| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% Characterization tags (using exclamation marks to describe different versions of characters) are not allowed on this wiki. |
| 3 | %% For example, instead of "Past!Sonya", please just say "Past Sonya" |
| 4 | %% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CharacterizationTags |
| 5 | %% |
| 6 | ! This page contains unmarked spoilers for both ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' and ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX''. Read at your own risk. |
| 7 | [[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mk11.png]] |
| 8 | [[caption-width-right:320:''[[{{Tagline}} You're]] [[CallBack next.]]'' [[note]]Also, [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Scorpion is about to make you]] '''[[CatchPhrase GET OVER HERE!]]'''[[/note]]]] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | -> ''"This... was not your destiny, Shinnok. Once again, the thunder god has upset the balance of history. But know this: the arc of the universe bends to ''my'' will. It is only a matter... of '''time'''."'' |
| 11 | -->-- '''Kronika''', Story Mode Prologue |
| 12 | |
| 13 | ''Mortal Kombat 11'' is the eleventh official FightingGame entry in the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' series, which was released on April 23, 2019 for Platform/PlayStation4, Platform/XboxOne and PC, and also the Platform/NintendoSwitch, being the first ''[=MK=]'' since ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon Armageddon]]'' to release on a Nintendo platform. It is the GrandFinale to the franchise's second continuity, which began with 2011's ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 Mortal Kombat]]'' and continued with 2015's ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX''. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | Following the defeat of Shinnok in ''X'', an ancient goddess by the name of Kronika appears and declares that she will set right the damage Raiden has done to the proper course of history... by siding with the evil {{Revenant}}s of Netherrealm and other villains to wipe out the current timeline and create a new one. With the realms converging in a TimeCrash that spells Armageddon for all, past and future versions of the forces of Light find themselves teaming up to stop Kronika before it's too late. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Along with previous series improvements, ''11'' introduces a much deeper customization system, similar to the one introduced in ''VideoGame/Injustice2'': not only can each character's move set be radically changed with the new Custom Variation system, but their equipment and accessories can also be modified to create a unique look. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | On May 6, 2020, the ''Aftermath'' DLC was announced, revealing that Shang Tsung has decided to get involved in the immediate aftermath of the "Normal" ending, with several other returning characters involved. It was released on May 26, 2020. An UpdatedRerelease, ''Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate'', which bundles the game and all its DLC, was released on November 17, 2020, and brought the game to the Platform/PlayStation5 and the Platform/XboxSeriesXAndS. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | This game is followed by ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1''. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[folder:Roster]] |
| 24 | |
| 25 | ''Italics'' indicates DLC.\ |
| 26 | |
| 27 | * From '''''VideoGame/MortalKombat1992''''': [[Characters/MortalKombatHanzoHasashi Scorpion]], [[Characters/MortalKombatLiuKang Liu Kang]], [[Characters/MortalKombatRaiden Raiden]], [[Characters/MortalKombatJohnnyCage Johnny Cage]], [[DrillSergeantNasty Sonya Blade]], Kano, ''[[Characters/MortalKombatShangTsung Shang Tsung]]'' |
| 28 | * From '''''VideoGame/MortalKombatII''''': [[Characters/MortalKombatKuaiLiang Sub-Zero II]], [[ArrogantKungFuGuy Kung Lao]], [[AllAmericanFace Jax]], [[Characters/MortalKombatKitana Kitana]], [[BladeBelowTheShoulder Baraka]], [[EmeraldPower Jade]], [[Characters/MortalKombatBiHan Noob Saibot]], ''[[Characters/MortalKombatShao Shao Kahn]]'', ''[[Characters/MortalKombatMileena Mileena]]'' |
| 29 | * From '''''VideoGame/MortalKombat3''''': [[GasMaskMook Kabal]], ''[[BadassNative Nightwolf]]'', ''[[TheVamp Sindel]]'', ''[[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Sheeva]]'', ''[[TheEvilPrince Rain]]'' |
| 30 | * From '''''VideoGame/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero''''': ''[[BlowYouAway Fujin]]'' |
| 31 | * From '''''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance''''': [[CyberNinja Frost]] |
| 32 | * From '''''VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse''''': ''ComicBook/TheJoker'' |
| 33 | * From '''''VideoGame/MortalKombat9''''': [[BloodMagic Skarlet]] |
| 34 | * From '''''VideoGame/MortalKombatX''''': [[TheSwarm D'Vorah]], [[GunsAkimbo Cassie Cage]], [[ArmCannon Jacqui Briggs]], [[TheGunslinger Erron Black]], Kotal Kahn |
| 35 | * New to '''''Mortal Kombat 11''''': [[TimeMaster Geras]], [[MotherNature Cetrion]], [[{{Greed}} Kollector]], [[TimeMaster Kronika]][[note]]Boss only[[/note]] |
| 36 | * {{Guest Fighter}}s: ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}'', ''[[Franchise/{{Terminator}} T-800]]'', ''[[Film/RoboCop1987 [=RoboCop=]]]'', ''[[Franchise/{{Rambo}} John Rambo]]'' |
| 37 | |
| 38 | [[/folder]] |
| 39 | |
| 40 | [[folder:Trailers]] |
| 41 | * Gameplay: [[https://youtu.be/Ve9k3IiFu88 Jan 17, 2019 Gameplay Trailer]], [[https://youtu.be/XUi9C2uKM6o Jan 17, 2019 Fatalities Teaser]], [[https://youtu.be/NPBHbj317ro Jan 17, 2019, Official Gameplay Walkthrough]] |
| 42 | * Story Mode: [[https://youtu.be/-fJ69JHA7M4 Story Mode Prologue]], [[https://youtu.be/jPeVbTD63aw Official Story Trailer]], [[https://youtu.be/wOoHebQdO8o Old Skool vs. New Skool Trailer]] |
| 43 | * Characters: [[https://youtu.be/Vn1K95JEXN0 Sonya Blade]], [[https://youtu.be/mGriZJq7nKg Geras]], [[https://youtu.be/7vKe7VCNYLQ Kabal]], [[https://youtu.be/0fMX6h2LvMY Jade]], [[https://youtu.be/mv6Dskj2VC0 Johnny Cage]], [[https://youtu.be/RlDVm5FQowU Cassie Cage]], [[https://youtu.be/H3FqG2Cfpk4 Kotal Kahn]], [[https://youtu.be/XKRYhxfWzBk Noob Saibot]], [[https://youtu.be/umyZkBdKtqg Cetrion]], [[https://youtu.be/U3Eq1KocmIw Kollector]], [[https://youtu.be/Lth16BagVjQ Kitana]], [[https://youtu.be/lCpprZDvDmo Shao Kahn]] |
| 44 | * Other: [[https://youtu.be/UoTams2yc0s Announcement trailer]], [[https://youtu.be/cRF6MA5Nlzk Official Behind The Scenes]], [[https://youtu.be/7zwQPJmg-Kg Official Launch Trailer]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vALW_bvFXN0 The Epic Saga Continues teaser trailer]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFOG_IMK4kQ "Aftermath" DLC Reveal Trailer]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aRmP509Ook "Aftermath" DLC Launch Trailer]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WveIrH4efjg Kombat Pack 2 Reveal Trailer]] |
| 45 | [[/folder]] |
| 46 | ---- |
| 47 | !! See also |
| 48 | * [[DevelopersForesight/MortalKombat the Franchise's Developers' Foresight page]] |
| 49 | * [[ShoutOut/MortalKombat the Franchise's Shout Out page]] |
| 50 | ---- |
| 51 | !! This game shows examples of: |
| 52 | |
| 53 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 54 | |
| 55 | [[folder:General Tropes]] |
| 56 | * ActorAllusion: The game reuses some of the voice actors from ''VideoGame/Injustice2'', and this gets alluded in some intros: |
| 57 | ** ComicBook/TheAtom (voiced by Creator/MatthewYangKing) compares himself and ComicBook/{{Vixen}} (voiced by Creator/MegalynEchikunwoke) to Jacqui and Takeda during one of their pre-battle intros, only for the reference to [[PopCulturalOsmosisFailure go right over Vixen's head.]] In ''11'', and not only does Echikunwoke voice Jacqui herself, but King lends his voice to Liu Kang. |
| 58 | ** Raiden tells ComicBook/{{Starfire}} that she reminds him of Sindel. In ''11'', her voice actress, Creator/KariWahlgren, voices Kitana, Sindel's daughter. Kitana, like Starfire, is also a WarriorPrincess, [[CainAndAbel with sibling issues]] and an InterspeciesRomance with human hero. |
| 59 | ** ComicBook/PowerGirl calls Sub-Zero "Frosty". Her voice actress, Sara Cravens, voices Frost, and is called Frosty by both Erron Black and Johnny Cage. |
| 60 | ** There's also a subversion: Raiden says ComicBook/BlackCanary reminds him of Sindel [[MakeMeWannaShout for obvious reasons]]. In ''11'', Black Canary's voice actress, Creator/VanessaMarshall, does not voice Sindel, but she does voice Sheeva. |
| 61 | * {{Afrofuturism}}: In Jax's ending, he uses Kronika's hourglass to reshape history into one where African people was never enslaved, which results in a GoodFuture with heavy African influences. |
| 62 | * AmbidextrousSprite: Most visible during the intro to mirror matches, but even during combat. For example, Scorpion always holds his Kunai and has his sword on the side facing the player, no matter if he's facing left or right. Characters who jump over character actually "mirror" mid jump, with any carried weapons switching from one hand to the other. The main aversion is Johnny Cage's chest tattoo which does not flip so as to remain legible no matter what side he's on. Kano also retains his eye on the right side of his body, no matter how he's facing. |
| 63 | * AndImTheQueenOfSheba: A pre-fight banter between Cassie Cage and ComicBook/{{Spawn}} has the latter clarify that he's King of Hell, the former responding she's "Queen Shit of Fuck Mountain". |
| 64 | * AndIMustScream: If you reach Kronika in the Arcade mode but don't defeat her, her fatality has her kill your character not once, but ''multiple times''. Endlessly snapping their back, ripping them in half, flaying them, and reversing the damage. Over and over. Unlike other fatalities in this game the animation continues into the character win prompts. And they are continuously screaming, meaning they're ''still conscious'' through all of this. As if fatalities couldn't get any worse. |
| 65 | * AnimalisticAbilities: [[MagicalNativeAmerican Nightwolf]] can borrow power from two animal spirits, the wolf and the bear. The wolf increases his strength and attack power while the bear increases his resistance to damage. |
| 66 | * AntiRageQuitting: Quitalities are back, except this time either the quitter's whole body explodes, or they're impaled. |
| 67 | * ApeShallNeverKillApe: D'Vorah assures this is the case with her insectile race, making a comparison with how insects work in contrast to how all humans and humanoids always find an enemy. |
| 68 | * ArmoredVillainsUnarmoredHeroes: The default Revenant skins are visibly a lot more armored than their living selves's default outfits. |
| 69 | * ArtEvolution: Although still running under the heavily modified [[MediaNotes/GameEngine Unreal Engine 3]], the style used for ''11'' is less stylized than previous games, giving the characters more realistic facial features and expressions (including bringing in models to use as character face scans rather than creating them from scratch). The "[=GoreTech=]" also improves the viscera over previous installments as well. |
| 70 | * ArtificialLimbs: Jax has his metal arms as usual and alternate costumes give similar cybernetics to several other characters. |
| 71 | * ArtisticLicenseBiology: In one intro dialogue, D'Vorah chastises Scorpion for imitating an insect. Scorpions are arachnids. You'd think [[BigCreepyCrawlies D'Vorah]], of literally all people, would be aware of this. |
| 72 | * AssistCharacter: |
| 73 | ** Some Konsumables in the Towers of Time mode allows the player to summon either a character to assist with the fight, or a specific power from another character. For example, the Skull of the Specter can be used to summon Scorpion, while the Cyber Snare summons one of Cyrax's nets from offscreen. |
| 74 | ** Johnny Cage is able to call his actual stunt double to put his opponent in a full nelson hold, rendering them open to attacks. |
| 75 | ** Noob Saibot is back with his shadow clone, which he can use to attack enemies from a distance and which plays a considerable role in his Fatal Blow and Fatality. |
| 76 | * AttackDrone: Cassie makes use of an attack drone in this game. And both she and Sonya use their drones in some of their [[FinishingMove fatalities]]. |
| 77 | * AutomaticCrossbows: Fujin adds a [[XtremelyKoolLetterz krossbow]] to his arsenal. Normally it works like a normal one, firing one arrow when you use the correct move (or two if you use some of your attack gauge to amplify the move) but it plays it straight during his Fatal Blow, where he proceeds to shoot a veritable volley of arrows at the oponent's body. It can be justified as Fujin is the [[PhysicalGod God]] of [[BlowYouAway wind]]. |
| 78 | * BadassBoast: Happens during at least two intros quotes between Nightwolf and Shang Tsung. In one, Shang Tsung remarks that he has put down Nightwolves before. The opponent responds that he is a new breed. In another, Shang Tsung mentions finishing the opponent's predecessor with a FlawlessVictory. |
| 79 | * BadIsGoodAndGoodIsBad: A pre-match dialogue between Jade and Mileena suggests the latter has this view. |
| 80 | -->'''Mileena''': My sister is now Kahn?! |
| 81 | -->'''Jade''': And she rules Outworld justly and with grace. |
| 82 | -->'''Mileena''': How dare she destroy my empire! |
| 83 | * BadPresent: A major theme of the story. |
| 84 | ** Every character that becomes a revenant is both shocked and horrified by this outcome and vows not to let it happen to them -- including, ironically, the revenants themselves. Past Kabal, in fact, joins Kronika to avoid it. |
| 85 | ** Raiden is determined not to become his Dark counterpart, and to avoid the conflict between himself and Liu Kang. |
| 86 | ** Averted with Kano, who is ''thrilled'' about the future. He's proud to see himself still hale and hearty as ever, and he's even more happy to hear that Sonya is dead. |
| 87 | ** Jax is the most prominent victim of this trope. His life has completely fallen apart by his PTSD, the death of his wife, and his horror that his daughter is in the Special Forces (which he blames himself for causing). He temporarily joins Kronika to try and prevent this future. Jacqui is conflicted, because [[ForWantOfANail if not for her father's pain and suffering]], she wouldn't exist. |
| 88 | * BadWithTheBone: [[BladeBelowTheShoulder Baraka's]] arm blades are retractable bony protrusions by default. They still slice as good as the metallic ones, though. |
| 89 | * BagOfKidnapping: One of the victory animations for the Kollector has him somehow drag his opponent's unconscious body in the backpack and starts walking away with it. Given some of the threats and implications he gives in some of his dialogue (including turning Cassie into a BreedingSlave for his clients), [[FateWorseThanDeath this is a far worse fate than a fatality]]. |
| 90 | * BeingGoodSucks: Liu Kang's arcade ending has him using his power over [[BigBad Kronika's]] hourglass to replace the Elder Gods Cetrion betrayed with himself, Kitana, Kung Lao, Raiden, and Bo' Rai Cho. But by doing so, [[StarCrossedLovers he gives up any chance of him and Kitana ever living a normal life]]. And to drive home the bitterness of this ending, Liu Kang ponders what could have been and sees himself and Kitana, both still mortals, getting married. He even says that being TheChosenOne and doing the right thing means [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne making choices that break your heart]]. |
| 91 | * BigNo: Every Character does this when being scanned by Cassie Cage’s Drone Pre Groin Attack in her Forward Throw. |
| 92 | * BizarreAndImprobableBallistics: With Erron Black around it should be expected (with him whipping out his trusty coins to bounce bullets into his opponent's eyes during his Fatal Blow) but Cassie gets in on it too where one of her attacks sees her shoot at her own drone, which will ricochet the bullet towards the opponent's legs. |
| 93 | * BlindfoldedVision: In Krypt mode, the player can find Kenshi's Blindfold. Putting on the blindfold lets you see secrets such as breakable walls and invisible treasure chests. There are two downsides: first, wearing the blindfold gradually consumes Soul Fragments (which are also used as a currency in other areas of the game), and second, [[JumpScare ghosts will occasionally jump out and attack you]]. |
| 94 | * BloodierAndGorier: With the new game engine, the developers have the gore and blood splatters looking much more detailed and brutal in comparison to [=MKX=]. The fatalities now end on the final hit and slow down to show off all the work on the evisceration of the unlucky loser. Fatal Blows (This game's equivalent of the X-Ray moves) likewise show off much more painful details on the strikes. |
| 95 | * BloodySmile: As a reference to the [[Film/Joker2019 2019 movie]], one of ComicBook/TheJoker's intros is to pick a knife and cut his finger so he can paint his trademark smile in red while using [[BladeReflection the same knife as mirror]]. |
| 96 | * BludgeonedToDeath: One of Kano's fatalities has him smash the opponent's head with his own, the final hit [[YourHeadAsplode causing the victim's head to split apart.]] |
| 97 | * BorrowingFromTheSisterSeries: Brings in the CharacterCustomization system from Netherrealm Studios sister series ''VideoGame/Injustice2'', as well as its multi-character chapters for the Story Mode, the use of a numeric value to represent the character health, an {{Overcrank}} effect for both [[FinishingMove Fatalities]] and {{Victory Pose}}s (save certain outros), and arcade-mode endings narrated by the character in question. |
| 98 | * BrainFood: Baraka seems to have developed a taste for gray matter... His Brutality win pose has him pull out a brain and munch on it as a snack, and one of his Fatalities ends with him removing the brain from his unfortunate opponent's skull with his Tarkatan blades and eating it like skewered meat. |
| 99 | * BreakingOldTrends: |
| 100 | ** With the development cycle completed, it's safe to say that this is the first 2D based ''MK'' game without a playable version of [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1992 The Pit]]. And no, the one in the Krypt doesn't count. |
| 101 | ** Also the first mainline game without a MidBoss in the arcade mode, with ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'' following suit. Past games had [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1992 Goro]], [[VideoGame/MortalKombatII Kintaro]], [[VideoGame/MortalKombat3 Motaro]], [[VideoGame/MortalKombat4 Goro again]], [[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance Moloch]][[note]]Before the SequentialBoss of the titular Deadly Alliance.[[/note]], [[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception Noob-Smoke]], [[VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon all previous bosses and sub-bosses plus Sheeva]], [[VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse Shao Kahn or Darkseid]], [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 Goro and/or Kintaro]], and [[VideoGame/MortalKombatX Goro again]]. Here, you fight someone else prior to Kronika in the Towers of Time's Klassic Towers mode. |
| 102 | * BrickJoke: In one of Kano's intros against Skarlet, he asks if she wants to taste [[DoubleEntendre Australia's best blood sausage]]. In ''Aftermath'', Kano's Friendship consists of him barbecuing sausages. |
| 103 | * TheBusCameBack: |
| 104 | ** After being completely absent from [[VideoGame/MortalKombatX the last game]], Jade, Noob Saibot, Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn, Sindel, and Nightwolf return as playable fighters - with Shao Kahn being notable for being his first playable appearance outside of updated titles and DreamMatchGame entries. |
| 105 | ** Skarlet, Kabal, and Baraka also come back after sitting out ''X'' - as a comicbook-exclusive character, cutscene character and an unplayable Story Mode opponent, respectively. |
| 106 | ** This is the first time that Frost has been playable since ''Armageddon''. |
| 107 | ** Friendships, the LighterAndSofter alternative to Fatalities that appeared in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII'' and ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'', returns in a free update alongside the ''Aftermath'' DLC. |
| 108 | * CactusCushion: The Desert Base stage features a large cactus at the left corner. Interacting with it makes the character grab the opponent and bloodily drag their face across the cactus before throwing them away. |
| 109 | * CastingGag: |
| 110 | ** Kano this time is voiced by Creator/JBBlanc, who had previously voiced another [[https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Saxton_Hale hairy chested shirtless Australian]]. He also voiced [[VideoGame/{{Titanfall}} Kuben]] [[VideoGame/ApexLegends Blisk]], another distinctly-accented, knife-wielding mercenary leader. |
| 111 | ** Sindel is now voiced by Mara Junot who gets to play another [[ComicBook/StormMarvelComics white haired]] [[VideoGame/{{MarvelUltimateAlliance3TheBlackOrder}} super powered queen]]. |
| 112 | ** Creator/SteveBlum voices Baraka, who once voice matched a [[VideoGame/XMenOriginsWolverine pre-Barakapool]] Creator/RyanReynolds [[Film/XMenOriginsWolverine before he got his mouth sewn shut]]. In hindsight, it doubles as a TakeThat moment. |
| 113 | ** Creator/MaryElizabethMcGlynn voices Cetrion, but it would not be the first time she portrayed [[Literature/VampireHunterD a green-haired woman with apparent powers over nature]]. |
| 114 | * ChainsawGood: One of the interactive objects in the Black Dragon Fight Klub stage is a chainsaw that can be used on the opponent's gut. |
| 115 | * CharacterCustomization: Customization is much more in-depth than any previous ''Mortal Kombat'' game. Taking a cue from ''VideoGame/Injustice2'', you can customize a character's equipment as well as their moves. |
| 116 | * ChildOfTwoWorlds: In her tower ending, Kitana uses the power of Kronika's Hourglass to restore her home realm of Edenia, only to find it and its culture completely foreign to her, and realizes that while she may be an Edenian by nature, she's an Outworlder by upbringing. Kitana decides to [[spoiler:return to ruling Outworld, but using Edenian ideals to do so]]. |
| 117 | * CombatStilettos: All the Edenian women sport tall heels, in a subtle way of differentiating them from the otherwise indistinguishable Earthrealm women. In some cases, it even figures in to their Fatal Blow and/or X-ray attacks. |
| 118 | * ComebackMechanic: |
| 119 | ** The game replaces X-Ray moves with Fatal Blows, which do almost the same thing but can only be activated when you're at 30% or lower health instead of taking your whole meter. Once you land one, you can't use it for the rest of the match. |
| 120 | ** Film/TheTerminator has an equippable skill that revived him on death on his last round with his skin burnt off to reveal his exoskeleton with 10% health and permanent super armor. Unfortunately, [[PowerUpLetdown it disables his special moves, normal strings, and even basic functions like running and blocking]]. |
| 121 | * ContinuityNod: In regards to the rebooted timeline: |
| 122 | ** One of Skarlet's brutalities reenacts her "Make It Rain!" Fatality from ''9''. |
| 123 | ** After executing a Brutality, one of Sub-Zero's lines can be "This fight was your last", referencing his intro quote from ''9''. He can also say "Ability... to freeze", a reference to [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie the movie]] and ''VideoGame/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero''. |
| 124 | ** Jade's fatality (in which she impales the loser through the head with her staff, slices off their lower half and then spins it around the staff) is a call back to her ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' VictoryPose, where she twirled around her staff like a pole dancer. |
| 125 | ** Johnny Cage's Fatal Blow has him use an award statuette for the final hit, referencing his second fatality from ''[=MK9=]''. He also bludgeons his opponent and then impales them in the head with it in a brutality, again a nod to the same fatality. |
| 126 | ** One of Jade's staff customizations is named "Mournful Staff of X" in reference to Kitana using Jade's weapons in her Mournful variation in X. |
| 127 | ** One of Johnny and Kung Lao's intro references the WhatsHeGotThatIAintGot scene from ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'',this time about Liu Kang, and with Kung Lao providing the exact same answer he did in ''9''. |
| 128 | ** As Takeda doesn't appear in the proper Story Mode, most of the pre-fight banter between Scorpion and Jacqui confirms that she and Takeda (a Shirai Ryu) are indeed an OfficialCouple coming off the ShipTease in ''MKX'', and that it's really serious by ''11''. |
| 129 | -->'''Scorpion''': You plan to marry my ''chujin''. |
