess up my current ranking any time soon.
Honorable Mentions
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| Two hotties and an angry dragon man |
Frost was a character I thought looked really cool (No pun intended). The ice hair was a nice touch. But she was introduced in the one 3D era game that had no story mode, so aside from showing up as a minion of Kronika in MK11 she has like zero character development.
Nitara was introduced in the same game as Frost but at the time had even less going for her. Being a side character with no real connection to any of the other characters. And while I loved her design back in the day... her return having her portrayed by Megan Fox has done her no favors with me.
Onaga was an amazing boss for the game that introduced him. He had a dominating screen presence and I loved that opening cinematic. Unlike the other two, I won't blame him not making the list on only being in one game. I'll blame it on just loving two other villains way more than him.
#10 - Kenshi
Kenshi the blind swordsman just barely beats out Frost to make it onto the list. There aren't many of the typical good guys in the Mortal Kombat series that I'm a major fan of but Kenshi in pretty much all his incarnations get just the right amount of character moments and vibes to put him on my list. Whether it be his dedication in MK1 or his sheer loyalty to his comrades in the previous eras. Kenshi is just a badass embodiment of stoicism.
#9 - Erron Black
A cowboy character is not a character I personally ever would have suggested that they create for Mortal Kombat. But I just didn't know I needed a badass Outworld cowboy. Erron Black is admittedly a character who is on this list almost entirely because the fact that I absolutely love his character design and things about his presentation like his absurd X-Ray move in MKX where he quite literally fires a bullet with their name on it at them in slow motion which than ricochets inside of their body multiple times.
He's a character I wish I could justify rating higher on the list. But unfortunately, his screen times in both of the games he appears in he is often portrayed as little more than a lackey for one tyrant or another. I'm sure there is plenty of unused lore in his backstory. But outside of playing him in arcade, towers of time, or online... the only screen time he gets is to be a guy you beat up in someone else's story.
#8 - Johnny Cage
Johnny is an interesting one in that he has severely grown on me over the years. Back when the original games came out, he was probably one of my least favorite characters because I just saw him as a goof ball in a game full of otherwise serious characters. But... back than I was also an edgy teen who shunned American cartoons cause "Only anime is good enough for my mature tastes!". Yeah, I don't think that way anymore.
In a series that constantly has blood for the sake of blood to the point where it can sometimes wear off as a novelty. It's nice to have a guy who is just a bit of a goof ball. Flashy moves and a flashy personality. Love the pushing on his shades with a middle finger thing he does in MK1 for example. And his random movie references always have me doing the Captain America "I understood that reference" thing.
That said I can also appreciate when they tried to have Johnny evolve as a character, attempting to be a good dad (while Sonya didn't seem to be trying at all) and be an all around more responsible person in a world that is falling apart with his list of allies constantly shrinking.
#7 - Sheeva
At one point I would have considered Sheeva my number one Mortal Kombat waifu. Back when Mortal Kombat 3 came out I remember the actual developers referring to her as ugly (in spite of her being in a very revealing outfit). And I guess some part of my brain back then found her attractive... specifically because they told me I wasn't supposed to.
She's also enjoyable being unique because she's the one woman in the series who actually just kind of wields brute force and while we have gotten Goro playable a couple times, I feel she's the only playable Shokan we've gotten that doesn't feel like crap to use.
That said she's not higher because I really only liked her design in MK3 and MK9. Armageddon was horrible looking and MK11 I can't even really describe why it just feels unappealing to me. It also doesn't help that when they finally made her playable in MK11 it coincided with a story expansion that pretty much just made her look stupid at every turn.
#6 - Fire God Liu Kang
I specify Fire God Liu Kang from MK1 because prior to that, I was never really a fan of the character like at all. He was IMO generic Asian martial artist who had nowhere near the interesting personality that the mysterious Ryu of Street Fighter fame had. He was generic good guy with a drive to be a champion. I was probably one of the few people who just shrugged when Deadly Alliance killed him off.
But for all the overall issues I have with MK1's story as a whole, this version of Liu Kang gave me a new perspective on the character and I absolutely love his redesign. A much more epic look and less of a generic martial artist attire.
It gave him a lot more of a thought out motivation and less of a "must beat bad guy and win tournament cause someone else said so" personality. I also found the execution of his fatalities a lot more enjoyable.
#5 - Shao Kahn
My explanation for this one is gonna actually be fairly simple. I know for some people Shao Kahn is the most iconic villain in the series. As a kid, I was kind of the weirdo who always rooted for the villains and wanted to be a villain. I just thought they often had cooler designs. Shao Kahn is pretty much literally an M rated version of a Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain.
