Tons of past events become funnier in this franchise.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat (1992)
- Liu Kang's Fatality was considered the lamest in the game because of its complete lack of gore. It made a comeback as his X-Ray move in 9, and it was far more destructive as a "non-lethal" super move. 11 took it even further by bringing the move back as a decapitating Brutality and the intro to a more gory fatality.
- Three concerning Jean-Claude Van Damme:
- Van Damme was the original choice to play the titular alien in Predator. Cue the original Predator coming as a DLC character for X and facing Johnny Cage, who was inspired by JCVD's character in Blood Sport.
- Johnny Cage was based on Van Damme who played Colonel William F. Guile in the 1994 Street Fighter movie, an adaptation of the Mortal Kombat franchise's biggest rival in the fighting game scene. In X, Cage becomes a member of the United States Military. And like Guile, he's also a family man.
- Van Damme is set to be a skin for Johnny in Mortal Kombat 1.
- In a Mirror Match introduction in X, Johnny states that even he finds himself annoying. In 11, he's paired with his younger counterpart and he's just as annoyed by him (if not even more).
- A fringe case but the Jeff Rovin novelization ended up being one of the earliest pieces of Mortal Kombat media to portray Scorpion as unambiguously on the side of good. Nowadays after X, 11 and the 2021 movie, Scorpion being on the good guys' side (if usually very angry) is common knowledge.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat II
- "Friendship! Friendship??"
- Speaking of Friendships, Shang Tsung's in this game (which later returned in 11) involves him creating a rainbow with his hands.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat 3
- A commercial shows something trying burst out of a teenager's chest. Now with Alien in X, MK has actual Chest Burster finishers.
- Cyrax, Sektor and Smoke plus Cyber Sub-Zero in 9 were more than a little visually inspired by the Predator, and other elements of the hunter found their way in their later appearances. As of X, the original Predator becomes playable via DLC with the three cyborgs following suit as Triborg.
- During development, Sektor's placeholder name was RoboCop. Many years later and now the real Robocop himself has joined the kast as of MK11, and even has an optional skin modelled after the MK3 cyborgs.
- A bootleg version of this game on the NES featured the theme from Superman: The Movie playing on the title screen. In 2008, Superman himself would cross over with Mortal Kombat for real.
- DC would return the favor starting a half-decade later, with Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Raiden being featured as DLC characters and getting a chance to throw down with the Man of Steel again.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat 4
- In his arcade ending, Raiden flies into the sky in the classic Superman pose. Eleven years later, Raiden not only gets to fight Superman himself, but the two are rivals. Twice.
- The Brazilian comic adaptation has Liu Kang turn into his dragon form to battle Shinnok. Many years later, Battle of the Realms did something similar, though there Shinnok and the One Being merged, and it was far less of a Curbstomp Battle.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
- Kenshi's unlockable alternate costume in this game is an obvious homage to Street Fighter's Ryu. Both Kenshi and Ryu have been portrayed by Dan Southworth in Mortal Kombat: Legacy and the fan film Street Fighter x Tekken: The Devil Within
, respectively. - Shang Tsung murdering Liu Kang by breaking his neck from behind becomes ironic in a non-canon spinoff Shaolin Monks, where you can return the favor by having Liu Kang kill Shang Tsung the exact same way just before facing Kintaro and Shao Kahn.
- Kenshi became a Blind Weaponmaster because he lost his sight after being deceived by Shang Tsung. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who has famously portrayed Shang Tsung across the franchise, would years later be part of the cast of Blue Eye Samurai as the Swordfather, a famous swordsmith and the titular protagonist's mentor...who happens to be blind.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat: Deception
- In Spy Hard, the antagonist General Rancor says to Dick Steele, while proclaiming what he believed to be the future of the Internet: "What's left of you will have to watch helplessly while I play Mortal Kombat with the entire world!" Eight years later Deception, the first Mortal Kombat game to feature online gameplay, was released.
