Mortal Kombat (2021)

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by TigerClaw

I think the whole idea for Cole Young, Is a character who is the audience going into this for the first time.

They could choose from a roster of main and secondary characters in the series. They are about 100+ of them.

I am not completely averse to their decision, unless it reaches Alice from RE movies level of dumb, but I don't like it either.

[Leo656]

So what if - Purely Hypothetically, mind you - this Cole character gets to kill off a MAJOR villain all by himself, get the lay-up to decide the victory in the final Big Fight Scene that's ostensibly between two major fan favorite characters, and essentially comes off in the end as being The Most Important Guy In The Movie?

Again... purely, 100% Hypothetical Question, honest. Just curious, like... IF any of that happened, how would you feel about it? Y'know... IF.

Originally Posted by AquaParade

Nah, it really doesn't look like "Cole: Mortal Kombat". You're just blowing it out of proportion.

Yeah, turns out that it kinda is, though. That's the thing.

Like, other people get lots of focus, sure. But it's "his movie", apparently, as Coola predicted. Aside from a prologue sequence the "proper" movie begins (and ends) with him, most of the plot revolves around him, he has familial ties to a Very Important Character and is basically the entire reason the climax ends the way it does. He's the character with the most conclusive and well-defined arc and he gets the most stuff to do out of anyone. Without saying too much, even the Scorpion vs. Sub-Zero fight scene, the one thing everyone is raving about and looking forward to seeing... revolves around Guess F*cking Who. And NOT in a Small Way, either.

Having read lots and lots of Spoilers and full plot synopsis, and without giving away too much... yeah, it IS "Cole: Mortal Kombat". And no, they did not NEED to create an OC character for what he brings to this movie. In fact, I'd go so far as to say some of the things he gets to do in this movie come off a lot WORSE since he's a "fake" MK character, and would be a lot easier to swallow if it were just about ANY "real" MK character instead.

Get ready for a ton of "Oh my God... HE gets to kill ________?! That's TERRIBLE!" And it wouldn't be AS terrible, if it were anyone - literally ANY MK character at all - except for This One Made-Up Guy.

...Or Mokap.

I'll be blunt and honest, on paper the movie itself still reads pretty good. Some of my fears were assuaged and I'm still looking forward to it a lot. Some things, I take major issues with, but it is what it is. I can safely say that if I went into this movie "cold" without Spoilers and saw some of those things happen, I would be FURIOUS. Now, having a chance to digest them first, I'm sure they won't bother me AS much. BUT, they will definitely bother some people a LOT, and I don't blame them.

But as for the fear/debate about whether or not 1. It's Cole's movie, and 2. Was That Necessary In Any Way...

1. Yes, it is.
2. No, it was not.

I mean, that doesn't in and of itself "ruin" the movie. But it's a bad choice, and it's exactly what some people were afraid they were gonna do. AS bad as Alice in the RE movies? Maybe not. Same basic problem, though; arrogant Hollywood writers who think they know better. That's really all it comes down to whenever they do this sort of thing. It's hubris, nothing more. And it shouldn't be excused nor defended. It's a bad choice, and it actively hurts the movie's plot because the choices grafted onto this character simply won't come off as natural or acceptable as they would if they had been given to a "real" MK character instead. There's just no getting around it.

Doesn't mean the movie will be bad. It simply means, they made a Bad Choice for nebulous and arrogant reasons. Cole absolutely could have been Johnny Cage, or just about any other MK character, and they'd have only needed to tweak like one or two small things and it would be the Exact Same Movie.

So yeah... they should have really just done That instead.

[Andrew NDB]

The thing is... I'm really not sure any movie right now is going to earn enough to justify sequels. Like, even if the studio knows, "Wow, these are pretty good numbers, despite the COVID situation" that doesn't mean financiers are going to be eager to get back in bed for more unless it is drawing the kind of numbers they would have expected pre-COVID.

The budget seems to be 40-50 million. So it'll need to crack 100 million domestically for sure, be it theaters and however they calculate HBO Max numbers.

[Coola Yagami]

I mean, it wasn't much of a prediction. If the trailer starts off with a character's POV and it introduces us to the world through their eyes, they're obviously gonna be the main character. We're obviously gonna follow their story arc and they're obviously gonna save the day. I can't recall offhand any story that starts out with the perspective of someone and then suddenly shift to someone else, and if they are, they are few and far between and bad writing.