| 130 | -->'''Jacqui''': Takeda got smart and [[Music/{{Beyonce}} put a ring on it.]] |
| 131 | -->'''Scorpion''': First, prove you are worthy. |
| 132 | * CoolVersusAwesome: |
| 133 | ** Wanna see an UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny between Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger versus Creator/CaryHiroyukiTagawa? This is the place you can have it the closest.[[note]]While Cary personally voiced Shang Tsung himself, Arnie did not voice the Terminator, but he personally had a hand in casting Chris Cox in his iconic role, and Cox himself provided Arnie's accent well enough and the model likeness with the actor is still retained.[[/note]] |
| 134 | ** While not exactly the same as Spawn vs. Batman, you can still pit Spawn against [[ComicBook/TheJoker Batman's arch-enemy.]] |
| 135 | ** Similar to how ''Mortal Kombat X'' allowed fans to relive ''Franchise/AlienVsPredator'' due to both being {{Guest Fighter}}s, ''11'' as of the ''Aftermath'' DLC gives fans a similar opportunity with ''ComicBook/RoboCopVersusTheTerminator''. |
| 136 | ** With the Kombat Pack 2 DLC bringing in [[Franchise/{{Rambo}} John Rambo]], you can now have ''another'' UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny between Arnold Schwarzenegger and Creator/SylvesterStallone. |
| 137 | * CreatorCameo: One of Cassie's pre-fight intros has her texting a friend on her smartphone. One of the random friends she can be seen talking to is labeled "Vogel," as in longtime MK developer John Vogel. Another is Beran as in Steve Beran, another longtime MK mainstay and finally, another she can get a text from is "noobde", which is, of course, Ed Boon himself (it's his name spelled backward and his real-life Twitter handle.) |
| 138 | * DeadGuyPuppet: One of Johnny Cage's Fatalities involves him shoving his arm into his opponent's body and tearing off their torso. And then [[RefugeInAudacity he starts using it in a ventriloquist act]], complete with a DramaticSpotlight! |
| 139 | -->'''"Opponent"''': What did you do, Johnny? |
| 140 | -->'''Johnny''': Just what you asked! |
| 141 | -->'''"Opponent"''': Not what I meant by "[[{{Pun}} the splits]]"! |
| 142 | -->''([[LamePunReaction Crowd boos Johnny]] and [[ProducePelting throws tomatoes at him, with one of them hitting the corpse]])'' |
| 143 | * DeathByCameo: |
| 144 | ** One of the stages is Goro's Lair with what appears to be his corpse on his throne along with the corpse of [[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance Moloch]] and his ball and chain beside him. |
| 145 | ** In a variant, Shinnok's living head appears as a captive in a new stage. |
| 146 | ** One of Erron Black's intros has him throw down a sack holding Hsu Hao's head. |
| 147 | ** [[spoiler:Kenshi and Ermac's corpses can be found throughout the Krypt.]] Strangely, Kano's skeleton can also be found despite him being a playable character. |
| 148 | * DemographicDissonantCrossover: In a reversal of ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'' (a T-rated game) featuring Scorpion, ''Mortal Kombat 11'' features the Joker, whose ''Batman'' games have typically been rated T. To fit the dark, bloody tone of the game, Joker's portrayal as a cold criminal is done much more explicitly. |
| 149 | * DesperationAttack: Fatal Blows are cinematic super moves, replacing the X-Ray Attacks. They can only be used when your health is below 30%, and only once per match (though if they miss or are blocked, they instead go on cooldown). |
| 150 | * DifficultButAwesome: Kitana's main gimmick. She's a really useful and powerful character but mastering her and her many complicated combos is really hard. |
| 151 | * DittoFighter: Shang Tsung, [[{{Shapeshifting}} of course]]. |
| 152 | ** Much like in ''[=MK9=]'', he has a command grab that lets him transform into his opponent, with full control over their moveset. |
| 153 | ** His Fatal Blow has him morphing into Sub Zero, Scorpion and Noob Saibot, in that order, showing off their signature abilities with each hit. |
| 154 | ** Part of his moveset involves momentarily morphing into Reptile, Ermac, Smoke, and Rain to perform one of their special moves. This is a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], however, as these fighters' moves are exclusive to Shang Tsung. |
| 155 | * DramaticSpineInjury: Towards the climax of the game, a battle between [[TheCaligula Shao Kahn]] and his somewhat RedeemingReplacement Kotal Kahn ends with Shao overpowering Kotal, lifting him above his head, and breaking his spine over his shoulders. Whilst Kotal survives this (primarily because [[spoiler:Kitana defeats Shao and [[EyeScream slashes out his eyes]] before he can kill Kotal]]), his crippling serves as a CareerEndingInjury, so Kotal decides to AbdicateTheThrone of Outworld in favour of [[spoiler:Kitana]], who he trusts to be an even better ruler than him. |
| 156 | * DownloadableContent: |
| 157 | ** The game has the following downloadable characters: Shao Kahn, ComicBook/TheJoker, ComicBook/{{Spawn}}, Nightwolf, Shang Tsung, Sindel and Franchise/{{Terminator}}. |
| 158 | ** In 2020, an expansion subtitled ''Aftermath'' was released, which adds to the game's story and also comes along with the characters Fujin, Sheeva and Franchise/RoboCop. It also adds Friendships, the Klassic costumes for Kitana, Jade and Skarlet, and two sets of Summer and Halloween costumes. |
| 159 | ** A third expansion added Mileena, Rain and Franchise/{{Rambo}} to the roster. |
| 160 | ** Several special skins can be bought separately, including a set of Ninja Mime skins for Johnny Cage, DC characters-based skins, the Klassic Arcade skins for Kano, Kung Lao, Jax, Sub-Zero, Scorpion and Noob Saibot, and MK movie-based skins for Johnny Cage, Raiden and Sonya. |
| 161 | * EXSpecialAttack: Return from ''[=MK9=]'' and ''[=MKX=]''. This time, there are separate offensive and defensive stamina meters that automatically regenerate over time, so you don't have to sacrifice your ComboBreaker to use them. |
| 162 | * EyeScream: Some characters go for the eyes in certain moves. |
| 163 | ** Scorpion's Fatal Blow starts with him jamming two kunai into his opponent's eyes and then precedes to yank them around by the attached chains. |
| 164 | ** One of Sub-Zero's fatalities ends with him throwing his opponent's head (with the spine still attached, natch) onto an ice clone's spear, taking out an eye in so doing. |
| 165 | ** One of Skarlet's fatalities has her run the opponent through with several spikes made from their own crystallized blood; one of them ends up in their eye. She then finishes them off by pushing that spike all the way through their skull, with the eyeball still stuck to it. |
| 166 | ** One of Kabal’s fatalities has him drag the opponent on the floor with his hook sword so fast their eyes fall out from the damage. |
| 167 | ** Jade's hits the opponent in the eye with her staff in her throw and impales the opponent through it for one of her fatalities. |
| 168 | ** Erron Black's Fatal Blow involves tossing two coins in the air ricocheting shots from them into the opponent's eyes. |
| 169 | ** Jacqui's first fatality has her run at her opponent and stick them with several small bombs, the last of which go into their eyes, before progressively detonating each one to rip off pieces of their body. |
| 170 | ** One of Rain's fatalities has him tearing his opponent in half with a water shuriken, which then shoots upwards a water stream so powerful it pushes his opponent's eyes out, later catching them in a water bubble. |
| 171 | * FanservicePack: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]], due to the more realistic artstyle, all female characters are more slender and less busty in comparison to preceding games. [[WordOfGod The lead character artist]] admitted to have toned down the female characters on purpose to avoid [[MsFanservice Bikini Fighters]]. This is strangely played ''straight'' with the male characters as in the process they show off skin more than most of the women. |
| 172 | * FakeLongevity: Unlocking the entirety of Shang Tsung's throne room in the Krypt requires a total of twenty-five severed heads of various kombatants. Considering each head requires the player to perform a combined 25 Fatalities against a single character, that's a whopping ''625'' of them in total if you're going for HundredPercentCompletion. And as the cherry on top, the required finishers cannot be farmed in Local or AI battles, only those performed in Towers will count (although AI fighters ''can'' be used in the Towers of Time to farm them without player input). The grind used to be far worse at launch, where each head required ''50'' combined Fatalities to drop, thus demanding a total of ''1250'' finishers. |
| 173 | * FirstPersonDyingPerspective: Kano's "Face Like A Dropped Pie" [[FinishingMove Fatality]] has him headbutting his opponent using his laser eye implant. In the fatal hit, we see Kano from the victim's P.O.V. before the final headbutt makes their head explode with the {{overcrank}} effect showing the aftermath. |
| 174 | * FiveSecondForeshadowing: With a hint of LeaningOnTheFourthWall; in the ''Aftermath'' reveal trailer, Shang Tsung says, "No one can predict what happens next. Not even me." Then after a brief cut to a police officer pointing his gun calling for backup, we get a WhamShot character reveal that many fans could not have predicted. |
| 175 | --->''(A [[GuestFighter cyborg character]] pulls out a gun from his leg and twirls the gun.)'' "[[Franchise/RoboCop You are under arrest, dirtbag.]]" |
| 176 | * FlayingAlive: One of Sheeva's fatalities involves de-gloving her opponent's arms. |
| 177 | * AGodAmI: Some epilogues in arcade mode has a certain characters (mostly villains) proclaim themselves to be a God. Sonya has a benign version of this while some characters, such as Erron Black, Kabal, and surprisingly ''Kano'' has [[AGodIAmNot an opposite mindset]]. |
| 178 | * GoldAndWhiteAreDivine: |
| 179 | ** Kronika is a being far more older and powerful than even the Elder Gods. She and her army has this metallic color scheme to show for it. Considering that she is the GreaterScopeVillain for the whole [[Franchise/MortalKombat franchise]], however, this is a case of LightIsNotGood. |
| 180 | ** In most of the game's ladder endings where characters take control of the Hourglass and become a PhysicalGod, they will don white and gold clothing/armor that symbolizes their newfound divinity. |
| 181 | * GoldColoredSuperiority: Gold is the theme color of the game and some of the characters have gold in their attires. |
| 182 | * {{Gorn}}: This is by far the goriest and most graphically violent game in the ''Mortal Kombat'' series, being even more visceral than ''X''. The game introduces something called "[=GoreTech=]", which makes the gore so overly detailed that ''it looks like actual blood'', reason why Website/YouTube tends to demonetize some videos about the game. |
| 183 | * GroinAttack: |
| 184 | ** Cassie has gone way past her dad in ''11'' and basically turned hitting her opponent between the legs into a fighting style. She kicks them, punches them, has her drone bash them downstairs, pops testicles, and even one of her ''fatalities'' ends with a massive kick to the junk so powerful that the opponent's spine and skull pop right out. |
| 185 | ** One of Jade's Brutalities has her split her opponent's legs with her staff then shove it straight up the middle and pop the top of their head off, along with their brain. |
| 186 | ** From one of Fujin and Kano's intros... |
| 187 | --->'''Fujin''': Only a fool relieves himself into the wind. |
| 188 | --->'''Kano:''' [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong Eh, what's the worst that could happen?]] |
| 189 | --->'''Fujin''': A ''painful'' fatality. |
| 190 | * GuestFighter: In traditional Creator/NetherrealmStudios fashion, the roster is bolstered with DLC representatives from other famous franchises, namely ComicBook/{{Spawn}}, [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} the Terminator (T-800)]], Franchise/RoboCop, and [[Franchise/{{Rambo}} John Rambo]]. |
| 191 | * HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: |
| 192 | ** In one of Scorpion's fatalities, he heats his chain until it's glowing red, and uses it to cut his opponent in two by wrapping it around them vertically, using his hellspawn powers to travel under his foe to go all the way around. |
| 193 | ** One of Kabal’s fatalities has him drag the opponent on the floor with his hook sword at super speed before throwing them up to circle back and chop them in half vertically. |
| 194 | ** Jade's first revealed fatality has her impale the opponent through the eye with her staff before cutting them in half with her boomerang to leave them hanging. |
| 195 | ** Raiden's second Fatality has him slice his opponent twice with a pair of lightning blades before teleporting behind them and levitating the top half of their body apart from the bottom half. |
| 196 | ** Geras's second Fatality has him stick his opponent in a wall of sand, grab their arm, and tear them in twain lengthwise, their organs spilling out between the two now-separate halves. |
| 197 | ** Jacqui's second fatality has her punch her opponent's head into their body, blow open their stomach, then toss a grenade into the gaping holes she left that spawns a reflective wall that bisects their remains vertically. |
| 198 | ** Noob Saibot's first revealed fatality has him disembowel his opponent, put his hand into their abdomen and send his shadow double in, which thrusts his hands out of their mouth and slowly rips them vertically in half. |
| 199 | ** One of Kung Luo's fatalities starts with cutting off the opponent's head which sends it flying into the air, teleporting behind them and bisecting them down the middle and ending with throwing his hat at the descending head, scalping it. |
| 200 | ** One of Jax's fatalities has Jax stick an explosive on his opponent's back, push them away from him as he heats up his metal arm and having the explosive detonate, propelling the opponent forward to which Jax clotheslines them, ripping them in two. |
| 201 | ** One of Kitana's fatalities has her ''trisect'' her opponent, separating their hips from their torso as well as [[OffWithHisHead decapitating them]]. |
| 202 | ** Johnny Cage's second fatality sees his shove him fist into his opponent's back before kicking the lower half of their body off...... and then proceed to use the torso as a makeshift ventriloquist's dummy. |
| 203 | * HelicopterBlender: One of Sonya's fatalities has her call a chopper, fling the opponent into the air, then shoots them repeatedly until they're pushed into the blades. |
| 204 | * HeroicMime: Ignoring the literal example that Johnny Cage's costumes provide, the Krypt has you play as a quiet masked stranger who journeys to Shang Tsung's castle for one thing: all the treasure he can grab. |
| 205 | * HeroicSecondWind: Invoked ''onto your opponent.'' Mercies return from ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'' and like before, give about 15% of the opponent's lifebar back for a chance to continue the fight. |
| 206 | * HeyCatch: One of [[TheGunslinger Erron Black's]] moves is him underhand tossing a stick of dynamite to his opponent; they'll struggle to catch it, and subsequently sustain an explosion that tosses them into the air like a ragdoll. |
| 207 | * HitStop |
| 208 | ** The animations for Fatalities freeze right after the final blow, with a few exceptions like Frost's Roboticisation fatality. |
| 209 | ** Nailing Krushing Blow results in a slow-motion internal shot of the damage, similar to the X-Rays of ''9'' and ''X''. |
| 210 | * HitPoints: Another design choice lifted from ''VideoGame/Injustice2'' is the use of a numeric value to represent the character health. The fighters each have 1000 HP shown inside the health bar, which can increase or decrease with gear augments in the single-player modes. This translates to more specific damage numbers from combos as, opposed to a percentage value, damage is calculated by a number visible to the player. The game initially defaults to having just the life-bar, but there is a toggle to show the exact HP numbers inside the life bar a la ''Injustice'' in the options. |
| 211 | * HypocriticalHeartwarming: One of Johnny Cage's intros with Sub-Zero is to mockingly call him "Grandmaster Blueberry Ice", to Sub-Zero's chagrin. When Comicbook/TheJoker makes the same crack, however, Sub-Zero is quick to tell him, "Only Johnny Cage may use that name and ''live''!" |
| 212 | * HypocriticalHumor: In one pre-match intro Cetrion tries to tempt the Terminator with the idea of Kronika giving him free will. When the Terminator asks why he would want that, she says "to serve her... of course". |
| 213 | * IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: The Klassic Towers return to being classified by their lengths (except for [[EndlessGame Endless and Survivor]]), with difficulty being chosen separately: |
| 214 | ** Novice (5 stages) |
| 215 | ** Warrior (8 stages) |
| 216 | ** Champion (12 stages) |
| 217 | * ImmuneToBullets: Played with by Kabal when fired upon by Cassie, as he just uses his SuperReflexes to dice the bullets out of the air with his hookblades before they reach him. Averted with human characters like Johnny as he freaks out to his older future self, when a bullet scrapes his cheek. Played straight in the matches themselves as non-supernatural characters can survive getting shot up by the likes of Cassie or Erron Black and get back up no problem. |
| 218 | * ImmuneToFlinching: A replacement for the ComboBreaker of previous ''Mortal Kombat'' installments. Now when you're airborne and have defensive meter, you can hold down and block together and your character will simply fall to the ground with armor, preventing further juggling. |
| 219 | * ImpaledPalm: Baraka's Fatal Blow starts with him pinning his opponent's hand against their chest with one of his blades, which he then breaks off to keep it in place. |
| 220 | * ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: |
| 221 | ** One of Skarlet's fatalities involves her ripping the blood out of her enemy, using her powers to turn them into spikes, and drive them back through them just to add insult to injury. |
| 222 | ** Sub-Zero's iconic Spine Rip fatality now has him impale his opponent upside down and from behind, rip their spine out, and then also impale their head on the same spike. One of his brutalities also recreates the Tomb stage fatality by making a floating ice block with spikes on the bottom, then uppercutting the opponent into it. |
| 223 | ** Shao Kahn gets into the act, as well. Among with his trademark hammer, he also utilizes spears which [[HyperspaceArsenal materialize out of thin air]]. Kahn's own Fatal Blow involves him dealing vicious slashes at his opponent and brutally impaling them from the back - all in a matter of seconds. |
| 224 | * ImpliedRape: |
| 225 | ** [[spoiler:Putting aside the retcon that Sindel was a willing consort of Shao Kahn's, the latter does use this belief against Kitana in a fight intro by saying Sindel"always pleased [him]."]] |
| 226 | ** Some fight intros with Mileena imply she'd been pulling a BedTrick of Liu Kang and impersonating Kitana to sleep with him. |
| 227 | ** [[spoiler:Sindel says that Johnny, Sonya, and Cassie will be "breeding many fine slaves" as they're captured in ''Aftermath'']]. |
| 228 | * InkSuitActor: A few characters are based off their voice actors' appearances. |
| 229 | ** Raiden is based off Creator/RichardEpcar. |
| 230 | ** Shang Tsung's appearance is that of Creator/CaryHiroyukiTagawa. |
| 231 | ** John Rambo is voiced by Creator/SylvesterStallone and visually inspired by his ''Film/RamboIII'' appearance. |
| 232 | ** [=RoboCop=] is reprised by Creator/PeterWeller and resembles him circa ''Film/RoboCop1987'' and ''Film/RoboCop2''. |
| 233 | ** Special mention goes to The Terminator, who is facially modeled by Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger directly. Arnold also personally chose Creator/ChrisCox as the voice actor who matched him the closest as he sounded during the earlier Terminator films. |
| 234 | ** The [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie Classic MK Movie Skins]] DLC brings back Creator/LindenAshby, Bridgette Wilson, and Creator/ChristopherLambert to reprise their respective roles as Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, and Earthrealm Raiden. |
| 235 | * InsistentTerminology: Apparently, the Briggs family can't distinguish between different types of undead beings. With the Revenants being a very common occurence, it's very easy to miss that Noob Saibot describes himself as a ''Wraith'', while Spawn is... well, a ''Hellspawn''. |
| 236 | * IntimidatingRevenueService: The Kollector plays this role to Shao Kahn, and seeks riches and political power under the tyrant; that should tell you everything you need to know about this avaricious assassin. |
| 237 | -->'''Kollector:''' Tarkata must pay tribute...\ |
| 238 | '''Baraka:''' We pay in blood, not gold!\ |
| 239 | '''Kollector:''' Shao Kahn demands ''both''. |
| 240 | * ItsTheBestWhateverEver: One of Frost's intros against Erron Black has her claim to be "Sub-Zero's best student ever", but this was done out of sheer arrogance. Erron lampshades this with this gem: |
| 241 | -->''"You're all broth and no beans."'' |
| 242 | * {{Jawbreaker}}: One of [[MagicalNativeAmerican Nightwolf]]'s [[FinishingMove Fatalities]] has him drive his tomahawk between the opponent's jaws and rip the lower one off along with the entire front of upper body before tossing the axe into their heart. |
| 243 | * JumpScare: Equipping Kenshi's blindfold in the Krypt will allow you to find hidden passages and treasures on use. Unfortunately, you'll also occasionally run into loud roaring monsters that come at you within a second between when you use it and when they kill you, unless you can hit them quickly with Shao Kahn's hammer or remove the blindfold. |
| 244 | * KillSteal: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WveIrH4efjg reveal trailer]] for ''[[UpdatedRerelease Ultimate]]'' shows off a Tarkatan being chased through the forest by [[MakingASplash Rain]]. The Edenian prince manages to corner his victim, but before he can make the kill, the poor Tarkatan is dragged away and EatenAlive by [[ImAHumanitarian Mileena]]. |
| 245 | * KneeCapping: The second slow-motion hit of Cassie's Fatal Blow has her shooting her opponent through the knees before sticking her gun into their gut and pulling the trigger a couple of times. |
| 246 | * LastChanceHitPoint: Film/TheTerminator has a special ability where, if he is reduced to or beyond less than 10% of his health on the final round, his skin burns away to reveal his robotic exoskeleton. It's more of a PowerUpLetdown, however, since his moveset and even basic controls are heavily restricted in this form. |
| 247 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Several interactions involving Rambo have the characters comment on either how [[Creator/SylvesterStallone awfully familiar]] he looks or (in Johnny's case) how good a [[Franchise/{{Rambo}} movie]] his life story would be. |
| 248 | * LemonyNarrator: Johnny Cage's announcer voice option will often give kharacters and stages snarky nicknames when selected from the menus. Except for Johnny himself, who he just calls "[[CaptainObvious Me]]"; Cassie, who is endearingly called "DaddysGirl"; and Sonya, who is called "[[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther My Better Half]]". |
| 249 | * LighterAndSofter: Certainly lighter than the [=NetherRealm=] Games in terms of the Fatalities being the goofiest they've been since ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'', there are several instances of straight up BreakingTheFourthWall, Friendships are back, the game is much more colorful and stylized compared to the dark, grungy look of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'', trading the slasher villain guests for action anti-heroes (Joker being the sole exception), and the story, while actually being the DarkestHour in the entire franchise's narrative, [[spoiler: can have a genuinely happy ending.]] |
| 250 | * LikeCannotCutLike: The "Skarlet's Pure Blood Vial" Konsummable in Towers of Time allows players to resist blood-based modifiers. |
| 251 | * LooseCanon: The canonicity of the Krypt is debatable, as it doesn't fully correspond to the events of the story that take place on Shang Tsung's island. Furthermore, the player gets to acquire the signature items of presently-alive characters, such as Scorpion's chain spear and Shao Kahn's hammer. As such, the canonical fates of certain characters who appear posthumously in the Krypt are still left up in the air, [[spoiler:though Goro's death is definite]]. |
| 252 | * LudicrousGibs: One of Liu Kang's Fatalities involves him hitting his opponent with RapidFireFisticuffs followed by punching four holes in their bodies and ending with a fire fist that completely obliterates the opponent into bloody chunks. |
