- Returning Characters:note
- Rain
- Sonya Blade
- Cassie Cage
- Reptile
- Havik
- Kano
- Jax
- Baraka
- Kabal
- Goro
- Sindel
- Sektor
- Cyrax
- Human Smoke
- Sheeva
- Quan Chi
- Fujin
- Nitara
- Frost
- Cetrion
- Geras
- Erron Black
- Mavado
- Kollector
- Taven
- Daegon
- Kenshi
- Takeda
- Triborg
- Reiko
- Kintaro
- Sareena
- Tanya
- Ermac
- Hotaru
- Kai
- Onaga
- Jade
- Bo' Rai Cho
- Skarlet
- Shao Kahn
- Motaro
- Moloch
- Drahmin
- Darrius
- D'Vorah
- Kotal Kahn
- Noob Saibot as a skin for Sub Zero/Bi-Han
- Sub-Zero/Kuai Liang as a skin for Scorpion/Kuai Liang
- Hanzo Hasashi/Scorpion as a skin for Scorpion/Kuai Liang
- Hsu Hao, who will be Rescued from the Scrappy Heap
- Sub-Zero/Kuai Liang as a skin for Sub Zero/Bi-Han
- Expanding on that: Titan Sub-Zero, based on his MK11 ending where Kuai Liang used his Keeper of Time power to make sure Bi-Han actually stops being evil. Hence, it can also be 'Good Bi-Han' as a result of that ending.
- Torr (at least on his own)
- Blaze
- Meat
- Mokap
- Newcomers:
- A male Kytinn. As they are shown in concept art◊ to be quite different from their female counterparts and could easily be given a unique moveset to make them stand out.
- Asgaarth from Defenders of the Realm
- King Jerrod
- Sort of. It turns out that Jerrod is one of the souls that make up Ermac.
- Jataaka
- Kia
- A less offensive Expy/replacement of Hsu Hao, who will be erased from existence in Liu Kang's New Era.
- Cole Young
- Great Kung Lao
- Cut character Belokk from Mortal Kombat 4
- Fire elemental
- Water elemental
- Siro, the greatest Mortal Kombat character
- Nimbus Terrafaux
- A member of a new Outworld Race
- Hydro
- The Descendant of Apep
- No Face
- Hornbuckle
- Kidd Thunder
- A fourth Shokan
- King Gorbak, ruler of the Shokan
- Queen Mai, ruler of the Shokan
- A female (pure) Tarkatan
- A female Centaurian/Minotaur
- Suchin
- Satoshi Hasashi
- Argus
- Khrome
- Tasia
- Delia
- Al'Sheva
- Harumi
- Madam Bo
- Ash Williams, finally getting his chance after being cut from 11.
- John Wick
- Michael Myers
- Deathstroke
- Deadpool
- Cable
- Homelander
- Peacemaker
- Lobo
- Harley Quinn
- Darkseid
- Guts
- Isaac Clarke
- Art the Clown
- The Look-See
- The Birch
- Mordeo
- Aponi
- Soot
- Shredder
- Doomsday
- Needles Kane
- Perfect Cell
- Vegeta
- Beerus
- Goku Black
- Frieza
- Revy
- Rias Gremory
- Samurai Jack
- Ashi
- The Scotsman
- Aku
- Demongo
- Scaramouche
- Neo
- Agent Smith
- Jin Sakai
- Rick
- Thor
- The Doom Slayer
- Travis Touchdown
- Simon Belmont
- Bill Rizer
- Pyramid Head
- Fulgore (exclusive to the Xbox version)
- Hisako
- Jago
- Joanna Dark (exclusive to the Xbox version)
- Rash (exclusive to the Xbox version)
- Omni-Man
- Pennywise the Dancing Clown
- Leon S. Kennedy
- Albert Wesker
- Chris Redfield
- Jill Valentine
- Claire Redfield
- Ada Wong
- Barry Burton
- Jack Krauser
- Nemesis
- Ethan Winters
- Lady Dimitrescu
- Karl Heisenberg
- Frank West
- Chuck Greene
- Nick Ramos
- Rad Spencer
- One of the Snakes
- Gray Fox
- Psycho Mantis
- Revolver Ocelot
- Raiden
- Jetstream Sam
- Sundowner
- Senator Steven Armstrong
- Kratos (exclusive to PS5 version)
- Atreus/Loki
- Freya w/Valkyrie armor
- Marcus Fenix (exclusive to Xbox version)
- Clayton Carmine
- General RAAM
- Bayonetta (exclusive to Switch version)
- Jeanne
- Rodin
- Viola
- Kenshiro
- Raoh
- The Punisher
- Carnage
- Wolverine
- Magneto
- Ultron
- Doctor Doom
- Injustice Superman
- Alternatively, regular, non-evil Superman (with Heroic Brutalities instead of Fatalities).
- Freddy Krueger; Rain in 11 showed that NRS isn't opposed to redoing DLC characters, with Freddy himself appearing in the mobile version of MKX, and it's often remarked by fans that it's a shame Freddy was done before pre-match dialogues became a thing for the series, given his reputation as "the slasher who talks". Plus, NRS got Robert Englund to voice Scarecrow in Injustice 2.
- John McClane
- Red Hood
- Dante
- Nero
- Vergil
- Pinhead
- Ghostface. It'll likely be more like Dead by Daylight where they pay for the rights to the character. Or worse... he IS the same one from the Entity's Realm!
- Akuma (He'll play more like a Street Fighter character than a Mortal Kombat one. The Shun Goku Satsu will be a Brutality instead of a Fatality.)
- Kazuya Mishima
- Heihachi Mishima
- Negan. Bonus points if he references being in Tekken 7.
- The Undertaker
- Ridley (Exclusive to Switch version)
- Dark Samus
- SA-X
- Samus
- Raven Beak
- Sylux
- Rundas
- Megatron
- Starscream
- Soundwave
- Shockwave
- Tarn
- Scourge
- The Pyro (Exclusive to Steam version)
- The Spy
- The Heavy
- The Demoman
- The Medic
- The Scout
- Gordon Freeman (Exclusive to Steam version)
- The Candyman
- Eddie the Head
- The Guy
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Retsuko
- Nightmare
- Cervantes de Leon
- Phelan Porteous
- Duke Nukem
- Junko Enoshima
- Judge Dredd
- Chris Walker
- Miles Upshur/The Walrider
- Dr. Trager
- Eddie Gluskin
- Sephiroth
- Genesis Rhapsados
- Kefka Palazzo
- Freya Crescent
- Auron
- Clive Rosfield
- Three Finger
- Victor Crowley
- Tall Man
- Spear
- Detective Nigbone
- Reaper
- Ramattra
- Junker Queen
- Sombra
- Junkrat and Roadhog
- Doomfist
- Sigma
- Conan the Barbarian
- Esdeath
- Hank J. Wimbleton
- The Scarecrow
- Denji
- Makima
- Power
- Buffy
- Spike
- Angel
- Dark Willow
- Black Adam
- Luigi
- Norville "Shaggy" Rogers
- Darth Vader
- Darth Maul
- General Grievous
- Emperor Palpatine
- Kylo Ren
- Toxie
- The Joker. Yes, again.
- Sara Pezzini
- Alex Underwood
- Danielle Baptiste
- Ian Nottingham
- Kenneth Irons
- Jackie Estacado
- The Magdalena
- Flippy
- Loona
- Flashpoint Batman, probably the closest we'll get to Batman himself as a playable character outside of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
- The Mask
- Ryu Hayabusa
- Red
- The Creeper
- The Postal Dude
- Nezuko Kamado
- Penny Polendina using her Volume 7/8 self (Volume 1/2/3 as an alternate costume).
- Jacket
- Nicomund the Red, AKA Santa Claus
- June Way
- Alastor
- Nemesis
- Duke Alcedor
- Winnie the Pooh
- Piglet
- Tigger
- Pinocchio
- Bambi
- Peter Pan
- Green Halo!Johnny Cage (a.k.a. his self from the Midway and original Netherrealm timelines). Includes an horizontal Shadow Ball, a curved Shadow Ball, and a Deadly Uppercut fatality that releases three heads. His part of the Fatal Blow has him punching his opponents nuts and crushing them a la Cassie Cage's X-Ray in X.
- Cassie Cage. Includes pistol attacks, the inverted-V kick attack from X, and possibly a drone as a nod to 11.
- Motaro. Depending on how many legs he'll have, his moves will including trampling on opponents in addition to his fireball attack from MK3.
- He’s (thankfully) in his original appearance.
- Blaze. Includes fire attacks and hapkido, jeet kune do, and xing yi moves.
