Mortal Kombat Legends is a series of movies by Warner Bros. Animation. The series include:
- Scorpion's Revenge (2020)
- Battle of the Realms (2021)
- Snow Blind (2022)
- Cage Match (2023)
The films contain examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptation Amalgamation: The series fused elements of both the original eight games (such as the depiction of the Kamidogu) and the reboot trilogy (with many characters' designs being based on their designs from those games).
- Adaptational Heroism: Scorpion frequently went through the Heel–Face Revolving Door and was often presented as one of the villains against Raiden's forces, before finally becoming a hero in the reboot games. Here, he's a decent person long before learning about what Quan Chi did to him and even aided Raiden's forces against Kano and his men.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Granted, Shao Kahn is still a Bad Boss, still decided to invade Earthrealm despite losing, and scoffed at the Elder Gods, but he also settled for merely beating up Shang Tsung for his failure in the first film and in the second, he decided to propose another tournament with the Elder Gods' consent. In the games, Shang Tsung had to propose another tournament to save himself from being killed and Shao Kahn ultimately didn't give a damn what the Gods thought of his actions.
- At no point between the two film does Shang Tsung ever try to pull a Starscream on Shao Kahn. In fact, between this and the fact he chastised Quan Chi for going against Shao Kahn in Scorpion's Revenge for his actions, it suggests this version of Shang Tsung is loyal to Shao Kahn as opposed to merely opposing Quan Chi due to Pragmatic Villainy as Shinnok is known for being an unabashed Omnicidal Maniac. That said, he does become The Starscream to Kano in Snow Blind.
- Adaptational Wimp: Johnny Cage would sadly get this in both Scorpion's Revenge and Battle of the Realms. While earlier Mortal Kombat games made him out to be somewhat of a Joke Character, by the time of MK9 and MKX Johnny had proved to be a Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass personally kicking the asses of Sub-Zero, Scorpion and even Physical God Shinnok as one of the strongest guys in The 'Verse. The duology however, mainly keeps Johnny as the Plucky Comic Relief who helps Sonya fight Mooks with his only victory being a fight with Baraka in Scorpion’s Revenge where the collapsing temple their match took place killing the Tarkatan instead of Johnny himself who just ducked and dodged. In Battle of the Realms all Johnny does is get his ass kicked by D'Vorah and help Sonya fight demons in the Final Battle. Hell, he even seems to be far more cowardly than his video game counterpart. Also, the man known for dishing out the groin trauma, is subject to a couple of BRUTAL kicks to the nards by Sonya Blade only because she finds him annoying.
- Averted in Cage Match, where, by being the main protagonist, Johnny is depicted as more competent and badass, while still being hilariously full of himself, much like the games.
- Animesque: The art style of the films slightly invokes this.
- Big Bad Ensemble:
- In the first film: Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. The former hosts the Mortal Kombat Tournament on behalf of Shao Kahn, while the latter killed Scorpion’s family and clan, pinned it on Sub-Zero, enlisted him as his champion and is the Final Boss.
- In the second: Shao Kahn and Shinnok. Shao hosts the final Mortal Kombat tournament with intention of conquering the Realms, while Shinnok gathers the Kamidogu to summon the One Being and destroy all of existence.
- Big Damn Heroes: Scorpion pulls this off twice, first killing Goro and saving Liu Kang in the first movie and then showing up on the nick of time with Sub-Zero to aid Liu Kang against Shinnok in the second movie.
- Bloodier and Gorier: Than the original films, or previous animated adaptations.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Some of the major villains can seem unstoppable but a few times, some of the heroes can give them enough of a busted lip that they don't come across as totally invincible even when the heroes lose in the end. In the first movie, Liu Kang is able to put a decent enough hurting on Goro even though Goro pulverized him towards the end. In the second movie, both Raiden and Sonya Blade can stagger Shao Kahn with their hits even though they don't win against him.
- Gorn: Oh yes. This is EXTREMELY bloody, as would be expected from the franchise.
- Logo Joke:
- Scorpion replaces Porky in the first film, while Ultra Instinct Shaggy does this to Scorpion in the second.
- In Snow Blind, it is replaced with a blue aura for Kenshi's impaired vision.
- Took a Level in Badass: Liu Kang, as part of his character arc. In the first film he was a talented fighter who ultimately lost his final, climactic fight against Goro. By the time of the sequel, he's improved enough that he defeats Jade, Shang Tsung, and Shao Kahn in the tournament. And he becomes empowered enough to take on and defeat Shinnok fused with the One Being, with Scorpion and Sub-Zero lending him their help.