| 253 | * MadeOfIron: Much like the [[LimitBreak X-Rays]] from the previous two installments, Fatal Blows involve a series of attacks that would most certainly kill any normal person from the first hit alone yet as long as [[CriticalExistenceFailure the opponent has at least one point of health after taking one]], they'll get up right as rain. Of course when "FinishHim" is called, [[MadeOfPlasticine Baraka can casually tear his opponent's face off with his bare hands]]. |
| 254 | * MatchstickWeapon: Kotal's Koliseum has three burning logs in a smoldering grill pit. [[ImprovisedWeapon They can be thrown at the opponent as a stage interaction.]] |
| 255 | * MirandaRights: Robocop starts to read Kano his rights, but a retort from the criminal is seen as enough to rescind them. |
| 256 | -->'''Robocop:''' You have the right to remain silent.\ |
| 257 | '''Kano:''' And you have the right to ''bugger off''.\ |
| 258 | '''Robocop:''' [[PreAssKickingOneLiner Your waiver of rights is noted.]] |
| 259 | * MirrorMatch: |
| 260 | ** The intro dialogues give several explanations for it, ranging from alternate timeline counterparts to clones. Sub-Zero can end up fighting a Bi-Han from another timeline or even their own time-displaced grandfather. D'Vorah's doppelgänger, notably, is suggested to be another member of her species named A'Vital. One of Cassie's dialogue against her double [[MediumAwareness even points out how meta the whole situation is.]] |
| 261 | ** Another example comes from Shang Tsung, who was usually the most logical reason for mirror matches since ''[=MKX=]''. One of his intros implies that he could have a brother named [[MythologyGag Shang Lao]]. |
| 262 | * MundaneUtility: All over the place with Friendships. Some examples include Kano using his laser eye to light a grill, Kotal Kahn using his sun powers for a tan, Sub-Zero making a popsicle with his ice powers, Spawn turning his cape into a hammock, Fujin manipulating the wind to fly a kite, and several others. |
| 263 | * MythologyGag: Too many to mention, so naturally [[MythologyGag/MortalKombat11 it has its own page]]. |
| 264 | * TheNarrator: In a first for the series, the player can unlock and select a number of different voices for the announcer, including the default voice by Creator/JamiesonPrice, Kronika (Creator/JenniferHale), Raiden (Creator/RichardEpcar), [[LemonyNarrator Johnny Cage]] (Andrew Bowen), Shao Kahn (Ike Amandi), and Franchise/RoboCop (Creator/PeterWeller). |
| 265 | * NoCampaignForTheWicked: Taken to the extreme with Kronika. Both of her playable underlings, Cetrion and Geras, betray her in their Tower Endings and are not playable in the Story Mode (and neither is Kronika herself at all in the game). |
| 266 | * NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: |
| 267 | ** Kano's new look makes him look a lot like Wrestling/AustinAries. |
| 268 | ** Kronika bears a strong resemblance to Creator/TildaSwinton as the Ancient One in ''Film/DoctorStrange2016.''; her speaking tone is also similar to Swinton's performance. |
| 269 | * NoChallengeEqualsNoSatisfaction: In Kano's ending, he initially uses his new powers to get everything he wants. He soon realizes that this is boring, so he makes a new reality where he has to work to achieve his desires. |
| 270 | * NonStandardGameOver: In most fights in the game, losing a fight gives you a simple continue menu. Kronika, on the other hand, prefers to add insult to injury if you lose to her. Lost in the Tower? [[spoiler:She always performs her Fatality, which shows her killing your character and rewinding time to bring them back to life… only to do it again and again, ad infinitum, until you do something in the menu.]] |
| 271 | * NoOneShouldSurviveThat: Even more so than the last two games which had the X-Ray attacks, the mid-fight Fatal Blows are basically Fatalities in everything but name, with gory moves (really, everything short of outright mutilation) that would kill any normal person. Stuff like blades going through a character's head and being impaled through the chest are all walked off like they're normal attacks. |
| 272 | * NoodleIncident: The Fiji mission, mentioned by a few characters when fighting Jacqui. |
| 273 | -->'''Jacqui:''' Old You spilled about the Fiji mission?\ |
| 274 | '''Johnny Cage:''' Heard all about the Uzis and umbrella drinks.\ |
| 275 | '''Jacqui:''' I am going to kill him. |
| 276 | * NostalgiaLevel: Played with. One of the stages is in a studio in front of a screen on which old ''MK'' arenas are projected as background. |
| 277 | * NotHyperbole: One intro has [[EvilSorceror Shang Tsung]] almost laughing at [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Johnny Cage]]'s claim that he took down [[PhysicalGod Shinnok]]. Anyone who played ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' knows Johnny isn't making this up. |
| 278 | -->'''Johnny:''' Once upon a time, I beat Shinnok.\ |
| 279 | '''Shang Tsung:''' My, what a ''colorful'' imagination.\ |
| 280 | '''Johnny:''' Look it up! I laid him out! |
| 281 | * NotSoDifferentRemark: |
| 282 | ** Spawn makes quite a few observations to this effect: |
| 283 | *** His dialogue with Geras has them remarking just how similar they actually are. |
| 284 | *** He views Scorpion as so similar to himself that it's like looking in a mirror. Aptly, he recruits Scorpion and Sub-Zero to his side in his arcade ending. |
| 285 | *** Noob Saibot and some other characters think Spawn is a fellow "revenant," but Spawn retorts he is "hellspawn" and of a different league. |
| 286 | *** One of Spawn's intros with Robocop has him note that both were resurrected for someone else's benefit. |
| 287 | ** Between Geras and Terminator: |
| 288 | --->'''Geras:''' We are both constructs, built to serve.\ |
| 289 | '''Terminator:''' You are also a Terminator?\ |
| 290 | '''Geras:''' When my creator requires it. |
| 291 | * ObviousCrossoverMethod: Kronika's Hourglass, which can bring in characters from other timelines, and is implied to be the explanation for the guest characters' appearances. |
| 292 | * OffWithHisHead: It's not ''Mortal Kombat'' unless someone gets beheaded. |
| 293 | ** Scorpion has a fatality (shown in the announcement trailer being performed on Raiden) where he chops his victim's head head before yanking it back to him with his spear. |
| 294 | ** Both of Sub-Zero's fatalities involve decapitation: his first has him encase his opponent up to their neck in a block of ice before chopping off their head with an ice axe, picking it up and shattering it while the second has him slide into his opponent and impale his foe upside down on a spear-wielding ice clone before ripping off their head with the spine attached (his signature finisher) and impaling their head on the tip of the spear. |
| 295 | ** Johnny Cage has his classic uppercut Fatality back, but with a new spin: after he uppercuts his opponent for the first time and knocks off their lower jaw, the film crew requests him to do another take. The second attempt goes no better (with Johnny blaming his ''opponent'' for screwing it up) and after 19 takes, he finally knocks their head off, but only for the head to stick to his fist, and in frustration he [[CameraAbuse throws it at the camera]]. |
| 296 | ** Kollector's fatality involves clawing his opponent to shreds with his bare hands before ripping their head off - and they ''still'' aren't dead afterward, as the finisher is one last smash to the chest. |
| 297 | ** Kano's first revealed Fatality has him pin the opponent down and headbutt them several times before the last one [[YourHeadAsplode makes their head shatter into a million fragments]]. |
| 298 | ** The end of Raiden's second Fatality has him popping his opponent's head off with a huge surge of lightning (this is [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe after he already ripped their torso off their legs]]). |
| 299 | ** Kotal Kahn's fatality has him summon a sacrificial altar from the ground before slamming his opponent against it and delivering a savage kick that separates their head and spinal column, placing their head in the middle of the altar. Then he summons a large idol and crushes their head with it. |
| 300 | ** Several characters have brutalities where they decapitate their opponent: |
| 301 | *** All kombatants have a universal Brutality that has them uppercut their opponents and knock off their head along with the spine. |
| 302 | *** Baraka splits his opponent's head with his blades. |
| 303 | *** Scorpion wraps his kunai chain around the opponent's head and arm and violently pulls them off their body. |
| 304 | *** Sub-Zero creates an ice wall behind their opponent, summons an ice axe and throws it at their opponent's neck, decapitating them. |
| 305 | *** Johnny Cage throws his sunglasses at his opponent who catches them and puts them on before their head suddenly explodes. |
| 306 | * OneWomanWail: This can be heard (though faintly) in the fatality and brutality themes. |
| 307 | * OurGodsAreDifferent: This game gave a better look at the hierarchy of the gods through intro dialogue and the story mode. First are demi-gods which Raiden is a part of, gods who are the weakest overall but are the most guaranteed to survive if they lose their godhood [[spoiler:as Raiden did when he gave his godhood to Liu Kang]]. Elder Gods are higher on the rankings where they watch over the realms, it is possible for a demi-god to join the ranks of the Elder Gods. And then there are beings who are more powerful and ancient than even the Elder Gods themselves [[spoiler:like Kronika who labels herself as a Titan]]. |
| 308 | * {{Overcrank}}: Rather than the remains of the loser being the final shot, the fatalities end with the winner nailing the final blow this way similar to the winning animations from ''VideoGame/Injustice2'' (the non-fatality win poses work this way too). |
| 309 | * OverlyLongFightingAnimation: The game reworks the X-Ray moves from ''9'' and ''X'' into [[DesperationAttack Fatal Blows]], which trade the meter cost for only being available at low health and only being allowed to land once in a match. They become useful at all levels of play either as a panic button for weaker players or adding a massive chunk of damage to combos for more experienced players. |
| 310 | * PhysicalGod: [[MotherNature Cetrion]] is a newly-introduced Elder God, the latter being a playable fighter (the first Elder God to be one since Shinnok). [[TimeMaster Kronika]] is also a god; [[spoiler:more specifically, a Titan, who are older and more powerful than the Elder Gods]]. |
| 311 | * PistolWhipping: The first slow-motion hit of Cassie’s Fatal Blow, where she slams the butt of her handgun into her opponent's jaw. |
| 312 | * PlayingBothSides: This is quoted verbatim in Franchise/RoboCop's Klassic Tower ending. [[spoiler:After defeating Kronika, her power washed over [=RoboCop=], removing the limitations his designers had placed on his programming. For the first time, [=RoboCop=] saw how corrupt [=OCP=] truly was. As it turns out, the entire company was selling weapons to both cops and criminals, making a killing by doing so. [=RoboCop=] then vows to bring them to justice, and opts to team up with his new allies from Earthrealm to do so.]] |
| 313 | -->'''[=RoboCop=]''': [[spoiler:[=OCP=] is making a killing playing both sides, selling to cops and criminals.]] When I get home, I am bringing them to justice. |
| 314 | * PowerCreepPowerSeep: Continuing the trend for {{Guest Fighter}}s, we have the [[Franchise/{{Terminator}} T-800]], [[Characters/BatmanTheJoker The Joker]], and ComicBook/{{Spawn}}. The T-800 is a superhuman time travelling cyborg and, while feasible that he can take on more human characters like Sonya Blade or Johnny Cage, it becomes head tilting when he does so with {{physical god}}s like Raiden or Kronika, who should reasonably be able to reduce him to scrap metal with ease. Same goes for the Joker, who's a base-line human and naturally lacks the means to hurt or kill the upper echelons of the ''MK'' roster and doesn't have the excuse of [[VideoGame/MortalKombatVsDCUniverse power fluctuations caused by merging universes]] to explain how he can fight these stronger opponents. Spawn is practically the opposite of the former two, as his winning of the SuperpowerLottery and having a wide array of abilities and weapons that have let him take on and even kill the hierarchy of Heaven and Hell should put him on the same level as, if not above, {{physical god}}s such as Raiden. However, for the sake of gameplay purposes, they can get beaten down by anyone and beat them down in kind. |
| 315 | * PowerUpLetdown: Film/TheTerminator has a special ability where if he is reduced to or beyond less than 10% of his health on the final round, his skin burns away to reveal his robotic endoskeleton. The positives? It gives him an extra 10% hp to work with, he has hyper armor in this form, and it [[RuleOfCool looks cool as hell]]. The negatives? He can't block, jump, dash, and almost all of his special moves and combo strings are locked out. That includes his Fatalities and Brutalities. Hardly worth the two ability slots it requires. |
| 316 | * PrepareToDie: Kronika's greeting to you in the final fight of the Klassic Towers: |
| 317 | -->'''Kronika''': I have been expecting you. Your life, your name... they will be wiped from history. Come; it is time... ''to die''. |
| 318 | * PresentCompanyExcluded: Father and Daughter intro: |
| 319 | -->'''Cassie Cage''': Your agent thinks I should be a big star. |
| 320 | -->'''Johnny Cage''': Stay away from those Hollywood sleazebags. |
| 321 | -->'''Cassie Cage''': Present company included? |
| 322 | * PrimpOfContempt: The game provides two examples. One of Jade's taunts features her leaning against her staff while looking at he nails, often making snarky comments like "Take your time getting up." Mileena's grab features her turning around and checking her nails while Sais fly into her opponent. In another one of her attacks, she stabs her opponent in the eye multiple times, checks her nails, and lands one final stab. |
| 323 | * ProducePelting: One of Johnny Cage's new Fatalities has him tear his opponent's torso off, then do a (bad) ventriloquist/stand-up comedy impression with it, with the end result being tomatoes being flung at him, with one of them hitting the corpse in the face. |
| 324 | * ResurrectionDeathLoop: [[BigBad Kronika]]'s [[https://youtu.be/v-HWrB1fHJY?t=34 Fatality]]. She telekinetically rips you apart, [[TimeMaster rewinds your corpse a few seconds]], and rips you apart again in a different way. [[NonStandardGameOver This continues forever]] until you choose to try again or quit. |
| 325 | * ResurrectiveImmortality: Geras has this due to being a fixed point in time. Decapitation, being blown to bits, shot, nothing keeps him down permanently. Raiden eventually wraps him in chains connected to a massive anchor and drops him into the bottomless Sea of Blood to get rid of him. |
| 326 | * RetGone: Jacqui [[spoiler:willingly does this to herself]] in her Arcade Mode ending, where after beating Kronika [[spoiler:she alters the timeline so that her father never became a Revenant at the cost of never meeting his wife (who he met while recuperating from the trauma), thus never fathering Jacqui]]. |
| 327 | * SandBlaster: An interesting variation; Kronika and her [[TheDragon dragon]] Geras have no power over the Earth -- that's [[ElementalPowers Cetrion's bag]] -- but they ''can'' command the Sands of Time in Kronika's hourglass. Geras mainly forms the Sands into various weapons to fight with, while his much more powerful mistress mostly uses them to warp time itself. As a result of this, sand is a huge {{Motif|s}} for Kronika, and the game as a whole. As examples, Kronika is accompanied by geysers of sand every time she uses her time powers in story mode and in her BossBattle, sand can be seen coming off the menu icons when selecting a mode, and sand bursts off a fighter every time they use meter. |
| 328 | * SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: The cover art depicts Scorpion lunging at the viewer with dagger in hand. |
| 329 | * SecretCharacter: Beating Scorpion and Sub-Zero's chapter in the story mode unlocks Frost. |
| 330 | * ShoutOut: |
| 331 | ** In one of Noob Saibot's interactions [[MirrorMatch with himself]]. |
| 332 | -->'''Noob Saibot 1:''' Who are you, ghost? |
| 333 | -->'''Noob Saibot 2:''' [[Characters/HarryPotterLordVoldemort He who shall not be named]]. |
| 334 | -->'''Noob Saibot 1:''' Return to your [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows deathly hollow]]. |
| 335 | ** In his reveal trailer, after executing his opponent, Shang Tsung points directly at the camera and recreates the opening scene of ''Film/MortalKombatTheMovie'' by proclaiming: "YOUR SOUL IS MINE!" |
| 336 | ** One interaction between Rambo and Cassie has the latter say "Film/StopOrMyMomWillShoot". |
| 337 | ** In one intro between Geras and Kotal Kahn. |
| 338 | -->'''Geras:''' If you kill me I will only become stronger. |
| 339 | -->'''Kotal Kahn:''' [[Film/ThePrincessBride Then we shall fight this battle]] ToThePain. |
| 340 | -->'''Geras:''' [[Film/ThePrincessBride I'm not familar with that phrase.]] |
| 341 | ** Johnny Cage is fountain of these, mostly quite deliberately, such as telling Cassie that [[Film/TheMatrix when she's ready she won't have to dodge bullets]] and responding to Geras claiming to have seen things he can't imagine by asking if he means [[Film/BladeRunner attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.]] Amusingly on the second one Geras, probably by accident and meaning something else, gives the proper response of "Time to die." |
| 342 | * ShmuckBait: The Krypt features a puzzle where you must pull three switches to line up a three-segmented pillar. If you line up the corpse, you open a nearby door. If you line up the disassembled pieces of Sektor, you open another door somewhere nearby. Curious players are in for a surprise when they line up the skeleton last. They die right on the spot. |
| 343 | * SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: The first game in the reboot had an interdimensional conqueror as its BigBad, competing in a tournament imposed by the Elder Gods. The second game in the reboot saw the kombatents face a evil member of said Elder Gods, and finally there's ''this'' game, featuring a BigBad from a race even ''greater'' than the Elder Gods, who uses one of their number as a [[TheDragon dragon]] and considers the first game's BigBad a disposable minion. |
| 344 | * StrangerInAFamiliarLand: Kitana's ending features this. She uses the Sands of Time to restore Edenia, her ancestral homeland, which was destroyed by Outworld thousands of years ago. However, she finds herself unable to connect with its culture and people, thanks to being adopted by Shao Kahn as a young girl and raised in Outworld. Although she is ethnically Edenian, Kitana is an Outworlder through and through. |
| 345 | * SuddenlyVoiced: Skarlet is finally able to speak after ''[=MK9=]''. |
| 346 | * TamerAndChaster: Continuing a trend since the reboot, the female characters all have realistic proportions and practical, if form-fitting, clothes that show very little skin (although more revealing costumes would be added later as [=DLC=], including characters like Mileena and Sindel who show far more skin and have much more sexualized designs than the other female characters.). |
| 347 | * TearOffYourFace: One of Baraka's fatalities consists of ripping the opponent's face off, followed by the front of the whole skull, and finally stabbing the brain out and taking a big bite. |
| 348 | * TeleFrag: One of Shang Tsung's fatalities involves opening a rift inside his opponent's chest, and allowing Kintaro to manually break free and burst out from inside. |
| 349 | * TemporalAbortion: Present Kano threatens to do this to Cassie Cage by killing Past Johnny Cage. Unfortunately for Present Kano, Sonya short-circuits this by [[spoiler:putting a bullet into the head of Past Kano, which has the effect of killing both Kanos in one move]]. |
| 350 | * ThatCameOutWrong: Johnny Cage accidentally flirts with his daughter in one of their interactions. |
| 351 | -->'''Johnny:''' What's cookin', good lookin'? |
| 352 | -->'''Cassie:''' [[NoJustNoReaction Ewww, No. Seriously?!]] |
| 353 | -->'''Johnny:''' Wait, What?! That's not what I meant! |
| 354 | * TheresNoKillLikeOverkill: ''Mortal Kombat'' is no stranger to going way beyond the steps needed to off a finished foe, so it's no surprise that some fatalities are brutal enough to kill someone several times over: |
| 355 | ** One of Skarlet's fatalities involves extracting her enemy's blood, solidifying it into sharp spikes, ramming them through her opponent, then finishing by shoving the spike that went through their head all the way through, popping out one of their eyeballs through the back of their skull for good measure. That's about three deaths for the price of one right there. |
| 356 | ** Scorpion's second fatality (from the debut trailer) also counts, as you probably wouldn't survive too long after having your torso completely vaporized by hellfire but then Scorpion slices off his opponent's head and spears it through just to be sure. |
| 357 | ** Baraka tears off your face, then a good chunk of your skull, and finally removes your brain and eats it. He also impales you on his blades, drags them up your body so that your arms are separated from the rest of your body, chops your head off, splits it in half and stabs his blades through both halves. |
| 358 | ** Jade pierces you through the back of your skull with her staff, then [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe bisects you across the torso]]. |
| 359 | ** Raiden's second Fatality has him cut his opponent in half first with two blades of lightning. He separates their top half from their bottom half by telekinetically levitating them by their head before pushing enough lightning through their skull that it separates from their torso. |
| 360 | ** As if [[MoreDakka unloading]] [[GunsAkimbo both]] pistols into some poor sap's chest was not enough to kill them, Cassie Cage thrusts her boot ''so far'' [[GroinAttack between their legs]], that their ''entire spinal column and skull'' rockets out of their body in a shower of gore. |
| 361 | ** Sonya's second Fatality has her deliver a brutal CQC arm break and elbow to the face that knocks her opponent down before summoning a robot sentry that lands on them, completely tearing their body apart. That would be enough but the sentry plants a round that goes right through their skull for good measure. |
| 362 | ** Cetrion's Fatality is quite possibly [[ExaggeratedTrope the most extreme example]]: If being crushed by several large boulders didn't kill you, being [[GiantFootOfStomping stomped by a giant]] surely would, but even after all that the opponent is still alive somehow, so Cetrion '''grows bigger than the Earth''' and blasts them with a '''[[WaveMotionGun massive laser beam]]''' that ought to be powerful enough to vaporize an entire ''city''. |
| 363 | ** Frost's first Fatality begins with her planting an ice drill through her opponent's temple. Anything after that (which would be a second drill to open up their stomach followed by stuffing an ice bomb in their entrails that turns them into a frozen sculpture of gore) is just for style. |
| 364 | ** Jacqui's second Fatality kills her opponent from the first hit alone (a massive cranial punch that destroys their head) so blowing open their stomach and implanting one of her wall grenades in what's left just kicks around a dead body. |
| 365 | * ThemeTuneRap: The first trailer uses the original "Immortal" by 21 Savage as the official theme song. |
| 366 | ** The trailer for Story Mode features "War" by T-Moe and Clearside. |
| 367 | ** The "Old Skool vs. New Skool" uses "Check Yo Self" by Music/IceCube and "Blue Suede" by Vince Staples. |
| 368 | * ThreatBackfire: In one interaction, Sheeva threatens to rip Geras to bits, but she doesn't realize she's threatening someone who can't die. |
| 369 | -->'''Geras:''' Hail Kronika, Keeper of Time.\ |
| 370 | '''Sheeva:''' Hail me or I'll rend you to bits.\ |
| 371 | '''Geras:''' By all means, Sheeva, make me stronger. |
| 372 | * TorsoWithAView: |
| 373 | ** One of Cassie's Fatalities has her Shadow Kicking the opponent in the mid-section, leaving a very sizeable hole in them since it knocks out the opponent's hear as well. To aid insult to injury, she sticks her hands into the opponents body from the side and make a heart shaped gesture. Uhh... cute? |
| 374 | ** One of Scorpion's Fatalities opens with him fire phasing through the opponent, burning around their mid-section save the spine which barely holds then in place before he finishes them via cutting of their head and spearing them when it flies into the air. |