The people disagreeing with me thinking Cole wouldn't take over the movie, simultaneously bumping out Cage but also taking Liu Kang's role forgot how writing works.

Having the movie follow how Cole discovers the MK Tournament and having Liu Kang or Sonya save the day is the equivalent of a Batman movie (pre-shared universe where we assume it's a Batman-solo movie) and having the Flash come in to save the day.

Or having Shawshank Redemption suddenly kill Red at the first half hour and we randomly get a new narrator and follow a new friend of Duphrene. Like no. I knew this was gonna be the Cole movie.



I just hope we don't see nonsense in sequels like Cole handing Shao Kahn his ass single-handedly. That would be Alice levels right there.

[AquaParade]

Sorry, I still think its blowing it out of proportion. Especially in regards to trashing the movie for it before seeing how it's handled.
At the end of the day, maybe I'm just less bothered by having a new character in the film. I admit I tend to get a little irked when fans of a property start crying over a few creative liberties. Especially when it's a property like Mortal Kombat - a property I've always loved, but I've never seen the story as all that important. So whatever POV we get is nearly irrelevant. It's a fighting tournament

If this thing still feels and looks like Mortal Kombat, Cole's inclusion is trivial to me, as long as we get some kick ass fights with fan fav characters.

Would it be cool to follow Liu's story instead? I guess. Doesn't feel necessary at all.

[Andrew NDB]

I guess it's somewhat smart. If they picked any one character, it would make that character more "Special" than the others, which doesn't necessarily seem right in a game series where every player has their favorite or favorites.

Plus... guess who will probably be a new DLC character in the current MK game or the next one? Cole.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I guess it's somewhat smart. If they picked any one character, it would make that character more "Special" than the others, which doesn't necessarily seem right in a game series where every player has their favorite or favorites.

Not really, like it or not, fighting games do have a story, especially the major ones. Characters like Liu Kang, Sonya and Johnny ARE 'more special' than say... Striker and Nightwolf.

In Street Fighter, Ryu, Ken, Chun Li and Bison are 'more special' than Rainbow Mika and Rufus.

In Tekken, basically anyone related to the Mishima bloodline is 'more special' than anyone who isn't.

Come on now. It's not rocket science. I mean we're on a ****ing Ninja Turtles forum for Pete and Laird's sake. Obviously in a TMNT movie, the Turtles, April and Splinter are 'more special' than if Mondo Gecko or Garbage Man are in it.


One of these clowns probably wanted to see themselves into Mortal Kombat and did that via Cole or whatever.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Not really, like it or not, fighting games do have a story, especially the major ones. Characters like Liu Kang, Sonya and Johnny ARE 'more special' than say... Striker and Nightwolf.

In Street Fighter, Ryu, Ken, Chun Li and Bison are 'more special' than Rainbow Mika and Rufus.

In Tekken, basically anyone related to the Mishima bloodline is 'more special' than anyone who isn't.

To geeks who get wrapped up in the stories and animes of Street Fighter and Tekken and all of that. To everybody else who plays it makes no difference when you're playing 3 buddies or in the old days, beating foos in the arcade.

Come on now. It's not rocket science. I mean we're on a ****ing Ninja Turtles forum for Pete and Laird's sake.

If one were to ignore Crisler's Law, maybe.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by AquaParade

Sorry, I still think its blowing it out of proportion. Especially in regards to trashing the movie for it before seeing how it's handled.

Whatever you say, Mr. "I Refuse To Look At Spoilers".

I'm glad I did. Very glad. At least I won't be shouting "Ahh, WHAT the F*CK?!" at my TV when Certain Things happen that absolutely shouldn't happen and yet are happening anyway. They'll still annoy me, but not AS much, since I'll have made peace with it by then.

Again, I'm not saying the movie's gonna be bad automatically. I actually think it sounds good overall, aside from "Cole could 100% be a 'real' MK guy and the movie wouldn't change in any substantial way so they should have just done That instead rather than give people things to complain about." Outside of that, it actually reads better than I expected it to.

However, YOU said, repeatedly, "I don't think it's Cole's movie and I think people are overreacting," and I'm saying, "I know everything that happens in the movie and yeah, it IS His Movie, in all the important ways." So now you're saying "Well, even if it is, it doesn't bother me," and that's your prerogative to feel that way. I'm just saying, your "prediction" was incorrect, and when all's said and done a LOT of people are going to be upset at how much "shine" this guy gets considering he's a FAKE MK character. And in my opinion, justifiably so. This rando has NO business getting to kill off (Redacted). That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

I just hope we don't see nonsense in sequels like Cole handing Shao Kahn his ass single-handedly. That would be Alice levels right there.