- Cyber Smoke
- Cyber Sub-Zero
- Hanzo Hasashi
- Cetrion
- D'Vorah
- Kollector
- Triborg
- Tasia
- Invincible
- Atom Eve
- The Immortal
- Rex Splode
- Battle Beast
- Damien Darkblood
- Vigilante
- Bloodsport
- Ratcatcher
- Polka-Dot Man
- King Shark
- Amanda Waller
- Black Noir
- Billy Butcher
- A-Train
- The Deep
- Queen Maeve
- Soldier Boy
- Starlight
- Stormfront
- Kimiko Miyashiro
- Hsu Hao
- Moloch
- Khameleon, who only appeared in Reptile's story chapter in the main game
- Tremor
- Kabal
- Meat
- Kidd Thunder
- Alternatively, it might also be possible that Kronika's crown is in fact Shang Tsung's Soul Jar of the Horcrux variety. At least it would well fit Shang's MO to fuse a part of his own soul into a key object that's too important to be destroyed, just for the occasion of things going south for him like in Liu Kang's ending. Still that's not to say that both possibilities are mutually exclusive.
- Konfirmed: Every story mode ending of Mortal Kombat 11 is canon, including Shang Tsung's victory in Aftermath. The Shang Tsung from that timeline is the Big Bad.
- Jossed on the fighters only coming from Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat 2: There are some playable fighters from the 3D era of games.
- The idea of everyone from X and 11 being removed is also jossed. Takeda and Geras have been confirmed. (Takeda is DLC, and Geras is in the base roster.)
- However, Armageddon and 9 have yet to be represented through Taven, Daegon, and Skarlet, at least until DLC possibly changes this.
- Jossed: In trailers, Raiden can still manipulate lightning and use his old moves due to an amulet given to him by Liu Kang.
- Konfirmed. While Sindel is the new Outworld leader as revealed by the Official Rulers of Outworld trailer, she and her realms inhabitants(...mostly) are now on friendlier terms with Earthrealm than before.
- Jossed. The first fight we get is between Raiden and Kung Lao, over who’s paying the bill for dinner.
- Shang Tsung
- Konfirmed.
- Onaga
- Shinnok
- Shao Kahn
- A New Villain
- The ancient Eldritch Abomination from Sonya's Mortal Kombat 11 ending
- Another Titan
- Kronika's parent/sibling, possibly the Titan Keeper of Space
- A manmade entity from Earthrealm with godlike powers gone rogue, possibly somehow related to Sektor/Triborg/Tekunin clan
- A warmongering dictator of a (fictional) Earthrealm nation bent on conquering and merging all other nations and realms
- Fire God Liu Kang
- Or alternatively, Liu Kang's own Enemy Without created so that he won't have to deal with another Dark Raiden situation.
- Daegon
- Havik
- Quan Chi
- Blood God Reiko
- Hsu Hao
- He is the pre-order bonus character- For as long as they have been around, the pre-order bonus character in Netherrealm games (Goro, Darkseid, Shao Kahn) has never been the Big Bad, in fact, with the exception of Shao Kahn in MK11, they've been absent from the game's story entirely. The Big Bad, at least in NRS games, is always either unplayable (Shao Kahn, Corrupted Shinnok, Kronika) or unlocked by beating the story mode (Regime!Superman skin, regular Shinnok, Brainiac).
- The Announcement trailer ends with him being killed- If they were trying to hype him up as the game's Big Bad, then it's unlikely that they would have ended the very first trailer of the game with Liu Kang killing him with ease.
- The 17-minute story mode demo shows that Kronika is still alive, and so is Tsung, but the former seems to be depowered and the latter was reduced to a Snake Oil Salesman that barely survives in the fringes of Outworld.
- Played with. The version of Shang Tsung from Aftermath is the Big Bad, manipulating New Era Shang Tsung to do his bidding.
- Alternatively, at different points in history, we play earlier as the Great Kung Lao, and later as modern-day Kung Lao. And the former will be a skin for the latter.
- Well, jossed. As of the Gamescom preview, it looks like the Kung Lao we're getting is still the Great Kung Lao's descendant.
- Or it could be an instance of Love Makes You Evil with Kitana having never been taken in by Shao Kahn, instead having grown under Sindel's patronage all along. Sindel strongly favoring Mileena would prove liable to undermine what good there was in Kitana's heart by continuously making her feel jealous through millennia, more than growing up as an assassin for Outworld's conquests under Shao Kahn's supervision ever could be. The clip concerning Mileena's "disease" in the gameplay trailer might actually be part of an exposed Subterfuge Judo instance, following which Kitana would decide to turn her eyes elsewhere for a source of power, and find Fire God Liu Kang... who's far more willing to cooperate. Also Liu Kang's hoodie costume does look like a reference to his attire in Mortal Kombat: Legacy, where he had a pretty similar pretext to his downfall as a hero.
- Alternatively, it wouldn't be for Liu Kang... but for Raiden. We will see how Raiden, now human, experiences all the troubles that will disillusion him for being The Chosen One, and then turn into this realm's Dark Raiden. All we have to do is to wonder how 'Dark Raiden as human' will turn out.
- Jossed.
- Or possibly Kitana might actually be coveting Mileena's throne just as the latter claims in the gameplay trailer.
- Konfirmed. Mileena becomes a respected Queen with Kitana serving as her Supreme Commander.
- The First 17 Minutes of Gameplay video seems to konfirm this with a twist.
- Or, perhaps, he’ll mention that he’s an expert in bloodsports.
- Confirmed. A pre-fight intro has Jean tell Geras that he'll play a Kick Boxer and Geras will be a Street Fighter.
- Several intros and his own bio confirm that this Sub Zero is indeed Bi-Han.
- And Hsu Hao will return, somehow.
- Konfirmed!
- Jossed.
- Wind God (his tornado special).
- Water God (to contrast with Liu Kang being a Fire God)
- Ice God (to mirror Scorpion and Sub-Zero)
- Flower God (a few of his moves throughout the series have flower-themed names, one of his tournament variations in MK11 is called 'Lotus Fist' and flower petals are prominently featured in most of his MK11 intro and victory animations, so one could argue that he already has a flower motif)
- Metal God (his sharp metal hat)
- Possibly jossed, as Raiden is Earthrealm's Champion, Liu Kang may pass his divinity to him.
- The Wu Shi Academy returns as a stage, at least.
- Konfirmed, the Shaolin Order under Liu Kang is a large part of the story.
- Another piece of evidence is seen in the Gameplay Reveal trailer, when the group is at Johnny Cage's mansion. When Liu Kang cries "Enough!" Scorpion bows in repentance, while Bi-Han gives his brother a disdainful look, implying Teeth-Clenched Teamwork.
- Want another piece of evidence? Back during his confrontation against his blood brother in 9, with both of them as Noob Saibot and Cyber Sub-Zero respectively, Bi-Han declared to Kuai Liang that they "shared blood" but were "not brothers". In the Lin Kuei trailer, it's Kuai Liang (now Scorpion) the one who ensures Smoke (their adoptive brother in this timeline) that they "may not share blood", but "are still brothers". Look at Bi-Han's face during the whole thing.
- Konfirmed. Bi-Han joins Shang Tsung in exchange for being given a battalion of Emperor Ying's Dragon Army.
- So far it looks like the contrary is the case: Netherrealm seems to be trying really hard to avoid leaking story details through intros which will involve certaing characters that aren't present in the beta version.
- In the Banished trailer, Kenshi is already seen wearing his blindfold when accompanying Ashrah.
- Konfirmed. Mileena, in a bout of Tarkat-induced rage, stabs Kenshi in the eyes with her sais.
Guesses on how exactly Kenshi loses his eyesight:
- Reptile's acid
- Plucked out by Baraka's blades
- Sento being broken, with the released souls blinding him
- Plucked out by Mileena's sai
- Konfirmed
- Scarred by Scorpion
- Forcefully pulled from their sockets by Havik
- Johnny does it, somehow
In the new timeline, perhaps as a realization of how bad things can get if Bi-Han is killed by Scorpion, Liu Kang will make sure Bi-Han's soul is as safe as it can be. This will prevent him from dying at the hands of Scorpion (who in this timeline doesn't become a hellspawn) and being resurrected as Noob Saibot. However, and since Netherrealm loves making references towards past games, this time Noob Saibot will still exist… in the form of a resurrected Kano, who will not have the same luck.
- Actually it is Kitana who says "Is your mind addled, demigod?" to Liu Kang.
- Sort of. Geras is confirmed to be playable and he's now the keeper of the Hourglass and a friend of Liu Kang in the new timeline.
- Similarly, Kronika does come back, but she acts as an ally to Shang Tsung.
- Jossed. Kronika is dead for good, and it's Titan Shang Tsung who uses her appearance to confuse Liu Kang and Geras.
- Jossed. Smoke's ending shows that Hanzo was reborn in the new timeline as a child.
- Mavado
- Hsu Hao
- Kira
- Kobra
- No Face
- Tremor
- Tasia
- Kenshi
- Yes, but no. The Kameo Fighters are evidently around because of the final battle of Aftermath splitting the singular timeline into a multiverse, and Titan Shang Tsung and Fire God Liu Kang weakening the barriers between them by gathering an army for the final battle.
- Another possibility is that Smoke is his son Satoshi, while Hanzo was the one killed (and possibly returning to haunt his murderers as Noob Saibot).
- Unlikely since Smoke appears to still be white in this timeline, meaning that Tomas Vrbada is most likely still Smoke as it's very unlikely that they would whitewash Hanzo.