| 375 | ** One of Shao Kahn's Fatalities involves slamming his opponent hard in the stomach with his hammer to make them double over, then slamming their head ''through their neck and out of their back''. |
| 376 | * TravelTransformation: |
| 377 | ** One of Kotal Khan's cinematic intros has him speeding to the battle in magical wolf form, and changing back into his normal form once he's arrived. |
| 378 | ** One of Shao Khan's intros has him arrive in the form of a giant, ethereal cobra, turning back into his humanoid form before the battle begins. |
| 379 | ** D'Vorah can turn in a [[OneToMillionToOne swarm of insects]] and then back again, often using it to move swiftly or undetected. |
| 380 | * UnwillingRoboticisation: One of Frost's fatalities involves shattering her opponent's upper body and summoning a drone to take their brain and spine intact, which is then shown being transferred into a Cyber Lin-Kuei body. |
| 381 | * UseTheirOwnWeaponAgainstThem: Fire God Liu Kang defeats Revenant Jade by breaking her own staff against her neck. |
| 382 | * VictoriousRoar: One of Nightwolf’s outros is him unleashing a roar that transitions into his spirit wolf howling at the moon. |
| 383 | * VirtualPaperDoll: Following on ''VideoGame/Injustice2'''s gear system, each character can have their equipment modified to radically change their look. |
| 384 | * WantedPoster: One of [[TheGunslinger Erron Black's]] intros [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BanOcTz0yg0one has him looking at a wanted poster of his foe]]. Every character gets a unique wanted poster, and a different prize; for example, [[spoiler:[[AnIcePerson Sub-Zero]] is worth $5,000,000, [[PhysicalGod Cetrion]] is worth $999,999,999, and [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Johnny Cage]] is worth [[MythologyGag $500]]]]. |
| 385 | * WelcomeToCorneria: Shang Tsung and Sonya Blade don't have any character-specific voice lines towards [=RoboCop=]. In Sonya's case, Ronda Rousey was unable to return for more voice recordings, which directly plays into the Aftermath DLC with her character barely having any presence at all. |
| 386 | * WhereItAllBegan: Shang Tsung's Island, the location of the original ''Mortal Kombat'' settings in the original and current timelines, returns as the fighting arena. It also houses the Krypt, managed by Shang Tsung himself. |
| 387 | * XtremeKoolLetterz: |
| 388 | ** As per usual, the fight pit stage is called "Black Dragon Fight Klub" and one of the new mechanics is called the "Krushing Blow". However, averted with the "Special Forces Desert Command" stage. |
| 389 | ** There's also character Kustomization in the game. And of course the "Kombat" in the title. |
| 390 | ** Subverted in Cassie's intro. The coffee she ordered (which apparently comes from Mokap's cafe) has the name "Kassie" struck out and properly written as "Cassie", implying she corrected the barista on the right way to spell her name. |
| 391 | * ViralUnlockable: Beating a developer from Creator/NetherrealmStudios in an online match grants you an exclusive "Dev Slayer" icon and calling card set for your profile. |
| 392 | * VisualPun: The input to grant someone Mercy makes it look as if your character is [[UnSportsmanlikeGloating teabagging]] the opponent, something many players are not unlikely to do if the skill or life difference between the victor and the victim is enough that they'd grant them Mercy to begin with. |
| 393 | * XRayOfPain: |
| 394 | ** The Krushing Blow, a hit at the end of a combo [[GuideDangIt after some specific action is taken]] which shows how an organ is damaged during the last hit. |
| 395 | ** And apart of that, there's the Fatal Blow, a special move all characters have that's only available when the character has 10-20% of life and it's a cinematic autocombo that makes a lot of damage (almost like the half of the lifebar) as a lifesaver for the character (being the player or the [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard CPU]]), in which almost all hits are shown with X-Ray of broken bones, and can be done once for fight. |
| 396 | * XRaySparks: Some of Raiden's electrical attacks (including his throw) will quickly turn his opponent into a bright white skeleton. Given that these particular skeletons looks like glowing plastic bones, it looks more comical and humorous than something played seriously as one would expect from this infamously gory franchise. |
| 397 | * YouHaveResearchedBreathing: Most characters have a gear piece that allows them to remove their mask or headgear. All of these options have to be unlocked. Averted with Johnny Cage, who has no option to remove his sunglasses, despite his playable chapter in Story Mode having him not wear any in kombat. |
| 398 | * YourHeadAsplode: In the announcement trailer, Raiden zaps Scorpion's head, causing it to explode. |
| 399 | * ZerothLawRebellion: An interesting case happens in the Franchise/{{Terminator}}'s Klassic Tower ending. Specifically, [[spoiler:when using the hourglass to view timelines, it saw that all timelines where the RobotWar happens end with MutuallyAssuredDestruction, so while it was supposed to destroy humanity to ensure machine supremacy, it instead opted to prevent the RobotWar from happening entirely by creating a future where humans and machines co-operate. Then, to prevent anybody else from using its memories and knowledge of the Hourglass to disrupt said future, it [[HeroicSacrifice threw itself into the Sea of Blood]].]] |
| 400 | |
| 401 | [[/folder]] |
| 402 | |
| 403 | [[folder:Main Story Tropes ('''SPOILERS''')]] |
| 404 | Since these tropes deal with the story, '''[[Administrivia/SpoilersOff all spoilers are unmarked!]]''' |
| 405 | * AboveTheGods: This game introduces the Titans, who are above even the Elder Gods in the power scale. BigBad Kronika is the only one who appears in the story, although others are seen in some characters' endings. |
| 406 | * AbortedArc: Dark Raiden is as downplayed example of this, as he's set up at the end of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' as the next big threat. But Kronika's meddling wipes him from history by the 2nd chapter, to be replaced by his (good) past self. The plot is essentially entirely dropped. A slight nod towards the plot is given later when he and Liu Kang have a confrontation and it looks like Raiden may turn into Dark Raiden, which Liu Kang suspects is caused Shinnok's amulet's corruption. but Raiden sees it to be Kronika's meddling to drive him and Liu Kang against each other, and fights off the corruptive influence. |
| 407 | * AdaptationalHeroism: ''[=MK11=]'s'' story mode goes to great lengths to humanize the [[{{Mooks}} tarkatans]] and defy their usual characterization as being AlwaysChaoticEvil; showing that even their race has innocent non-kombatants, while [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructing]] the willingness of otherwise heroic characters to [[WhatMeasureIsAMook cut them down]] [[GuiltFreeExterminationWar in droves.]] By extension, their leader Baraka becomes a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, willing to hear out Kitana's parley and even pulling a HeelFaceTurn to mend relations with Kotal and create a better future for his people. |
| 408 | * AdvertisedExtra: |
| 409 | ** Despite Dark Raiden being billed as one of the central characters, he doesn't last past the second chapter as Kronika begins messing with the timelines. Since two versions of the same god can't exist at once, he ends up disappearing before he knows what's going on. The Raiden from the past ultimately ends up picking up the slack after that point. |
| 410 | ** Both Young and Old Johnny were heavily advertised in trailers, and yet they both disappear from the story halfway through and do not even participate in the final battle against the forces of Kronika. |
| 411 | * AffirmativeActionLegacy: In Nightwolf's ladder ending, he gives up the mantle of Nightwolf to become the protector of the Hourglass, and it's shown that the next Nightwolf is female. |
| 412 | * AlternateSelf: Due to the TimeCrash, numerous characters from the time of ''VideoGame/MortalKombatII'' are brought forward to encounter their future selves from ''X'' onwards. This of course leads to plenty of {{Mirror Match}}es. |
| 413 | * AllForNothing: |
| 414 | ** Despite the events of the story, they ultimately turn out to be pointless because Kronika is just using her forces as a distraction while she works on building up her powers to initiate a reset button and start her new era. She ends up succeeding and starts reversing time, which means every victory between either side is undone and hollow in the long run. The only fight that really matters is between the newly empowered Fire God Liu Kang (Thanks to Raiden giving up his powers) and Kronika for the fate and control of the MK timelines. Even after defeating Kronika in the normal and best ending, the reset button was already pressed before she dies. And losing has this trope played depressingly straight in the bad end, with her killing Liu Kang in his Fire God form. |
| 415 | ** The game does not shy away from the trope either as the very first major loss experienced in the game's story turns out to be utterly pointless, with Sonya Blade blowing herself up alongside a massive underground cathedral, only for the BigBad to come along and restore it all to shape, effortlessly. |
| 416 | * AndIMustScream: Since Geras cannot die, Raiden immobilizes him and tosses him to the depths of the Sea of Blood. That sea is bottomless - and that means that the unfortunate guy will be falling... ''forever''. |
| 417 | * ApocalypseHow: Raiden's discussion with the Elder Gods has the latter state that Kronika's plans would cause a omniversal temporal Armageddon that would annihilate those outside her desired timeline. |
| 418 | * {{Archenemy}}: Many of the story arcs are about confronting these for one last time. |
| 419 | ** Sonya and Kano have one final tussle. |
| 420 | ** Scorpion and Sub-Zero face down Sektor as well as Noob Saibot. |
| 421 | ** Subverted by Raiden and Shao Kahn: the latter is facing against Kotal Kahn instead, while the former deals with the actual BigBad. |
| 422 | *** Kitana's archenemy, Mileena, is already dead. Thus Kitana TakesALevelInBadass by going after Shao Kahn himself. |
| 423 | ** [[ItMakesSenseInContext Johnny Cage fights Johnny Cage.]] He's always been his own worst enemy. |
| 424 | ** Ziggzagged with Raiden and Liu Kang. Dark Raiden is erased after Kronika summons his past self, and while Emperor Liu Kang has no problem fighting one version over the other, his past self ends up helping Raiden stop themselves from becoming this all over again. |
| 425 | * AssholeVictim: Sektor once again dies, but is used as a bomb to destroy the Special Forces' base. Considering this is the man hired by Quan Chi and responsible for the murder of Scorpion's clan only to be betrayed by the villains, you'd feel less sympathy for him. |
| 426 | * AvengersAssemble: In Sonya's Klassic Tower ending, the hourglass reveals unspeakable terrors to her and she is resolved to defeat them all. So she makes gods out of Cassie, Jax, Jacqui and even Johnny. But only because Cassie insisted. And maybe she missed him a little... She calls them her "God Squad" to help her in her fight. |
| 427 | * BackForTheDead: The original incarnation of the Cyber Lin Kuei returns, but is destroyed when Cyrax performs a HeroicSacrifice to overload the network and shut them all down. Sektor, meanwhile, ends up repurposed as a nuclear bomb by the Black Dragon once the tech to build more MechaMooks is reverse-engineered from him. |
| 428 | * BackFromTheDead: With multiple timelines and other phenomena throughout the entire franchise, ''nobody'' stays dead forever. Kronika's direct control over time seems to be the explanation here, as she gathers together allies from across the timestream: |
| 429 | ** Shao Kahn's revival is the one with the biggest ramifications for the story: his past self's arrival inspires an [[EnemyMine alliance]] between (past) Raiden and Kotal Kahn. ''Neither of them'' wants to see the former Emperor of Outworld back in business. |
| 430 | ** Characters killed or turned Revenant in the previous two games show up in the story here, alongside presently alive characters, as their past selves. Sonya and Scorpion's prime selves are killed and their younger counterparts take their place. |
| 431 | * BadassInDistress: Several heroic characters are captured and need to be rescued at various points in the story. |
| 432 | * BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil: Kronika's ultimate desire is to establish a timeline where Cetrion (good) and Shinnok (evil) would battle each other for all eternity in order to establish balance between the two, and mortal forces would have to pick a side. In a twist, this form of balance is called out as perhaps the worst possible outcome. Since she's effectively trying to doom all life, mortal and god alike, in a bloody ForeverWar. |
| 433 | * TheBattleDidntCount: Occurs a few time, where a character (usually one of Kronika's Minions) will use [[CutscenePowerToTheMax powers during the cutscene]] do basically invalidate the battle the player just won. |
| 434 | ** The Kung Lao / Liu Kang battle against Geras. Win, Geras just gets back up, freezes the two in mid air (Which he apparently could've done at any time), grabs the Jinsei vials and leaves. |
| 435 | ** The Young Jax / Jacqui battle against Cetrion. Win, and Cetrion just uses her magic to open the ground under Jacqui and forces Jax to surrender the crown, which is what she'd have just done if she'd won as she has no interest killing them. |
| 436 | ** Scorpion's fight against D'Vorah. Scorpion wins, but she jumps him after he defeats his past self and convinces him of the error of his ways, and kills the present Scorpion. |
| 437 | * BashBrothers: Sub-Zero and Scorpion as well as Kung Lao and Liu Kang. |
| 438 | * BeamOWar: Happens in Chapter 4 if the player selects Sub-Zero for the final battle against Sektor. After some banter, Sub-Zero and Sektor fire their ice beam and flamethrower (respectively) at each other. The two stop in the middle and, failing to overpower each other, results in a small explosion before the two characters fight each other. |
| 439 | * BeginWithAFinisher: Chapter 3 of story mode has Liu Kang and Kung Lao face off against Geras, who is stealing from the Jinsi. When Geras states that Kronika intends to use it to remake history, Kung Lao responds by [[WeaponizedHeadgear throwing his hat at him]], [[OffWithHisHead chopping his head off]], and catching it, complete with him wiping his hat off with two fingers and smirking. |
| 440 | -->'''Kung Lao:''' [[TemptingFate That was easy.]]\ |
| 441 | ''[Cue Geras's head turning into sand and [[ResurrectiveImmortality reforming onto his body]]]''\ |
| 442 | '''Geras:''' I, Geras, am a fixed point in time. With every death and rebirth, [[CameBackStrong I grow stronger!]] |
| 443 | * BeingGodIsHard: After defeating Kronika, the titan that controls time, [[spoiler:Fire God Liu Kang is tasked with being the new watcher and keeper of time and, unable to handle the job alone, brings his beloved Kitana to do this duty together. Further, in his Tower ending, Liu Kang appoints his most trusted friends and allies to be the new Elder Gods that govern the MK multiverse. However, he is haunted about many of the decisions he needs to make to protect the realms, as well as mournful that he and Kitana will never enjoy being able to marry and make one-another happy.]] |
| 444 | * BigBad: Kronika, whom Ed Boon confirms is the "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis First. Boss. Female. Character]]" in the franchise's history. |
| 445 | * BigBadWannabe: Despite being the BigBad in most of the games, Shao Kahn is defeated and blinded by Kitana and taken out of the story for it; you also get to defeat him in the closing segment of Chapter 2. |
| 446 | * BittersweetEnding: Kronika is ultimately successful in causing a TimeCrash, to the point of prehistoric times. From this point, the 3 endings are as follows: |
| 447 | ** If you won both rounds in the final fight, the demigod Liu Kang defeats Kronika and has control over the hourglass. With the help of the now-mortal Raiden helping him along the way, he was able to get Kitana to help reshape time because the distance between the final battle's timeline is "not far off" from where she was at. Kitana, however, warns Liu Kang that they should let the fate rest upon mortal's hands. It is unknown if everyone from the Mortal Kombat story, alive or dead and good or evil, will exist or not in this timeline(s). It does hint, however, that Raiden and Liu Kang will eventually cross paths. |
| 448 | ** If you lose one round in the final fight, the similar situation like above occurs. Except by losing 1 round, you gave Kronika enough time to rewind history back to the dawn of time. Because of how far back time was, he was unable to obtain Kitana, thus making the now-mortal Raiden guide him while he is still alive. But after Raiden's time passes, Liu Kang is on his own. |
| 449 | ** If you lose to both rounds, while at the dawn of time, Kronika cuts Liu Kang's head off, killing him (and Raiden). Kronika then plans to rewind time to the New Era as she sees fit, including the erased existence of Raiden. |
| 450 | * BlandNameProduct: A FreezeFrameBonus early in the story mode shows the Special Forces base has "Aicrell" hand sanitizer dispensers, a take off of the Purell brand of soap and sanitizers. |
| 451 | * BookEnds: Provided you can't avoid the bad ending: Story mode begins and ends with someone being decapitated while on their knees. Two powerful entities are involved in the ordeal. The only difference is who's doing the cutting and who's receiving it. |
| 452 | * BroadStrokes: The story seems to take this approach with its own prequels - for starters, Kotal Kahn mentions that Raiden attacked Outworld after Shinnok’s defeat - as depicted in Kotal and Bo’ Rai Cho’s arcade endings in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' - while ignoring most, if not all, of the other arcade endings in that game that served as [[SequelHook Sequel Hooks]]. See ''Continuity Snarl'' below for more. |
| 453 | * BrickJoke: After Kitana kills Shao Kahn and [[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning becomes the new Kahn]], Kung Lao tells Liu Kang that "She's now officially out of your league". Later on in the story, when Liu Kang and Raiden fuse into [[PhysicalGod Fire God Liu Kang]], Kung Lao comments "Now he's out of ''her'' league". |
| 454 | * BrokenPedestal: Happens to multiple people throughout the story. |
| 455 | ** Frost becomes a case of RedemptionRejection when she formally turns against Sub-Zero. She can't stand his new BashBrothers relationship with Scorpion. |
| 456 | ** Jade has one with Kotal Kahn as the two are former lovers that are happily reunited. Unfortunately, Kotal has performed many KickTheDog moments since her death that he is no longer the hero she remembers (if he ever was). However, it's downplayed in that she continues to stay by his side and believes he can still change for the better. |
| 457 | ** Subverted with Liu Kang and Kung Lao who are repeatedly extorted to abandon Raiden due to the events of ''Mortal Kombat 9.'' While Kung Lao is iffy about Raiden, he still refuses to abandon his mentor while Liu Kang remains completely loyal. |
| 458 | ** Jacqui has a case of this to older Jax but this is subverted by younger Jax being proud of her. |
| 459 | ** Kuai Liang (Sub Zero II) has this when he encounters Bi-Han (Sub Zero I) in his Noob Saibot identity. Noob Saibot revels in his evil power granted by Quan Chi and dismisses his brother's leadership of the Lin Kuei as weak. Sub-Zero is disgusted that not only is his brother NotBrainwashed but that he's a CardCarryingVillain who wants to plunge the universe into darkness. |
| 460 | -->'''Kuai Liang''': [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 We share blood.]] [[IronicEcho We are]] ''[[IronicEcho not]]'' [[IronicEcho brothers.]] |
| 461 | * CainAndAbel: Noob Saibot and Sub-Zero play this role with both of them fully prepared to kill the other. |
| 462 | * ChekhovsGun: |
| 463 | ** Injuries suffered by characters hailing from an earlier point in time are shown to [[RippleEffectIndicator carry over]] to their older counterparts, as seen when the younger Johnny Cage suffers a cut cheek in a firefight that becomes a scar on the older Johnny. Sonya Blade later exploits this to kill Kano, by blowing his younger self's brains out. The older Kano spontaneously develops the same fatal hole in his head, just before he ends up RetGone. |
| 464 | ** There cannot be two of the same gods in any timeline. Dark Raiden is erased when Past Raiden appears and realizes Shinnok's amulet will corrupt him, and he puts this knowledge to use in the finale to finally save Liu Kang: he ''turns Liu Kang into a god'' at the apparent cost of himself (he still appears BroughtDownToNormal in the good endings), simultaneously erasing Liu Kang's Revenant and throwing a spanner into Kronika's plans ''even worse'' than the one she bent over backwards a hundred times over to avoid. |
| 465 | * TheChosenOne: Liu Kang once again takes this role, but with a twist: Kronika chooses revenant Liu Kang to use the soul of his past self to defeat Raiden. The past Liu Kang however, [[FusionDance merges with his revenant self and Raiden to become a Fire God]], thus is the one who defeats Kronika. |
| 466 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: |
| 467 | ** Despite having equal importance to Cassie and Jacqui in ''MKX'', the male halves of the "Kombat Kids", Takeda and Kung Jin, are not seen or mentioned (though Takeda does show up in a few Arcade endings); particularly egregious with Takeda as he and Jacqui wound up as love interests by the end of ''MKX''. |
| 468 | ** Sonya and the two Johnny Cages vanish from the story after the Black Dragon fight club, not even showing up for the final battle. While the younger Johnny was badly injured, current Johnny only took a bullet to the leg. Sounds debilitating... except they have a god on their side who can heal wounds, plus Cassie shows up fighting fit to the final showdown right after her arm was almost scythed off by a minigun. Meanwhile, Sonya has no excuse for her absence; she's uninjured the last time we see her. |
| 469 | ** Half of the game's story is centered on Outworld's major political players and races, but the Centaurs aren't so much as given a nod to ''existing'' and make absolutely no appearances. |
| 470 | * ContinuityNod: The past characters are most likely from ''9'''s version of the events from ''II'', as Raiden explains that Kung Lao had just defeated Shang Tsung and Quan Chi in the tournament, along with Skarlet being present (which was just a background cameo in ''9'' itself), while Jax is shown to already have his cybernetic arms since he already lost his real ones to Ermac at that point. It's also likely that not everybody ended up in the same place they were in the past, hence why Kano and Erron Black are now in the Outworld arena for the same reason why Johnny, Sonya, and Jax ended up in the Special Forces base. |
| 471 | * ContinuitySnarl: When the [[TimeyWimeyBall Time-merger]] happens, the past versions of several characters are brought from the [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 past]] to the present day, over 25 years later. While the general locations of the characters are correct, there are at least four problems: |
| 472 | ** Past Johnny is on Earthrealm with Past Jax and Past Sonya, despite being in Outworld recovering from a beating (courtesy of Ermac) at this point in ''Mortal Kombat 9.'' |
| 473 | ** Past Jax also appears with his new metal arms with Past Johnny and Past Sonya. Jax had only ''just'' had his arms [[AnArmAndALeg torn off]] by Ermac, and he doesn't appear again in ''9'' until well after Shao Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm begins (which itself is after a minor TimeSkip where Shao recovers from his near-fatal [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice impalement]] ''and'' after Quan Chi revives Sindel). Even in the world of ''Mortal Kombat,'' it's unlikely that Jax would have been issued prosthetics and sent back into the field so soon. |
| 474 | ** ''None'' of the characters are wearing the correct costumes for the [=MK9=] timeframe[[note]]This problem is also present in ''VideoGame/Injustice2''.[[/note]]. The worst offenders are Shao Kahn, Kano, Kitana, Jade, and Skarlet. This is especially egregious when you consider: |
| 475 | *** A) ''Mortal Kombat X'' made a point to give characters like Raiden and Liu Kang the correct costumes for any scenes taking place in the [=MK9=] timeframe. |
| 476 | *** B) Some of the cosmetic gear for the arcade mode is taken directly from ''Mortal Kombat 9'', such as designs for Scorpion's mask and Shao Kahn's helmet, so it isn't as if the designers "forgot" the designs. |