- Sub-Zero's attire in this game was Fan Nicknamed as "Shredder Sub-Zero" due to how similar it is. He would later meet Shredder's main enemies, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themselves, in Injustice 2, when they made the cut for the third DLC round.
- An Idiot Hero who wants to be important and special and has the ability to copy other people's powers. Are we talking about Shujinko or Peter Petrelli.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
- Johnny Cage bumping Sonya Blade out of the way to rush to the top of the pyramid is funny based on the fact that in the new timeline they got married, had a child and got divorced some time after Cassie's birth.
- Before Spawn became a guest for Mortal Kombat 11, there was Spawn: Armageddon, which had the same subtitle as this game.
- Then there's Kurtis Stryker's ending from this game. While they refrain from calling him a superhero, that more or less sums up what he becomes as a super powered vigilante upon absorbing Blaze's power. Not only would the next game be a crossover with the DC universe, but NetherRealm Studios would also make Injustice: Gods Among Us.
- Sektor's ending talks about how he, Cyrax and Smoke, fused into a new cybernetic being. Fast forward to the rebooted timeline and the Kombat Pack 2 for X introduces Triborg.
- The sole presence of Kreate-A-Fighter is this: so far, before 9 was announced, there were Freddy Krueger and Skarlet videos, and before X there were Alien, Predator, Tremor and Jason videos. Before 11 came out, there were Joker, Terminator and Spawn videos, and before 1, there were Omni-Man videos. Oh, and if that wasn't enough, Midway/Netherrealm also got to work on three different games featuring DC characters, the three of which have MK characters either in crossover form or as Downloadable Content.
- Freddy Krueger wouldn't be the last horror movie villain to show up in the series, as his rival Jason and fellow icon Leatherface showed up in Mortal Kombat X as playable kharacters.
- Freddy Krueger is notably voiceless and not based on Robert Englund in his appearance. Fast-forward to Injustice 2 and Batman villain Scarecrow is reimagined as a Krueger-like being with Englund as his voice actor.
- One Konquest mode exclusive enemy has the name "Wu Lae." Saying that name aloud nowadays will definitely get a laugh or two from Quan Chi's fanbase. explanation
- "Kreate A Fighter" mode is this, especially with Mortal Kombat 11 displaying what happens when both the original and new timelines divert... and merge. So we have OT!Scorpion fighting against either his new timeline self, or any of the characters who only appeared in the new timeline. Mortal Kombat 1 went even further with this by utilizing multiple timelines and as such multiple character iterations.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
- After returning from their assigned missions, Shang Tsung mocks Kano for his defeat saying "A clown? You were defeated by a clown?". In the next game, Shang Tsung would turn into a clown while recreating the Joker's Fatality from this game.
- It's also quite ironic that Warner Bros., the owners of DC comics, the same company that collaborated with the then-Mortal Kombat franchise owner Midway Games to create this controversial game, would later successfully resurrect the franchise.
- Richard Epcar provided ADR for the Joaquin Phoenix film Gladiator. Years after the film, Epcar voiced the Joker in several different video games and Joaquin Phoenix won an Oscar for playing the Joker.
- Captain Marvel's rival in the prequel comic to this game is Raiden due to their similar powers, and even in the game proper where his rival was Shang Tsung, Marvel still has a fight with Raiden in his story mode chapter. In SHAZAM! (2019), Billy is seen playing Mortal Kombat X as Raiden.
- Liu Kang's ending in this game has Raiden infusing him with his powers as well as those of other Elder Gods, allowing Liu Kang to transform into an all powerful being. The story mode of Mortal Kombat 11 has Liu Kang and Raiden merging to become an all powerful being with the powers of Liu Kang and Raiden.
- The sole fact that DC wouldn't allow their characters to be brutally mutilated in this game became funnier with the release of Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, which shows DC characters (both ones who were and weren't in this game) getting brutally mutilated in ways that would feel right at home in Mortal Kombat.
- The Batman Forever video game for the SNES and Genesis/Mega Drive is infamous for its quality, but it was made on the same engine as the older Mortal Kombat games, so this crossover is kinda amusing in light of that.