- Jossed, Tomas Vrbada is still Smoke, and Hanzo is a young Shirai Ryu initiate.
- This can be enforced with one of the pre-fight intros between Kitana and Liu Kang. The latter tells the former that she should keep Countess Jade closer, maybe referring to an old saying: "Keep your allies close, and your enemies even closer".
- Omni-Man:
- Recreating his slaughter of the Guardians of the Globe: beating the main fighter into the ground like Darkwing while punching through the Kameo fighter's face like Green Ghost.
- Jossed. The Darkwing part shows up as one of his Brutalities though.
- Grabbing the opponent and taking them underground as he holds them through a running train. Unlike Mark, the opponent isn't strong enough to survive it.
- Konfirmed
- Ripping his enemy's heart out and then force-fed it to their mouths, in reference of his DEATH BATTLE! episode with Homelander.
- Stabbing his opponent in the temples with his fingers, effectively a far more violent version of the "Think Mark think!" meme.
- Crushing his opponent's head between his hands like with Red Rush.
- Konfirmed
- Grabs his opponent by the head and smashes them through various structures until they're reduced to just part of a skull that he crushes in his hand, like he did with the Flaxan commander.
- Snaps his opponent's neck so hard that they start vomiting blood like how he killed War Woman.
- Jossed. It's a Brutality instead.
- Crushes his opponent's head in his hand.
- Squeezes his opponent's spine and tears it out.
- Jossed, it's his command grab.
- Buries his opponent up to their neck with one solid punch, then pushes them through the ground all the way to the other side of the planet and back again, burning them with its molten core.
- Recreating his slaughter of the Guardians of the Globe: beating the main fighter into the ground like Darkwing while punching through the Kameo fighter's face like Green Ghost.
- Peacemaker:
- Using his ricochet helmet to send himself flying straight through the opponent.
- Jossed, it's a Brutality.
- Stabbing the opponent with glass straight in the heart like Rick Flagg.
- Tossing his shield Captain America-style to cut his opponent in two.
- Shooting his opponent in the throat with smaller bullets.
- Commanding Eagly to claw his opponent's face off.
- Uses his sonic boom helmet to disentigrate his opponent while causing massive damage to the stage in the process.
- Konfirmed, it's both a Fatality and a Brutality.
- Tosses a grenade strapped to a Russian tank shell at the opponent before running away just as it explodes.
- Jossed, it's a Brutality.
- Runs his opponent over with his Ford Comet.
- Kills his opponent with John Cena's Attitude Adjustment.
- Using his ricochet helmet to send himself flying straight through the opponent.
- Homelander:
- Using his heat vision to burn straight through the opponent's face like with Madelyn Stillwell.
- Punching through the opponent's stomach and ripping out their intestines like with Black Noir.
- Boxing his opponent's ears hard enough for their head to explode like what he did to Blindspot.
- Stabbing his opponent in the eye with his thumb.
- Cuts off his foe's legs and crushes their head under his foot.
- A series of attacks that leaves the opponent looking like Supersonic's mangled corpse.
- Flying into the sky, using his heat vision to shoot down an airplane that crashes right onto the opponent.
- Cuts his opponent in half with his heat vision.
- Pretends to act intimidated by his opponent to make them drop their guard before he fires his heat vision at their torso, after which he says "Terrific." and flies off.
- Sets his opponent on fire with his heat vision, then grabs them, flies up, and slams them into the ground before stomping on them and reducing them into burning gibs.
- Some of the Kameo fighters are hinting at characters they plan to use in a possible sequel.
- Shao is still a general, but he will betray the crown and become their Kahn (in this game a title).
- Partially Jossed. General Shao attempts a coup, but is defeated.
- Kitana had some personal storylines in the original timeline: Mileena's rivalry, Shao Kahn the usurper, and her mother Sindel. It was said that Jade was her personal friend in the original timeline, but, so far, she has not been seen. They are possibly reserving Jade for a sequel, if Mileena becomes the Tarkatan beast she was in the previous timeline, and they need a female character alongside Kitana.
- Frost, Sub-Zero's stalwart apprentice, is a Kameo fighter, and Takeda is a playable character. If they are brought back to the main storyline, they will appear as part of the same generation as the "Kombat Kids" (e.g., Kung Jin, Cassie and Jacqui).
- Outworld's royal family will be ousted, marking the transition from the idyllic Edenian-like realm to the wasteland it became in the old games.
- Jossed. Shao attempts a coup with Reiko, but fails and is defeated. Outworld's royal family is kept in power.
- The "Mortal Kombat" as the fate-deciding tournament will be established at the end of the game. As it stands, it is a memorial tournament in honor of the fallen King Jerrod.
- This would explain why the game is called Mortal Kombat 1, not 12, because we are seeing the first tournament of the New Era.
- Jossed. Liu Kang tells his chosen Champions that he and Jerrod established the tournament as a token of friendship between their realms.
- This would explain why the game is called Mortal Kombat 1, not 12, because we are seeing the first tournament of the New Era.
- Shao will be infected with Tarkat, but, due to his "willpower"/sheer badassery, it will merely disfigure him, turning him into the demon-faced juggernaut he was in the old games. By doing this, he will sway Mileena to his side as he tries to usurp the crown and make her embrace her "Tarkat"-ness.
- As of the "Rulers of Outworld" trailer, Shao appears maskless/helmetless and as a Horned Humanoid.
- Partially jossed. Shao is normally like that, no Tarkat needed. As for Mileena, she does embrace the fact she has the disease and uses it in her favour and to improve the conditions of the afflicted.
- As of the "Rulers of Outworld" trailer, Shao appears maskless/helmetless and as a Horned Humanoid.
- Omni-Man will reference "Think Mark, think!" in one of his intro quotes. Practically inevitable, especially given how the crew behind Invincible are aware that Nolan is a Fountain of Memes.
- Confirmed! It’s his taunt.
- References to John Cena's wrestling catchphrases from Peacemaker.
- Billy Butcher and Johnny Cage will allude to Karl Urban's role as Cage in the films.
- Scorpion (or perhaps General Shao) saying "scorched earth" in an intro with Homelander.
- Kai
- A customisable character who will serve as the story mode's main protagonist
- A generic NPC
- Young Shujinko
- Hanzo Hasashi
- Havik
- Jossed. Havik is Konfirmed to be in the base roster and we now know what he looks like compared to this character, so it probably isn't him.
- Fujin
- Hsu Hao
- Scorpion and Sub-Zero
- Reptile
- Confirmed as Chapter 7's protagonist.
- Liu Kang
- Confirmed as Chapter 14's protagonist.
- Raiden
- Confirmed as Chapter 3's protagonist.
- Johnny Cage and Kenshi
- Ashrah
- Li Mei
- Konfirmed as Chapter 10's protagonist.
- Geras
- Kung Lao
- Konfirmed as Chapter 1's protagonist.
- Baraka
- Konfirmed as Chapter 5's protagonist.
- Smoke
- Kitana
- Johnny Cage
- Konfirmed as Chapter 2's protagonist.
- Kenshi
- Konfirmed as Chapter 4's protagonist.
- Scorpion
- Konfirmed as Chapter 9's protagonist.
- Sub-Zero
- Konfirmed as Chapter 8's protagonist.
- Kitana and Mileena
- Mileena is confirmed as Chapter 12's protagonist.
- Scorpion and Smoke
- Sub-Zero and Smoke
- Scorpion, Sub-Zero and Smoke as the franchise's first ever three-character chapter
- Reptile and Baraka
- Half-jossed. Havik is an anarchist wanting to overthrow Seido.
- Hanzo Hasashi
- Dairou
- Konfirmed
- Takeda Takahashi
- Kabal
- Jarek
- Mavado
- Hsu Hao
- Chapter 1:
- Kung Lao
- Konfirmed!
- Johnny Cage
- Kung Lao
- Chapter 2:
- Johnny Cage
- Konfirmed!
- Kung Lao
- Johnny Cage
- Chapter 3:
- Sub-Zero
- Smoke
- Scorpion
- Scorpion & Sub-Zero
- Scorpion & Smoke
- Sub-Zero & Smoke
- Sub-Zero, Scorpion & Smoke
- Jossed. The protagonist is Raiden.
- Chapter 4:
- Raiden
- Jossed. The protagonist is Kenshi.
- Raiden
- Chapter 5:
- Li Mei
- Baraka
- Konfirmed!
- Kenshi
- Reptile
- Chapter 6:
- Baraka
- Reptile
- Li Mei
- Jossed. The protagonist is Ashrah.
- Chapter 7:
- Ashrah
- Li Mei
- Jossed. The protagonist is Reptile.
- Chapter 8:
- Reptile
- Ashrah
- Reptile & Ashrah
- Jossed. The protagonist is Sub-Zero.
- Chapter 9:
- Kitana
- Mileena
- Kitana & Mileena
- Jossed. The protagonist is Scorpion.
- Chapter 10:
- Geras
- Jossed. The protagonist is Li Mei.
- Geras
- Chapter 11:
- Kenshi
- Jossed. The protagonist is Sindel.