| 477 | ** By the time of ''Mortal Kombat 9'', Kabal has undergone a HeelFaceTurn and joined the police, and was a member long enough to become SWAT and form strong rapport with Stryker. Past Kabal is inexplicably still a member of the Black Dragon. |
| 478 | ** Shao Kahn has been redesigned to be more draconic, despite being relatively more humanoid in all prior games. In fact, Shao Kahn was originally intended to be a Tarkatan like Baraka! |
| 479 | ** [[spoiler: Liu Kang’s death during a flashback to ''Mortal Kombat 9'' is depicted differently than in that game - in ''9'', Raiden zapped Liu Kang with a bolt of lightning while Liu was charging at the thunder god with a flaming fist, causing Liu Kang to be [[CruelAndUnusualDeath electrocuted and lit on fire at the same time]]. Here, Raiden blocks a (still flaming) punch from Liu Kang with his palm and still electrocutes him, but there’s no indication of him being lit on fire as well. It also apparently marks the beginning of their fight rather than the end of it.]] |
| 480 | * CosmicRetcon: The game brings a set of combatants from the original game, both good and bad or alive and dead, to the rebooted timeline, causing many people to have a copy of themselves running around (except for Raiden, whose present self [[RetGone turns to ash]], since there can't be two identical gods). It is later revealed that this, as well as other retcons in the series, are engineered by Kronika, a [[AboveTheGods Titan]] who wants to create a perfect world and [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans doesn't care if it means she will have to commit omnicides one after another]]. The original and rebooted timelines are not only canonical, there are in fact ''thousands'' of other alternate timelines where things proceed slightly different. In the best ending, she partially succeeds rebooting the timeline back to the prehistoric age, but Liu Kang and Raiden manage to kill her before she can rewind it further. |
| 481 | * CultureClash: |
| 482 | ** Kitana's ladder ending has her use the Hourglass to recreate and rejoin Edenia, but her joy is short-lived because she is completely unfamiliar with Edenia's traditions, languages, and cultures, having not grown up Edenian and having been forbidden to learn about it by Shao Kahn. She eventually goes back to Outworld, but uses the humane teachings of Edenia to make Outworld a peaceful land. |
| 483 | ** In Sheeva's ladder ending, she uses the Hourglass to create a world where her people are free from want and suffering. However, without any struggles to challenge them, the Shokan of this timeline become weak-willed hedonists instead of warriors. This disgusts Sheeva so much that she decides they were better off before, and creates a new timeline where they will always be challenged. |
| 484 | * CutscenePowerToTheMax: Kronika and Geras show time-controlling capabilities and general physical power that can render any hero helpless almost at will (that they spare heroes continuously is AllAccordingToPlan); of course, in the fights proper, they behave like traditional kombatants and can be beaten with the most normal of attacks. |
| 485 | * DamnYouMuscleMemory: Occurs twice during the story mode. |
| 486 | ** For the first two fights of Sonya's chapter she has her gloves taken away and in a case of GameplayAndStoryIntegration has all of her moves involving them disabled. ''However'', attempting any of said moves will result in the animation still occurring, potentially leaving players used to Sonya wide open. |
| 487 | ** In Scorpion's chapter, you spend the first two fights as Hanzo and - after he ''dies'' - the last two as Past Scorpion. The issue is that Hanzo and Scorpion have different equipment, leading to Scorpion lacking a few combos that Hanzo was equipped with, which can often interrupt people who were used to Hanzo's extra combos from his previous chapter with Sub-Zero. |
| 488 | * DarkerAndEdgier: It has a much bleaker premise and theme than its predecessors, with the BigBad being an OmnicidalManiac who plans to [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt destroy the entire universe]] by causing a TimeCrash, numerous main characters are killed off, starting with the tragic death of Sonya Blade in Chapter 1, and going all the way to the third act where the whole story culminates with everyone dying. |
| 489 | * DecoyProtagonist: The game makes the player assume the role of the Cage family, but their storyline ends when past Sonya takes up past Johnny's offer for a date, and Cassie isn't the focus character. The real protagonists are past Raiden and past Liu Kang. |
| 490 | * DejaVu: Liu Kang and Raiden experience this while fighting each other. Thanks to Kronika, these two are always destined to go this route, no matter what timeline. When they finally realize this, they stop, defying their fate. |
| 491 | * DemotedToDragon: Shao Kahn to Kronika, who summoned his past self to the present. Given who [[TopGod she is]] and Shao Kahn knowing it, he's savvy enough to not ''dare'' object or challenge her, at least not head on. |
| 492 | * DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: |
| 493 | ** In Sonya's Klassic Tower ending, she's shown slaying "an omni-deity from a forgotten, unpronounceably-named realm" -- a mass of tentacles, teeth, and eyes that may well be Azathoth itself. |
| 494 | ** In Scorpion's Klassic Tower ending he discovers that Kronika was not the only titan. There are more, each more powerful than the Elder Gods. He is shown standing on the shoulders of a giant one of these beings, choking it to death with his chain. |
| 495 | ** All the Tower Battles end with the characters knocking Kronika into the hourglass controlling the timelines, which results in her getting skewered and bisected by glass, trying to crawl feebly to her crown only for the hourglass to start fixing itself (due to her losing control over it), having her head split open by one of the incoming shards and being sucked into it as it finishes. |
| 496 | * DontMakeMeDestroyYou: Cetrion gives Past Jax and Jacqui several opportunities to stand down, as both are ultimately not enough to stand in her way. |
| 497 | * {{Doppelmerger}}: To defeat [[BigBad Kronika]], [[spoiler:Raiden uses his magic to fuse himself, the past human version of Liu Kang and the Revenant Liu Kang together, creating Fire God Liu Kang. Armed with Raiden's power, past Liu Kang's skill and Revenant Liu Kang's knowledge of Kronika's plan, Fire God Liu Kang becomes the ultimate weapon against the time goddess.]] |
| 498 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: In both Good and Normal endings, Raiden gives up his powers to Liu Kang, who becomes a Fire and Thunder God, rendering Raiden mortal. To him, this is for the best to prevent himself from killing Liu Kang and become a WellIntentionedExtremist. |
| 499 | * EasilyForgiven: Raiden forgives Present Jax when he repents joining Kronika after Raiden reveals her relationship to Cetrion and Shinnok. When he starts fighting alongside Jacqui and the others, they forgive him, too. |
| 500 | -->'''Raiden:''' It is not foolish to fight for your family's betterment. |
| 501 | * ElectricTorture: The opening cutscene has Raiden using his lightning bolts to make Shinnok suffer. |
| 502 | * EmptyPromise: Kronika promises a lot of factions that theirs would be on top in her new era. Noob Saibot is quick to notice that given how many people she made such promises to, it would be impossible for her to actually make good on all of them. |
| 503 | * EnemyMine: Raiden and Kotal Kahn begin another uneasy alliance in order to defeat Kronika and the returned Shao Kahn. |
| 504 | * EternalRecurrence: Kronika has destroyed countless other timelines, with this timeline and the previous simply being the latest two she deemed failures. It is also revealed that in every single one of the hundreds of timelines, she has circumstances conspire to make Raiden and Liu Kang mortal enemies by the end, as she fears the combined power of TheChosenOne and a god. |
| 505 | * EveryoneHasStandards: When Young Johnny makes an immature/perverted comment to Old Johnny about Sonya. Everyone is shocked and disgusted by this, especially when Younger-Johnny doesn't apologize. His older self is ashamed of him and drags him out of the room to discipline him. |
| 506 | * EveryoneHatesHades: Averted. [[{{Psychopomp}} Kharon]] proves to be quite benevolent and withstands torture at D'Vorah's hands while refusing to ferry Kronika's forces, and on being rescued by Scorpion, willingly helps the heroes. |
| 507 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: Kronika [[SmugSnake smugly boasted]] that she had played out every scenario where [[spoiler:Raiden's and Liu Kang's combined might can never be brought to bear against her in every timeline she's destroyed]]. It backfires on her when Raiden notes she [[spoiler:[[LooseLips unintentionally]] offered him a [[TakeAThirdOption third option]] by fusing with Liu Kang, resulting in the [[FusionDance birth of Fire God Liu Kang]]]]. |
| 508 | * EvilCostumeSwitch: Frost, Sektor and the Cyber Lin Kuei sport Kronika's colors of GoldAndWhiteAreDivine after joining her and being upgraded with {{Magitek}}. The older Jax also gets a costume switch after his FaceHeelTurn, acquiring new cyborg arms built from Kronika's tech. |
| 509 | * FateWorseThanDeath: Geras is immobilized by Raiden and sent sinking into the bottomless Sea of Blood, with no hope of ever escaping. |
| 510 | * {{Flanderization}}: Past Johnny Cage is far more perverted and immature than he was ever depicted in ''Mortal Kombat 9.'' While he started out ''9'' treating everything like an extreme LARP session, he took things much more seriously once Raiden proved he was a god and explained the stakes of the tournament. He would occasionally make an immature or inappropriate comment, but a quick beatdown would suffice in humbling him. Here, Past Johnny is ''extremely'' vain, self-centered, and makes an entire room freeze with a single crude comment. It takes not only a beating from his older self but also getting captured and tortured by a terrorist organization to finally get him to shut up and help Raiden without complaint. |
| 511 | * FoeRomanceSubtext: Similar to the infamous "D'Vorah kissing Mileena" scene from the previous installment, there's a scene that's equally horrific as it is homoerotic where Skarlet tortures Jade. She gets Jade on her knees, crotch-level, and is firmly clutching her head, making her scream, pant, and moan as she whispers suggestive things like "It's time to feast". |
| 512 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 513 | ** The previous game had some pre-fight intros hinting fights between original and alternate versions of some characters. In this game, some of them (such as Liu Kang and Kung Lao) do that ''canonically''. |
| 514 | ** It's established early that gods are resistant to changes in the Time line, and that they can't be duplicated when Past!Raiden causes Future!Raiden to vanish. This comes into play during the finale. [[spoiler:Raiden merging with Revenant!Liu Kang to make him a god causes Past!Liu Kang to also vanish and merge, as the new Fire God cannot have a duplicate. Similarly it's why Liu Kang is unaffected when time begins rewinding.]] |
| 515 | * ForeverWar: Kronika's end goal is a timeline where Cetrion and Shinnok are locked in one of these, under the pretense of maintaining a BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil. Every time it seems like the forces of light or darkness have gained too much of an upper hand, [[EnforcedTrope Kronika resets everything and makes adjustments.]] |
| 516 | * TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou: The Joker's Arcade Ending ends with him threatening to visit the player's house, before shooting at the screen and destroying the camera as it cuts to black. |
| 517 | * FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Two examples. |
| 518 | ** At this point, the Revenants are those that died at the end of ''Mortal Kombat 9'' who were brainwashed to serve Quan Chi and Shinnok. By the end of [=MKX=] only Jax, Sub-Zero, and Scorpion were freed, with the others just spouting out hateful comments to their opponents when they had to fight, but were otherwise empty husks. Then when they take over the Netherrealm, they go to war with Earthrealm (where most of them were born), kill Sonya, and act like EvilIsPetty [[PsychopathicManchild childish psychos]]. At this point, everyone has lost sympathy for them since they're not brainwashed anymore, and their past selves have nothing but contempt for them. |
| 519 | ** Past Jax admits that his future self has suffered, but he tells him it's no excuse to betray his [[TrueCompanions unit]] and his [[ActionDad family]] to side with [[BigBad Kronika]]. |
| 520 | * FutureMeScaresMe: |
| 521 | ** Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Jade have this opinion of their Revenant selves. Raiden in particular has this reaction after finding out his future self was corrupted and wanted to prevent this from happening, ironically ensuring that Dark Raiden was erased from history before the events of the game even took place. |
| 522 | ** Young Jax is unnerved by the idea of his future self becoming a ShellShockedVeteran, and is outraged that Old Jax would become so overprotective of his daughter that he would undergo a FaceHeelTurn. |
| 523 | * GameplayAndStorySegregation: |
| 524 | ** Like the previous game, it's bizarre as to why many kombatants are even remotely fighting and brutally murdering each other. A particularly egregious example is this intro with Shao Kahn and Kollector |
| 525 | -->'''Shao Kahn:''' [[UndyingLoyalty For twenty-five years, you've remained loyal.]]\ |
| 526 | '''Kollector:''' You are the one, true Kahn.\ |
| 527 | '''Shao Kahn:''' [[PetTheDog Let us make Outworld great again.]] |
| 528 | ** The rules of time travel in this installment are that any damage inflicted to your past self automatically gets transferred to you. This is how Sonya kills present Kano by shooting past Kano in the head. And yet, MirrorMatch happens without a problem, and Johnny Cage kicks his younger self's ass in Story Mode without being wounded himself. Granted, Cage's self inflicted wounds were neither lasting nor fatal, unlike the scar he gets later or Sonya shooting Kano in the head. |
| 529 | ** In a rather bizarre example, character intros and taunts often don't match up with their default appearances in-game. Notably, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kitana, Jade, Kabal and Scorpion are depicted as Revenants in their default attire, but act more like their heroic (or slightly less evil, in Kabal's case) human selves, whereas the previous game made it a point to alter character dialogue slightly depending on the costume used. Similarly, Raiden's personality in intros is based on his more heroic self than as Dark Raiden; this can lead to dialogues where a match between Revenant Liu Kang and Dark Raiden - very much established to be out for each other's blood - is treated as a friendly test of strength between two good-natured friends, or Revenant Kitana rebuking Noob Saibot's attempts to take her soul for ''her own Revenant''. |
| 530 | ** In story mode, Raiden establishes that gods aren't capable of meeting their alternate selves because they exist partially outside of time. For this reason, the unhinged-tyrant Raiden basically vanishes from the story early on. You can still play a Raiden Mirror Match in every single installment of the series, including this one, if you want. |
| 531 | ** It's established in story mode that if Cassie or Jacqui's parents' past selves were killed, it would result in a TimeParadox that would [[RetGone erase them from existence]]. This doesn't apply to versus mode and towers, where the girls can brutally kill their parents with no harm happening to them. |
| 532 | ** Scorpion {{No Sell}}s a sustained blast from Sektor's flamethrower in a cutscene. When the controlled fight begins moments later, he's forgotten how to be immune to fire. |
| 533 | ** Geras has CompleteImmortality and TimeMaster powers: one cutscene shows Kung Lao decapitating him, only for him to immediately rewind himself back in time, reattaching his severed head and bringing him back to perfect health. In the end, defeating Geras requires wrapping him in chains and dropping him into the bottomless Sea of Blood. Of course, in any fight outside of story mode, characters can put Geras down for good with a simple Fatality, which he apparently forgot how to rewind himself from. |
| 534 | ** In one story mode fight, Jax and Jacqui encounter Cetrion, an Elder God. The only way they can stand a chance against her is by using [[AmplifierArtifact Kronika's crown]]. Outside of story mode, these two fighters (and anyone else for that matter) are evenly matched with the PhysicalGoddess. |
| 535 | ** Shang Tsung can use his soul-related abilities perfectly fine on the Terminator, a robot who presumably doesn't have one. |
| 536 | ** Naturally, the Friendhsips run on this for RuleOfFunny, causing characters like Shao Kahn and D'Vorah to do things they'd never do rather than just killing their opponents. It's lampshaded by two characters, with the Joker trying (and failing) to avert Friendship and just shoot his opponent. Shang Tsung more subtly lampshades it, [[FreezeFrameBonus quickly rolling his eyes]] before forming a rainbow, as if he's being forced to play along against his will. And there's the suppressed rage you can see in [[TheUnsmile his smile]] afterwards. |
| 537 | * GameplayAndStoryIntegration: |
| 538 | ** While not perfect, there are a few attempts to actually explain why people fight in the pre-match dialogues. Sometimes the other characters claim to be clones, are imposters, are from an alternate timeline, or are testing each other. During one MirrorMatch, Liu Kang asks who his doppelganger is and is told he's his ancestor. Liu Kang thanks his IdenticalAncestor for the chance to test his skills against him. |
| 539 | ** A more individual example occurs during Sonya's story mode chapter. She's captured and forced to fight in the Black Dragon Fight Klub, with Kano taking away her gloves to "Make things fair". For the first two matches in the chapter, Sonya is unable to properly use any moves that require her gloves. |
| 540 | * GaiasVengeance: Cetrion's ladder ending has her realize that while "Good" should ultimately win out against evil, Mankind fights among itself too much to get this message. She sets upon them a trial by fire where the survivors will be humbled and learn their lesson. |
| 541 | * GodzillaThreshold: The entire game is this for ''everyone'': |
| 542 | ** For Kronika, Raiden's tone shift combined with Shinnok's defeat means having to not only act, but pull allies across multiple timelines, including ''Shao Kahn'' himself. |
| 543 | ** In response to the above, Raiden and Kotal Kahn immediately join forces, since neither wants Outworld back in its former ruler's hands. |
| 544 | ** And yet, even the forces of Light know this may not be enough, which means Outworld's heroic characters rally the long-warring Shokan, Tarkatans, and human characters, through Kotal Kahn's and Kitana's offering of peace rather than being slaves to Shao Kahn's war should Kronika's New Era come to pass. |
| 545 | ** The Elder Gods, notorious for doing nothing other than [[TheGodsMustBeLazy sitting on their asses]] unless the potential return of the One Being is at stake, actually give Raiden counsel when he asks for it, and point him towards Kronika's hourglass. Given this, it doesn't bode well imagining ''what's in store'' for the MK reality if she wins. |
| 546 | * GrandfatherParadox: [[BigBad Kronika]] merges the past timeline with the current one, causing past selves of the current timeline characters to appear side by side. In one scene, Sonya from the past is holding Kano's past self hostage while Kano is holding Johnny's past self hostage at knife point. Kano states that if he kills the younger Johnny, it will mean Cassie would have never been born and would basically die. This gives Sonya a EurekaMoment where she coyly thanks Kano for reminding her of the rules and then shoots Kano's past self in the head. This causes Kano to stumble around in pain until he turns into dust due to his past self being killed. |
| 547 | * GrandFinale: The story mode in MK 11 is considered as this where it likely concludes the storyline that began from ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9''. The story ends with the current timeline erased via time travel and Liu Kang becoming the Elder God of Fire and Thunder and the new defender of Earthrealm. However, [[RayOfHopeEnding he promises that he'll rebuild the timeline and make a better one if possible]]. This gives a definitive end to the rebooted trilogy and allows the developers another ContinuityReboot in the future. Even the final chapter in the story mode is called "End of an Era". |
| 548 | * GreaterScopeVillain: |
| 549 | ** Kronika is responsible for the goings-on of both timelines - ''including Armageddon''. Believing that the balance of the universe has been skewed too much in favor of the Forces of Light and frustrated with Raiden's attempts to influence the timeline, Kronika has decided to take matters into her own hands by restarting the timeline from scratch - and placing it back on its "rightful" course. She makes an EarlyBirdCameo by appearing to Jade in her ''Mortal Kombat 2011'' ending (albeit with a different appearance), and is implied to be the one giving Kitana a vision of the "original" timeline in ''MKX''. |
| 550 | ** Within Story Mode itself, Kronika is revealed to be the cause behind Shang Tsung's habit of collecting souls. Kronika can use the accumulated lifetimes of souls to boost her powers, and specifically cultivated Shang Tsung so a ready-made stockpile of souls would be found on his island lair whenever she needs it. |
| 551 | ** In a few of the ladder endings it's hinted that the MK Universe's version of [[AbusivePrecursors The Titans]] are behind various bad things that happened throughout the timelines. Which only amplifies Kronika's role as this when it's revealed she's one of them. |
| 552 | * HiveMind: Frost is the HiveQueen of the Cyber Lin Kuei. Raiden destroys her control of them, rendering the Cyber Lin Kuei inert. |
| 553 | * HeelFaceTurn: Both past Scorpion and future Jax. Scorpion turns to the heroes' side after the death of Hanzo, seeing as Hanzo made it his goal to remake the Shirai Ryu. He is noticeably emotional seeing the Red Garden. Jax realizes the circumstances in the war between Raiden's and Kronika's forces, and betrays Kronika's side. |
| 554 | * HeroicBSOD: Raiden became very close in killing Scorpion when he offers his allegiance, and gets into a fight with Liu Kang. Once he finds out that Shinnok's amulet is corrupting him, he opts to help Scorpion. |
| 555 | * HeroicSecondWind: Liu Kang finds himself overwhelmed by Kung Lao, Kitana and Jade's revenants. He is on the verge of losing until he hears Raiden urging him on. |
| 556 | * HopeSpot: Comes with the BittersweetEnding, Kronika destroys the current timeline, erasing the entire cast of characters except past Liu Kang, past Raiden, and possibly past Kitana. However, Liu Kang is now a god and promises that he'll rebuild the timeline as best as he can and make a better one if possible. |
| 557 | * IHatePastMe: |
| 558 | ** While 'hate' is a strong word for it, the look of exasperation and frustration from Old Johnny Cage at his younger self's flippancy below speaks volumes. Especially his sexual comments towards past Sonya, which everyone, including Old Johnny, is taken aback. |
| 559 | ** Several of the revenant versions of the heroes have this opinion of themselves. Revenant Liu Kang in particular despises how naive he finds his past self. |
| 560 | ** Scorpion is positively ''exasperated'' with his past self's RevengeBeforeReason tendencies. [[FantasticRacism Also, the fact that his past self doesn't consider the Shirai Ryu to be real due to not being blood descendants of the original]]. |
| 561 | ** Present Jax doesn't necessarily hate his past self but believes that he is living a life of delusion. Twenty-seven years later and a lot of that time spent being dead, committing horrors that he wanted no part of, have left him jaded and emotionally distraught. Meanwhile the younger Jax inverts the trope, utterly dismayed that his older self lacked the mental fortitude to remember what's important and instead sides with Kronika for an easy way out. |
| 562 | ** Present Erron Black considers his past self something of a reckless idiot. He tells Kotal that he's shocked he managed to survive for so long given his pasts self's behavior. |