- Kano, the Mortal Kombat poster boy for degeneracy, becoming the Joker in his ending is considered this in light of all the highly memed, widely mocked Joker-wannabes online. The fact that he seems to still be pissed at Shang Tsung, wishing death on him over their petty argument, just makes it all the more prophetic and hilarious. For extra points, Kano was talking about making people "smile" in 1995 before the Joker became famous for a similar line in 2008.
- In Liu Kang's chapter, Kitana playfully tries to sneak up on him while he is meditating. In Mortal Kombat 9, Kitana and Liu Kang first meet when she tries to kill him as he is training. An intro dialogue in Mortal Kombat 11 has Kitana jokingly suggesting they recreate the scene as a form of roleplay, suggesting that this is the case in vs. DCU.
- In Wonder Woman's ending, she acquires a sword that is similar to Ashrah's, come Mortal Kombat 1, Ashrah is now voiced by Susan Eisenberg, Wonder Woman's well-known voice actress.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat 9
- With Karen Strassman voicing Kitana and Lani Minella voicing Sindel, we essentially have Rouge the Bat playing both mother and daughter. Minella voiced Rouge in Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, and Sonic Battle, while Strassman assumed the role starting in Colors and Free Riders.
- One of the achievements of Mortal Kombat 9 is "There Can Be Only One." Christopher Lambert, who played Raiden in the first movie, also played Connor MacLeod in the Highlander movie.
- The Robot Chicken Season 1 sketch "Enter the Fat One" features Joey Fatone entering a martial arts tournament to avenge the deaths of his *NSYNC bandmates at the hands of the Yakuza. His battle with Storm Shadow has Fatone punch the Cobra ninja so hard in the face, the viewer sees Storm Shadow's skull fracture, his blood vessels burst, and his heart and intestines rupture before he completely falls apart. This was back in 2005, long before the 2011 reboot introduced X-Rays, attacks that show damage to the victim's bones and internal organs in a similar manner. It should also be noted that, during his (incredibly brutal) Training Montage, Fatone is mercilessly mowed down by the likes of Scorpion, Sub-Zero, and Smoke.
- Challenge Tower #115 has players using Stryker, voiced by Matthew Mercer. Said challenge is called High Noon.
- Stryker's ending: he rejects a movie based on his exploits because "never would he allow himself to be portrayed by Johnny Cage." Johnny's daughter, Cassie Cage, in X, has numerous similarities to Stryker in both attire and moveset.
- Also related to that ending, one magazine cover that's shown at the end of his ending mentions "Ancient Mayans Warned of Outworld Invasion" which poked fun at the 2012 Mayan Doomsday predictions. Now in 2015's Mortal Kombat X, we have the debut of Kotal Kahn... who invades Earthrealm near the end of Story Mode.
- Scorpion's ending with the spirits of the Shirai Ryu helping him destroy Quan Chi foreshadows both his Inferno variation in X and him canonically killing Quan Chi after discovering the truth of his family's murder.
- Baraka's ending had the Tarkatans becoming Shao Kahn's favored race after discovering a betrayal from Shang Tsung. In X, the Tarkatan's became Mileena's (Shao Kahn's heir) bodyguard race.
- Liu Kang's ending had him asking the Elder Gods to grant him Thunder God status at Raiden's expense, with Shang Tsung's ending revealing that he went mad after being granted such powers. At the end of this game's Story Mode he becomes King of the Netherrealm.
- In 9, Freddy Krueger was revealed as the final DLC character for the title. Cue X, where fellow slasher movie icon and old enemy Jason Voorhees is announced as a member of the Kombat Pack DLC... on Friday the 13th, no less.
- Noob Saibot's Babality has him create a portal loop that he unwillingly falls into, crying all the while. Loki assuredly knows how he feels.
- The Portal Kombat joke around the release of this installment. "Portal Kombat" became one of the modifiers for the Test Your Luck mode in X.