- Kenshi
- Chapter 12:
- Liu Kang
- Jossed. The protagonist is Mileena.
- Liu Kang
- Jossed. The main antagonist is Titan Shang Tsung from Aftermath.
Guesses for motives of particular characters as the mastermind conspiring against the peace:
- Shang Tsung:
- having his own timeline existing at the same time as that of Liu Kang, learns of the latter's existence and plots to absorb it, by projecting a weaker "avatar" of himself into it, yet which can't be completely rid of, no matter how hard Liu Kang tries to
- Konfirmed.
- having his own timeline existing at the same time as that of Liu Kang, learns of the latter's existence and plots to absorb it, by projecting a weaker "avatar" of himself into it, yet which can't be completely rid of, no matter how hard Liu Kang tries to
- Liu Kang:
- is impersonated by Shang Tsung all along, in order to create the perfect timeline of terror, soon as everyone's guards are down and their minds vulnerable enough
- no longer believes that maintaining lasting peace in all realms is feasible and decides that it's time to make sacrifices
- gets overtaken by his Superpowered Evil Side (absorbed Revenant personality) without him remembering it afterwards
- opts to save Kitana instead of doing what's needed to maintain peace, and ends up Slowly Slipping Into Evil
- has gone mad from a cosmic revelation, from which Kronika was actually protecting the timelines before she was gone
- Kung Lao:
- cheats during a Mortal Kombat tournament (which has a different purpose in this new era), and gets exiled from the champions of Earthrealm, his aspirations for glory crushed, but then discovers soul magic, not knowing (or not caring enough) that once he takes this path, his hunger for souls will only grow further from thereon
- Raiden:
- grows resentful towards Liu Kang's actions as the protector of Earthrealm, and plots to wrest the mantle from him, tapping into forces most dark and vile in the process which corrupt him
- actually manages to attain godhood somehow prematurely, without a wider perspective of responsibility to moderate his impulses, and it is the power itself that corrupts him
- Geras:
- feigns loyalty to Liu Kang, while in fact serving Kronika's vision alone all along and redirecting all suspicion away from himself until his plan's fruition
- Sub-Zero:
- being disillusioned with the Lin Kuei's role of Earthrealm's mere protectors and having his aspirations for power and glory shunned by his allies, enacts a sinister plan to achieve greatness behind everyone else's backs
- Scorpion:
- is murdered in cold betrayal by his brother Sub-Zero and comes back as undead spectre of indiscriminate vengeance, intent on making all life suffer as he did
- Smoke:
- was actually killed along with his family in his childhood and got replaced by a demonic Enenra entity which assumed his identity from then on, learning firsthand about human weaknesses such as empathy and friendship, as well as how to best exploit them
- Johnny Cage:
- is starring in a Show Within a Show (in which the game itself is actually set, with plenty of Leaning on the Fourth Wall on his part), but his contracting studio decides to enforce a Face–Heel Turn on his in-game character because of Executive Meddling; the way it works out involves absurd amounts of Willing Suspension of Disbelief, but it doesn't matter in the end, because Johnny's true fans are always out for "BOOM"
- proves that somehow the public image of a childish celebrity losing his fame and going out for some new "research" is in fact the best cover to stay outside of any suspicion when you're planning something really big behind the scenes
- Kenshi:
- is actually behind the formation of the Black Dragon, a Yakuza splinter gang grown to rival and soon overshadow its predecessor, becoming the be-all and end-all of the criminal underworld, with him secretly in charge of it
- Kitana:
- has been secretly jealous of Mileena's station as the heir to the throne, and stages events to disrupt the peace while posing herself as a "reluctant savior", until the realms lay firmly into her iron fist
- Mileena:
- has taken every measure to conceal her Tarkat condition, yet ends up exposed and ousted nonetheless, and reforms into a ruthless and deceitful rebellion leader who would stop at nothing to get her power back
- Tanya:
- sees fit to become the most trusted advisor of Mileena by the time the latter would become the empress of Outworld, but only to manipulate her as a means for a greater deception
- Rain:
- is using turmoil to draw spying eyes away from his own scheme of violently coming into power through mastery of forbidden dark sorcery
- Baraka:
- has his mind in fact completely taken over by the Tarkat pathogen, which seeks only to spread itself through violence and deceit alike
- Havik:
- is playing a Xanatos Gambit, with his minor meddlings obscuring a greater scheme to achieve the ultimate chaos
- Ashrah:
- being a demon of the Netherrealm, feigns her own purification to gain everyone's trust and uses it to covertly spread her influence
- Li Mei:
- has actually staged the assassination of Outworld's emperor and then joined Sun Do's constables to compromise the policing while avoiding suspicion herself, possibly being secretly in league with Onaga
- Reptile:
- wasn't really terrorized by his people for his shapeshifting ability, but was rather sent by them to infiltrate Outworlder and Earthrealmer societies, compromise them from inside and turn them into all-you-can-eat buffet for his race
- General Shao:
- only poses himself as a bloodthirsty brute who's not very bright, while in fact is very much capable of convoluted plotting, and using Obfuscating Stupidity to cause everyone to underestimate him
- Sindel:
- stages her own death specifically to cause political turmoil, biding until all realms are weakened or distracted enough for her to seize the opportunity and claim them during her comeback; might as well be behind her husband's murder, similar to her MK11 backstory
- Nitara
- doesn't really abandon her people's short-sighted perspective even at the brink of starvation, instead becoming pretty much obsessed with boundless consumption, even when it's strategically pointless; nonetheless she's unparalleled in the tactics division, making the matter of dealing with her a nightmare for pretty much everybody
- Ignoring the fact that the New Era isn't analogous with the previous timelines (as shown with aspects like Shao being a general and Mileena and Kitana being biological twins), it's heavily implied that Liu Kang started the timeline from the equivalent of the Big Bang, which would presumably be eons before the present day.
- From Liu Kang's own words in the 17-minute story mode demo, he did everything in just one pass. It's implied that, by letting people decide how they lived their own life, he was trying to avoid what sent Kronika into madness, as Kronika was a perfectionist.
- Somewhat konfirmed. Shang Tsung is back, but he has none of his powers just yet.
- Titan Shang Tsung from Aftermath is the main antagonist who tries to disrupt Liu Kang's order.
- He'll take several levels in badass out of anger from being a Cosmic Plaything both in-universe and out before taking revenge on the whole universe, possibly trying to become a Big Bad on par with Shang Tsung in the process.
- Very close. While Shang introduces "her" as Damashi (as a Mythology Gag to Deception), it's actually Titan Shang Tsung from his ending in Aftermath.
Also, one may argue that Johnny's childish antics are just calling for a more mature and disciplined woman's influence in his life, be it Sonya in the previous timeline or Li Mei in this one, which is pretty much something the creators might be likely to enforce (probably drawing the inspiration from Green Arrow and Black Canary in Injustice 2).
- Jossed, sort of. Sindel dies, but her soul ends up within Ermac. So really, the question is whether Ermac ends up as an Anti-Hero or not.
- Jacqui Briggs: It'll be her own father on a quest, as he believes there's something missing in his life, and will embark in a quest through other realms looking for an answer. He'll eventually learn that he was fated to have Jacqui in a previous timeline (the first Netherrealm timeline, a.k.a 9-X-11) but she sacrificed herself in order to give her father the life she always wanted to have. This will be a shocking revelation to Jax, who will do anything he can to get Jacqui back.
- Rain: Learning that he was destined to be a demigod in another timeline will have him searching for Taven, Daegon, and Argus... only to find out that neither of them exist anymore in Liu Kang's New Era. So he travels to other realms in order to search for answers and the way to become one.
- Shao Kahn: Comes to Liu Kang's New Era as a konqueror, willing to turn this timeline into another conquer for himself. He sees General Shao and despises him initially, but later learns that he defied all the odds and he was revered in his realm for his konquests.. turning Shao Kahn into a Green-Eyed Monster towards himself.
- Frost: Having forced everyone to revere her as "The Greatest" in her own timeline, by employing her version of Lin Kuei as her time police to eradicate the very thought-crime of dismissing her, learns of other timelines in which the said "crime" is festering, in her own eyes. Obviously feeling offended by their very existence, she embarks on a crusade to quench any dissent towards her greatness that she encounters. Having come across Sub-Zero's actions to "achieve greatness" for the Lin Kuei, she seeks to form an alliance with him... only to be shunned by him in a rather sexist manner (in reference to Noob's MK11 intro with her).
- The main fighter will probably be her own version of Sub-Zero serving as her second-in-command, with herself being the cameo.
- The Joker: Having teamed up with Havik and other "misunderstood maniacs" from his timeline, he simply wouldn't pass an opportunity to wreck things up in other timelines just For the Evulz. Bonus points if this timeline's Havik finds the other Havik's shenanigans no better than Seido's brand of oppression, with the encounter ending up in a mirror match between the two.
- This could be alluded to in Liu Kang's mirror intro when he spoke about "an evil clown" having tricked him into taking Kitana's life, much like the Joker did with his universe's Superman.