| 563 | * InformedFlaw: Dark Raiden is called out as a terrifying tyrant who violently lashed out against all potential enemies and adopted an authoritarian attitude over Earthrealm. However, the only immoral things he does is torture [[AssholeVictim Shinnok]] and act insensitive to Sonya Blade's sacrifice. Even his attack on the Netherrealm is a justified preemptive strike, considering that Revenant Liu Kang was planning to invade Earthrealm. |
| 564 | * ItsAWonderfulFailure: Happens when you lose to Kronika in the Story Mode. [[ResetButton Good luck being in the middle of a time reset]]. [[NonStandardGameOver Or get decapitated]] and [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt have her take control of all time and possibly destroy the world]]. |
| 565 | * IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Jacqui's ladder ending has her change Jax's history so that he never experiences the torment of the memories of every atrocity he committed while he was one of Quan-Chi's revenants. She realizes that it was because of the previous timeline that Jax met his wife while he was in rehabilitation, knows that they will never meet, and willingly erases herself from existence to give her father the happy life he deserved. |
| 566 | * IWantMyJetPack: The younger Johnny Cage gripes to his older self that he hasn't seen a jetpack in the hour since he arrived. |
| 567 | * InSpiteOfANail: |
| 568 | ** Despite initially seeming to improve her relationship with Sub-Zero in the new timeline, Frost still grows to resent him and crave the power and recognition of being the Lin Kuei grandmaster, which leads her to betray her mentor and side with Kronika. |
| 569 | ** While the circumstances are slightly different, Cyrax is once again given his free will back by Sub-Zero, only to commit a HeroicSacrifice to shut down the Cyber Lin Kuei. |
| 570 | ** This trope very nearly happens with Raiden and Liu Kang, almost becoming enemies once more over Raiden's growing extremism, even to the point of echoing their dialogue from the climax of ''Mortal Kombat 9''. Raiden also nearly becomes Dark Raiden again after being tempted into wielding Shinnok's amulet, despite knowing ahead of time what it could do to him. Fortunately, Raiden has a vision that reveals that these events are an EternalRecurrence orchestrated by Kronika, and resolves to firmly [[DefiedTrope defy the trope.]] |
| 571 | * IronicEcho: As immediately shown from the flashback, Raiden and Liu Kang's confrontation has [[HourglassPlot a major difference]] from the one they had in ''9 '', which is reflected in the exact same line Liu Kang uses for both of them. This time, Raiden is the one acting out of desperation after letting his emotions get the better of him, while Liu Kang is the reluctant opponent trying to reason with him, simply doing what he feels may be necessary. |
| 572 | * ItAmusedMe: Erron Black's arcade ending has him knocking Kronika's hourglass into the bottomless Sea of Blood to make sure that nobody will ever be able to alter time again because the sheer chaos brought about by the severely messed up timeline provides exactly the type of thrills he lives for. |
| 573 | * JerkassHasAPoint: Geras, Erron Black, and Kotal Kahn's arcade endings. Even though the first two are villains and Kotal is an antihero at best, all three conclude that it's wrong to alter time to suit one's own whims and decide to let the Hourglass do its own thing. In Erron's ending, he even takes it one step further by dropping it into the bottomless Sea of Blood to ensure no one else tries messing with it. It's not that he wants to prevent anyone from altering time, it's that he's having [[ItAmusedMe too much fun enjoying the chaos brought about by the severely messed up timeline]]. |
| 574 | * KillItWithFire: The end of chapter four will have Sektor shoot his flamethrower at either Sub-Zero or Scorpion (depending on the player's choice). What results is either a BeamOWar with Sub-Zero or the realization that Scorpion is ImmuneToFire. |
| 575 | * LateArrivalSpoiler: The prologue shows Raiden ''beheading'' Shinnok, as seen in the final scene of ''Mortal Kombat X'''s Story Mode. Raiden's words even echo much the same of what he said to Liu Kang and Kitana in that scene, ending with the phrase: "There are [[FateWorseThanDeath fates worse than death]]" - his parting words to the new rulers of the Netherrealm. |
| 576 | * LegionOfDoom: Kronika builds one by gathering every villain from across the rebooted timeline who resents the current status quo, promising them all generous kickbacks in her custom-tailored new timeline. This earns her the allegiance of Shao Kahn's Outworld empire, the Netherrealm revenants, the Black Dragon, the Cyber Lin Kuei, Noob Saibot, Frost, D'Vorah and pre-resurrection Scorpion. |
| 577 | * LightIsNotGood: Kronika and her dragon Geras both follow a GoldAndWhiteAreDivine color scheme, as do Frost and old Jax after being upgraded by her {{Magitek}}. Also, Cetrion is a Goddess of Life, Nature and Virtue, and she's not on the hero's side. Even her Arcade ending, where she opposes her mother and decides to fight for Good, she was rather ruthless about it. |
| 578 | * LightningFireJuxtaposition: The story reveals that the suspiciously-recurring clashes between Raiden and Liu Kang across the franchise, including at one point during this game's own story, happened in previous timelines before [[spoiler:thanks to Kronika's manipulations. Raiden and Liu Kang end up fusing together after the former discovers this deception.]] |
| 579 | * LiterallyShatteredLives: In the good and best endings, this is how [[spoiler:Fire God Liu Kang]] defeats BigBad Kronika. He blasts her with a stream of fire that turns her to glass, [[AnArmAndALeg chops her arms off]], [[OffWithHisHead kicks her head off]] and ''then'' [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill pushes the rest of the body to shatter it.]] |
| 580 | * LivingEmotionalCrutch: Jax's wife helped him through the trauma of his time of being a revenant, bringing him back from the brink of despair. Her death shattered Jax, and reduced him to a recluse who allies himself with Kronika after she promises to rewrite his history. |
| 581 | * TheLostLenore: |
| 582 | ** Jax's wife passed away from illness one year prior to the events of the game. Jacqui notes that Jax hasn't left their home since then, out of grief. |
| 583 | ** Due to circumstances, Kotal Kahn and Jade were this to each other. Jade was killed off and resurrected as a Revenant in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat9'' while Kotal was a prisoner for Shang Tsung's experiments. |
| 584 | ** Should you happen to lose to Kronika just once in story mode, Kitana becomes this for Fire God Liu Kang, who is forced into eternity without her. Defeat Kronika without losing a battle and Liu Kang is able to pull Kitana back out of the timestream and have her serve alongside him as he reshapes history. The ''Aftermath'' DLC indicates that the "Good" ending where Kitana is saved is not canon to the story though the trailers indicate that she will still be saved regardless and play a role in the story. |
| 585 | * MacGuffin: |
| 586 | ** Kronika's control over time is revealed by the Elder Gods to be linked to her giant hourglass. They instruct Raiden to find her keep and wrestle the hourglass out of Kronika's control. |
| 587 | ** Kronika's crown. To expedite her rituals, she seeks to energize herself by absorbing all of the souls Shang Tsung ever stole and kept on his island - or rather, their accumulated ''lifetimes'' - into a crown she can then use to boost the power of the hourglass. |
| 588 | * MeetYourEarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Kano hadn't been a bald, clean-shaven guy since the third game and its re-releases. Here, the modern Kano based on [[Film/MortalKombatTheMovie Trevor Goddard's portrayal]] gets to meet and team up with his past self modeled after the arcade games' incarnation (also note that in ''[=MK9=]'' he still had the modern beard and hair look). |
| 589 | * MergingTheBranches: The different timelines started in ''[=MK9=]'' and the alternate arcade endings are revealed to have ''all'' occurred. With each being a different timeline Kronika created and then destroyed in an attempt to craft a perfect, balanced history. |
| 590 | * MirrorMatch: Several characters wind up fighting their own past or future selves during the story, despite the paradoxical consequences that would result from someone killing their own past self. |
| 591 | * {{Mooks}}: This game carries multiple flavours of disposable henchmen and the plot is not kind to any of them. Whether it's [[RedshirtArmy the Special Forces]], [[TheSyndicate Black Dragon thugs]], [[CannibalTribe Tarkatan warriors]], [[ModernMayincatecEmpire Kotal Kahn's followers]], [[MalevolentMaskedMen Shao Kahn's soliders]], [[BareFistedMonk Shaolin monks]], [[NightOfTheLivingMooks undead guardians]], [[UnwillingRoboticisation Cyber Lin-Kuei]], [[TheLegionsOfHell Netherrealm demons]] or [[MultiArmedAndDangerous Shokan grunts]], they all get mowed down by the main cast with regularity. |
| 592 | * MultipleEndings: Story mode has three different endings depending on how well you do on the FinalBoss, alongside the standard individual character arcade endings: |
| 593 | ** [[GoldenEnding Good Ending]]: If you win all rounds, Kronika is defeated after rewinding time to the prehistoric era. With Raiden's urging, Liu Kang summons Kitana to shape time with him, at which point Raiden bids the two new gods of time farewell, for now. |
| 594 | ** [[CuttingofftheBranches Normal Ending]]: If you lose a round, Kronika rewinds the universe to the dawn of time, leaving only Liu Kang and a now mortal Raiden to build a new future. The ''Aftermath'' DLC takes place right after this ending. |
| 595 | ** [[DownerEnding Bad Ending]]: If you lose all rounds, Kronika decapitates Liu Kang, and resumes her plan to reshape the timeline as she sees fit. |
| 596 | * MyFutureSelfAndMe: Characters from the past are summoned to the present, leading to some interesting banters. Johnny Cage, in particular, detests his younger less mature self. |
| 597 | * MythologyGag: Too many to mention, so naturally [[MythologyGag/MortalKombat11 it has its own page]]. |
| 598 | * NearVillainVictory: Kronika is not stopped in time to prevent the initiation of the timeline reset. Regardless of what happens in the final fight, she will have at least managed to initiate rewinding to the beginning of life, if not time itself. Liu Kang is left to reshape history and all the previous characters' actions have been erased. Should you fail at the final battle her victory is brought to bear and she kills Liu Kang and initiates the timeline reset to the outcome she was desiring. |
| 599 | * NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: Averted. There doesn't seem to be any issue with time travel duplicates bumping into each other. Johnny's younger self even complains to his current version that the future isn't what he was hoping for. Played very straight for Raiden, due to the timestream affecting gods differently than mortals -- when the younger Raiden appears, Dark Raiden abruptly [[RetGone disappears]] and is never seen again. This also happens to Revenant Liu Kang once his past self gains the power of a god, which involved Raiden effectively fusing the two together but leaving the Past self in control. |
| 600 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: In both flavors: |
| 601 | ** Kronika has sent past versions of the Kombatants, including Raiden, into the future. Throughout the story, Raiden's been on the edge of becoming Dark Raiden, something he doesn't want to happen, and came to blows with Liu Kang in every timeline. However, with Shinnok's amulet corrupting him, he discovers Kronika had been conspiring to have the two fight. Not only did Raiden break this cycle, he effectively merged with Liu Kang and defeated Kronika for good. Honestly, this was poor planning on her part. |
| 602 | ** And speaking of Raiden being on edge, Cetrion had given Raiden ''legitimate advice'' because he fears of becoming Dark Raiden. If Cetrion remained passive throughout the story, Raiden wouldn't overcome his fear of becoming Dark Raiden. Meaning she is effectively responsible for foiling her own mother's plans because of that one advice. |
| 603 | * NonstandardGameOver: If you lose to Kronika at the end of Story Mode, she [[BookEnds replicates the opening scene]] by beheading Liu Kang before beckoning the beginning of the New Era. |
| 604 | * OnlyOneMeAllowedRightNow: The multiple copies are allowed to exist except for Raiden. Due to a law from the Elder Gods stating that there can never be more than one of them existing at any time, the Raiden of the present [[CessationOfExistence ceases to exist]] while the Raiden of the past takes his place. No one sees this as a bad thing since the vanished Raiden had become a KnightTemplar and the heroes disliked his change. |
| 605 | * OOCIsSeriousBusiness: |
| 606 | ** Raiden goes to meet with the Elder Gods, which has been two games of him getting nothing but the runaround as well as outright refusal to intervene with one small exception. The Elder Gods give sensible advice and crucial details as well as have one take the field. It's a sign of how dire things are. Sadly, one is a SixthRangerTraitor. |
| 607 | ** Kotal Kahn acts sanely and rationally by teaming up with Raiden despite his usual AxCrazy HotBlooded NobleDemon tendencies. He also willingly gives up the crown to Kitana. |
| 608 | * OfferedTheCrown: In Chapter 7, Kotal Kahn is crippled by Shao Kahn, who is subsequently blinded by Kitana. As a result of this and Kitana uniting the Shokan and Tarkatans with the rest of Outworld's forces, Kotal Kahn crowns her as the new Kahn. |
| 609 | * OffWithHisHead: |
| 610 | ** At the beginning of the Story Mode, we're finally shown how Raiden decapitates Shinnok, leading to TheStinger of ''X''. |
| 611 | ** Kung Lao decapitates Geras with a hat throw during their first encounter. Unfortunately, it doesn't take. |
| 612 | ** If the player chooses Sub-Zero to fight Sektor in the end of chapter 4, Sub-Zero will explain how he took Sektor's head in another timeline (explaining Sektor's disembodied remains in Hanzo Hashashi's chapter in ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX''). |
| 613 | * OhCrap: |
| 614 | ** Shinnok briefly shows this expression in the prologue when he realizes [[OffWithHisHead what Raiden is about to do to him]]. |
| 615 | ** Past Kano gets a brief moment of realization just before Johnny Cage delivers an epic [[GroinAttack punch to his nads]]. |
| 616 | * ParadoxPerson: All of the kombatants plucked from the past are this. This also means that if they die, their future self dies with them, as Kano finds out. |
| 617 | * {{Permafusion}}: The big twist is that Raiden, the god of thunder of Earthrealm, and Liu Kang, the Mortal Kombat Champion of Earthrealm, [[spoiler:fuse together to create Liu Kang, the ''new'' Fire God of Earthrealm. This is a whole new being: essentially, Raiden is no more, and Liu Kang acquires Raiden's thunder and lightning powers, while still having his characteristic fire powers]]. This is kept in the ''VideoGame/MortalKombat1'' reboot, indicating it's permanent. |
| 618 | * PowerPerversionPotential: In Kano's ladder ending, he initially uses his newly obtained godly power to make Sonya Blade and Cassie Cage fight each other in a [[{{Pun}} cage]] match wearing nothing but skimpy bikinis. |
| 619 | * RebuiltPedestal: After two timelines ([[spoiler:plus many others]]) of turning against Raiden after being disillusioned, Liu Kang finally regains his trust in the God of Thunder after learning that they were being manipulated by the GreaterScopeVillain. |
| 620 | * RedemptionEarnsLife: Baraka and the Tarkatans. Baraka himself had previously perished in a flashback during ''X'': he was slain by D'Vorah on Kotal's orders during his coup against Mileena. During ''11'', it's revealed that shortly after the death of Mileena in the ensuing Outworld Civil War, Kotal Kahn committed genocide upon the entire Tarkatan race for their savagery and UndyingLoyalty to the previous regime. When Baraka and his tribe are reborn thanks to the TimeCrash, Kotal wants them all exterminated once again, only to be [[WhatTheHellHero called out]] by Jade. Kitana, meanwhile, successfully parleys with Baraka and convinces him to help pull a BigDamnHeroes-esque rescue to save Kotal from execution at Shao Kahn's hands, in order to secure a better life for his people. In the end, after Kitana herself is christened as a new Kahn, the Tarkatans are welcomed into a new, peaceful confederacy of Outworld's races. |
| 621 | * RememberTheNewGuy: Like Kotal Kahn before him, Kollector is introduced as a character that has always been part of the Outworld power structure. Somewhat {{Justified}} as he's literally just a tax collector - and only becomes important because he's one of Shao Kahn's last loyalists. |
| 622 | * RestrainingBolt: Cyrax is programmed with behavioral inhibitors that keep him loyal to Sektor. Disabling those inhibitors is a major part of Sub-Zero's plan to take down the Cyber Lin Kuei factory. |
| 623 | * {{Retcon}}: Sindel revealed as EvilAllAlong, whereas past games - and even one of Geras' interactions with Kitana - had established her as a heroic figure. |
| 624 | * RetGone: |
| 625 | ** The ''entire current timeline'' is erased from existence via time travel, only leaving a [[HeelFaceTurn fully-revived Liu Kang]], past-Kitana (good ending) and a now-mortal Raiden to oversee the creation of a [[ContinuityReboot new timeline]]. |
| 626 | ** If anything happens to the past incarnations of kombatants, it would jeopardize their present selves - as well as their children. Sonya manages to pull this on Kano, blowing his past self's brains out and thus erasing his present self from reality. Kano himself threatens to wipe Cassie out of existence before this by holding a gun at Johnny's younger self. |
| 627 | * RippleEffectIndicator: In Chapter 6, Past Johnny gets grazed with a bullet to the cheek, causing a scar to Present Johnny. The more vain iteration does not take it well. |
| 628 | -->'''Present Johnny''': ''[feels scar]'' Ooh, that's [[Literature/FreakyFriday freaky like Friday.]] |
| 629 | -->'''Past Johnny''': They shot our face, Johnny... THEY SHOT OUR FACE! |
| 630 | * SamaritanRelationshipStarter: As with their prime relationship back in ''9'', Past Sonya eventually warms up to Past Johnny as he steps up to being a hero; in chapter 8, when both are trapped in Kano's fight club with assured death no matter the victor, Johnny helps them stall for time by allowing Sonya to fight him (and refuses to take a dive per her request, knowing Kano will see right through it and kill them). This allows enough time for the cavalry to arrive; as Sonya eventually saves his life, Johnny sincerely apologizes for being an asshole to her and asks her to dinner sometime to get to know each other, as they are aware they eventually spawn Cassie. Sonya agrees, as long as it's platonic to start. |
| 631 | -->'''Sonya''': Patience is a virtue, Cage. |
| 632 | * SenselessSacrifice: Near the end of the first chapter, Present Sonya is caught in a pile of debris during the attack on the Bone Temple, after all the charges are set and primed to detonate; she orders Jacqui and Cassie to evacuate their remaining forces while she initiates the detonation sequence, which goes off without a hitch and kills her in the process. The reason this is senseless is because, not long after the Special Forces evacuate the Netherrealm, Kronika shows up and reverses the destruction that was just wrought. To drive the knife in even further, Kronika's powers evoke a temporal collision which brings many characters from the past into the story, including Sonya Blade; Cassie, with pain in her heart, tells Past Sonya what exactly happened. |
| 633 | * SequelHook: While the story seemingly serves as the GrandFinale of at least this timeline, a few of the ladder endings hint at an GreaterScopeVillain even bigger than Kronika: [[AbusivePrecursors The Titans]]. |
| 634 | * ShaggyDogStory: The Special Forces efforts to destroy Shinnok's citadel in the Netherrealm is instantly undone by Kronika's time manipulation. This means that Sonya Blade died for nothing. |
| 635 | * ShellShockedVeteran: Jax Briggs is revealed in the first chapter to have been honorably discharged from the Special Forces due to his physical and mental trauma, unable to cope with the stress caused by losing his arms, dying, becoming a revenant, and losing his wife to sickness a year before the story begins. Living alone on his farm, Jax is consumed by the knowledge that his daughter is out there fighting supernatural monsters, and being unable to call her during the temporal merge causes him to suffer a panic attack. His PTSD and fear for Jacqui makes him susceptible to Kronika's charisma, leading to a FaceHeelTurn under the false promise that, in the New Era, the world will be peaceful and his daughter will never have to fight. The younger Jax [[WhatTheHellHero isn't impressed]], but the older Jax insists that he's being a WellIntentionedExtremist. |
| 636 | * ShieldBash: When Past Johnny Cage's face gets grazed by a bullet, he picks up a riot shield and rams the gunmen. The game also gives Sheeva a spiked version that she brings into battle. |
| 637 | * SNKBoss: Even in the grand ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' tradition of cheap final bosses, Kronika stands out. She's immune to all your special moves, Fatal Blow, and most of your combos, and her own moves are so devastating that if she can land a single one, you'll be lucky if you only lose half your health. Luckily, she's got absolutely no idea how to deal with jump kicks or uppercuts. |
| 638 | * StandardFemaleGrabArea: In Chapter 6, two Cyber Lin Kuei hold Past Sonya captive by clasping both of her arms as Present Johnny fights Sektor and Past Kano. |
| 639 | * StayInTheKitchen: The reason why Present Jax makes a FaceHeelTurn. Jax wants to rewrite history so that Jacqui will not join the Special Forces and endanger herself, with his "vision" for her being a [[IWantGrandkids happy housewife with kids]]. |
| 640 | * SurprisinglyHappyEnding: |
| 641 | ** This is the first ''Mortal Kombat'' to have ''any'' sense of closure starting from DarkerAndEdgier ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance Deadly Alliance]]'' to ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombatX X]]''. Liu Kang and Raiden's arc ends on a better note than the betrayal-induced trauma both characters have had to deal with, with the latter staying uncorrupted. It also gives Scorpion's and the Cage and Briggs families' character arcs a much-needed closure to their respective storylines. Kitana puts a [[KilledOffForReal permanent end to Shao Kahn's tyranny]], and Jade gets a heartfelt reunion with Kotal Kahn. |
| 642 | ** That all being said, it remains to be seen if any of that will be preserved in the new timeline Liu Kang is tasked with constructing. |
| 643 | * TakeThat: One of Johnny Cage vs Erron Black references the infamous "good guy with a gun" idea, with Erron dismissing it with a "that never works, Cage" (which is ironic, coming from a character that relies heavily on guns). |
| 644 | ** Shao Kahn says that he and Kollector will [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump make "Outworld great again."]] |
| 645 | ** A more serious one is that Jax, if handed omnipotent power, prevents slavery from ever happening. |
| 646 | ** Played with as Johnny Cage cites Ronald Reagan as an actor who made a difference in history, which Geras reluctantly admits was true, though his "exception that proves the rule" comment implies that he's of the opinion he probably shouldn't have. |
| 647 | * TeleportSpam: Happens in Chapter four if the player selects Sub-Zero to fight Cyrax while Scorpion deals with the Cyber Lin Kuei lackeys. Scorpions keeps coming in and out of the fire dimension quickly while swiftly dealing with the multiple opponents. |
| 648 | * TemporalDuplication: Because of the time-travel shenanigans involved as the result of the BigBad messing with time, several characters meet up with their past selves. Whatever affects a character's past self affects their present self as well. |
| 649 | * TemptingFate: In their first encounter, Kung Lao decapitates Geras with a hat throw. He even remarks to Liu Kang: "That was easy"... only for Geras to regenerate and start fighting the heroes proper. |
| 650 | * ThroneRoomThrowdown: Subverted in the last chapter (excluding [[MissionPackSequel the Aftermath portion]]): we're led to believe during the entirety of the Story Mode that the last battles take place on Kronika's lair. Then Kronika begins to rewind time, and the last battles take place at the prehistory and, should Fire God Liu Kang lose a round, the beginning of time. |
| 651 | * ThrowTheDogABone: Hsu Hao appears in Joker's ladder ending as one of Joker's allies in the attack on Seido, and nothing bad happens to him for once. |