- Jax's story chapter has him discussing with Raiden about how anybody could have won the tournament, even joking about him beating Shang Tsung. In X, his opponents in his chapter are people who defeated him or were empowered by Shang Tsung and he beat all of them in a single day.
- One of the most infamous Challenge Tower missions was "I Hate Teddies", a mission where Scorpion tells Mileena that he hates those stuffed bears and has to fight her off so that she would leave him alone. The Vita port even got a sequel to it titled "I Still Hate Teddies". Fast foward to 11's Aftermath expansion, which reintroduces Friendships. Scorpion's Friendship? Him using his spear to pull a giant teddie bear into a completely unironic hug.
- Remember how Smoke's intro line in this game was "Where there's Smoke, there's fire!"? Mortal Kombat 1 actually makes it true because Kuai Liang- Smoke's friend- became Scorpion in that timeline.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat X
- Kelly Hu, who voices D'Vorah, has met Jason before.
- If you pit Scorpion against the Predator, it wouldn't be the first time a man named Hanzo had to face them.
- Since both the Predator and the Xenomorph are guest fighters, it means that we can have Alien vs. Predator again. The same thing applies to both Jason Voorhees and Leatherface, as this isn't the first time the two have met and fought.
- Fan-made game Terrordrome the Game: Rise of the Boogeymen had Freddy, Jason, Leatherface, and the Xenomorph-expy Pumpkinhead playable in a fighting game even before Freddy appeared in MK9.
- With the addition of Freddy Krueger to the Mobile version, we can now have Freddy vs. Jason.
- There's also the fact that, in this game, Johnny is voiced by Andrew Bowen, who previously impersonated JCVD on MADtv.
- This is the second game in the last two years where Patrick Seitz has made an emotional speech while laying the beatdown on someone.
- Kung Jin getting a Green Arrow costume (in the Medieval pack, called "Marksman") right after Netherrealm just finished the work on a DC fighting game featuring Oliver Queen himself.
- Cassie Cage's fatality involves taking a selfie with her dead opponent and uploading the pic on social media, which was something that "Weird Al" Yankovic sang in "Tacky" (about taking selfies with the deceased). Months after this game was released, Sideshow Bob would do the same thing with Bart's corpse in the Treehouse of Horror XXVI segment "Wanted: Dead, then Alive".
- Sonya has a fatality called "To The Choppa". Mortal Kombat 11, has the Terminator, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger's most iconic roles, as a Guest Fighter.
- An Intro with Mileena and the Predator has her claim his face is too repulsive to eat. Mortal Kombat 1 would give Mileena's mouth a redesign that includes retractable mandibles reminiscent of the Predator's own.
- Tanya is voiced by Jennifer Hale, who also voiced Ashe in Overwatch. In Tanya's next playable appearance, she is voiced by Cherise Boothe, another Overwatch voice actress.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat 11
- This game using time travel to rebuild the universe once Liu Kang becomes a god thanks to Raiden and takes control of the hourglass after Kronika is defeated. Ironically enough, this game came out the same week as Avengers: Endgame which likewise ended with time travel being used to fix the problem caused in Avengers: Infinity War. Heck the heroes even have to fight the past versions of Thanos and his Black Order in the climax of the film. Talk about strange minds thinking alike. It was also likewise the End of an Era for both franchises. MK finishing its new universe trilogy and Endgame capping off it's Myth Arc started in Iron Man, with both franchises leaving on the door opening of new adventures to follow from the previous continuity.
- Zasalamel from Soulcalibur VI was compared to Raiden due to having a similar role to what Raiden did in Mortal Kombat 9, having a vision from his future self and attempting to change it from there. Then we got Geras, who, like Zasalamel, is a Scary Black Man with a time motif and Resurrective Immortality.
- Cassie has now been voiced by two navigators from the Persona franchise. First Rise Kujikawa, now Futaba Sakura.
- Cetrion's reveal trailer prompted comparisons between her and Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender. It is therefore fitting that her final fight in the game is against a man with power over fire and lightning.