- Baraka
- Quan Chi
- Hsu Hao
- She's still going to enlist to Lin Kuei, but she will have a much better time, simply because she has more in common with Bi-Han: Arrogant and ambitious. She never ended well before because she was introduced when the more virtuous Kuai Liang was in charge. If Bi-Han was the one in charge, she'd have a good time. They probably can become a well-off duo much better than other timelines when she was under Kuai Liang.
- Alternatively, Bi-Han becomes a lot jerkier that he does not like competition. Frost is then treated horribly and this will trigger her own Heel–Face Turn, making her contemplate her much more aggressive attitude and change for better.
- Alternatively from that, she ends up unable to take it anymore and then successfully kills Bi-Han, becoming a catalyst of him eventually becoming Noob Saibot. She then takes over Lin Kuei, though nothing changes much since she was just as bad as Bi-Han.
The ones defending Outworld would be:
- Ermac/King Jerrod
- Baraka
- Reptile
- Rain
- Goro
The ones representing Edenia could be:
- Jade
- Kotal
- Taven
- Daegon
- Blaze
- Already Jossed. Edenia doesn't exist in Liu Kang's new era. Instead, Edenians are just another Outworld race and both Argus and Delia are worshiped in Outworld as deities.
- Likely Jossed as pre-match dialogues reveals that she brutally turned him down, Tanya telling Johnny that Kitana's interested in someone else (Likely either Liu Kang or Raiden), and Johnny has seemingly given up.
Only issue is her new codename...
- Perhaps "Sasori", the Japanese word for Scorpion?
- Escalation of the tensions between Lin Kuei and Shirai Ryu clans
- The beginning of Cyber Initiative
- New unrest in Outworld
- Onaga's return
- Royal family being overthrown by Shao and forced to retreat
- This timeline's Shang Tsung conspiring with Titan Havik from the post credit scene
- Black Dragon as the new major threat to the realms
- Tarkat outbreak in Earthrealm and futile attempts to contain it
- Caused by an attack on the Earthrealm project to develop a cure (or, as it goes in many zombie or alien virus movies, the virus gets released by accident) or a secret, villainous project to weaponize it (there has been talk about Shang Tsung or Bi-Han wanting to turn the virus into a bioweapon).
- Since the New Era setting it a lot less dystopian than the previous ones, the OIA (Outworld Investigation Agency) might prevent a bigger outbreak.
- Caused by an attack on the Earthrealm project to develop a cure (or, as it goes in many zombie or alien virus movies, the virus gets released by accident) or a secret, villainous project to weaponize it (there has been talk about Shang Tsung or Bi-Han wanting to turn the virus into a bioweapon).
- Involvement of a mirror timeline in which the beliefs and moralities of every kharacter are all inverted
- Reveal of Kronika's past vision of balance between good and evil actually having a sound purpose behind it
- Return of the Special Forces (Sonya and Jax) in this timeline.
- A reveal on how Shinnok turns out in this particular timeline.
- The Stinger for this DLC: Orderrealm (Hotaru).
- Titan Shao Khan planning on bringing about a Merged Reality from his Arcade Ending in MK11.
- Revisiting the very first timeline, where Shao Kahn won against Blaze and driven into insanity due to loneliness. This may also involve a second Titan Shao Kahn (yes, two Shao Kahns who became Titans)
- Hsu Hao’s (not so) grand return.
- With the reveal that Liu Kang can travel to other dimensions, the possible return to the Midway timeline, right at the moment Shao Kahn is about to kill Raiden, just in time to prevent Raiden's death (and right after Raiden sent the message to his past self in order to kick the events of Mortal Kombat 9). Presumably, there would be a Mini-Game, with Liu Kang charging his power and must release it at the right time: if he took very long, Raiden would die; if he released his power shortly, Raiden doesn't finish his message and the timeline Liu Kang comes from is screwed too. The window will be reasonably broad as to prevent player frustration. Alternatively, whatever the outcome is, there will be events that may change in this expansion.
- In the very beginning, the focus was on Kitana as the positive force among the Outworld court. Mileena becomes her arch-nemesis, and her most trusted ally is her friend Jade. In MK4/Gold, Kitana and Sindel retake Edenia and rule with justice and fairness. However, Edenian Tanya betrays her realm to Shinnok.
- With the reboots (MK9 and MK11), Kitana and Jade become more involved with their respective love interests, respectively, Liu Kang and Kotal Kahn. A friendship between both women is alluded to, but does not come to the foreground.
- Come the New Era, Mileena comes to the forefront and gains the most development: she becomes Sindel's biological daughter and has an implied love interest in Tanya. Tanya herself is reinterpreted as loyal to the royal family and their personal bodyguard, inverting the traitorous person she was originally.
- Based on the evidence, it is possible that Jade will appear in a future installment, but in a role similar to the original Tanya: the green-clad ninja will be an assassin, sent on a covert mission to befriend Kitana and betray her.
In the New Era, the next game will merge Onaga's plot point with the Dragon clans, when originally they were not so, which will allow for Kano, Kabal/Mavado, Tremor, Kira and Kobra to appear. To oppose them, the Special Forces/Outworld Investigation Agency will be a major player in the storyline; thus, we could see Jax Briggs, Sonya Blade and Kenshi.
- Kuai Liang: Because he is the most iconic 2nd Sub-Zero. This timeline however makes it a bit implausible for him because he's born naturally with pyrokinesis abilities. Adding cryokinesis will have a clashing element and if he decides to wield both, he'll no longer be the Sub-Zero we all know.
- Hanzo Hasashi: In a complete reversal of the roles in the previous timeline, imagine the irony of 'The previous Sub-Zero II is now Scorpion, so the previous Scorpion is now Sub-Zero II'. All we know is that the Hanzo of this timeline is a Street Urchin, nobody knew where he came from and what he's actually born with. While he fights like a normal human for now, what if he was born with latent cryomancy like Bi-Han but couldn't unlock it due to his youth? After Kuai Liang realizes this, he decides to train him with extra attention and make sure he doesn't turn out like Bi-Han. He then either becomes a full fledged new Sub-Zero on his own (with Bi-Han taking offense because he doesn't like competition, and especially impostors/wannabes), or if something happens to Bi-Han (usually by becoming Noob Saibot), he takes on the full mantle
- Harumi Shirai: This may be a bit impossible since in the other timeline, she became a female Scorpion due to losing her Hanzo. But anything goes, if NRS wants to create 'A Gender Flip of Sub-Zero without resorting to Frost', Harumi stands with the highest chance for that, what with her relations with Kuai Liang. Imagine also the evolution of Scorpion-Sub-Zero II relations from this: The Rival -> Bash Brothers -> Battle Couple.
- Going to guess that if Bi-Han becomes Noob Saibot, rather than having to die and unwillingly turned into the wraith, this doesn't happen: Instead, Bi-Han sees the Noob Saibot form as a new, greater evolution of power, so he grabs the chance to become more powerful. So, instead of an unwilling transformation, he makes the conscious choice to become eviler for more power.
- We already know how nasty he is as a human. But for the chances that he becomes Noob Saibot, where it's known that it strips him of his positive traits and amplifies his negative traits... how much worse will Bi-Han get? Can he compete with long-standing heinous villains of the franchise like Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn, Shinnok and Kronika? It should be noted that as nasty as Noob Saibot was in the previous timelines, he never quite make the cut for the trope. Discounting his eventual foes (the Shirai Ryu), maybe you'd want to worry on what kind of horrific fate will await Cyrax, Sektor and Frost for sticking with him...
- Shang Tsung will be granted clemency in exchange for his participation in a project with Earthrealm to find a cure for tarkat using both Outworld magic and Earthrealm technology
- They may find a way for the tarkatans to keep their sanity, but fail to reverse the (other) bodily changes, turning tarkat together with the treatment into a super soldier serum (maybe a deliberate design by whatever dark force created tarkat in the first place).
- Shang Tsung, the traitorous son-of-a-bitch he is, may shanghai the tarkatans into serving, say, Shao or some other nasty by dangling the treatment/cure before their noses.
- The protagonists may find out the creator of tarkat and twist their arm into providing clues for the creation of a cure.
- Tarkat will not be fully cured, but there will be a treatment to stop the current progression of the virus, so Mileena will not fully transform but will be stuck with her mouth transformed.
- Ashrah and Tanya's quest to the legendary city Nekros will be successful and may provide an important clue to save Mileena (and all tarkatans with her).
The pattern of NRS storywriting is starting to be formulaic. In each of their titles, someone is going to be turned more villainous than usual. There may be an attempt to fix it in the next game, but they'd pick another character to be made worse:
- MKX: The Revenants, but especially Liu Kang.
- Injustice series: Most Regime characters, but especially Wonder Woman.
- MK11: Fixed Liu Kang, but Sindel got the short end of stick.
- MK1: Fixed Sindel, but Bi-Han gets the short end of stick. And if you squint, maybe Nitara too.
At this point, perhaps we can try to predict who's next to get the short end of the stick (Refrain on imagining redemption arcs for Bi-Han, he may not need fixing so soon, unless it's spiraling out of control like Sindel).
