10 Most Prominent Mortal Kombat Characters

[Randoman]

So I've been looking at quite a few top 10 Mortal Kombat Character lists and I find that some of them are just unfair or ridiculously biased. Some of the choices I'll admit are understandable, like Kenshi (skilled blind swordsman ftw), but really, the amount of games he's been in is nowhere close to characters like Liu Kang and Raiden, which on a side note rarely show up in those lists despite their prominence and how often they show up playable or as cameos in Mortal Kombat games (with a more or less perfect attendance). So I thought it would be nice to come up with a top 10 prominent characters list (based on how many games they've been in, the importance of the roles they've played in games, how recognizable they are as Mortal Kombat characters). That way, there's no ridiculous biasedness in the lists like Scorpion over Sub Zero (when Scorpion was left out of Mortal Kombat 3 and didn't get his own spin off game) Kenshi over Liu Kang (Liu Kang has been in almost ever Mortal Kombat game and Kenshi has only been in three or four) or characters you can't even play as most of the time (I'm looking at you Goro and Shao Kahn).

Also, this isn't a tier list where you suggest changes to my existing list. You're supposed to make your own list. You can critique my and others' lists as well. I could use some critiquing for the last 3 slots for my list since even I doubted the choices myself.

Also, Shao Kahn, Goro, and other characters that are usually bosses only (and unplayable as a result) are not allowed. Shang Tseung doesn't count, seeing how he's playable more often than he is a non-playable boss.

1. Sub Zero: He's been in every game except for Special Forces and his story and motives in most games are much deeper than other characters. Also, just one look at him and most people will recognize he's from Mortal Kombat. He's also has many personas like Bi Han, Kuai Lang, and even Cyber Sub Zero.

2. Raiden: Same as Sub Zero in terms of the amount of games he's been in, though he's lower than Sub Zero since he's not playable as often, due to him playing a supporting role in quite a few of the games. Even in the games where he's a non-playable character, he is really important due to his sage like nature and how he takes charge and instructs and advises other characters. His costume is also insanely recognizable as being from Mortal Kombat.

3. Liu Kang: The main character (and consecutive champion) of the Mortal Kombat series and has been in every game but Sub Zero mythologies and Special Forces. The reason he's only 3rd despite being the main character is because most people won't think of Mortal Kombat looking at him, and people just think of him as a typical martial artist rather than a Mortal Kombat character.

4. Scorpion: He's also quite a recognizable Mortal Kombat character in terms of seeing him and thinking Mortal Kombat. However, he wasn't in the original Mortal Kombat 3 and he didn't receive his own spin off game like Liu Kang and Sub Zero did.

5. Shang Tsung: He's quite a major villain, being in the first 3 Mortal Kombat games and having Mortal Kombat Deception revolve around him. He also shows up and is referenced in quite a lot of games.

6. Kitana: Sure, she is missing in some games like the original Mortal Kombat 3 (though still mentioned in Liu Kang's ending, which is canonical) and 4, but her role as Outworld princess in the stories is quite big, especially given that she rebels against Shao Kahn and wants Outworld to be peaceful and defects to the Earth Warriors as a result.

7. Johnny Cage

8. Kung Lao

9. Sonya

10. Jax

I'll come up with reasons for the last 4 later, but even I admit that they're questionable choices, and that Quan Chi should probably be there somewhere.

[Jaybee]

Yeah, I was kind of thinking about Quan Chi while reading this. Also, what about Bo Rai Cho/Shao Kahn?

Also just gonna say that your last 4 choices, save Kung Lao... don't even get me to think of Mortal Kombat.

EDIT: just realised no-boss rule which is kind of silly

Edited November 18, 2011 by JBCWK

[Icon of Sin]

I think the no boss rule is a bit stupid since both Shao Kahn and Goro deserve to be in this, the former for being the announcer in a few games and a very influential character, the latter for being a very memorable boss. They were also enjoyable for the few times they were playable. They certainly beat the Special Forces duo and maybe Kung Lao to me.

Also just gonna say that your last 4 choices, save Kung Lao... don't even get me to think of Mortal Kombat.

I disagree on Cage. He's the definite comic relief of the series and has been in most games except most versions of MK3 and Deception I believe. He's also quite memorable in the first movie IMO, though not always for the good reasons.

Edited November 18, 2011 by Bender B. Rodríguez

[Nightmare]

Cage was great in the movie, probably my favourite. I also agree with Dio (Bender) about Goro and Shao Kahn.

I think Scorpion needs to come up to second. He's definitely one of the most, if not the most recognisable Mortal Kombat character, more so than Liu Kang and Raiden anyway. As for the last four, besides Cage and Kung Lao, they also don't really evoke Mortal Kombat to me. Otherwise uh, nice list I think.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

Mortal Kombat Otaku here. let me go over your choices.

your list is actully pretty spot on, sub and scorp for OFCOURSE reasons, but Scorp should be number 1 and sub being number 2

Raiden and Liu Kang also make sense

Kitana was popular for several reasons(looks/gameplay/ connections with several characters)

Shang Tsung always has been that funny looking guy that can kick your ass then steal your soul.