Hah. Hah hah. Oh, my. Chewing through my tongue on this one. Given who Cole gets to kill off in THIS movie... "single-handedly", no less... let's just say, I wouldn't be shocked one bit. I would have said a few days ago, "Nah, that'd be too far, they won't go there..." Now... yeah, actually I'm gonna go ahead and predict that IF they do a sequel then that's more than likely going to happen. Like maybe he won't literally beat Shao Khan all by himself, but he'll definitely get the last blow in after all the other heroes have had their asses collectively kicked. Again, this movie already establishes him very strongly as That Guy.

They obviously want their made-up guy to be Very Important and it's pretty obvious how they're going to make that work. I actually can't wait to talk about this movie with you after it's over. I do think we're both going to like it in general... but ALL your worst fears about this Cole guy are 100% true from what I've seen, and I can't wait to hear your reactions.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Plus... guess who will probably be a new DLC character in the current MK game or the next one? Cole.

Oh, 100%. I'm betting that all has a lot to do with this. Some kinda Geoff Johns thing where some writer gets royalties based on this Cole character showing up in other media. So they give him a huge push in the movie to make sure that happens and then retrofit him into the "real" MK universe so the guy who created him gets to keep cashing big checks. Definitely something like that.
-------------

Honestly, having seen all the Spoilers, I do think it's gonna be good in general. But the flip side of that is, it actually sounds good to the point that without Cole, and with a "real" MK guy in his place, it sounds pretty much like it would be "perfect". So they COULD have made it "perfect", but they CHOSE to stop one foot short of being "perfect" just so they could cram an OC in there and make him The Main Character.

I can't help it. That's annoying! If you're that close to being "perfect", WHY purposely give anyone ANYTHING to whine about? Just Be Perfect!

I'm not even mad about the guy's backstory or his arc in the movie. Not entirely. Objectively it's not "bad" material. It's just that it really COULD have been Anyone Else and it still could have been The Exact Same Movie. Maybe Johnny Cage is related to _______ instead; it'd be a retcon made up just for the movie, but still. They absolutely, 100% did not NEED to use an OC for this movie for the movie's plot to be exactly the same.

That was a choice, it was done so some Hollywood writer can "make his mark on the mythos" and automatically force this movie into being Super Important to the franchise forevermore, and it simply wasn't necessary. Ten or twenty years from now, I very strongly predict that people will be saying "That was a really good MK movie... except for whatsisname, the made-up guy. What was THAT about?"

And I just wouldn't have gone there. I simply would have stuck to the lore As It Exists so that there'd be NOTHING to pick nits over at all.

Why these movie people insist on giving people things to get mad about when they don't HAVE to is beyond me.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

One of these clowns probably wanted to see themselves into Mortal Kombat and did that via Cole or whatever.

They wanted to force this movie into being Super Important to the mythos. Ten years from now, even if the movie is forgotten, Cole will still be in the games and this will be his First Appearance. So the guy who created him will still be getting royalties and people will still be talking about the movie even if it was otherwise forgettable.

That's 10000% why it's Cole and not Cage. Literally NO other reason.

Cole's character could literally be Mokap and the movie's plot would be 110% the same. Some Hollywood writer just wanted to put his "stamp" on the brand. No more, no less.

People can choose to not let that bother them. That's their prerogative. It's still a poor choice, for dumb reasons.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Whatever you say, Mr. "I Refuse To Look At Spoilers".

I'm glad I did. Very glad. At least I won't be shouting "Ahh, WHAT the F*CK?!" at my TV when Certain Things happen that absolutely shouldn't happen and yet are happening anyway. They'll still annoy me, but not AS much, since I'll have made peace with it by then.

Again, I'm not saying the movie's gonna be bad automatically. I actually think it sounds good overall, aside from "Cole could 100% be a 'real' MK guy and the movie wouldn't change in any substantial way so they should have just done That instead rather than give people things to complain about." Outside of that, it actually reads better than I expected it to.