The scope can be an Aftermath-like DLC or a future brand new title. Here are some possible ones:
- Cyrax: He's already made to be a loyalist of Bi-Han rather than someone who will reject the Cyber Initiative later. With this timeline flipping the roles of various villains, there is a chance that they will flip the roles between Cyrax and Sektor, therefore Cyrax will become the fanatic, and Sektor being the 'rebelling good guy'.
- Jade: Since the 'good best friend' of the sisters between Mileena and Kitana is now taken in by Tanya who sides with Mileena, that leaves the 'Outworld/Edenia traitorous female' slot open. That can be taken in by Jade, as unfortunate as it may. Sure, Geras, Liu Kang and others have been encouraging Kitana to trust Jade, but remember that God Is Flawed, and their advice might not be set in stone to be accurate... so what if they end up proven wrong? And finally, much like this isn't the first time we see an eviler Bi-Han, this also won't be the first time we see an eviler Jade.
- Bonus points: Jade will be the one who killed Jerrod, a plot point they are reserving for the Jade DLC or the next title.
- This is more of a group of possible characters, but just like how Scorpion and Sub-Zero are made to be brothers, there is also a chance that Johnny Cage's brother, who is already mentioned by Johnny himself as an asshole, will be mixed up with an existing Earthrealm playable character, therefore making them the next one to be given Adaptational Jerkass or villainy. The question is... who?
- Out of question:
- Sonya (because she's female, thus can't be brother)
- Jax (Already appearing in Kenshi's ending and seems more like a good guy)
- Possible:
- Kano (If they can make Bi-Han worse, they probably can make Kano even worse than he previously was and he's already nasty as is)
- Jarek (if Kano isn't available, he can take the place, not to mention they probably wouldn't need to shoehorn Australian accent for him)
- Stryker (as a nod of how he's the original Scrappy of the franchise and most of the attempts to make him cool seems to be forgotten again and again)
- Kabal
- Mavado
- Kobra
- Hsu Hao (Though a little hard because Hsu Hao is a rather Asian name for the all-American Johnny Cage, he can certainly be reinvented in a way that 'Hsu Hao' becomes an alias, he has a true American name to link with Johnny. And hopefully, this can also mean that Hsu Hao gets his ticket to escape his unfortunate, widely-panned design.)
- Mokap
- Out of question:
Bi-Han's body is remains to be Cyberized, coming out as a mindless, soulless robot as expected.....though surprisingly a little too dependent on outside orders to function. The traitor would think of it as an acceptable consequence for what he believes to be a successful procedure. However, unknown to them, Bi Han's soul managed to form itself a new physical body, molded by the shadows, tempered and twisted by all of his negative emotions made heightened by his horrific end, becoming Noob Saibot.....
- That could silence the voices in her court trying to pressure her into producing a heir (especially if the fertilized egg produced that way is going to be implanted into Mileena instead of, say, Tanya or be carried to term through ectogenesis).
1. It’s an airborne infection: various Baraka intros indicate that stuff like combat can spread it, as can the interactions one has with immediate family and loved ones, all of which share the commonality of being within close distance of a carrier. It can further be assumed to be a bioaerosol because, as shown by Mileena, the mouth is the first thing affected, implying that’s how it enters the body
2. It’s the development of bone spurs throughout the body: We know certain symptoms: the long pointed teeth, the blades, the bone spikes. But they have a commonality: the growth of bone/enamel. The teeth are made of enamel, the blades in several instances have been shown to be bone, and the spikes on Tarkatans look similar to bone. Additionally, with Shang Tsung’s occupation being primarily to treat Mileena’s Tarkat (we only see him doing things related to that before he puts his plan into motion; the “prophecy” was Quan Chi's, not his), it’s implied his Fatal Blow, which is him injecting something that causes his opponent to form large bone spikes that penetrate the skin, is him injecting the opponent with Tarkat.
3. How it kills: given that Tarkat causes an overgrowth of bone, there’s nothing to stop that bone from penetrating organs, constricting the lungs, or otherwise growing inside the body in a way that kills the infected.
But once Liu Kang finds out about this he actually feels kind of bad about it. He never wanted the Lin Kuei to feel that they were forced to be his lackeys but wanted to treat them as fellow heroes and equals. While Bi-Han would initially call Liu Kang a liar, Liu reassures Bi-Han that he would've talked to his father about this if he knew. This gets Bi-Han a little uneasy and uncertain but he leaves the scene before he can answer. While most of the others think that Bi-Han doesn't deserve the sympathy that Liu Kang gives. (Though some can relate to feeling a bit oppresed by traditionalist values.) Whether this can lead to a Heel–Face Turn on Bi-Han's part may vary. But while Bi-Han may consider his father a Abusive Parent, everyone else may at worse deem him to be more flawed than anything as being Traditionalist to a fault.
- It may go deeper than that. It's possible that given how different their philosophies are, Bi-Han may also be a victim of Parental Favoritism with his father prefering Kuai Liang (To the point where he may have expressed wanting his second born to succeed him as Grandmaster rather than Bi-Han). This may also explain his resentment towards his adopted brother Smoke (He hates him as his blood is not Lin Kuei, yet has no problem accepting new initiates): Given how close he is to Kuai Liang (Argubly closer than Kuai Liang is to Bi-Han), Tomas may view Bi-Han as an older brother, but Bi-Han views him as his replacement.
- May also tie in with his mother complex, since Bi-Han clearly saw her as a lot more favorable than his old man. Maybe his mother was the only one who ever gave a damn about him. But she died by a series of events related to his father. Said mother might not be playing favoritism either since Kuai Liang sees her in a positive light too, but for Bi-Han, it's all he had. Combine all that, thus Bi-Han snaps and ends up letting his father die as a revenge for his mother (while his lust for power also plays a factor, it's the one he freely can let out in public, he'd rather keep his mother thing a secret if he can). Whether it's yet another misunderstanding or not remains to be seen.
- A strong theory to link them all: Involvement with the Black/Red Dragon, a clan said to be also scoundrels in this timeline. The Lin Kuei once got into conflict with them, merely fulfilling their role as the defenders of Earthrealm (further enhanced with how apparently Jarek had a hand in the death of Tomas' parents, which led him to be adopted as the son of the Lin Kuei grandmaster, Tomas' orphaning had to happen within this conflict). But in progress, the Grandmaster's wife got murdered. Beforehand, Bi-Han was just as eager to fulfill the path given to him by Liu Kang, but the death of his mother changed everything: His father did not mourn enough for her and chose to focus more on stopping the Black/Red Dragon, and in the end 'spared' them. This infuriated Bi-Han, who believed that his mother's death will not be met with proper justice, but his father yelled back at him, insisting that he follows the traditional path of pacifism. That was when Bi-Han changed from an eager kid into the cold, abrasive asshole we know of, and he kept his anger towards his father for himself, not helped with Kuai Liang generally agreeing with the father's traditionalist method. Slowly, this spirals out into Bi-Han not liking the place Lin Kuei is put on by Liu Kang and develops other ideas: He will usurp the power of Lin Kuei, change it to a more fearful, aggressive force, and then use it to deliver justice to those denied from it because of tradition's folly. For instance, once he reaches his goal of dominating Earthrealm, the first thing he's going to do is to round up every members of the Black/Red Dragon and slaughter them for their general crimes, and especially his mother's death. This will still maintain Kuai Liang's rivalry later, because Kuai Liang really doesn't agree with the method of He Who Fights Monsters, and if Bi-Han thinks he's doing a service for his late mother by not letting her death go unavenged, Kuai Liang thinks that he's doing her a disservice by becoming a monster even for a justified cause.
- The side-effect of this theory: One of his Lin Kuei followers, probably Sektor, will end up Disappointed by the Motive, because he's loyal to Bi-Han in the first place purely for his 'world domination' idea, not 'revenge on someone else's mother' or 'sanctioned vigilantism'. This will result Sektor betraying Bi-Han, and trying to steer the Lin Kuei to the promoted path of Bi-Han rather than his reasoning beneath it. And if necessary, he'll also change the name to Teku-nin.
- Here's another theory on this, though it doesn't touch too much on Bi-Han's own Freudian Excuse but really touches on why he disliked Liu Kang in the first place: Liu Kang actually makes a confrontation to state that it was a mistake... on his part. Creating Lin Kuei as a force of good actually sounded good on paper and generally it produced great results like Kuai Liang, Tomas and Hanzo. But there's a slight he forgot: The goody two shoes image of Lin Kuei naturally would clash hard with Bi-Han's core attitude of a loner and arrogant warrior, which eventually led him to be constantly angry all the time in his services and naturally led him to his betrayal. While the other Earthrealmers will state that being born with such condition does not excuse his betrayal, considering that there are other people with unfortunate situations by Liu Kang himself but still rose above that (Mileena, Baraka, Syzoth), Liu Kang still agrees, but he just thought that he'd let Bi-Han know that he understands his anger and betrayal, and points out that perhaps he should have given him a partner for him to confide with, temper his dark side and make him open up (like maybe Sareena, instead of setting her up as a different entity; designing Sektor and Cyrax to be 'absolute loyalists' may be counted as his mistake too since they instead further pushed Bi-Han's descent to the dark side), but what's done is done. While Bi-Han still reacts badly out of his inherent disdain (or saying that it's too late for regrets), Liu Kang's words still touched him, in a way that he didn't expect a God to actually admit his mistake, which makes him contemplate later in secret.