Sonya having a big role in MK9 is why you put her on the list i assume? well that seems somewhat right but i do disagree...but MK9 made her more popular(granted she was still pretty hot in the good old days of the arcades)

Kung Lao makes sense due his character relatenships and his Obb job reference. as well as being a main character in the loved shaolin monks game.

Johnny cage is my favorite character of all time right above Kung Lao and Cyrax(who i also love dearly) and he's had his big role in the movie as well as his actions draw attention to him weither you want to notice him, comebind that with his very popular portrail in MK9 along with his role in the game and being an excellent beat down character i can see why he's on the list.

the only person i really disagree with is Jax, here's a fun fact from an old man, did you know that Jax was hated in the good old days of MK2's arcade time? it wasn't because he was black, but how out of place a guy who looks like a Pro Wrestler looked(he didn't have his robot arms back then) in this universe. Sure now he's top tier in MK2 but this isn't smash brothers or street fighter where being top tier means your loved by the fanbase...that and being low tier in every other game doesn't help Jax's case.(you'd think he's be better when he got his robot arms)

to be honest I'd replace Jax for someone like Baraka, Meliena, or Reptile. and replace Sonya with Kano as he's one of the most popular guys in the fandom.

[Dark Sage]

No Reptile on the list?

I am disappoint.

[Life]

Jax needs to go higher. Obligatory black man with bionic arms? C'mon, you see Jax and you think Mortal Combat.

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

Jax needs to go higher. Obligatory black man with bionic arms? C'mon, you see Jax and you think Mortal Combat.

I'm not sure if your trolling or just unaware.

[Randoman]

You guys can and are encouraged to make your own lists. I'm not exactly a tier list running sort of person and I am interested to see how your top 10 lists differ from mine and your reasons behind it, unless you have Scorpion over Sub Zero or something really biased like that. Until Scorpion gets his own spinoff game that revolves around him and he gets in a Mortal Kombat game and Sub Zero doesn't (to make up for the original Mortal Kombat 3 where Scorpion was excluded), viewing Scorpion as more prominent and important than Sub Zero is just ridiculous. In addition, Sub Zero's roles in the games are generally more important and varied than Scorpion's (ranging from avenger of his brother, only surviving non-corrupt Lin Kuei member, leader of the Lin Kuei, among other things). Also, the reason I put Scorpion below Raiden and Liu Kang is because he wasn't even referenced at all in the original Mortal Kombat 3, Liu Kang has his own spinoff and Scorpion doesn't, and both Raiden's (where he's always either playable or the sage-like figure) and Liu Kang's (main character, canonical Mortal Kombat champion, playable or cameoed in almost every game) roles in the story are generally more important than Scorpion's .

Bo Rai Cho, I forgot about that one. I'll admit he's important seeing how he trained Liu Kang and Kung Lao, but his prominence and attendance in the Mortal Kombat series is kind of low.

Johnny Cage has been in practically all the Mortal Kombat games (save for 3 where he died from Motaro and spin offs like Sub Zero mythologies and Special Forces). I know he's not exactly recognizable due to his appearance not being as unique to gaming as characters like Raiden and Sub Zero, but there's no doubting his attendance in the games is really high. He's also one of the more frequent reoccuring heroes in the series (though not as much as Liu Kang, Raiden, and Sub Zero). Not to mention that he was based on the real life actor Jean-Claude Van Damme and Mortal Kombat was originally supposed to be a fighter game about Jean-Claude and a few other added characters.

As for Reptile, his story and his motives aren't as deep or important as other characters. There's no doubting his recognizability though (then again, what ninja pallete swap isn't? Even if people don't know Smoke, Rain, or Ermac, they'd know they're from Mortal Kombat based on the costume design alone)

Kung Lao, everyone agrees on, so I don't think I need to go in depth with him. His bladed hat is pretty iconic to Mortal Kombat, his attendance is high, and his role as the only other surviving Shaolin Monk (and the fact that he and Liu Kang have their own spinoff) is a pretty big one.

Sonya and Jax, I know are kind of doubtful choices. I mostly picked them because of their high attendance in the game series (and Jax even got his own spinoff with Sonya as a planned playable character who was scrapped for time reasons). In addition, they were put into MK vs DC over Johnny Cage and Kung Lao, which says something about how important the developers themselves see them as. And I think their role as members of the Outworld Investigation Team is quite important, especially since the organization is brought up in quite a few games.

Baraka, Mileena, and Kano? I find all of them suffer from low attendance compared to the other characters on the list. But I will admit that they are still good contenders (Mileena and Baraka being recognizable as Mortal Kombat characters and Kano's role as an arms dealer for Outworld).

I'm really interested in seeing your guys lists, and what characters you include/exclude from your list that I didn't.