However, YOU said, repeatedly, "I don't think it's Cole's movie and I think people are overreacting," and I'm saying, "I know everything that happens in the movie and yeah, it IS His Movie, in all the important ways." So now you're saying "Well, even if it is, it doesn't bother me," and that's your prerogative to feel that way. I'm just saying, your "prediction" was incorrect, and when all's said and done a LOT of people are going to be upset at how much "shine" this guy gets considering he's a FAKE MK character. And in my opinion, justifiably so. This rando has NO business getting to kill off (Redacted). That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!



Hah. Hah hah. Oh, my. Chewing through my tongue on this one. Given who Cole gets to kill off in THIS movie... "single-handedly", no less... let's just say, I wouldn't be shocked one bit. I would have said a few days ago, "Nah, that'd be too far, they won't go there..." Now... yeah, actually I'm gonna go ahead and predict that IF they do a sequel then that's more than likely going to happen. Like maybe he won't literally beat Shao Khan all by himself, but he'll definitely get the last blow in after all the other heroes have had their asses collectively kicked. Again, this movie already establishes him very strongly as That Guy.

They obviously want their made-up guy to be Very Important and it's pretty obvious how they're going to make that work. I actually can't wait to talk about this movie with you after it's over. I do think we're both going to like it in general... but ALL your worst fears about this Cole guy are 100% true from what I've seen, and I can't wait to hear your reactions.



Oh, 100%. I'm betting that all has a lot to do with this. Some kinda Geoff Johns thing where some writer gets royalties based on this Cole character showing up in other media. So they give him a huge push in the movie to make sure that happens and then retrofit him into the "real" MK universe so the guy who created him gets to keep cashing big checks. Definitely something like that.
-------------

Honestly, having seen all the Spoilers, I do think it's gonna be good in general. But the flip side of that is, it actually sounds good to the point that without Cole, and with a "real" MK guy in his place, it sounds pretty much like it would be "perfect". So they COULD have made it "perfect", but they CHOSE to stop one foot short of being "perfect" just so they could cram an OC in there and make him The Main Character.

I can't help it. That's annoying! If you're that close to being "perfect", WHY purposely give anyone ANYTHING to whine about? Just Be Perfect!

I'm not even mad about the guy's backstory or his arc in the movie. Not entirely. Objectively it's not "bad" material. It's just that it really COULD have been Anyone Else and it still could have been The Exact Same Movie. Maybe Johnny Cage is related to _______ instead; it'd be a retcon made up just for the movie, but still. They absolutely, 100% did not NEED to use an OC for this movie for the movie's plot to be exactly the same.

That was a choice, it was done so some Hollywood writer can "make his mark on the mythos" and automatically force this movie into being Super Important to the franchise forevermore, and it simply wasn't necessary. Ten or twenty years from now, I very strongly predict that people will be saying "That was a really good MK movie... except for whatsisname, the made-up guy. What was THAT about?"

And I just wouldn't have gone there. I simply would have stuck to the lore As It Exists so that there'd be NOTHING to pick nits over at all.

Why these movie people insist on giving people things to get mad about when they don't HAVE to is beyond me.

It's like I said, you and I can cast and plan out the perfect Street Fighter movie.... and decide randomly to have Gilbert Gottfried as Bison... and just let him do Gilbert Gottfried things rather than even try to pretend to be Bison.

It's like, why go through all the trouble to make things almost perfect... then take a few steps back just to I guess... purposely give people something to complain about? Just why?

Like I said, if the movie looked like ****, I would be annoyed but I wouldn't have cared as much cause the movie looked like **** anyways... but Mortal Kombat 2021 looks SO GOOD. Why purposely shoot yourself in the foot?

Like that whole fight sequence in the uncut trailer where Sub sliced Scorp across the leg and then he freezes the blood into a blade and stabs him with it, then creates an ice wall and chucks him into it.... that was ****ing sweet and right out of the sequences the modern MK games have. Like I was so SOLD on that. Why have that look so ****in awesome and sweet.... and then **** all over it with Cole?

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by Coola Yagami

Like that whole fight sequence in the uncut trailer where Sub sliced Scorp across the leg and then he freezes the blood into a blade and stabs him with it, then creates an ice wall and chucks him into it.... that was ****ing sweet and right out of the sequences the modern MK games have. Like I was so SOLD on that. Why have that look so ****in awesome and sweet.... and then **** all over it with Cole?

Ohhh just WAIT and see how important Cole is to THAT whole scene. I implore you to webcam your reaction as it happens in real-time. I NEED to see that!

