Mortal Kombat

He is a loyal member of the Lin Kuai after all.

It was only his younger brother who decided to reform the organization into a force for good.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

There's kind of an irony with current canon.

Subby II made peace with Scorpion by revealing his brother didn't do it and Scorpion got his revenge on Quan Chi.

Then Subby II found out his brother's reaction was, "Oh man, I *WISH* I'd killed them all. They didn't hire me, though."

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

The only problem with Bi-han is they go back and forth on whether Noob is Bi-han or is Bi-han with all his negatives turned up to eleven and drunk on the darkside - Not helping matters is Sareena supports the Later and Sub zero 2 waffles back and forth between the two depending on the game

Essentially they are inconsistent with Bi-Han but want to present Hanzo as a noble soul

Bi-Han is a trained assassin who will kill without mercy and take a job as long as its payment is deemed viable

IE He killed Hanzo originally when they both invaded the Temple

Both Him and Hanzo slaughtered the temples guards to get what they came for.

So its not a case of who is Morally better... They are both professional killers for hire.

Raiden vouches that both are capable of great nobility but let their personal issues cloud their judgement and nature. 'Raiden laments Bi-han's death in spite of the fact he was working Outworld and is the one to offer Hanzo redemption multiple times'

I'm A Pervert not an Asshole!

Yes, Liu is in the new 2021 movie, although he has a very different personality.

---

That's both true & untrue.

True that Bi-Han has no real issues with killing people.

Untrue that Bi-Han would kill for the sake of killing.

Like frozenwolf said, in Sub-Zero Mythologies Bi-Han did kill Scorpion but he spared Sareena. Both timelines already reinforce that Bi-Han was always willing to fight for the Earthrealm but ever since MK 11 they racked his negative flaws.

---

Not quite true.

In his original ending back in MK 1, he was going to leave the Lin Kuei & retire after he completes his mission. Which was originally to assassinate Shang Tsung. Obviously, that didn't work since Scorpion killed him.

In the NRS era, they never really made it clear if he was going to kill Shang Tsung or not since even Cyrax wasn't really ok with everything the Lin Kuei & Raiden's dialogue after Bi-Han's death already confirm that Mythology still occurs. However, Kuai-Liang's MK 11 ending suggests/retcon that Bi-Han was always evil even though Fujin's dialogue against Noob Saibot in Aftermath's story also reinforces Mythology still happen. Granted, it's not like they can't retcon that either.

---

That's only in the MK 11 characters' dialogues, which again they want to lean on Bi-Han being evil now. Especially after the recent movie.

---

I should mention that it took 2 decades for both Sub-Zero's to have actual real names & for the longest time Sub-Zero was portrayed to be both Caucasian & Asian. NRS isn't always consistent & after MK 11 they seem to be pretty content with retconning whatever they feel like. Like how Skarlet & Kollector were always in the tournaments, Kabal & Sareena hooking up despite never interacting with one or another, how many times they switch Kabal's alignment.

At the very least, NRS acknowledges that last one.

Edited by agent-trunks on Apr 25th 2021 at 11:47:51 AM

You aren't supposed to describe an Asian person as Oriental. It's considered offensive.

Weird, I've never considered that to be our N-word, but either way I'll change it.

Given how the stuff in Bi-Han's MK1 ending is never mentioned again, I'd chalk it up to just Early-Installment Weirdness. It certainly wouldn't be the only example in that game (Kano being Japanese, Raiden wanting to conquer Earth and actually competing in the tournament, etc.)

Edited by lbssb on Apr 26th 2021 at 12:42:55 PM

Disney100 Marathon | DreamWorks Marathon

Noob is like the other Revenants in that he's the vampire/demon version of the characters.

Not really Bi-Han any more than Demon Zombie Liu Kang.

HOWEVER, even in Sub-Zero's game, the issue was that he was an evil man that had the potential to be good. That was part of the story there that he was doing something terrible and it had damned him as well as dramatically weakened Earth Realm.