- One of Shang Tsung's intros with Raiden ends with the Pre Ass Kicking One Liner "And now a taste of things to come...". The Aftermath expansion introduced an expanded Story Mode with Shang Tsung as one of the central characters; plus considering the events that unfold during it (Major spoilers ahead), it's safe to say the battle between the sorcerer and the thunder god was, indeed, "a taste of things to come".
- With the Terminator being added to the roster in this game, on the heels of Jason Voorhees in the previous game, people were quick to compare the two characters and their Implacable Man style of play. Many even bemoaning that the Terminator is just a carbon copy. Back in 1984, when The Terminator was released, it was initially just a sci-fi version of your typical Slasher Movie. In a hilarious way, it makes complete sense that the T-800 would be a carbon copy of Jason's playstyle because in a way, he owes his existence to Jason.
- Violator in Spawn: Armageddon is voiced by Steve Blum. Blum would later voice Baraka and Sub-Zero in this game, with Spawn himself coming in the Kombat Pack 1.
- In one of the pre-fights intros, The Joker calls Jax "Robo-Cop". The actual RoboCop would become part of the game's roster some time later.
- In VHFSMACVUSMRRM, Robert Cop and Scorpion are both playable fighters that are able to duke out with each other. Almost three years later, Scorpion gets to fight the real deal.
- In the movie Last Action Hero, it's revealed that in Jack Slater's universe, The Terminator franchise doesn't star Arnold Schwarzenegger as its titular character, but instead stars Sylvester Stallone. Years later, the Terminator would be added to Mortal Kombat 11's roster, then eventually be followed by John Rambo, which means you can have Stallone fight a character he played in an alternate universe.
- This French ad starred Christopher Lambert, known and beloved for playing Raiden in the 1995 movie. In said ad, he owns his opponent while playing Raiden and admits he's familiar with the Thunder God. Thanks to the November 2020 Movie Skin pack, he finally got to reprise the role in an official game.
- To get around the hurdle of incorporating Shang Tsung's shapeshifting into the game, Tsung was given the ability to temporarily assume the form of the ninjas not in the game (at the time of his release, anyway) and quickly use one of their special moves. This was something done before in the MUGEN fangame Mortal Kombat: Bloodstorm, which even had Reptile's Slide attack as part of his arsenal back then.
- Sonya's dialogue for her mirror match ("First I find I have a kid with Cage, and now this? It's official: God is punishing me") becomes hysterical with the Movie Skin DLC: in a match between Ronda Rousey and Bridgette Wilson's versions of Sonya, the lines sound more like they are complaining about the opposite casting choice than about the fact they have to fight each other.
- This wouldn't be the only time Cassie's voice actor would interact with an assassin with a cowboy motif.
- Kronika is voiced by Jennifer Hale, who would take over as the English voice actor for the titular protagonist in Bayonetta 3. As pointed out here, Kronika and Singularity, the main villain of Bayonetta 3, have quite a bit in common:
- Kronika's sneer at Shang Tsung in Aftermath ("You have no one left to betray.")? As it turns out in Mortal Kombat 1, Shang Tsung is so treacherous he's not above betraying himself!
- This isn't the first time that characters fight themselves in the story of a game created by NetherRealm Studios. Doubly hilarious considering that the way the story mode works in Injustice was taken from Mortal Kombat.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat 1
- In this game, Smoke is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal who also voiced Spider-Man in the Insomniac games. Then it was revealed that not only would Omni-Man be a guest character, but J. K. Simmons would also be voicing him just like he did in the animated adaptation of the Invincible comic. In short, we have a Mortal Kombat game where Spider-Man can fight J. Jonah Jameson.
- Similarly, this won't be the first time Yuri Lowenthal fights someone who can turn into a giant lizard.