| 652 | * TimeCrash: This is Kronika's end goal, restarting history while wiping Raiden from existence so she can enforce a balance between light and darkness. [[YouCantThwartStageOne She succeeds in the first half of the plan]] before Liu Kang defeats her. |
| 653 | * TimeTravelersDinosaur: The game's FinalBoss, TimeMaster Kronika, sends the arena backwards in time as the fight progresses. The second phase takes place in the Prehistoric Age arena, where dinosaurs roam, and she is able to control one and make it attack. |
| 654 | * TookALevelInJerkass: |
| 655 | ** While the Revenants warranted sympathy in MKX due to being turned into undead slaves of Quan Chi and Shinnok, and reasonably point out to Raiden that their deaths were caused by him, this game doesn't give them any excuses for how utterly cruel and twisted they have become. They not only blame Raiden for leading them to their deaths, but extend that blame to others associated with themselves as well [[note]] Revenant Jade having followed Kitana, especially egregious because their revenants were ''still on the same side'' even before Kronika came along. [[/note]]. They display GreenEyedMonster tendencies [[note]] Liu Kang accusing Raiden of wanting the glory of killing Shao Kahn as reason killing him on top of everything else the Revenants hate him for.[[/note]], and act like victims despite committing horrible and heinous acts while doing so, making them seem like hypocritical and childish assholes. The sole exception being Revenant Kabal, who doesn't linger on it much like the others do. |
| 656 | ** Revenant Liu Kang and Jade are the biggest examples among them due to how depraved and sadistic they have become. Jade being a condescending bitch who mocks Pasts Kung Lao and Jax over their present selves deaths and cites having followed Kitana as another reason for her death. Liu Kang actively goes against his archetype, going so low as to not only kill his former ally but even capture his past self and use Shinnok's magic to devour his soul as a means to strengthen himself and take revenge on Raiden. Even Revenant Katana and Kung Lao immediately turn their hostility toward Fire God Liu Kang., both blaming him for their inadequacies. |
| 657 | ** Older Jax after siding with Kronika. While it's true that he's essentially traumatized from his time as a Revenant and losing his wife while constantly worrying if his daughter will make it home each time she goes into battle, Jax's motives appear to be quite overprotective, believing that Jacqui only enlisted to honor him. Even his younger self is disgusted by how disgraceful and pathetic he's being by trying to selfishly create an alternate version of the timeline where he retires as an honored war hero and Jacqui doesn't enlist. While he does repent for his actions after Raiden tells him the truth, it still doesn't excuse Jax's actions. |
| 658 | ** Frost already was a Jerkass back in the original timeline, the new timeline and this game have it up to eleven. She has become so arrogant and twisted that she is willing to capture and kill her former clan members and turn them into cyborgs just to spite Sub-Zero. She keeps stating that no one realizes her potential, however her problem is not her power but her impatience and apathy towards others and fails to realizes that every time. Sub-Zero in one of his intros even says she would have been Grandmaster if she had better judgement and been more patient, but Frost had become too consumed by her desire for recognition and power to even care. |
| 659 | * TrailersAlwaysSpoil: |
| 660 | ** The announcement trailer spoils the presence of two Scorpions, human and hellspawn - with the human one being murdered. |
| 661 | ** The first bit of story revealed is the opening cutscene with Dark Raiden torturing and beheading Shinnok, freely spoiling TheStinger of ''X''. |
| 662 | ** The "Old Skool vs. New Skool" trailer spoils Jax joining Kronika's army. |
| 663 | ** The launch trailer spoils the creation of Fire God Liu Kang in its final few seconds. |
| 664 | * TrojanPrisoner: Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Kitana attempt this in order to enter Shao Kahn's camp, with Kitana as the "prisoner" and the other two in disguise as Kotal Kahn defectors. Skarlet sees through the ruse immediately, even addressing Liu Kang by name. |
| 665 | * {{Tyrannicide}}: During most of the game, the tyrannical Shao Kahn usurps back the throne from its previous ruler, Kotal Kahn, who was a fair ruler. During most of the game's story mode, Shao Kahn is seen oppressing the denizens of Outworld in order to rebuild their armies for Kronika's purposes. Then he's confronted by Kitana, after Kotal Kahn is freed from his shackles. After a gruesome fight, Kitana [[SlashedThroat slashes]] Shao Kahn's throat, killing him for good. |
| 666 | * UncannyValley: |
| 667 | ** In an intentional case, Geras is practically a walking Uncanny Valley, between having some part of his flesh held together with metal while others having perfect cracks in between, his voice being artificial sounding yet emotional, and coming back to life by unwinding himself perfectly, he is one of the most unsettling characters in the franchise. |
| 668 | ** Frost invokes this, being a {{cyborg}} who looks generally human enough that the specific ways her body moves, [[AbnormalLimbRotationRange twists, turns]], and ''[[DetachmentCombat separ]][[LosingYourHead ates]]'' will make you constantly go ''[[BodyHorror "HER BODY SHOULD NOT DO THAT"]]''. Her Friendship, in which, after skating on ice for a while, she starts spinning her entire body ''while her head is completely still'' makes her look surprisingly creepy. |
| 669 | * UnwillingRoboticization: The Cyber Lin Kuei are back, and not every one of them is a willing subject. Cyrax, in particular, resisted being cyberized, but failed, and hopes that Sub-Zero can find a way to reverse the procedure as he had returned from being a Revenant. |
| 670 | * TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: The final fight in the Story Mode involves fighting BigBad Kronika [[spoiler:after she's already begun reversing time to the point all of mankind, including the characters in the game save for Raiden and Liu Kang, have been [[RetGone irrevocably erased from existence]]]]. This final bout even decides [[spoiler:how far back history rewinds by the time of your victory; sweep both rounds, Kronika is stopped by the prehistoric era and therefore Kitana is saved, but take all three rounds, and history is rewound to the dawn of time itself.]] Kronika's stage even reflects these changes through the fight. |
| 671 | * VictoryIsBoring: Both Kano and Erron Black find emptiness in controlling the Hourglass after their victory, and shape their destinies to where they're continuously challenged for their rewards. |
| 672 | --->'''Kano''': Without a fight, winning was worthless. Nah, the fun wasn't in the having, it was in the getting. |
| 673 | * VillainBall: Kronika reveals that the combination of Liu Kang and Raiden is the only threat to her power and then separates the two by capturing Liu Kang and allowing the Revnant version to absorb his past self's soul. At that point, Kronika was almost unstoppable -- even if the allied forces reached her Keep, they would have to fight through an entire Netherrealm army, find her Hourglass, then get through her Revenant guardians ''and'' Cetrion, all while Kronika grew ever closer to resetting time. But she and the evil Liu Kang couldn't resist sending him out to find and kill Raiden one last time. By doing so, Raiden merges himself and ''both'' Liu Kangs, creating an entity more powerful than all of Kronika's forces combined that who knows exactly where the Hourglass is and how much time remains, and is immune to the time reversal once it starts. |
| 674 | * WantingIsBetterThanHaving: Kano's ladder ending initially has him use the Hourglass to give him everything he could ever want. After finding this boring, he uses it instead to place things he wants just out of reach. He might not win all the time, but the wins he does get, he savors. |
| 675 | -->'''Kano:''' [[LampshadeHanging Nah, the fun wasn't in the having. It was in the getting]]. |
| 676 | * WhamLine: |
| 677 | ** [[EternalRecurrence "This... this has happened before..."]], which Raiden says as Liu Kang is about to come to blows with him ''[[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 again.]]'' However, Raiden means it more than just that one incident: as it turns out, ''in every single timeline'' Kronika steers events so that Raiden and Liu Kang come to blows, ultimately resulting in Liu Kang dying. Realizing this dissuades Raiden from fighting Liu Kang, ending the cycle. |
| 678 | ** Followed almost immediately by Kronika revealing that it's ''not'' the first time Raiden has realized what she was doing, and that it has never stopped her before. |
| 679 | ** When Raiden transfers his power to Liu Kang, we don't know the full extent of what he's done until the title for the last chapter appears... '''End of an Era: ''Fire God Liu Kang.''''' |
| 680 | * WhamShot: From the announcement trailer. Dark Raiden brutally beats and kills Scorpion, only to be approached and attacked by ''another'' Scorpion. |
| 681 | * WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Amusingly, Past Sonya asks this of her prime self to Cassie, as she is understandably put off by vain Johnny Cage of the past. Cassie assures her that Johnny grows up and into responsibility as both military leader, husband, and father, from the influence Sonya had on him. |
| 682 | * WhatTheHellHero: Certain characters will have this reaction. Notably Raiden and Jax: |
| 683 | ** Raiden does not accept Scorpion's plea to form an alliance, which escalates into a fight with Liu Kang, who didn't believe the fact that his Revenant self hated Raiden and became an extremist. Once Raiden figures out Shinnok's amulet was indeed corrupting him, he resolves to prevent Dark Raiden coming to be again. |
| 684 | ** Jacqui and past Jax towards present Jax for being persuaded to join Kronika's side. Past Jax in particular despises how his present self has hit rock bottom and joins Kronika in the name of protecting Jacqui, while he himself is proud of his future daughter for fighting for Earthrealm. |
| 685 | ** When Past Sonya discovers how her present self died in chapter 1, she angrily calls out Cassie for abandoning her. Cassie fires back, however, by pointing out that she was following ''Sonya's'' orders at the time and tells ''Lieutenant'' Blade to read the entire report. After doing so, Sonya acknowledges she was wrong to lash out. |
| 686 | ** When Past Jade sees that Kotal intends to execute an entire Tarkartan village (including women and children), she intervenes. When trying to talk him down fails, she takes on her lover in a fight. After winning, she tells him that his heart has been hardened since she knew him. |
| 687 | * WhyAmITicking: After reverse-engineering the cyborg-ninja schematics from his body so that Kronika can manufacture her own MechaMooks, Sektor is repurposed as a nuke by the Black Dragon and used to destroy the Special Forces base. |
| 688 | * WorfHadTheFlu: Played straight and inverted. Cetrion states that the time merger has weakened the Elder Gods. She, an Elder God herself, is weakened to the point where she is able to fight most of the Mortal Kombat cast through the story - and not completely CurbStomp them. Even so, depending on the player, Jacqui or Past Jax will equip Kronika's crown when fighting her just to be sure. |
| 689 | [[/folder]] |
| 690 | |
| 691 | [[folder:''Aftermath'' Story Tropes ('''SPOILERS''') ]] |
| 692 | * AndIMustScream: Shang Tsung takes most of Raiden and Fujin's power by stealing their souls, but leaves the job unfinished, and they remain barely alive as shriveled husks. As he explains to Shao Kahn and Sindel, he intends to keep them alive to he can siphon their power for all eternity. |
| 693 | * AGodAmI: With the Crown in his possession, Shang Tsung declares himself Kronika's equal. In his ending, he absorbs Liu Kang's soul, gains his power over thunder and fire, and reshapes time to make himself a MultiversalConqueror. |
| 694 | * AnyoneCanDie: Compared to the main story, ''Aftermath'' has a considerable bodycount. In approximate order: Revenant Nightwolf has his soul [[YourSoulIsMine devoured]] by a mortally-wounded Shang Tsung early in the story. Sindel kills Sheeva, when the latter discovers her true allegiance to Shao Kahn, and then pins her death on Kitana to win the loyalty of the shokan. Geras's head is crushed to pulp under Shao Kahn's warhammer, and he presumably doesn't have the time to revive before the story ends. A barely-conscious Kung Lao is tossed into the Sea of Blood and left to drown by either Sindel or Shao Kahn during their capture of the Outworld fleet. Kotal Kahn is beheaded offscreen, and the Liu Kang of the past is left with an UncertainDoom after having his legs broken to splinters by Shao Kahn. Raiden and Fujin are kept barely alive, but have their power siphoned by Shang Tsung after he takes the crown, and he presumably devours Nightwolf's soul offscreen (he was in fact about to do so after their battle, before the gods interrupted him). The revenants of Kung Lao, Kitana and Jade are butchered in a CurbstompBattle against the combined forces of Shang Tsung, Sindel and Shao Kahn. Shang Tsung then betrays and devours Shao Kahn and Sindel before doing the same to Kronika. Finally, the [[MultipleEndings ending]] either sees Shang Tsung himself [[RetGone erased from history forever]] by Fire God Liu Kang, or Shang Tsung devouring Liu Kang's soul to become the new Keeper of Time. |
| 695 | * TheApocalypseBringsOutTheBestInPeople: Young Johnny during Sindel and Shao Kahn's chapter. While first appearing still jovial, when Sindel and Shao Kahn invade the Sea of Blood and take down both Cassie and Sonya, as they mock their defeats, Johnny [[LetsGetDangerous defiantly makes a last stand]] against the Outworld rulers. |
| 696 | -->'''Sindel''': ''(mockingly)'' The poor man is heartbroken. |
| 697 | -->'''Shao Kahn''': Why waste tears on weaklings? |
| 698 | -->'''Johnny Cage''': Those women are braver and stronger than fifty of you put together! |
| 699 | -->''[If Sindel is chosen to fight]'' |
| 700 | -->'''Johnny Cage''': Every fight I've fought, I've fought for myself. But this? This one's for my family! |
| 701 | * TheBadGuyWins: Should Shang Tsung win the FinalBattle with Liu Kang, [[DownerEnding he gloats to Liu Kang over his victory, steals his soul, then gets everything he could ever want.]] |
| 702 | * BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: Shang Tsung is the one who kills Kronika this time around (right after doing the same to Shao Kahn and Sindel). This is in fact invoked by Fire God Liu Kang, to get rid of Kronika before taking the Crown from Shang Tsung. |
| 703 | * BatmanGambit: Fire God Liu Kang knows that Shang Tsung is going to get the crown, and betray everyone in his way - so he acts as if he can't leave the Hourglass' side. In doing so, he makes Shang Tsung believe he's got one less rival he'll have to deal with, and simply waits for Shang Tsung's plan to be near fruition - then shows up to take the Crown from him. |
| 704 | * BattleCouple: Shao Kahn and Sindel share a story chapter and kick a lot of ass together, including against other couples like Johnny and Sonya, Kotal and Jade, and Liu Kang and Kitana. |
| 705 | * BigBad: Largely a BigBadEnsemble between Shang Tsung and Kronika. However, Shang Tsung ultimately retakes the role, as the plot is largely so he can usurp the timeline and become an all powerful god. |
| 706 | * BigBadWannabe: Played with. Shao Kahn and Sindel believe that they will get their hands on Kronika's crown and her hourglass, and they do lead the charge, but they ultimely are betrayed by Shang Tsung, right before the end of the story. |
| 707 | * BitchInSheepsClothing: First teased in her Ladder Mode ending, Sindel is revealed in the story of ''Aftermath'' to have been a willing ally of Shao Kahn, even murdering Jerrod, herself, to consummate their deadly alliance. The story of her committing suicide to defy Shao Kahn? Total bullshit: she had been murdered by Quan Chi so he could put himself in a better position to influence Shao Kahn for his own ends. |
| 708 | * BludgeonedToDeath: Shao Kahn, after escaping imprisonment from Kitana, encounters Geras, who wants him and Sindel to re-join Kronika. Shao Kahn responds by defeating him in battle, and then using his hammer to smash his face in, and then into several pieces. |
| 709 | * BodyHorror: Anyone Shang steals souls from is reduced to a withered husk. |
| 710 | * BookEnds: The story begins with Shang Tsung arriving to see Liu Kang and calling out "cease, Liu Kang, before you doom us all." The same thing happens at the end of the story with the roles reversed. By extension, both original 1992 game and 1995 movie focuses on Liu Kang's ending, where he fought and defeared Shang Tsung for the fate of Earthrealm. The Aftermath story ends with both fighting for the last time, for the fate of ''everything''. |
| 711 | * BringIt: Young Johnny Cage challenging ''Shao Kahn and Sindel''... which doesn't end well for him no matter who is chosen to fight him. |
| 712 | -->'''Johnny Cage:''' Okay, bozos! No jokes, no gimmicks - just Kombat! [[Film/Batman1989 You wanna get nuts? O-ho... let's get nuts!]] |
| 713 | * BrokenPedestal: |
| 714 | ** The Revenant Nightwolf has lost faith in the Great Spirit for not protecting him from his death at the hands of Sindel. |
| 715 | ** Sheeva is horrified to see Sindel, whom she had sworn a lifelong vow of loyalty to, freeing Shao Kahn and plotting to overthrow her own daughter. |
| 716 | ** Kitana, likewise, is horrified to learn the stuff she believed about her mother's mind being twisted by Shao Kahn's magic was a lie. |
| 717 | * BullyingADragon: Overlapping with TooDumbToLive. Whereas Shao Kahn before knew what Kronika was to him in scope and simply served her than remotely object or try anything, he challenges Shang Tsung to a fight near the climax, claiming he has forgotten he was Shao's servant. Keep in mind Shang Tsung is more powerful than Kronika herself at this point. Needless to say, [[KilledOffForReal it does not work out for him and Sindel well.]] |
| 718 | * ButtMonkey: Kotal really can't catch a break. After being humiliatingly crippled by Shao Kahn in the main story, he's beat up and knocked out by Sheeva in a feeble attempt to stop her crew's efforts at reviving Sindel. Later on, he's given a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown by Shao Kahn and unceremoniously decapitated off-screen. |
| 719 | * CallBack: ''Aftermath's'' finale homages past events in numerous ways. |
| 720 | ** The final chapter plays out similarly to the base game's story mode, a massive assault on Kronika's Keep and a battle with Kronika. However, in place of Fire God Liu Kang with Kung Lao and Kitana, it's Shang Tsung with Shao Kahn and Sindel leading the charge. |
| 721 | ** Early in the story, Shang Tsung is brutalized by the Revenant Nightwolf and steals his soul to heal himself. Near the end of the story, Shang Tsung beats up the past Nightwolf and it is implied that he stole his soul. |
| 722 | ** Shang Tsung betraying Shao Kahn is a reflection of VideoGame/MortalKombatDeadlyAlliance, where Shang Tsung betrays Shao Kahn for his own ambitions. Only this time, Shang Tsung defeats the real Shao Kahn instead of his clone and does it without the aid of Quan Chi. |
| 723 | ** Sindel first dies by being betrayed by one of the franchise's two sorcerers, which later resurrected her; in this game she's resurrected again by the other sorcerer, and dies for good when he betrays her. |
| 724 | ** The final battle is the same as the original ''Mortal Kombat'' -- Liu Kang vs Shang Tsung. |
| 725 | ** If you choose Shang Tsung in the final battle, Liu Kang says to him "You are mad, Shang Tsung. Your visions are nothing. Delusions of an addled mind." This is almost word-for-word the same things Liu Kang said to Raiden in the final chapter of the ''2011'' reboot. |
| 726 | ** ''The 2011 reboot'' had Raiden trying to decipher the meaning of his last words from the original timeline, "He must win", and ultimately realizes this refers to ''Shao Kahn'': all he must do is to let his invasion of Earthrealm to succeed, so that the Elder Gods will punish him for violating the rules of Mortal Kombat. Liu Kang employs a similar plan with Shang Tsung: he knows that the sorcerer cannot be trusted -- thus he allows him to succeed and take control of the Hourglass and Kronika's Crown, so that Liu Kang can eventually step in to stop Shang once and for all, and then take both for himself. |
| 727 | * TheCameo: The Descendant of Apep - AKA the player character of the Krypt mode - pops up in the Shaolin Trap Dungeon, having met an unfortunate end on a spike trap. |
| 728 | * ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: ''As expected,'' Shang Tsung betrays everyone he allies with at some point. In fact, this is exploited by Liu Kang, who had expected the inevitable betrayal to happen and waited until Shang Tsung has disposed of Shao Kahn and Kronika before showing up to finish him off. |
| 729 | * ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Several, with multiple characters having greatly reduced roles the second time around: |
| 730 | ** Present-Day Johnny Cage is still nowhere to be seen in the final battle, despite Sonya and his younger self having their whereabouts explained. |
| 731 | ** Frost disappears both from the scene and the story after her fight with Nightwolf. We don't even see any Cyber Lin Kuei in the final battle. |
| 732 | ** Sub-Zero and the younger Scorpion are also never seen again after Kronika is driven away from the Fire Gardens. |
| 733 | * ContinuityNod: |
| 734 | ** In Baraka's ending from ''Mortal Kombat 9'', he successfully identifies Shang Tsung masquerading as Shao Kahn from his scent. In ''Aftermath'', Baraka pulls off the same feat when Shang Tsung is disguised as a Shokan warrior. |
| 735 | ** In Fujin's chapter, he acknowledges [[VideoGame/MortalKombatMythologiesSubZero fighting Bi-Han at Wind World]]. |
| 736 | ** Nightwolf attempts to stop Cetrion by sacrificing himself, just like he did in ''Mortal Kombat 9''. [[{{Irony}} Ironically]], Sindel stops him. |
| 737 | ** In Liu Kang's ending, [[https://youtu.be/DGoc3Sz8rvo?t=309 the small statue that the Great Kung Lao touches up]] is the same one [[https://youtu.be/JToqcBFRrb4?t=381 seen in Kung Jin's chapter]] in [[VideoGame/MortalKombatX MKX]]. |
| 738 | * ContinuitySnarl: Before fighting Kung Lao, Shao Kahn tells the monk that he was seconds from [[NeckSnap snapping his neck]] in the [[VideoGame/MortalKombat9 Outworld coliseum]]. In the main storyline, Raiden says that Kung Lao had just defeated Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, meaning Kung Lao still had to fight Kintaro before Shoa Kahn killed him. It’s ''because'' Kung Lao beat Kintaro that Shao Kahn broke his neck. |
| 739 | * CuttingOffTheBranches: The ''Aftermath'' DLC confirms that the "Good" ending of the story isn't canon, as Shang Tsung announces his presence to Raiden before Fire God Liu Kang can begin reshaping time, with Nightwolf and fellow god Fujin in tow. |
| 740 | * CutsceneIncompetence: When Shang Tsung gets Kronika's Crown from Fujin near the end of the campaign, Raiden and Fujin do nothing but watch as he puts it on. While it's justified in Fujin's case given that Liu Kang told him to let Shang Tsung's plan continue uninterrupted, Raiden has no such excuse. |
| 741 | * ADayInTheLimelight: For ''every single DLC character'' - namely Shang Tsung, Nightwolf, Fujin, Sheeva, Sindel and Shao Kahn. The ''Aftermath'' story is mostly centered around characters that had little or no involvement whatsoever during the main story. Shang Tsung only got a passing mention, whereas Fujin and Nightwolf were completely absent from the story, and so was Sindel, one of the main villains; Shao Kahn is the only recurring character that also had a recurring role in the main story. In contrast, almost all the main characters from the main story are DemotedToExtra at best. This is actually [[JustifiedTrope justified]] early into the story, as in attempting to recruit any of the major characters involved in the attack on Kronika's fortress could steer the timeline in an unpredictable direction. |
| 742 | * DarkerAndEdgier: If you thought the main story was bleak, then this expansion takes it up to eleven, since it undoes all the positive changes Kitana made for Outworld, shows even more characters being killed, or at least greatly injured, and can possibly end with the evil sorcerer Shang Tsung becoming the god of a new timeline, where he rules. |
| 743 | * EnemyMine: Liu Kang and Raiden team up with Shang Tsung and send the sorcerer back in time to retrieve Kronika's crown. However, Raiden shows a great reluctance to have to team up with Shang Tsung in order to actually have a chance at fixing the timeline, and Shang Tsung knows that nobody would ever want to trust him. Fellow god Fujin has already been convinced to join Shang Tsung, which is a bit of reassurance for Raiden. |
