The new Mortal Kombat film is filled with easter eggs, both in what is shown, and what characters
say. Here are the lines in Mortal Kombat that have a deeper meaning than first meets the eye.
One of the central narrative arcs in Mortal Kombat is the rivalry between
Hanzo Hasashi who becomes Scorpion and Bi-Han also known as Sub-Zero.
The film opens with Bi-Han killing Hanzo's entire clan, family, and
then the man himself. Before he does, Bi-Han says: "...the Shirai Ryu, have been exterminated by me."
With this line, the movie fast-tracks the backstory of Scorpion and Sub-Zero's clans
and their long-simmering blood-feud. The Shirai Ryu clan itself is actually an offshoot from
Sub-Zero's, called the Lin Kuei, which began when a member defected and started amassing
their own followers. The Lin Kuei did not take this defection lightly and made it their
mission to wipe the new Shirai Ryu clan out of existence. Hence, Sub-Zero's bloody mission.
Cole Young, the once successful MMA fighter who now can't win a match,
is first approached about the Mortal Kombat tournament by Major Jax Briggs after an
unsuccessful fight. Even though we just saw Cole take a pretty decisive loss, Jax refers to him as:
"The man that took the belt from Eddie Tobias." The line is delivered in a manner that is clearly
meant to make it seem like Eddie Tobias is a formidable MMA fighter. The fact that
Cole once robbed him of a title means he was much more successful in his younger years.
But that's beside the point. The name itself is also meant to be a loving reference to Ed Boon
and John Tobias, the developers credited with creating the first Mortal Kombat game.
Another deep concept that gets a cursory mention in the movie is that of the Elder Gods. When Shang
Tsung is preparing to assassinate the Earthrealm warriors, Mileena pushes back by asking:
"What of Lord Raiden? If he discovers we're breaking rules set in stone by the Elder Gods..."
The Elder Gods are beings whose job is to ensure balance among the many realms by using
non-interventionist methods. Despite Mileena's fear of them retaliating against Shang Tsung for
breaking the rules they've set, the Elder Gods themselves are not all-powerful.
Similar to the pantheon of Greek deities, the Elder Gods are significantly more human in the
way they operate than other interpretations of a divine and omniscient being. The Elder
Gods Shinnok and Cetrion have even been playable characters in the game series.
Considering the Amulet of Shinnok appeared as an Easter egg moment in the movie,
we’re curious to see how much of a role the Elder Gods play in the film series going forward.
When the Earthrealm warriors find Raiden's temple, Cole and Kano are quickly put on
an intense training regime in order to build their skills and unlock their arcana abilities.
As Kung Lao begins to put the would-be defenders of the realm through their paces, he says:
"All you can do now is test your might." That line is pretty straightforward in the context
of the movie, but it's also a sly reference to the first Mortal Kombat. Between fights,
players would occasionally be tasked with competing in a button-mashing minigame called
"Test Your Might," wherein their character had to punch through blocks of wood and other strong
materials to score points. The nonchalant callback in the 2021 movie seems like an Easter egg left
specifically for players whose love of the games goes all the way back to the first.
Although Liu Kang has been featured as the protagonist for many of the games and movies
in the Mortal Kombat universe, he plays more of a supporting role in the 2021 film.
He still gets the opportunity to shine some light on his backstory, though. While speaking
with Cole between training sessions, he reveals: "Unlike Kung Lao, I was just a worthless stray.
For reasons beyond my ken, master Bo' Rai Cho found me half-dead in a gutter
and brought me to the Wu Shi Academy." Like many of the franchise's characters,
Liu Kang's backstory got fleshed out considerably as the series went on.
"I die in the Koliseum? You on a rooftop, fighting Lord Raiden? Our future, Liu Kang. It is insane."
The 2002 game Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance introduced the character Bo' Rai Cho,
the Outworld martial arts grandmaster who turned his back on his home-realm to train Earthrealm
warriors like Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Bo' Rai Cho's status as an Outworlder on the side of
Earthrealm makes him a significant character in the general lore of the games, especially
considering Liu Kang secured several Earthrealm victories in the Mortal Kombat tournaments.
While many characters in the Mortal Kombat series have fascinating histories and storylines, there
are only a handful that have real significance to the broader arc of the story. The 2021 film
smartly brings in several that are less important as fatality fodder, one of those being Kabal.
In the movie, Kabal is introduced as an assassin working for Shang Tsung and an associate of
Kano's. He even says of his old frenemy: "He's the reason I live in an iron lung."
Kabal's distinct mask and breathing apparatus have been a hallmark of his character since
he was first introduced in Mortal Kombat 3. However, while the movie implies that Kano
caused the injuries that put Kabal in his iron lung, in the games, the story is a bit different.
In 2009's Mortal Kombat, a reboot that retells the story of the first three games, Kabal is a police
officer who sustains grievous injuries during Outworld's invasion of Earthrealm. He's found
by Kano, who fits him with his respirator that allows him to breathe despite the damage to his
lungs. So, in the games, Kano quite literally puts Kabal in his iron lung, but only to save his life.
Although Raiden's warriors feel outmatched by Shang Tsung's collection of assassins,
the former ends up pretty much wiping the floor with the latter. That doesn't
seem to bother Shang Tsung too much, though. Shortly before the credits roll, he announces:
"Today you have killed my warriors and you think you have won. But death is only another portal."
The Mortal Kombat games have featured several narrative arcs wherein previously
slain characters rise from the dead. In Mortal Kombat 3, Shang Tsung helps resurrect Sindel,
the wife of Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn. Similarly, the tenth installment of the series saw multiple
dead characters return as mind-controlled versions of their former selves known as Revenants.
The evil sorcerer also menaces the Earthrealm warriors with a warning:
"Next time I see you I will not bring fighters, I will bring armies."
While the first two games tell stories that are relatively contained to the tournaments,
Mortal Kombat 3 features an all-out war. The plot of the game sees Shao Khan enlisting Shang Tsung
to pull some trickery that ends with the emperor invading Earthrealm with
armies of Outworld warriors. If or when the Outworld invasion
happens in the films, Shang Tsung's threat to come back with armies is not an idle one.
The original Mortal Kombat had a relatively small roster of characters.
There were only seven playable fighters and three special bosses included in the game.
All ten of those characters made an appearance in the 2021 film except for one:
The vain martial artist and movie star Johnny Cage.
Cage doesn't make a physical appearance in the first movie, but based on the ending,
fans will be seeing him if there's a sequel. After defeating Shang Tsung's forces, we see
Cole in the locker room of the MMA arena when he's approached by his fight booker. He declines
the man's offer to appear in a matchup, saying that he's off to Hollywood. The man replies:
"Hollywood? What the hell's in Hollywood?" Fans of the series likely knew the answer
to that question as soon as it was asked. But to hammer home reference, the camera
lingers on a poster for a movie starring Johnny Cage right before the credits roll.
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