- On a related note, Yuri once again plays a member of a trio of ninjas. Except he uses smoke magic instead of fire and lightning, was adopted into the Lin Kuei instead of being born into it like Bi-Han and Kuai Liang, and joins Scorpion in forming the New Era version of the Shirai Ryu, instead of remaining after Bi-Han's betrayal. Sounds like a far cry from Sasuke Uchiha.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero
- In this game, Shinnok could go One-Winged Angel in his boss battle. In X, he can do it again via poisoning and absorbing the Jinsei's power.
- One of the bosses that Sub-Zero has to beat is the Fire God. In the game's context, it's just another Tuesday for Sub-Zero. In 11, Liu Kang becomes the new Fire God and is clearly not meant to be any kind of minor obstacle for anyone short of an empowered Shang Tsung.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat: Special Forces
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat: The Movie
- The "Real ninjas wear Nikes" meme takes on a whole new meaning, considering Special Effects Failure where freeze frame bonuses allows us to see Nike's swoosh on Scorpion and Sub-Zero's shoes.
- The Belligerent Sexual Tension between Johnny and Sonya rides the line between this and Harsher in Hindsight come Mortal Kombat X - they're just as belligerent as ex-spouses.
- In Evil Con Carne, Hector let Boskov get Cod Commando. Hector tells Boskov to finish him. Goro and Boskov's vocal effects were both done by Frank Welker.
- In WMAC Masters, Chris Casamassa (Scorpion's actor) had the Red Baron of "Red Dragon", years before Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance introduced a clan called the Red Dragon.
- One of the more noticeable differences fans noticed was that Shang Tsung, portrayed by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, was depicted much younger than his original elderly appearance, drawing comparisons to his younger appearance seen in MKII. Twenty years later, Tagawa would reprise the role in the second season of Mortal Kombat: Legacy, now as an older Shang Tsung. It finally comes full circle with Mortal Kombat 11, where Tagawa finally appears in a proper game itself reprising his most famous role, now sharing the soul stealing sorcerer's original elderly appearance.
- This movie has Liu Kang on a quest for revenge against the main villain for killing his brother. His actor, Robin Shou, would appear in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li as Gen, the mentor of the main hero who is also out for revenge against the main villain for killing a family member. Shou's involvement in the film as a whole is rather funny given the Fandom Rivalry between Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat.
- The fact that Warner Bros., via the Turner-Time Warner merger in 1996 that saw New Line Cinema, producer of this film, become a sister studio (and ultimately get absorbed into WB in 2008), owned the film before they bought the entire franchise after Midway's demise.
- Christopher Lambert plays Raiden in this movie. His Highlander co-star Clancy Brown would voice Raiden in Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm. Their takes on the character were also quite similar.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins
- This wouldn't be the last time Jeff Bennett would voice a flirtatious, macho, sunglasses-wearing egomaniac named "Johnny".
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
- The film features a scene where Rain tells Shao Kahn that he's captured Kabal and Stryker. In 9, they are partners in the NYPD. It could also double as Harsher in Hindsight given MK9 also had them die together just like this film.
- Michael Jai White bowed out of playing Jax in favor of the title role in Spawn. 23 years later, DLC for 11 would let the two characters finally clash against each other.
- Thuy Trang, well known for playing Trini in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, auditioned for the role of Jade but didn't get it. Sixteen years later, a Power Rangers actor would finally get to play an MK character with Dan Southworth (Eric from Power Rangers Time Force) as Kenshi in Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Another two years, and we'd have another Power Rangers actor voicing an MK character in one of the games. The casting of Ludi Lin as Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat (2021) raises the number of Power Rangers actors that have appeared in Mortal Kombat entries to three.
- Johnny Cage is the only permanent casualty in this movie. In Mortal Kombat 9, he, along with Sonya and Raiden (whose death in this movie is temporary), are the only surviving heroes by the end of the game. Sort of crosses into Harsher in Hindsight as well.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat: Conquest
- The show featured the Kreeyans, an all-female race who are born by being spawned in a hive like bees despite their human appearances. 16 years later, the games introduced an insectoid character in the form of D'Vorah. Additionally, the Kreeyans had an off-hand mention in the official Mortal Kombat X comic as a conquest of Shao Kahn's, making the Kreeyans themselves canon to the games to a degree.