His laughs. His taunts. The fact that his character is quite literally "I'm evil and want to rule the world" with no deep or logical motivation behind it. It makes him a joy to behold.
#4 - Thunder God Raiden
I have to specify Thunder God Raiden for a similar reason to why I had to say Fire God Liu Kang. But unlike Liu Kang, I like the old version of the character and despise his MK1 incarnation. MK1 Raiden compared to old Raiden just feels devoid of personality and I honestly find his outfit even more generic and bland than I thought Liu Kang's old outfit was.
By comparison old school Raiden has pretty much almost always been one of the more epic feeling and designed members of the good guy side of things. This is helped immensely by the presence his voice actor for MK9-11 brought to the character. He sounded like someone who should be wielding godlike electrical powers.
Honestly the only things holding him down from possibly topping my list is his characters habit of bad decision making and that pretty much every time he ever became Dark Raiden they just kind of tossed it out without anything happening.
Random note... I always thought the gibberish he shouted while doing his Superman attack was him yelling "RUN THE OTHER WAAAAYYYY!"
#3 - Mileena
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| Best Mileena outfit is still best Mileena outfit |
Here's one of the more popular Mortal Kombat Waifus for a lot of people. There's definitely that appeal of the forbidden fruit kind of situation going on there. For me the biggest influence as a villain fan is likely that she's one of the few women who prior to MK1 was definitively a villain character. So she'd be the perfect evil empress. At least in that regard I feel about her the way I feel about Juri from Street Fighter though Juri is more of a anti-hero now...
Mileena as a villain character has kind of survived through some crazy shit. Even as other main villains fell left and right she got all the way to Mortal Kombat X without having a canonical death as far as I'm aware. Which is why I'm sure a lot of people absolutely despiced D'Vorah who IMO didn't even get a noteworthy bump of relevance from killing such a long lasting character. Was practically a waste to have her be the one to get the killing blow if they were going to do it.
And while I prefer the old era Mileena for being this crazy ninja woman who would be extremely dangerous to actually be around. She's one of the few MK1 character changes I didn't completely hate. She wasn't as cool but it was interesting to see her in a reality where she was born into an actual decent family that cared for her and seeing her ruthlessness come out in different ways as a result of her family being threatened.
#2 - Shang Tsung
The first villain in the series who at this point I believe has been the most frequent villain is the highest rated villain in the series for me. It wasn't really until the story aspects started to pop up in Deadly Alliance that I started to have an appreciation for this guy. That game also featuring my favorite visual design his character has ever had.
He like Mileena is a villain character who has just managed to persevere as the series went on while others haven't done as well. Though he did die in the battle against Onaga. But unlike the Shao Kahns, Onagas, Shinnok, or Kronikas who all pull of their feats through sheer strength. Shang Tsung is a strategic mastermind who somehow always finds a way to one up people through a carefully executed plan. Whether that be through a well thought out alliance or figuring out some loophole in order to steal immense power for himself.
I'm sure I probably also like him as a Dungeons and Dragons player who has made more then one evil wizard of his own. Plus his presentation always seems to be handled well regardless of what game it is. Even with my general dislike over MK1's overall story, I didn't have any particular issue with how he specifically was portrayed in the game. Though I think a newly motivated MK1 Shang would have been more interesting than having him manipulated by the alternate timeline version of himself from the past.
#1 - Cassie Cage
I can hear multiple shrieks of rage crying out across the vast lands of the internet for me putting her not just on this list, but at number one while a bunch of other fan favorites are nowhere to be seen on my list.
I love her Mortal Kombat X look the most because her overall look I feel does a better job of making her look like her own person. While her hair in MK11 feels like they were just trying to make her into Sonya jr. and while her body armor in 11 wasn't bad... I feel like her outfit in MKX just had like a cool more badass version of an agent of SHIELD look to it. I also thoroughly enjoyed a lot of her cocky body language in the first in Mortal Kombat X.
I will say the one downside for her with me was that there was often a cognitive dissonance between her portrayal in the story versus how she would often behave in actual fights in the game. In story she often got portrayed as a serious by the books tryhard military type but then in the actual fights you could see a lot more of her dad in her and less of her mother aside from her military clothes.
But the cocky side of her character? Not only is she kind of hot but also appeals to the part of me that has bizarre dreams of being a beautiful blonde anime girl.
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| Don't get too mad about my opinion. Cassie has me covered. |
So how do you feel about my list? What characters do you think I should have had on the list? How many of the ninjas should I not have excluded?
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