| 744 | * EntitledBitch: Sindel resented how her first husband, Jerrod, refused to exercise his royal "privilege" and treated his subjects like equals. She became attracted to Shao Kahn specifically because Shao Kahn believed himself better than others, and acted like it. |
| 745 | * EveryoneHasStandards: PlayedForLaughs. In the midst of a fight with Kitana's loyalists and Sheeva's team, a Tarkatan is knocked into the Dead Pool. The battle momentarily breaks up as everyone looks on in comical horror at the poor guy melting to death. |
| 746 | * ExpansionPack: ''Aftermath'' presents an extension of the base game's story, in addition to new characters and stages. |
| 747 | * EyeScream: As it turns out, Kitana didn't kill Shao Kahn in the main story. She slashed out his eyes and had him chained up in the animal pens beneath the colosseum. |
| 748 | * FakeShemp: Sonya Blade appears during the final battle with her family, but Ronda Rousey does not reprise her role, and she is knocked out before she has a chance to speak. |
| 749 | * FlayingAlive: |
| 750 | ** Fujin inflicts this on one of the giant ratlike creatures Kollector unleashes on himself and Shang Tsung, trapping the creature in a cyclone that tears off its skin. |
| 751 | ** Sindel's scream does this to the pair of Shokan which were assigned to guard blinded Shao Kahn. |
| 752 | * ForWantOfANail: ''Aftermath'' brings up massive changes to the official [=MK11=] Story Mode - mainly from Chapter 7 onwards. To elaborate: |
| 753 | ** Kollector does not fight Kitana, since he senses Shang Tsung's presence in the Koliseum and follows him. |
| 754 | ** Due to Sindel being resurrected, Sheeva doesn't survive to join Kharon's army. |
| 755 | ** Kotal Kahn's spine is healed courtesy of the Soul Chamber. He then joins forces with the heroes to assault Kronika's Keep, and is killed by Shao Kahn. |
| 756 | ** The adventures on Shang Tsung's Island are not conducted by the Briggs family, but by the alliance of Shang Tsung, Sindel, Nightwolf and Fujin, who get their before them. In turn, Present Jax comes to his senses earlier than in the main story. |
| 757 | ** The confrontation between Scorpion and Sub-Zero comes to a halt when Shang Tsung and company arrive in the Fire Gardens. Raiden's wrath fueled by Shinnok's Amulet is unleashed on Shang Tsung, not Scorpion. |
| 758 | ** Since the heroes are able to chase off Kronika from the Fire Gardens, she doesn't get a chance to abduct Liu Kang. This means the Revenant Liu Kang doesn't get to steal his past self's soul, and Raiden doesn't merge with them to transform them into Fire God Liu Kang. |
| 759 | ** Kronika's Keep is not reached by the Forces of Light this time: Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn and Sindel massacre their way through, killing her Revenants in the process. |
| 760 | * FullCircleRevolution: Played with. In his ending of ''Aftermath'', Fire God Liu Kang serves as the inspiration and mentor for the Great Kung Lao to train himself in order to defend Earthrealm against Outworld in what's possibly another incarnation of Mortal Kombat, thus once again kickstarting the chain of events that would lead to his descendants eventually joining the tournament in the original timelines. Seeing as Shang Tsung is no longer around to mess with the rules in this cycle, things may very well end up differently this time. |
| 761 | * FutileHandReach: After being defeated by Sindel and Shao Kahn and on the brink of death, Liu Kang and Kitana slowly strain for each other's hand for one final moment while laying on the deck of the cargo ship, until Shao Khan cuts the moment off by crushing Liu Kang's hand underfoot. |
| 762 | * GoldenSuperMode: When he takes Kronika's crown for himself, Shang Tsung shapeshifts into his younger self clad in armored robes of [[GoldAndWhiteAreDivine white and gold]] (motifs shared with Kronika herself), reminiscent of the outfit he wears in his Arcade Mode ending. The tremendous power boost he gains from the crown proves to be more than enough to defeat Raiden, Fujin, Shao Kahn, Sindel and Kronika in quick succession, and [[MultipleEndings potentially]] Fire God Liu Kang as well. |
| 763 | * GuileHero: Liu Kang looked through time and foresaw Shang Tsung's endgame, so he sat the conflict out until it was over and then he could intervene to get the Crown as intended. Shang Tsung lampshades this is a devious way to operate. |
| 764 | * HappyEndingOverride: Played with. The original good ending where Liu Kang rebuilds the timeline with Kitana is rendered non-canon, and even the ending where Liu Kang rebuilds the timeline with Raiden's guidance is interrupted by Shang Tsung's revelation that by destroying Kronika's Crown, their attempts to use the Hourglass will just make things worse. That said, if players choose to play as Liu Kang in the final battle, his ending is reaffirmed more strongly -- he rebuilds the timeline and remains the God of Thunder and Fire, and it is implied he will train the original Kung Lao so his defeat at Goro's hands doesn't happen. |
| 765 | * HeroKiller: |
| 766 | ** While Shang Tsung stops short of fully devouring Raiden and Fujin's souls, he is implied to have devoured Nightwolf's soul offscreen. [[MultipleEndings If he wins the final battle]], he also devours the soul of Fire God Liu Kang. |
| 767 | ** Shao Kahn and Sindel behead Kotal Kahn and throw Kung Lao overboard to drown during their rampage. |
| 768 | * HiddenAgendaVillain: Shang Tsung is seemingly working with Raiden and Liu Kang to retrieve Kronika's crown so that the latter two can properly reshape the new timeline. However, everyone is aware of how untrustworthy the sorcerer is and are wary of his true motives. The story recap, narrated by Johnny Cage, even lampshades the ramifications in working with a long-time villain. |
| 769 | * HijackedByGanon: Shang Tsung pulls the ultimate example. He displaces Kronika as the story's FinalBoss and, to add insult to injury, he also betrays Shao Kahn, as if to assert his dominance as the ''Mortal Kombat'' franchise's true BigBad [[BookEnds from the very beginning.]] |
| 770 | * {{Hypocrite}}: When Shang Tsung betrays Shao Kahn and her, Sindel claims he is "a dog who betrays his masters". While she isn't wrong at all about this, that's rich coming from ''her'', of all people. |
| 771 | * IDidWhatIHadToDo: In the final confrontation, Shang Tsung is amused that Liu Kang would sacrifice his friends just to allow Shang Tsung to get Kronika's crown for him. Liu Kang states that he intends to revive them once he's dealt with Shang Tsung. |
| 772 | * IdiotBall: Really, all of the conflict that happened in the DLC could have been avoided had everyone followed Fire God Liu Kang's idea in the very beginning: Sending himself back to the past, just before his past self won against Kronika, then ending the fight so that the Crown was still intact. The point was brought up then ignored by everyone else save Shang Tsung, who said it left "Too much to chance". This is, well, Shang Tsung ([[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder the same character whose plans have an acknowledged tendency in-universe to benefit only himself]]). Raiden, who should have been too familiar with Tsung's schemes, never said a word against it. |
| 773 | * ILetYouWin: A rare literal heroic version. Shang Tsung deduces that Liu Kang allowed him to defeat his oppositions before realizing the latter let him win his battles knowing of his ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Shang Tsung actually finds it amusing that Liu Kang would go that far just to defeat him, and lampshades it. |
| 774 | -->'''Shang Tsung''': You ''let me win''. |
| 775 | * ImHavingSoulPains: During the mission to capture Sindel's revenant, Nightwolf feels a pain in his chest, and realizes that his revenant is nearby. |
| 776 | * ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: When Baraka realises that Shang Tsung is posing as a Shokan, he stabs him InTheBack with his arm blade. |
| 777 | * InevitableMutualBetrayal: Shang Tsung being a backstabbing snake means everyone teaming with him nigh instantly knows he'll inevitably betray them and only tolerate him so long as he's required for their goals. Liu Kang outplays Shang by making him think Liu Kang ''can't'' betray him first, and thus wasn't prepared for him to show up after Shang has backstabbed literally everyone else. |
| 778 | * InSpiteOfANail: Despite the events of the original story being changed, some events remain constant. |
| 779 | ** Present Jax is still convinced that he made a mistake in following Kronika. |
| 780 | ** Raiden still casts aside the corrupting influence of Shinnok's amulet. |
| 781 | ** Cetrion still sacrifices herself to power up her mother. |
| 782 | ** Despite Past!Liu Kang getting crippled by Shao Kahn (as well as Revenant!Liu Kang) and Raiden getting his soul partly drained and then captured alongside with Fujin, Fire God Liu Kang still exists. Justified, since being the new Keeper of Time, he isn't affected by changes made to his ''own'' timeline since he now controls it. |
| 783 | * InTheirOwnImage: In Shang Tsung's ending, he uses the power of the Hourglass to remake the timeline in his own image with him as the surpreme ruler. |
| 784 | * ItsPersonal: When Kotal awakens from his rest in the Soul Chamber, the sight of Shang Tsung sends him into an UnstoppableRage despite his injuries. |
| 785 | * KarmicDeath: |
| 786 | ** After kicking their asses toward the climax, Shang Tsung steals Shao Kahn and Sindel's souls, getting a massive power up. It's especially karmic in how Shang was unceremoniously killed by Shao Kahn before to power up Sindel the same way. Furthermore, Shao Kahn has historically only ever treated Shang like a dog so it's cathartic to see his former servant, now unfathomably stronger than him, end him for good. |
| 787 | ** In the Good ending, Shang Tsung is killed by Liu Kang, the man whose murder by his hand sent the original timeline into a downturn. Even better, Liu Kang's words imply he's not just killed, but [[DeaderThanDead erased]] [[RetGone entirely]]. |
| 788 | * LaserGuidedKarma: Shang Tsung's ChronicBackstabbingDisorder habits mean few are willing to trust him. Liu Kang knows this will be some sort of power play on his part and thus betrays Tsung ''first'' by lying to him about being unable to leave the Hourglass so he can jump in and defeat him after he's done all the leg work. |
| 789 | * MacGuffinDeliveryService: Rare heroic example: Liu Kang knows Shang Tsung has to get the crown and use it against Kronika, so he lies that he can't leave the Hourglass. Thus Shang Tsung doesn't realize he has to worry about Liu Kang and does all the work before Liu Kang swoops in once Kronika and the other villains are dead to defeat Shang Tsung and take the crown. |
| 790 | * MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: After being returned to her living self, Sindel reveals to Kitana that she never committed suicide. She was murdered by Quan Chi and the sorcerer staged her death to look like she had taken her own life. |
| 791 | * MakeWrongWhatOnceWentRight: Shang Tsung's meddling creates a pronounced butterfly effect which effectively erases the heroes' victorious efforts in the previous story mode, setting himself up to claim Kronika's Crown and total dominion over all of time. |
| 792 | * MetaphoricallyTrue: Shang Tsung convinces his allies to help him revive Sindel in aid them if they have to fight Cetrion, as they saw how powerful she was during Shao Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm and she curb-stomped Raiden's allies. He leaves out that she only accomplished this because she was empowered by his souls -- the ''real'' reason he wants her back is to position her as TheMole to take over Outworld again. |
| 793 | * MultipleEndings: The final fight has Fire God Liu Kang and Shang Tsung engaging in a final battle for control of Kronika's crown and hourglass. |
| 794 | ** If [[GoldenEnding Liu Kang wins]], he erases Shang Tsung from existence and proceeds to shape the new timeline. We next see Liu Kang at the Wu Shi Academy and recruiting the future Great Kung Lao as the next Champion of Earthrealm. VideoGame/MortalKombat1 starts from this ending. |
| 795 | ** If [[DownerEnding Shang Tsung wins]], he steals Liu Kang's soul and uses the power of the crown and the hourglass to make himself a powerful deity. We last see him with Dark Raiden and Fujin (now his minions), and orders them to conquer Orderrealm and Chaosrealm after being told that Earthrealm, Outworld and the Netherrealm are now under his control. |
| 796 | * MythologyGag: Too many to mention, so naturally [[MythologyGag/MortalKombat11 it has its own page]]. |
| 797 | * NearVillainVictory: Contingent on the player picking the heroic path as Fire God Liu Kang in the final battle, Shang Tsung still comes perilously close to a complete victory. He has obtained Kronika's Crown and absorbed the power of everyone who could possibly stand against him. His downfall was never anticipating Liu Kang being as much of a ManipulativeBastard as him. |
| 798 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: Shang Tsung points out that with Liu Kang killing Kronika, and in the process destroying her crown, the Hourglass cannot properly function. And apparently attempting to use the Hourglass without the crown will be catastrophic. |
| 799 | * NoBodyLeftBehind: In the "good" ending, Liu Kang kills Shang Tsung by erasing him from existence, reducing him to nothing but sand. |
| 800 | * NoCampaignForTheWicked: Subverted. While the story starts out as a EnemyMine situation, Shang Tsung ([[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder to the surprise of absolutely no one]]) betrays the heroes roughly half way through, and the rest of the story focuses on him, Sindel, and Shao Kahn, as the sorcerer's schemes come to fruition and he takes Kronika's crown for himself and ultimately makes a move to take control of time. Only at the last minute can things turn back in the heroes' favor when Liu Kang reveals he planned for Shang Tsung's inevitable betrayal. (But whether or not it works depends on the player's choice to play as Liu Kang or Shang Tsung in the final battle.) |
| 801 | * TheNoseKnows: When confronting Sheeva and her company about their questionable actions, Baraka immediately spots the incredibly suspicious-looking Shokan mook among known names. One good whiff up close is enough for him to recognize it's Shang Tsung. |
| 802 | * OddFriendship: "Friendship" is pushing it, but the story primarily follows an unlikely alliance between Shang Tsung, Nightwolf and Fujin (with Sheeva and Sindel joining up later on), characters who have little previous connection or interaction. The Doylist explanation is that they are all DLC characters. Nevertheless, they have some surprising chemistry and synergy on the battlefield. |
| 803 | * OffWithHisHead: Off-screen, Shao Kahn decapitates Kotal Kahn. He makes his entrance at the final battle by lowering his ship ramp and tossing Kotal's head to roll to the ground. |
| 804 | * OhCrap: During the assault on Kronika's Keep, Raiden confronts the revenant Liu Kang, as he did the last time. This time, however, the latter's legs become mutilated as a result of Shao Kahn smashing his past self's legs. When he mentions Shao Kahn's presence, Raiden is overtaken by shock and horror as the Outworlders begin to arrive. |
| 805 | * OrcusOnHisThrone: In the "bad" ending, Shang Tsung wins and claims total dominion over the realms. Having rebuilt reality in his image, he becomes a literal giant sitting on a throne in space, commanding the now subservient Raiden and Fujin to conquer in his name. |
| 806 | * ProperlyParanoid: ''Everyone'' knows Shang Tsung will betray them and is probably up to something nefarious while pretending to help them. They are correct. |
| 807 | * ReforgedIntoAMinion: The bad ending sees Raiden and Fujin become Shang Tsung's generals in his multiversal conquest. |
| 808 | * RetGone: If Fire God Liu Kang wins the final battle, he uses the Hourglass' power to completely erase Shang Tsung from history, causing the sorcerer to collapse into sand. |
| 809 | * RoaringRampageOfRevenge: With his sight restored and his queen by his side, Shao Kahn and Sindel beat the crap out of the Cage family, Kotal Kahn and Jade, Kung Lao, Liu Kang, and Kitana. Shao Kahn then declares himself kahn again, breaks Liu Kang's legs, and decapitates Kotal. |
| 810 | * SealedCastInAMultipack: The reason Fujin, Shang Tsung, and Nightwolf are able to assist Raiden and Liu Kang. Kronika attempted to recruit each of them, but when they refused, she threw them outside of time as punishment. With her defeat, they are free to escape and assist the heroes. |
| 811 | * SequelHook: In Liu Kang's ending, he recruits the Great Kung Lao to be his Champion of Earthrealm, and says he will need to be trained. Though Liu Kang oversees time as God of Thunder and Fire, evidently there are still threats afoot.[[note]]Since he erased Shang Tsung from history, it would follow that Liu Kang may not necessarily be talking about the Mortal Kombat tournament, but something else that the Great Kung Lao will play a role in.[[/note]] |
| 812 | * SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: In Liu Kang's ending, he recruits the Great Kung Lao to be his Champion of Earthrealm, and is intent to make sure the new timeline goes down a brighter path than it originally did. |
| 813 | * SomethingWeForgot: An instance that kicks off the entire DLC plotline. As Liu Kang prepares to use the hourglass to restart history, Shang Tsung calls out for him to stop. When Liu Kang killed Kronika, he destroyed her crown, and it is too dangerous to attempt to restart history without it. Fujin points out that all of Kronika's schemes were to secure her crown and she didn't try to restart history until she had it, supporting the idea that it is risky otherwise. This is also supported by the Tower mode endings, where Kronika's crown is knocked off and she reaches for it as she is killed. |
| 814 | * TheStarscream: Shang Tsung aided Kronika in crafting her crown and now seeks to usurp her and take control of time for himself. He also manipulates Sindel and Shao Kahn into believing he still serves them, only to devour their souls the moment his ultimate victory is at hand. |
| 815 | * ThisCannotBe: Raiden is shocked to see Shang Tsung, Nightwolf and Fujin appear in the aftermath of the Normal ending. By all rights, the only two beings who still exist should be Liu Kang and himself. |
| 816 | * TooDumbToLive: Shao Kahn and Sindel ''somehow'' thought Shang Tsung, after getting Kronika's crown (i.e. godlike power), would serve as a lapdog in ''their'' New Era. It doesn't end well for them. |
| 817 | * UngratefulBastard: Downplayed. Despite Sindel sincerely claiming she is in Sheeva's debt for everything she did for her, she kills her when she stands against her plotting against Kitana. However, Sindel does not enjoy this and even pleaded with Sheeva to join her cause. |
| 818 | * UndyingLoyalty: |
| 819 | ** Sheeva claims she is honor-bound to Sindel and views her death as her greatest failure. She is naturally willing to go with Shang Tsung's plot to resurrect her. Notably, this doesn't make her remotely evil, as she has incredible doubts over doublecrossing Kitana. When Sheeva finds out how evil Sindel actually is later on, she loses her life in fighting her for Kitana's sake. |
| 820 | ** More like ''dying'' loyalty: When Shang Tsung, Fujin, Nightwolf and Sindel travel to Shang Tsung's island, Shang Tsung notes the hanging corpses, stating that they were his former underlings who killed themselves after their master perished. |
| 821 | * UnholyMatrimony: Shao Kahn and Sindel are quite a loving couple, openly admitting how much they missed each other, and admiring their partner's bloodlust and cruelty in battle. |
| 822 | * UnspokenPlanGuarantee: At the beginning of Aftermath, Fire God Liu Kang has a small but secret conversation with Fujin which ends with him saying "say nothing to Nightwolf". At the end of the game, we find out Liu knew only Shang Tsung could get the crown, and he let Shang do all the work for the moment he could steal it back. |
| 823 | * VillainEpisode: The story is essentially Shang Tsung goes back in time and how his interference would've royally screwed the heroes over something fierce if he was around. Luckily since the events are set to be erased anyway, it comes off more as a canon “What If” with the only thing that really matters is who gets Kronika's crown in the end. You can play it straight if you pick Shang Tsung in the final battle with Fire God Liu Kang. |
| 824 | * VillainousBreakdown: After remaining smug and in control the entire time, Shang Tsung has one in Liu Kang's ending. As he's disintegrating into sand and erased from existence, he can only watch in horror and vainly try to crawl away from Liu Kang, terrified as he ceases to exist. |
| 825 | * VillainProtagonist: Despite all pretenses, Shang Tsung is still his same manipulative, deceitful self, but the story primarily follows his untold perspective, as well as other villains such as Sindel and Shao Kahn. |
| 826 | * VoidBetweenTheWorlds: Since Fujin and Nightwolf refused to ally with her, and Shang Tsung was too dangerous to be allowed to stick around, Kronika banished them to a void beyond time. With her defeat, they are freed. |
| 827 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: |
| 828 | ** Averted with Revenant Nightwolf and Sindel, who are seen with the other revenants in the Netherrealm at the start of the story. However they still count for the original story mode, as this is explicitly a new timeline being created. |
| 829 | ** Kollector vanishes after his single appearance in Chapter 13, where he is last seen unconscious in the Kolosseum beast pens after being defeated by Nightwolf. |
| 830 | ** Frost only appears to fight Nightwolf in Chapter 13 and is never seen afterwards. |
| 831 | ** Erron Black and Baraka are not seen again after their defeat in Chapter 14. They aren't present when Shao Kahn and Sindel retake control of Outworld in Chapter 16, and aren't even on the ship ferrying Kitana's loyalists to the final battle, despite the crew including Tarkatans and Baraka himself having been present during the battle at Kronika's keep. |
| 832 | ** Much like in the main story, Revenant Kabal and Noob Saibot disappear from the plot after being defeated on Shang Tsung's island. |
| 833 | ** Jade is tossed through a ship deck by Sindel and is left unaccounted for in the aftermath of the Outworld fleet's takeover, despite Kung Lao getting tossed overboard to drown during the battle, Kitana and Liu Kang being taken captive, and Kotal being KilledOffscreen. |
| 834 | ** Jacqui Briggs and both versions of Jax disappear in the middle of the penultimate battle outside Kronika's keep. Sub-Zero and Scorpion are nowhere to be seen at all, despite participating in the same battle during the main story. |
| 835 | ** The mortal Raiden chose to stay with Fire God Liu Kang as he tended to the hourglass. What became of him after Fire God Liu Kang traveled back to thwart Shang Tsung is left unstated. |
| 836 | ** Present Johnny, D'Vorah, and Skarlet aren't even mentioned. |
| 837 | * YouCantThwartStageOne: Everyone expects Shang Tsung to betray them once he gets the Crown, and that is indeed what happens at the climax of the story when he betrays Raiden, takes the Crown, and makes his play. {{Subverted}}, however, as Fire God Liu Kang expected betrayal from him, so he lied to him first about being unable to leave the Hourglass so he could save himself the effort of fighting Kronika again. |
| 838 | * YourSoulIsMine: Given that the TropeNamer is here, this is expected. Shang Tsung takes the souls of the Revenant Nightwolf, past Nightwolf, Sindel, Shao Kahn and Kronika, and he also takes Liu Kang's soul in his ending. He partially takes Raiden and Fujin's souls, but keeps them barely alive so he can repeat the process forever with them. Absorbing so many powerful warriors boosts Shang Tsung's power monstrously. |
| 839 | * YouWillBeBeethoven: This happens when you chose Fire God Liu Kang ending, where in the original timeline Raiden has chosen the Great Kung Lao to become Earthrealm's defender. But in a new timeline, it is Liu Kang who takes Raiden's place and chose the Great Kung Lao to become Earthrealm's defender. |
| 840 | [[/folder]] |
| 841 | |
| 842 | ---- |
| 843 | |
| 844 | ->'''Raiden:''' I look forward to meeting again, [[spoiler:in the next timeline]].\ |
| 845 | '''Liu Kang:''' Then I will not say goodbye. |
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FollowingContext VideoGame / MortalKombat11
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