Top 10 Most Shocking Twists in Mortal Kombat

Prior to the events of “Aftermath”, Sindel once ruled Edenia with her husband Jerrod before Shao Kahn invaded, killed Jerrod, and forced her to wed him. Despite taking her own life, Shao Kahn found a way to resurrect her in a brainwashed state, causing her to become the malicious scream queen we’re all too familiar with. In “Aftermath”, however, Sindel supposedly returns to her natural self after being resurrected, according to Shang Tsung. But remember, this is Shang Tsung we’re talking about, and we may have forgotten about that until Sindel begins plotting to kill Kitana and reunite with Shao Kahn. Just when we thought the sorcerer was telling the truth, it bit us in the ass!

Upon finishing “Aftermath’s” story, one can’t help but wonder where the franchise could go next now that Liu Kang can forge new timelines. Well, we caught a glimpse of that after defeating Shang Tsung once and for all. At the Wu Shi Academy, we see a young Kung Lao, but this isn’t the same Kung Lao from previous games. This is the Great Kung Lao, the one that defeated Shang Tsung and saved Earthrealm before the events of the first game, and Liu Kang has chosen him as the Fire God’s champion. Simply put, this was heartwarming and a perfect way to bring the series full circle.

Before “Mortal Kombat” got all cinematic with its storytelling, it already had a plot twist that was pretty significant in its story. In the single-player campaign for “Mortal Kombat: Deception”, we see a young Shujinko collecting Kamidogou for the Dragon King, Onaga. However, he was under the impression that he was collecting these for an Elder God named Damashi. It wasn’t until after he presented all of the Kamidogou that Onaga revealed himself, and the Dragon King fled to Outworld to reclaim his throne and use the Kamidogou to make himself even more powerful. Damn, even ancient beings can be total scumbags…

We already had an idea of how epic and dramatic MK11 was going to be after seeing the game’s reveal in January 2019. However, we didn’t expect things were going to be so rough and heavy so early. The first chapter sees Cassie, Sonya, and the rest of Special Forces infiltrate Liu Kang’s fortress in the NetherRealm. However, things take a turn for the worse as Sonya gets buried underneath a pile of rubble. She gives a few last words to Cassie before detonating the explosives and bringing the whole fortress down. We didn’t think “Mortal Kombat” could pull off a moment so emotional, but here we are.

When you form an unlikely alliance with someone like the deceitful Shang Tsung, you can’t help feeling like they’re always hiding something. So, when he offered his help to Raiden and company, something felt...off. He mentions that he was a prisoner of the Elder Gods, gaining the power to absorb souls in order to give power to Kronika’s crown. What he fails to mention (until about halfway into “Aftermath”) is that HE is the one who forged her crown! While he makes a point that if we had known this in advance, no one would trust his alliance, but how else are we supposed to react to a shady character offering help? Welcome them with cookies and roses?

Mileena has been a staple character since “Mortal Kombat II”, only having skipped out on “Deadly Alliance”. This only made it harder to accept her fate after she was killed off in “Mortal Kombat X”. After failing to steal back Shinnok’s amulet, Mileena is captured and taken to Kotal Kahn. Rather than executing her himself, Kotal Kahn instructs D’Vorah to do the dirty work. The nasty Kytinn kisses Mileena and infests flesh-eating parasites inside her. Sucks for those of us who are fans of Mileena, but damn, what a disgusting way to go out, man.

At the start of “Mortal Kombat” (the 2011 reboot), we’re immediately shown that everyone is dead, and Raiden is about to be finished off by Shao Kahn. However, mere moments before his death, Raiden sends a cryptic message to his past self - “He must win”. We suspected the same warriors as the Thunder God; it had to be Kung Lao or Liu Kang, right? Wrong. While he was almost too late to realize it, Raiden figures out that his past self was referring to Shao Kahn as his invasion of Earthrealm would violate the rules of Mortal Kombat. Too many of Earthrealm’s champions were lost, but hey, the twist made for one hell of a story!

Before solving his past self’s vague message, Raiden went to seek guidance from the Elder Gods. Unfortunately, his and Liu Kang’s absence would partially cause the downfall of their friends. Sindel ambushes the Earthrealm warriors along with the Lin Kuei cyborgs and proceeds to slaughter them all. Johnny and Sonya are the only survivors while Kitana is left mortally wounded. Nightwolf manages to take her down, but only by sacrificing himself. Honestly, we weren’t expecting to see most of the cast be killed off like this, and it hurt to watch.

Okay, bear with us for a minute here - we KNEW Shang Tsung was going to betray Raiden and company. The sly sorcerer has an extensive history in plotting behind people’s backs for his own nefarious deeds. So, why anyone expected him to keep his word is beyond us. However, it was surprising to see him backstab Sindel and Shao Kahn in the final moments of “Aftermath”. These are the people he’s served and sworn to protect before, but in hindsight, it makes sense that he’d take advantage of the power Kronika’s crown wields and try to become a time lord. Still, his history didn’t make this any less surprising. It says everything about his character and how he’ll hurt anyone for personal gain.

This completely changed our perception of the entire franchise. Just as Raiden and Liu Kang were about to fight each other, the Thunder God was struck with a series of flashbacks showing him and the Shaolin monk fighting to the death. It is here that we realize that these flashbacks are all from separate timelines, some of them depicting the two’s appearances from previously retconned games! Cassie’s reaction pretty much reflects our reaction to the revelation… [show Cassie saying “Timelines? ...PLURAL?”] This means that every game before the 2011 reboot or even MK11 could potentially be a part of different timelines. Whatever it says about previous entries, we’re eager to see where the franchise goes with this.