- Shao Kahn/General Shao - He'd basically be Vegeta, who started out a bad person and a slave (perhaps by Onaga) who was tasked by invading Edenia, but in this timeline, Edenia and Earthrealm are allies so they were able to work together and defeat Shao and whoever he was with. Shao would end up trying to betray Onaga and eventually was forced to work together with Earthrealm's champion at the time and maybe even Sindel. Eventually, he and Sindel would bond, bickering and taunting each other but slowly gaining respect, until eventually falling in love. Shao slowly becomes more of a defender of Earthrealm and Edenia over the years, but he still maintains his boastful attitude and pride in his battle prowess, as well as his brutality, though he reserves that for those who he thinks deserve it. He'd also end up as the legitimate father of Kitana and Mileena in his timeline rather than Jerrod.
- Bi-Han - He's actually the result of Sub-Zero/Kuai Liang's ending in 11 where Kuai Liang defeated Kronika and used his Keeper of Time power to make sure Bi-Han does not fall into evil. Unlike Fire God Liu Kang, Titan Kuai Liang made a point to make sure that Bi-Han actually BOTHERED to temper his pride and ambition so while it's still there, he still made efforts to not fall into evil (and that's just about the thing Kuai Liang would micromanage, he'll leave the rest in natural order). When Fire God Liu Kang calls for help, Bi-Han volunteers to go alone to show how far he has come in terms of developing himself.
Chances are, most of them will take place in an 'adaptation' of Mythologies: Sub-Zero, since the Temple of Elements are mentioned and Bi-Han made plans to go there. They may meet there and initiate the possibilities above.
- The ladder endings and intro dialogue reference each ending and a couple other things, meaning this might already be confirmed.
Later entries to the franchise added more Black male characters in the roster: martial artist Kai (from MK4/Gold) and Orderrealm mercenary Darrius (from Deception). Cyrax was also revealed as African in Mortal Kombat (2011).
As time went by, Jax became the major Black male character in the franchise. However, he is missing from the base roster in Mortal Kombat 1, and Geras becomes the major Black male character in this game.
Based on this premises above and Kenshi's Arcade ending, one could suppose that Jax will come to the forefront again, as the franchise turns its focus on the Earthrealm factions, and places Geras in the background, due to being a more cosmic-/metaphysical-oriented character.
- Kabal and Mavado will become a Composite Character with each other: In a future entry, Mavado will be the non-injured Kabal's face; after an accident, he will become a version of his original MK 3 scarred self.
- Kira and Skarlet will go through the same process: Kira will be introduced as a badass empowered human member of the Red Dragon (fitting her future moniker). Either she gains access to magic, or a villain kidnaps her to give her such powers (say, Shang Tsung), and Kira (a Pun on killer) will adopt the name "Skarlet".
- Fujin may return in the future as another Earthrealm deity, but his role as a Wind God will be reduced and/or given to Cetrion, since the latter is basically a Gaea-like deity with power over the four classical elements, and having in the roster two characters with wind powers may be redundant.
- Or he could end up being confirmed receiving a Gender Flip and revealed to be Raiden's sister.
- Meat, MK4's secret joke character, will return as a sort of "flesh demon" or whatever, mirroring Ermac being a gestalt of souls and Skarlet's appearance in 9, whose fight intro had her emerge out of a pool of blood. Also, he will be merged with Drahmin's sprite, since Drahmin's muscle body can easily be a "hardened" form of Meat.
- Frost will be the Harumi to New Era's Teen Scorpion. Bear with me, here: in their Arcade Endings, Smoke and Kuai Liang found the Shirai Ryu to counter Bi-Han's Lin Kuei, and find a teenaged Hanzo Hasashi as one of their first apprentices. In the previous timelines, Frost was Kuai Liang's stalwart disciple in the reformed Lin Kuei, but always butted heads with him, and ultimately defected to Kronika's side with the promise of ruling a new Lin Kuei. In the New Era, Frost may return as Bi-Han's apprentice, with both acting as Foils to Kuai Liang/Teen Hanzo master-apprentice duo. Also, as it has been said elsewhere, Teen Scorpion may have some traits of Takeda Takahashi, who was Scorpion's apprentice in the X-11 timeline.
- Cetrion (which has been terribly underutilized) may be recast as the next Earthrealm Big Good against Lord Havik: Cetrion embodying nature's balance and cycles, that is, previsibility, certainty and order (the latter in the sense of sequence, "A leads to B leads to C", etc.), Havik being the herald of chaos, imprevisibility, uncertainty.
- If Liu Kang is still (very likely) Earthrealm's Big Good, Havik may end up being his narrative Foil and represent a conflict between free will and fate: Liu Kang recreated the timeline and placed his previous enemies in new, almost ineffectual roles, expecting they follow the mediocre path he set up for them. On the other hand, Havik, unwilling to have a preordained or predestined path for his subjects/allies, will represent the freedom of choice, that is, despite repeating their villainous paths, the former villains will choose to defy the fate Liu Kang created for them.
- There's a problem with that: It does look like 'fate' to the bad guys. However, Liu Kang's intention was to keep their free will anyway, as a way to not repeat Kronika's mistakes. A character is given a better birthplace to temper their evil, but whether they choose to follow through or succumb to it is still within their own choices. However, in essence, the foiling will still happen anyway, but in a way of 'Never judge a book by its cover': Liu Kang looks like setting up a chain of preordained events that the people must follow, but in truth, he lets the people do whatever they want with their position. Havik, on the other hand, acts like people must be free and believes that freedom is the ultimate moral value, but carries it in a way of With Us or Against Us, therefore he still expects the people who is 'good' to follow his rigid code of freedom in order to be even called 'good'. Therefore, the conflict ends up being Subversion of Order Is Not Good (Liu Kang) vs Freedom Is Always Good (and totally not the bad kind of anarchy) (Havik)
- Tremor will make a proper kanonical début in the next entry, since the Outworld ninjas, Ermac, Rain and Reptile, may not return (although Reptile's is more likely). Additionally, Tremor will have actual relevance within the main story, rather than being stuck as a bonus (even if he got a sweet deal from it) in X. Maybe following the examples of the likes of Reptile and Baraka, due to his earlier popularity, Tremor will end up receiving Adaptational Heroism and become a good guy instead of staying as a Black Dragon lackey?
- Tasia may return as the other female member (the first being Kira), replacing Tanya (see Jax's WMG above). Also, she will have a Dating Catwoman situation with Jax, as a nod to Ruby, Jax's one-shot love interest from the Defenders of the Realm cartoon.
- Jarek Took a Level in Badass, rather than being known as 'mini-Kano', he'll be out to deliver some serious damage and makes people regret associating him with the funny memes related to him (His Un-Evil Laugh and "IMSOGAAAAYYYY!!" falling sound)
- Kano will be a 'Decoy Antagonist'. At first hyped up to have grown even worse than previous timelines, taking cues from Snowblind, it's later revealed that Liu Kang actually did 'neuter' him in a similar way as General Shao. So, after all the hyping up, Kano turns out not to be the ultimate leader of Black Dragon, someone else is manipulating him and during the climax, he dumps Kano for running out of uses. And that someone is...
- Hsu Hao!! NRS team's hatred aside, he's the least likely suspect to ever hold a threat, so him being the master manipulator can catch people off guard. He starts out as a lowly grunt, disrespected by both the Red and Black Dragon members, but in secret, he has discovered a secret source of power that grants him power to control both the Red and Black Dragon from the shadows, with Kano and Mavado as the figureheads, while pretending to be this pansy loser. Like what the other WMG said, his 'unimpressiveness' made Liu Kang completely forgot about him and didn't bother to neuter him, so it allowed Hsu Hao to secretly attain the hidden power, and also keeping up the charade to not fall into Liu Kang's radar for so long. He'll prove to be the Big Bad of the next installment.
- Erron Black, a native of Earthrealm (in X he was a long-lived cowboy), will be reintroduced as a member of one of the Dragon factions (my hunch is the Black Dragon). He will still favour his cowboy persona, despite being a century late, and his teammates will raise eyebrows at his "cosplay". Whether he is legitimate or not, it depends on NRS's narrative choices.
This may be because he's Unrelated in the Adaptation with the grandmaster and in the previous timeline, he was the son of the grandmaster, which implies that the current grandmaster isn't Sektor's blood father and his blood father still exists, just being denied the chance of being the grandmaster. And said father also died, earlier than the current grandmaster. Sektor felt that this is not what should happen, he doesn't deserve this, he deserves a greater glory. Perhaps Damashi also contacts him, but their meeting were left off-screen because the focus of MK1 is on Shang Tsung and Quan Chi.