It seems pretty canon now that Bi-Han may have not been a monster like Noob but he was more Sektor than his brother.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Apr 26th 2021 at 12:41:32 PM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

One thing I could never quite figure out, Hanzo dies, then comes back as a Spectre, with fire powers and a flaming skull, but Bi Han gets killed and comes back as a Wraith, a shadow/tar monster. I'm not sure why they came back so different. Is one more evil than the other? Does the fact that Bi Han was a cryomancer have anything to do with it? Also, Noob Saibot seems to be two people at once, or at least able to divide into two beings for short periods. It makes me wonder if Bi Han had his spirit merged with something from Netherrealm and he's technically two things in one body.

Edited by WillKeaton on Apr 26th 2021 at 5:18:43 AM

Ah no worries.

Now I've seen the film and hooooo ho boy I do not want to talk about that anymore.

The movie made me question that even more. I assume the Netherworld just makes everybody a little darker in whaever way the character designers see fit that particular evening. Compare the Revenants to... just about any other denizen from the Netherrealm.

Edited by FOFD on Apr 26th 2021 at 11:36:58 AM

Akira Toriyama (April 5 1955 - March 1, 2024).

Well, the simple guess would be that Quan Chi went the extra mile on Noob Saibot than anything else, but I doubt that's actually the case

---

Actually in the original MK 1 ending Raiden didn't care about conquering the world, he just didn't care about anyone in general & invited the other gods because Shang Tsung & Goro wasn't all that challenging.

I think it's because Noob is a servant of Shinnok.

Scorpion was just sort of let loose.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

Iirc, Hell and the Netherealm were originally separate places which could explain why Scorpion and Noob have different powers.

You can look at it as Scorpion and Noob being reflections of who they really were in life. Hanzo was consumed by hatred and rage and became the hellfire Scorpion we know and love. Bi Han had an inner darkness he indulged and that manifested as Noob Saibot.

Its a good parallel.

Scorpion was once under the influence of Shinnok because of his inner goodness but rebelled while Bi-Han embraced it because of his inner evil.

There's an obvious Scorpion is light/Saibot is dark counterparts there as well.

Edited by slimcoder on Apr 27th 2021 at 12:25:30 PM

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

Speaking of the Lin Kuei, Bi Han and Sektor are by all accounts assholes, but Smoke, Sub-Zero V 2.0 and Cyrax seem to be decent people. Which brings me to my next point: Cyrax and Sektor are fine names for robots, but apparently they had those names before being converted. I'm assuming those are their Lin Kuei code names and not their given names.

Edited by WillKeaton on Apr 27th 2021 at 10:37:42 AM

Yep. It'd be nice if one day or another we see what their real names are. Wouldn't surprise if Sektor only thinks of himself as Sektor or something like that, though.

Also, don't forget Frost on the list of asshole Lin Kuei, even if she is a failure of the new version.

Edited by Blueace on Apr 27th 2021 at 6:45:11 AM

Wake me up at your own risk.

I admit, I actually think there's a lot of characterization that Frost hates Subby II because he's a violator of traditions and reformer. Then she meets an actual The Fundamentalist who points out that women aren't allowed to join the Lin Kuei.

It feels very true to life.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

I always took Frost's anger as stemming from believing herself as All That while everyone else knows she's ultimately just the bag of chips.

I think Subby II DID plan to make her his successor, which makes it all the more bizarre.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.

He saw potential in her but her own arrogance and inner darkness completely ruined whatever chances she could have had as a hero.

Notably she actually accepts the cyborg-program and willingly becomes one unlike most ninjas.

"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."

She resembles Anakin in a way. Wanting to be promoted thinking she is ready when being the master when the job implies more than being good at busting heads.

She was a skilled warrior but had a laundry list of issues that meant Sub-Zero really needed to start looking for other potential successors.

Wake me up at your own risk.

I personally wouldn't compare Frost to Anakin at all.

Anakin over the decades has become a lot more complex than he ever has. In comparison, Frost is as shallow & evil as she was introduced back in Deadly Alliance.

I don't even think Frost cares about Kuai Liang disregarding the Lin Kuei's original traditions. She wasn't born into or recruited by the original clan. She's just using that to obscure the fact that her hatred is rooted in pettiness. It's telling that her rivalry is with Cassie Cage as opposed to Takeda who is from a rival clan.

Also, I'm not sure if Noob saying he wouldn't allow female Lin Kuei is his true opinion, the Netherealm's corruption or him just saying that to get a rise out of Frost.

I wouldn't take a lot of the vs dialogues with so much face value.