There are few pieces of media more influenced by their adaptations than Marvel Comics, DC
Comics and Mortal Kombat. Elements from MK adaptations working their way into the source
material is almost as common as bad continuity, so let's discuss some of it. And no, small
nods like Johnny threatening to punch Goro in the balls or Scorpion's movie spear being
a Krypt item in MK11 don't count. We're only going to discuss plot points, character motivations
and aesthetic decisions here.
Given the close proximity of some of this stuff, it is possible that there was a centralised
MK bible that the comics, movie and novel all drew from, but I'm not aware of any such
thing, forcing me to conclude either coincidences or the earlier projects inspiring the later
ones.
The first major adaptation was the comic series by Malibu Comics that ran from 1994-95.
The biggest influence the comic had was the reclassification of certain neutral characters
into servants of Outworld, or at least doing so earlier. Of particular note are Kano, who
wouldn't join Shao Kahn until MK3, and Scorpion, who originally never worked for Outworld at
all, both joining Kahn in between MK1 and 2 in the comic, leading to the movie and later
games depicting them as already working for Outworld before the tournament. The Lin Kuei
had apparently served Kahn in the past, which influenced Conquest, and has since become
game canon as of MK2011.
There are smaller details as well, of course, such as Raiden not taking an active part in
the tournament, which then carried over into the movie and then the games, as of Shaolin
Monks.
A pair of Special Forces members have metal arms, which would later be given to Jax in
MK3.
Gods of Order and Chaos were introduced, which may have inspired the Order and Chaos realms
in 2004's Deception, along with the idea of a dragon man that ruled Outworld before Shao
Kahn, possibly inspiring Onaga.
Sometimes, though, elements don't make their way into the games, but they do influence
other adaptations. Malibu was the first to present the idea of Sonya being motivated
by a personal vendetta against Kano for murdering her partner, which would be used again in
the Jeff Rovin novel, the movie and the Defenders of the Realm cartoon.
The comic introduced Hydro, a blue-clad Lin Kuei, who was Sub-Zero's partner until he
was killed by Scorpion. Hydro was then featured in MK Legacy as the third cyber ninja, who
is used as a test dummy for Sektor and Cyrax. Poor bugger must be a Green Lantern for how
dangerous the colour yellow is to him.
Then, there's the 1995 Movie adaptation that remains the one good video game movie Paul
W. S. Anderson ever made. The movie made a few changes to small details that had only
been mentioned in the bios section of the MK1 prequel comic. First is Raiden's black
hair being changed to white, which then became canon with 2002's Deadly Alliance. And then,
Trevor Goddard portrayed the American-born Japanese orphan Kano as Australian, which
carried over into the cartoon and became game canon with 2000's Special Forces, along with
his particular style of knife.
The movie also depicted Scorpion's spear as coming out of his hand, while the games had
never been clear on that. Scorpion was often shown carrying his spear, suggesting it was
just a weapon he threw or launched from his wrist. A promotional render for Deadly Alliance
showed it coming from his hand, and its presence in Shujinko's arsenal in Deception suggests
it is a power, rather than a tool. Nowadays, it seems to be a wrist-launched tool again,
though.
More significantly, we were given setup for a couple of... well, couples: Liu Kang and
Kitana, and Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. The former became canon in 1997's MK4, though
one could read into the monk's MK3 ending as hinting at the idea. Some fans believe
it was inspired by the comic suggesting a relationship between Kung Lao and Kitana,
but I couldn't find any hints of that in the comic. Aside from their motivations becoming
more personal through the other's fates, their souls being bonded in Armageddon bios and
some banter in MK vs DC Universe, their relationship didn't really get any focus until the in-depth
reimagining of the original trilogy in 2011. This game did a serviceable job of establishing
their relationship; certainly moreso than the horribly contrived Shaolin Monks version,
or the suddenly existent classic version. In MK11, this relationship sees the two as
King and Queen of the Netherrealm, and architects of the new era. It adds some more depth to
Liu Kang's character, so this influence is definitely a good thing.
As for Johnny and Sonya, their relationship is more one-sided until the sequel, where
Johnny dying to save Sonya from Kahn is a notable factor in her story. Again, some fans
believe this story got its start in the comics, but I couldn't find any strong evidence of
that. The games hinted that Johnny had a thing for Sonya in Deadly Alliance, but this dynamic
wouldn't get any real focus until 2011, where Johnny's infatuation with her is really the
only character-specific motivation for his actions after the first tournament. In MKX,
though, Sonya does begin to reciprocate, leading to an ill-fated marriage, a new hero in the
form of their daughter Cassie, and a nice little bookend to the story from Johnny.