Therefore, Sektor bid his time, pretending to serve under the current grandmaster. But then, he notices that Bi-Han is a bit flawed: He's kind of impatient and has issues with the current grandmaster despite being related by blood. Therefore, he goes to a more subtle plan: He goes along being besties with Bi-Han and generally being a loyalist to him, whispering behind Bi-Han on how to act and feeding further on his ego that he deserves to rule and take Lin Kuei to the greater glory as opposed to his traditionalist father.
Then the big day comes. After playing on Bi-Han's antagonism with his father, Sektor then created an incident where the grandmaster would have to be involved and get killed... and he's the one who carried out the act. And he knows that Bi-Han not only will be named the next grandmaster because his father was too traditionalist, their antagonism means that Bi-Han would let his father die. And Bi-Han didn't know any better that he's been had with Sektor, who pretends to be his bestie.
All these paid off: Bi-Han later strikes out and takes similar-minded people to stay and 'reform' his Lin Kuei for worse, one of them being Sektor, and he's marked as a traitor to Earthrealm, things that he took with stride at the moment. This will force the likes of Kuai Liang and Tomas out of Lin Kuei, but for Sektor, that means less people likely to interrupt his plans. For the moment, he encourages the more darker side of Bi-Han, like advising him to go for Cyber-Initiative, something that would've flew past Bi-Han's head if he hadn't bring it up (meaning that Bi-Han being a technophobe is not averted, just downplayed).
Sektor's plan comes to fruition later when he reveals to Bi-Han, after a deadly duel with Kuai Liang with maybe Bi-Han being beaten at best or dead at worst that he was never loyal to him: He set up everything as his vengeance for his father being denied as a grandmaster, and knows that Bi-Han is being too hotheaded to rule the Lin Kuei properly, thus being easier to take over rather than if he mingles around with the sound-minded Kuai Liang and Tomas. And he was counting that Bi-Han would become a Sucksessor to the previous grandmaster, and Kuai Liang would beat him when the time comes. And now, it's time for Sektor to take his place as the leader of the corrupted Lin Kuei as was ordained in his destiny (by Damashi) and he promises that he will run the place much more ruthlessly and effectively than what Bi-Han could ever achieve.
If he's dead from the duel with Kuai Liang, Bi-Han's rage on being betrayed like that could be what led him to end up eventually being Noob Saibot and swears vengeance, even if it further corrupts his soul. If he survives, he pulls off a Heel–Face Turn, makes a truce with Kuai Liang then wanders off as a solo warrior because he knows he doesn't belong with the Shirai Ryu nor Earthrealm warriors and his sin is never going to be cleansed anyway, but all that he has in mind afterwards is to further train and make Sektor pay.
Meanwhile, to further enhance his dominance, Sektor changes the name of Lin Kuei to the name that he envisioned with his late father: Teku-Nin.
- Kung Lao: He's long been assuming the role of a 'champion's sidekick', and there's a fanbase which has been expecting him to be brought to the front of the narrative's climax, possibly as the 'true chosen one' (which would make enough sense if he's canonically a reincarnation of the Great Kung Lao in the timeline he's hailing from as well, the fact which might've pretty much been a Chekhov's Gun up to this point).
- Johnny Cage: For similar reasons to the above, he's also stated to "be a hero who may not yet know it", let alone his (and his daughter's) rather crucial role in the story of Mortal Kombat X, seeing as the Shaolin champions were existing as twisted, undead revenants with an evil agenda at that time.
- Rain: Not only his outfit in the scene appears to be special, he's konfirmed to be a son of Argus in his own timeline (as opposed to Liu Kang's Rain who is in fact Zeffeero, a mortal Outworld nobility), which does resonate a lot with the plot of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon revolving around Argus's prophecy and quest; perhaps Argus is the actual Keeper of Time in that timeline (thus making his sons half-Titans), and he's been wise enough to foresee the clash of the timelines long before Titan Shang Tsung discovered them, thus specifically designing the quest for his son Rain, which the latter successfully completes.
- Scorpion: Enough said, he is THE iconic Mortal Kombat character, plus he's the immediate pick on the character selection screen, which is presented to the player at the beginning of the last chapter.
- Geras: Of the heroes who don't have their own chapter outside of the final chapter, not only is he both the most important and the most powerful, but he also otherwise doesn't get any fights in the story mode. He becomes increasingly prominent in the game's story towards the end, to the point where, out of all of the playable versions of characters in the final chapter, he's the only one to appear in the penultimate chapter. The game's climax is centred around timelines clashing and Geras' entire character revolves around protecting the timeline. Liu Kang serves as the player's Kameo fighter for all fights in the chapter except for the final battle and Geras is Liu Kang's Number Two so it makes sense for them to be fighting side-by-side.
- Bi-Han: If the timeline goes as smoothly as Liu Kang intended, Bi-Han might be content with serving the visions of old Lin Kuei. However, he's notably more battle-hungry. That's where Damashi comes in: It shows visions of the past where Lin Kuei started out as an assassin clan with more chances to do battle. This starts making Bi-Han unhappy with what he had so far due to his own battle hunger and starts his slow descend into villainy and being more of a jerkass.
- Who is to say Damashi needed to go that far? As Bi-Han mentioned that his mother would've applauded his actions, for all we know, Damashi could've killed her and took her place. And thus started influencing the young Bi-Han at an early age. Possibly influencing his growning resentment towards his father (Especially if he favored Kuai Liang as much as Sindel favored Kitana).
- Dairou: Before his incarceration, Dairou might have started out similarly to his Deception self, where he had his own nobility. However, Damashi manages to show him things and the flaws of Order. While Dairou rejected it at first, after he was incarcerated, he came to agree with what Damashi told him, thus turning him into Havik.
- Cassie Cage: Still Johnny and Sonya's daughter, an O.I.A. agent in this.
- Jacqui Briggs: Still Jax's daughter, also an O.I.A. agent.
- Takeda Takahashi: Still Kenshi and Suchin's son and a member of the Shirai Ryu.
- Kung Jin: Kung Lao's cousin in this timeline and possibly the oldest of the group. A long-range Shaolin kombatant like Lao before him.
They may even add a new member to the group, giving us a Five-Man Band.
- Considering the previews show Ermac is still in a leigon state, maybe there planning something involving Jerrod. Plus, just imagine how deadlier Ermac could get when theres only one soul in total control.
- Sindel: Mirror match dialogue has her confront the previous timeline's version who gleefully killed her own Jerrod and rules with an iron fist.
- Shao Kahn: Shao Kahn is eager to add this timeline to his collection, befitting a multiversal emperor.
- Johnny Cage: A Breather Episode focusing on stopping a battle between multiple Johnny Cages over who's the best one from damaging the timeline with their clashing egos.
- Alternately, a Johnny Cage from a timeline where he becomes so obsessed with proving that his skills are legit that he's developed a bloodlust to the point of fighting all he encounters to the death. Corrupting those around him into having the same bloodlust. Eventually revealed that Johnny was corrupted by the Blood Code by Titan Shang Tsung disguised as Master Boyd.
- Omni-Man: Not really him, but several Viltrumite warriors have come to takeover the timeline and find Nolan for abandoning his mission to conquer Earth, continuing from his ending. The final boss would most definitely be Thragg. Thragg and/or Invincible will be earnable alternate skins for Omni-Man, complete with their voice actors and/or own lines against fighters akin to Injustice 2's Premier Skins.
- Baraka: A Baraka from a timeline where Tarkat has taken over all of the population comes to the New Era in desperate search for a cure, being mistaken as an invasion.
- Kenshi: Another Breather Episode type where Johnny Cage gets Liu Kang to scout for Kenshis across timelines in order to find stunt doubles for Kenshi in their next flick together, and then puts them all up against the player character to see which ones are the most fit for the role.
- Kitana: She actually managed to assassinate Liu Kang during the first tournament, which in turn changed her arc of fate drastically. Since Earthrealm was then absorbed into Outworld, and Raiden was in no position to talk her out of the path Shao Kahn had set for her (also she did not receive the humiliating experience of defeat, as well as being offered mercy afterwards), she would have no qualms taking more and more innocent lives at her adoptive father's behest. Given how the topic of character morality and corruption has been shown to work in the franchise, it is possible for such a lifestyle to result in some radical effects on Kitana's soul. Plus, with Outworld's politics becoming more and more of a fickle thing, one might well see this twisted version of Kitana ending up winning the whole backstabbing race; and by the time she eventually obtains access to the Hourglass, not a shred of her original noble personality remains, rendering her a tragic Complete Monster, probably enough to make the original Mileena squick from the atrocities this version of her "sister" is committing with utter abandon.
- Alternatively, as a result of a misunderstanding Gone Horribly Wrong (or perhaps herself getting rejected or otherwise wronged somehow), Kitana basically becomes Liu Kang's Arch-Enemy, holding such an enormous murderous grudge on him that her end goal is simply vanquishing every and all versions of Liu Kang across all timelines, without any regards for the timelines themselves and the realms within, just because killing her own timeline's Liu Kang did not bring her enough satisfaction.