[Icon of Sin]

I discussed one with Nightmare earlier and we got this :

1. Subby Wubby

2. Scorpion

3. Liu Kang

4. Johnny Cage

5. Rayden

6. Goro

7. Shao Kahn

8. Kitana

9. Shang Tsung

10. Kung Lao/Reptile

[Life]

I'm not sure if your trolling or just unaware.

Trolling but Jax has always been one of my favourite MK guys. Him and Kabal.

You guys can and are encouraged to make your own lists. I'm not exactly a tier list running sort of person and I am interested to see how your top 10 lists differ from mine and your reasons behind it, unless you have Scorpion over Sub Zero or something really biased like that. Until Scorpion gets his own spinoff game that revolves around him and he gets in a Mortal Kombat game and Sub Zero doesn't (to make up for the original Mortal Kombat 3 where Scorpion was excluded), viewing Scorpion as more prominent and important than Sub Zero is just ridiculous. In addition, Sub Zero's roles in the games are generally more important and varied than Scorpion's (ranging from avenger of his brother, only surviving non-corrupt Lin Kuei member, leader of the Lin Kuei, among other things). Also, the reason I put Scorpion below Raiden and Liu Kang is because he wasn't even referenced at all in the original Mortal Kombat 3, Liu Kang has his own spinoff and Scorpion doesn't, and both Raiden's (where he's always either playable or the sage-like figure) and Liu Kang's (main character, canonical Mortal Kombat champion, playable or cameoed in almost every game) roles in the story are generally more important than Scorpion's .

You forgot the part where Sub-Zero's got not 1 but 2 story segments about him in MK9. Sure, he's a cyborg in the second one (spoilers, whoops) but it's still the same guy. The only person who comes close to that is Liu Kang who has a single fight with Shao Kang after Kung Lao loses his head (almost literally). And that's only a single fight.

Scorpion will never reach Sub-Zero's level of awesomeness. Sorry.

EDIT: I came up with a great comparison to show why Sub-Zero should be on top of any MK list. It's the same reason that King should be on top of any Tekken list. Shows up in every game, has a deep and involved story and is pretty iconic.

Edited November 19, 2011 by Kefka

[Randoman]

I'm glad you guys agree with Sub Zero being more important than Scorpion.

It annoyed me that screwattack put Scorpion over Sub Zero simply because of his catchphrase "Get over here!!" and how they called it the most iconic line in Mortal Kombat. Well last time I checked, "Finish Him!!!", "Fatality", and "Test your Might", among other lines are much more well known and identifyable as being from Mortal Kombat then "Get over here!!"

I discussed one with Nightmare earlier and we got this :

1. Subby Wubby

2. Scorpion

3. Liu Kang

4. Johnny Cage

5. Rayden

6. Goro

7. Shao Kahn

8. Kitana

9. Shang Tsung

10. Kung Lao/Reptile

I'm guessing that you put Scorpion second because of how easily recognizable he is as a Mortal Kombat character, which is fair enough (especially seeing how you didn't stick him above Sub Zero).

I'm quite suprised how high you stuck Johnny Cage though, and above Raiden no less. Raiden is easily recognizable as a Mortal Kombat character while Johnny Cage isn't as much (at least, I think so anyways. Don't get me wrong, Cage is my second favourite MK character). What exactly is your reasoning behind Johnny Cage over Raiden? I'm pretty sure that they've both been playable an equal amount of times (approximately) in the games. And Raiden's role as a god and protector of earthrealm is a pretty big role in the games.

I guess I don't blame you for wanting to break the no boss rule, but I was mostly doing that because Goro, Shao Kahn, and them probably wouldn't be playable character if another Mortal Kombat crossover was to be made again, due to them being unplayable in most of the games. That's the reason I came up with the list, to see who would best represent the Mortal Kombat series as playable characters in a crossover game. Maybe I should change the rule so that for every non playable boss added, the list is extended by one more character slot. I'm wanting to see who you'd put with one more slot given.

Kitana, Shang Tsung, and Kung Lao's positions seem reasonable (though I personally felt that Shang Tsung showing up in a majority of the games would bring him up higher). Reptile is an interesting choice. Attendance wise, he's a strong contender, and he's definitely recognizable as a Mortal Kombat character, but role wise? The other characters play quite a bigger role than him. Though disregarding that, he'd definitely be a shoo in for the list.

[Life]

I think a Tekken list would be more interesting. But that's my opinion.

Side note: I know that the MK films sucked (I've watched the first two) but is the Tekken film from last year any good? It seems to be a movie about Tekken 3.

[Nightmare]

The MK films do NOT suck. Well, not the first one anyway. It's legitimately good, but the second one is embarrassingly bad.

The Tekken film is also terrible.

[Life]

The MK films do NOT suck. Well, not the first one anyway. It's legitimately good, but the second one is embarrassingly bad.

The Tekken film is also terrible.

Nightmare, you know I love you but your opinion about the Tekken film just became invalid since you claimed that the first MK film was good.

Someone else?