Johnny: "She called me Johnny."
This is why the MKX comic presenting their relationship as if they only married because
Sonya got pregnant after a one night stand is so egregious. You do no get
Quan Chi: "Johnny Cage is mine."
Sonya: "No. He's mine."
from "we got together for the kid's sake." Fuck you, comic.
On a lighter note, the movie also gave us a long-running debate by claiming Liu Kang
is the descendant of the Great Kung Lao, which made its way into the games with Goro's MK4
bio. I've discussed this in the past, so let's move on.
Sonya's switch from keeping her hair loose to a ponytail and cap in MK4 may have been
inspired by her look in the first film, while her shorter hair in Deadly Alliance may have
come from the second film.
Raiden being portrayed as a sarky bastard led to this being his characterisation in
both Conquest and Defenders of the Realm. Johnny's career being in the toilet was expanded
upon in both Rebirth and Legacy, and may have influenced his Deadly Alliance story, where
he is making the godawful Mortal Kombat: The Death of Johnny Cage. And finally, the movie's
events were used as the basis for the depiction of the tournament in the cartoon, despite
it not being a direct sequel to the movie.
1996's Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm saw the debut of Quan Chi. John Tobias has
confirmed that the character was created for MK Mythologies and MK4, and that the team
shared the character's details with the cartoon staff, allowing him to debut a year earlier.
It's strange, then, that his story here has no connection to the game version, and the
episode is focused on Nightwolf instead of Sub-Zero. But regardless, this Quan Chi uses
magic to turn the heroes against each other, which was later reused for an episode of Conquest.
1997's Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, despite being despised by the fandom, had some influence
of its own. The movie makes the baffling revelation that Raiden and Shao Kahn are brothers and
the sons of Shinnok. This was actually stated to be the case in Raiden's bio in MK vs DC
Universe eleven years later. Luckily, this was one of that game's retcons that didn't
carry over into the Netherrealm Era.
In addition to Annihilation, the movie had another continuation in the prequel TV series,
Mortal Kombat: Conquest from '98 to '99. Some of these influences are a little more debatable,
but I don't think anyone will argue that the "Unholy Alliance" between Quan Chi and Shang
Tsung didn't directly inspire the "Deadly Alliance" of Quan Chi and Shang Tsung four
years later.
The ones that are a little more debatable are the Kreeyans, a race of warrior women
that are grown in a beehive, that may have inspired the Kytinn, a race of humanoid insects
that shouldn't exist.
Some apparently believe that Master Cho was some sort of prototype of Bo' Rai Cho, despite
the only similarities being that they're martial arts masters with Cho in their names. By that
reckoning, Bo from the Malibu comics is a prototype of Bo' Rai Cho. No, it's a coincidence,
shut up.
And finally, we have Takeda Takahashi, Scorpion's apprentice from MKX, who is believed to be
named after Conquest's Takeda, who is Scorpion's host, but both are actually named after the
founder of the Shirai Ryu who was mentioned on the MK Mythologies website. Conquest did,
however, inspire the godawful pronunciation of his name.
Kung Lao: "Ta-kay-da?"
Scorpion: "Ta-key-da is no more."
Some might say 2010's MK: Rebirth depicting Jax and Sonya as police instead of military
is an influence on MK Legacy, but since it had the same creator, Rebirth can instead
be considered a prototype of Legacy. But, speaking of Legacy, that series did have its
own influence on the source material as well. The show was the first to actually characterise
and name Scorpion's wife and son: Kana and Jubei. Yes, I know the Jeff Rovin novel did
it first, but he had them as Korean, so it really doesn't count. While MKX would later
establish that they are Harumi and Satoshi, the canonical MKX prequel comic bafflingly
used the names from Legacy. In fact, the entire scene is actually taken from the show, despite
it being very different from the games. Fortunately, despite the comic's writer then writing for
MK11, it sticks to the official game named for the two.
And, the final adaptational influence on the source material is, of course, MKX and MK11
drawing influence from fanfiction for their plot and characters.
Raiden: "Yes! Hahaha! Sorry."
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