- One of Quan Chi's female servants is played by Jamie Presley. Presley would later star as Tina Armstrong in DOA: Dead or Alive, in which fellow Mortal Kombat alumnus Robin Shou had a minor role as a pirate who antagonizes Tina. For extra hilarity, Presley's character in Conquest was an enemy of the Great Kung Lao and her first scene in DOA has her beating up the guy who played the Great Kung Lao's descendant in the movies.
- An episode called "Unholy Alliance" deals with a partnership formed between Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. In just a few years, the games would try something just as deadly. Then, more than a decade later, they'd make lightning strike twice.
- Both this show and Legacy give Mileena a more proper face that usually gives way to her signature monster maw depending on circumstances, rather than her always having it as a product of her being part Tarkatan. In Conquest's case, it was via modifying her hideous face to batter resemble Kitana. In Mortal Kombat 1, the New Era version of Mileena now looks much more normal, only manifesting her infamous maw (and then some) as a result of her contracting the Tarkat disease.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
- The show being done in Timm Style long before events such as Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Warner Bros. going on to officially own the franchise, and DC's tie-in comic to Mortal Kombat X.
- Related to the above, Raiden and Stryker are voiced by Clancy Brown and Ron Perlman respectively who have respectively voiced Lex Luthor in the DCAU and Slade Wilson in Teen Titans (2003). In fact, Raiden being voiced by Superman's arch nemesis makes Raiden and Superman being rivals in MK vs DCU rather predictive.
- The Sub-Zero/Smoke episode, four-fold:
- One flashback gave us a non-canon glimpse of Cyrax and Sektor before they underwent automation; they were respectively shown to be Asian and Black. While we've known that (in canon) Cyrax has been shown to be dark-skinned at the least since his ending in Gold, MK9's story shows us all of the major Lin Kuei warriors before they were converted into cyborgs (additionally, Cyrax's bio for that game confirms that he's from Botswana). Sektor is shown to be Asian, thus meaning that he and Cyrax swapped races between the games and the cartoon.
- Furthermore, Sub-Zero's Mortal Kombat 3 costume in Mortal Kombat 9 actually looks more like the Lin Kuei uniform he wears in one flashback of the very same episode as well.
- The beginning of the episode had Sub-Zero win a bet with Stryker by beating an obstacle course blindfolded. Six years later, we are introduced to the Blind Weaponmaster Kenshi and the Test Your Sight minigame.
- Sub-Zero and Smoke's bond was as tight-knit as brothers here. Turns out this persists even In times where Kuai Liang is Scorpion rather than Sub-Zero.
- One of the missions in 9's Challenge Tower is named "It's Kombat Time!" and you play it as Sonya.
- An episode has Shang Tsung using an orb that grants the user control over earth, wind, water and fire. MK11 features a villain with control over those very elements.
- The Canon Foreigner ninja Ruby sure looks a lot like Jacqui Briggs in her MKX ninja Cosplay DLC skin (although it doesn't come in red in the main game).
- Both Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and this series had Jax learning a lesson that he doesn't need to rely on his cybernetic arms to fight. Both works were Lighter and Softer than the games and Jax had his regular human arms underneath his cybernetic ones, which were shown as coverings, which was something the original timeline games implied. Then Mortal Kombat 9 came along and rendered that Aesop completely moot by showing Jax's regular arms being destroyed by Ermac, meaning he does need his cybernetic arms (which were revealed to be replacements) and cannot fight, let alone do anything else requiring hands, without them.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat (Malibu Comics)
- Hydro tends to be a cyber-ninja version of Sub-Zero in the aforementioned MUGEN full games. Then it happened for real. On a lesser scale, Hydro also used water-based powers. Then came Rain. And then Hydro became a Tower Konsumable item in Mortal Kombat 11, bringing it all full circle.