It really is His Movie. In that everything important that happens, happens because of Cole. Even stuff he really has No Business Being Involved In because he's a FAKE MK character.

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Ohhh just WAIT and see how important Cole is to THAT whole scene. I implore you to webcam your reaction as it happens in real-time. I NEED to see that!

It really is His Movie. In that everything important that happens, happens because of Cole. Even stuff he really has No Business Being Involved In because he's a FAKE MK character.

ay dios mio....

[AquaParade]

I just don’t think featuring Cole as a POV makes this “Cole: Mortal Kombat”.
Center the story around him, whatever. For context, I wouldn’t consider the original Mk movie to be “Liu Kang: Mortal Kombat”, just because he gets the most focus. I don’t want to get hung up on semantic though.
As long as a few other characters are done a fair amount of Justice, it’s no biggie. From what I’m hearing, Scorpion is the standout character, even if he doesn’t get the cheesy finishing move in the final battle or whatever it is people are upset about.

Either way, at the end of the day, I can’t imagine getting upset about one character and the story of a Mortal Kombat movie. This isn’t Batman. And let me be clear, that I’m not disparaging Mortal Kombat, but it’s not the hokey story that matters

Oh no, let me guess: Cole is Scorpions son from the future and the whole tournament centers around his existence, or something else dumb. I mean, are you surprised? Mortal Kombat is about “Outworld” taking over earth, but only if they win a fighting tournament. Do I care what stupid lengths they go to in order to justify the tournament? Can’t say I really do, when it comes to this franchise.

[Leo656]

I mean... maybe he's the "standout" in the sense that the Scorpion/Sub-Zero fight is the thing everyone seems to be the most impressed with. And Hanzo (rather than "Scorpion") is sort of what drives the plot.

But as for "Scorpion"... he's honestly not in it very much. Like, at all. He shows up at a pivotal moment and what he does is a Big Deal, but... I think people might be surprised and perhaps even a little let down by how little the Scorpion character actually appears in this movie. Like, if you're waiting for him to show up and do stuff, and if that's what someone goes into the movie specifically looking for... well... You might even forget that he's supposed to be in it, by the time he actually finally shows up. It's very much a "Wonder Woman in BvS" kinda deal. Which doesn't mean he won't "steal the show" in a similar way to how Diana did. I'm just saying, Scorpion Fans should temper their expectations because he doesn't honestly get a ton of stuff to do, but what he DOES get to do is Big Stuff, so that's good.

Lots and LOTS of Kano, though, so... I mean, if you like Kano, then good for you, he's all over this bitch.

Ensemble casts are tough. But it does sound like most of the characters are handled rather well, which was always going to be the hardest thing to manage. A couple of the villains sound like they're only there to get killed off and don't get jack sh*t to do otherwise, but that's pretty much unavoidable in this kind of movie.

Originally Posted by AquaParade

Either way, at the end of the day, I can’t imagine getting upset about one character and the story of a Mortal Kombat movie. This isn’t Batman. And let me be clear, that I’m not disparaging Mortal Kombat, but it’s not the hokey story that matters

Oh no, let me guess: Cole is Scorpions son from the future and the whole tournament centers around his existence, or something else dumb. I mean, are you surprised? Mortal Kombat is about “Outworld” taking over earth, but only if they win a fighting tournament. Do I care what stupid lengths they go to in order to justify the tournament? Can’t say I really do, when it comes to this franchise.

- First off, this is very strange sentiment coming from you in particular. I mean, by this logic you should have LOVED "Godzilla vs. Kong". You're coming dangerously close to sounding like one of those "As long as the monkey punches the dinosaur I don't care about anything else" kinds of people that You and I both apparently despise. I'm not thrilled by this sort of "Dumb Things Can be Dumb Because Franchise Is Dumb Anyway" sort of mentality. You're usually not like that. What gives?

Like, you say you're not "disparaging" MK, but in the same breath you do kinda say "It's all stupid, anyway", which... well, it's confusing.

- I'm not honestly even sure, by this point, if you're a "fan" or not of MK. But the whole Cole thing is about respecting the audience and not insisting, as a writer, that "subverting expectations" is ever a Good Thing. Because frankly, it's usually not. I know you're generally all "Change For Change's Sake Is Awesome", but a lot of people simply don't agree.

