Top 10 Mortal Kombat Characters

Fighting opponents in this series who have two arms is bad enough, so logically, an opponent with 4 would be twice as hard. It should be no surprise that he was champion of the MK tournament for 500 years before Liu Kang dethroned him. He first showed up as an unplayable boss in the first title in the series, and served as the biggest challenge one had to face for the arcade players who were skilled enough to get this far.

This character started out as a Shaolin monk, but you wouldn’t know it from watching him fight. Many of his best moves come from a unique source—his razor-rimmed hat. It serves a variety of purposes, but one of the coolest is the Hat Slice fatality, where he uses it to cut his opponent in half with a single swipe. Even better, it always winds up back on his head, so you’ll be ready to take on whoever crosses you next. He’s the descendant of the Great Kung Lao, who Goro defeated when he first became champ, so he enters the 2nd tournament to restore his family’s honor.

As tough as this character was to master, she made for a dependable fighter once you got the hang of her. Her supposed twin sister Mileena was created as a palette swap for her, but there’s no question which character gets the more backstory. Not only that, she learns that Mileena was actually a clone created by Shang Tsung, and she leaves her position as an assassin for Shao Khan to join the good guys. Kitana’s unforgettable Kiss of Doom is one of the series’ most painful looking Fatalities, and her fan is one of the game’s best projectiles, especially when chained with combos.

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#7: Sonya Blade

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Appearing as the first female character in the series, she has proven over the years how much ass she can kick. Making her debut in the first title as a late addition by developers, with her appearance inspired by martial arts actress Cynthia Rothrock, this US Special Forces officer is hell-bent on taking down Kano and his Black Dragon gang. he had arguably the best jumping abilities of any character in the first game, and her Kiss of Death was a fiery way to finish an opponent. Man, both of the ladies get kiss fatalities, sexism much?

Despite bringing about the end of the world in his ending in the first game, this character was brought back as protector of the Earth Realm in the sequel, and he’s been an unforgettable fighter ever since. He was invited to the tournament by none other than Shang Tsung, himself, and his position as the God of Thunder gives him awesome attacks that utilize the power of lightning. His fatality in the first game was so intense that it had to be heavily altered for the SNES version, turning the decapitation into a simple obliteration.

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#5: Johnny Cage

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It’s no surprise that a character based on action star Jean Claude Van Damme would kick some serious ass, but it’s not just his looks that make him such a great character. Like his likeness, he’s a martial arts film actor, and he gets involved with the MK tournament to show that he doesn’t need special effects. Despite his obnoxiously arrogant personality, his powerful close-range attacks make opponents wish they weren’t on his bad side, especially when he goes for their sensitive spots. Can you really say no to a character who can take your head off with an uppercut punch?

As we’ve seen thus far, just about every “MK” fighter brings something cool to the table, but this sorcerer’s shape-shifting abilities take things up a notch. Not only can he take on the appearance of other characters, but he also gains all of their signature moves, making him a force to be reckoned with. But of course his most frightening and iconic ability is that he can steal the soul of his vanquished opponent. Tsung served as the final boss for the First Mortal Kombat game, but his true fighting skill emerged with his new younger form from the 2nd game onwards.

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#3: Liu Kang

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The heroic lead character of the series, and Earthrealm’s reigning champion of Mortal Kombat. Liu Kang’s signature moves come with his high flying kick that sends him flying like a missile into his opponents, and his bicycle kick will offer you a world of hurt. Of course his Fatality is no joke either as from MK2 onwards he was able to turn into a freaking dragon. Liu Kang was in the Mortal Kombat series in the first 4 games, So imagine how shocked we were when he was suddenly killed off in the intro for Deadly Alliance.

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#2: Sub-Zero

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This character’s fatality is one of the main reasons the series garnered such a well-deserved reputation. What you may not know is that there’s actually 2 guys who bear the name Sub Zero, with the first one being killed by Scorpion in the first game, and his brother taking up his name in Mortal Kombat 2 onwards. Sub Zero’s trademark move is obviously is ability to freeze his opponent, allowing him to take free hits against his opponent with ease. As the only character to appear in all the current Mortal Kombat fighting games, Zero is a character worthy of video game infamy, if it wasn’t for our #1.
Before we get to our number one, let’s take a look at some honorable mentions:

Baraka
Reptile
Jax
Jade
Cyrax

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#1: Scorpion

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It’s easy to see why this character is the iconic face of the franchise, and the highest voted character, but it’s worth taking a minute to celebrate how badass he is. He’s an undead ninja who was killed by Sub-Zero and came back for to the dead to avenge his own death in the first game. His anger fuels him to chuck spears at his opponents while telling them to “Get over here!” And his undead status gives him a really awesome flaming skull, burning his opponents to a crisp in style.

Do you agree with our list? Who’s your favorite character to beat up your buddies with? For more violent top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.