- There's a Mortal Kombat fangame made using M.U.G.E.N known simply as Mortal Kombat Project. The default roster includes all the characters from the 2D games, plus one original character, Hydro, who originated in the comics. While he was a human Lin Kuei who could control water in the comic, in the game he's a cyborg who can control ice, essentially making him a cyborg version of Sub-Zero. Then the game came with Cyber Sub-Zero having a very similar movelist.
- This gets even better with the release of his Klassic Costume DLC, a blue version of Cyrax and Sektor's appearance from 3. It looks exactly like the MUGEN Hydro.
- And if that isn't enough, some of those MUGEN games also feature a female cyber Lin Kuei. Say hello to the rebooted timeline version of Frost.
- The Sub-Zero seen for most of the comic series is Bi-Han, the Elder Sub-Zero brother. Considering that almost every other media based off of Mortal Kombat has Bi-Han dying during the first tournament and becoming Noob Saibot and his younger brother Kuai Liang taking up the mantle, it becomes quite funny that this media saw fit to keep Bi-Han alive for far longer, even letting him save the day at the end of ''Tournament Edition II''. Then, add to the fact that Noob Saibot appears in this as a wholly separate, almost heroic-aligned character from Bi-Han. Is also harsher as of Mortal Kombat 1, as even in a new era where Bi-Han still lives, he's now more villainous than ever.
- One plot point in the Battlewave comics have an anti-Shao Kahn alliance consisting of Kitana, Kung Lao, Sub-Zero (Bi-Han) and Baraka of all people. Considering that Baraka is a violent, short tempered mutant, its surprising he'd work with the likes of Kitana against Shao in any MK media. Then came the story of Mortal Kombat 11 where Kitana is able to win Baraka's allegiance, becoming part of her army when she topples Shao Kahn, and wouldn't you know it, her alliance includes Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang in this case) and Kung Lao, too. This happens again in Mortal Kombat 1, where Kitana is part of a large scale alliance including herself, Kung Lao, Sub-Zero (Bi-Han once again) and Baraka, though this time it's Bi-Han that breaks off from it rather than Baraka.
- The Malibu comics portrayed Kung Lao as excessively humble to the point of self-hatred, only overcoming his doubts in his one-shot issue. Compare that to later games in the series, especially Mortal Kombat 11, where Kung Lao has an ego rivalling, if not surpassing that of Johnny Cage.
- The Malibu comics portrayed Baraka as a stereotypical low-intelligence brute complete with Hulk Speak. Later games showed him far more well spoken and calculating than that, with Mortal Kombat 11 showing he's open to negotiation at times, and his latest iteration in Mortal Kombat 1 once being a skilled merchant and tribune. Even in the latter after his mutation, he remains highly intelligent and rueful, if no less beastly in battle.
Characters and elements introduced in Mortal Kombat: Legacy
- This show reimagines Johnny Cage as a former teen heartthrob who started his acting career on Power Rangers. Season 2 has Kenshi played by Dan Southworth, who portrayed the Sixth Ranger in Power Rangers Time Force.
- Southworth portraying Kenshi in this series but not in X or MK1 is rather ironic since Kenshi in those games has quite a bit in common with Devil May Cry's Vergil. In X, Kenshi is a deadbeat father who gets into a fight with his son and is beaten by him. In 1, Kenshi can manifest blue spectral beings to aid him in battle, similar to Vergil's doppelganger ability in Devil May Cry 5.
- Related to the above. Mortal Kombat X has Johnny Yong Bosch, another Power Rangers alumnus (one who got the role Southworth once auditioned for no less), as the voice actor of Kung Jin.
- And now with Ludi Lin, who portrayed Zack in Power Rangers (2017), playing Liu Kang in the 2021 movie, the number of Power Rangers actors attached to the MK franchise is at three.
- Mileena's normally freakish maw is hidden as a sort of Glasgow Grin in this series, only taking its full form on occasion. In her latest appearance, much like in this series, her monstrous mouth tends to manifest when she's overcome by the effects of Tarkat.