People who are fans of the franchise would simply prefer that a "real" MK character be the movie's central protagonist, and not some made-up rando. It's simply disrespectful of the writer(s) to go against that for dumb reasons. And again, when you see the movie and how "Cole" is utilized, you're gonna have an even harder time trying to explain why it "couldn't" have just been a Real MK character in his place. It absolutely, 100% could have been Anyone Else and it wouldn't have changed anything... EXCEPT, fans now would have nothing to whine about.

WHY piss people off on purpose when you don't have to? To "troll" the audience? "Subvert expectations"? That's stupid. And it's not a choice worth defending. Willfully annoying your fanbase is Bad Business, plain and simple. Do It Right or stay home.

It's just Different for Different's Sake. And it disrespects the audience, and it's dumb. You're allowed to not care, but it doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with the larger number of people who DO.

- ...You're actually not all that far off on Cole. It's not exactly that, but pretty close!

[AquaParade]

Every review I read has a variation of this line...

"Fittingly, while there isn’t all that much narrative meat to it, it’s Scorpion and Sub-Zero’s tale that forms the spine of this film, from start to finish"

Not too worried about the character focus.

[sdp]

Scorpion wasn't even that important in the beginning of the franchise, Liu Kang was always meant to be the hero and that's why a boring hero like Ryu who canonically beat the boss in MK1,2&3. Scorpion didn't even make the roster for MK3, he wasn't considered essential. After that they decided to go with Sub-Zero as their "anti-hero" and face of the franchise in a way but it wasn't until the 2000's when Liu Kang was made irrelevant and Sub/Scorpion the face of the franchise and Scorpion over Sub only starting with the reboot.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

The budget seems to be 40-50 million. So it'll need to crack 100 million domestically for sure, be it theaters and however they calculate HBO Max numbers.

At&t doesn't care about any of that, they care about sub numbers, even if Warner Media doesn't want to make a sequel if at&t does they will.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by sdp

Scorpion wasn't even that important in the beginning of the franchise, Liu Kang was always meant to be the hero and that's why a boring hero like Ryu who canonically beat the boss in MK1,2&3. Scorpion didn't even make the roster for MK3, he wasn't considered essential. After that they decided to go with Sub-Zero as their "anti-hero" and face of the franchise in a way but it wasn't until the 2000's when Liu Kang was made irrelevant and Sub/Scorpion the face of the franchise and Scorpion over Sub only starting with the reboot.

Scorpion was getting into prominence after classic games, starting with MK4, by Deadly Alliance he has become "face of the series". One of the first promo materials regrading MK5 was Scorpion render with number 5 and render where he fights Jax.

Sub-Zero was considered relevant enough to get his own game (MK Mythologies), which served as a prequel to MK4.

Even though Liu Kang was the protagonist of the series, but, I guess, even developers didn't consider him popular enough, since he was not focus of promo materials, even back in the MK3 days.

[sdp]

Originally Posted by Sumac

Scorpion was getting into prominence after classic games, starting with MK4, by Deadly Alliance he has become "face of the series". One of the first promo materials regrading MK5 was Scorpion render with number 5 and render where he fights Jax.

Sub-Zero was considered relevant enough to get his own game (MK Mythologies), which served as a prequel to MK4.

Even though Liu Kang was the protagonist of the series, but, I guess, even developers didn't consider him popular enough, since he was not focus of promo materials, even back in the MK3 days.

Liu Kang was definitely pushed as the hero of the franchise, you can see this in all the Mortal Kombat shows / movies in the 90s, he was also the canon winner of MK 4 IIRC. Sub Zero began the anti-hero route since MK3 when he "unmasked" and they gave him more of a backstory and scorpion was not even featured there. Heck the only reason Scorpion got a lot more attention was to have Sub-Zero have a better enemy.

MK 5 is definitely when they tried to go a different direction, they kill Liu Kang, and give more focus to Sub / Scorp but it really wasn't until MK9 reboot that they pretty much stopped caring about Sub-Zero and made it all about Scorpion, even the studio's logo is just Scorpion now. Hell we just got a re-telling of the MK 1 tournament through Scorpion's perspective like 2 years ago


I like Scorpion but they've focused too much on him the last 11 years, they even made him an anti-hero you're supposed to cheer for instead of a tragic villain you're supposed to feel bad for but understand he's evil.

[AquaParade]

The popularity between the two of them has always been pretty split down the middle though.

I liked the color blue, and thus a lifelong fan of Sub-Zero was born when the original games came out.
Scorpion is cool too though. Ninja with a flaming skull - what more could a 90's kid want?