You know, for a series all about death-
Raiden: "Mortal Kombat is not about death, but life."
Shut up, Raiden.
For a series all about death, there really aren't that many canonical deaths in the
Mortal Kombat games. At least, compared to the number one might expect from a
series with a reputation like this one. This video will discuss all of the named character
deaths in the main canonical story, but I might one day revisit the topic to discuss
literally every death in even the non-canon material. So let's go back to the beginning
and see if we can untangle this yarn ball of a canon. Welcome to Canon Ball.
Backstory Deaths
MK Deception reveals that the Elder Gods defeated The One Being
and split its essence to create the realms. I'm pretty sure this counts as a death and
would thus be the first ever death in the history of the MK universe.
Onaga was poisoned to death by Shao Kahn millennia ago,
as revealed in Deception. And no, MK wiki, it was not one thousand years ago,
Onaga was not the emperor nine thousand years AFTER Kahn took Edenia. Speaking of which...
Kitana's MK2 story explains that her parents, later named Jerrod and Sindel, were killed and
overthrown by Shao Kahn ten thousand years prior. The cause of Jerrod's death is all over the place,
with MK11 alone claiming three different characters to be responsible. Either way,
his soul ends up as part of Ermac, as revealed by the latter's MK9 ending.
As I recently addressed on MisKonceptions, MK3 establishes Sindel's death as around the same
time as Jerrod's, but the first specifics we got were when the film adaptation and
MK Mythologies both made it a suicide. MK9 makes this suicide a ritualistic sacrifice,
and MK11 makes it murder by Quan Chi's hand. You know my thoughts on these changes by now.
The Great Kung Lao was beaten to death by Goro 500 years before MK1.
With the changes made to the series' premise in MK2, this was changed to 450 years ago.
MK1 comic bios reveal that Liu Kang's parents, Lee and Lin Kang (later changed to Liu Lee and Lin),
are dead; and Sonya Blade's twin brother Daniel is dead. No further details are given.
MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero
The first major death the series gives us is Scorpion's at the hand of Bi-Han in the
backstory of MK1. Mythologies depicts this as the classic Head Rip Fatality.
As payment for Bi-Han's success,
Quan Chi annihilates the Shirai Ryu, including Harumi and Satoshi Hasashi.
Bi-Han seemingly kills the four temple guardians, including Fujin. He's alive by MK4,
but his Armageddon bio claims that gods can reform after death, so they seem to have all been killed.
Quan Chi later explodes, suggesting he dies too.
Sareena is seemingly killed by Shinnok,
but Tournament Edition reveals she survives her wounds.
Mortal Kombat
Despite the tournament's premise
Raiden: "But life."
the only confirmed death in MK1 actually occurs outside of the tournament.
MK2's prequel comic reveals that Scorpion killed Bi-Han after the
tournament. MK9 suggests this was done via decapitation, the same way Bi-Han killed him.
Goro is presumed dead until MK4 reveals he survived.
And Sonya's team from the MK1 prequel comic are presumably killed at some point,
as they never appear or get mentioned again. They are named Sparky and Jake. Sparky actually
appears in the Malibu Comics adaptation and is killed in the tournament by Kano.
Mortal Kombat II
Lt. Steve Beran is reduced to bones off-panel in the prequel comic.
Mileena's UMK3 bio states that she was killed by Kitana during MKII.
For his return in MK Gold, Baraka has giant staples in his body, which many theorise to mean
he was sliced in two by Kung Lao in MK2 and that's why he wasn't in MK3 until its third iteration.
Shao Kahn turns to stone and explodes, but this doesn't seem to be canonical.
If Shaolin Monks was intended to replace MK2 in the canon, as Armageddon seems to suggest, then
we have a lot more deaths there. The two monks: Stab out Jade's eyes with Mileena's sai,
Snap Reptile's neck, Make Baraka explode,
Drop Scorpion into Netherrealm lava, Get Ermac crushed under massive rocks,
Snap Shang Tsung's neck, Tear Kintaro limb from limb,
And shatter Shao Kahn after Raiden turns him to stone.
Also, Johnny Cage kicks Goro so hard in the gut that he dies.
And Jax gets Kano flayed alive by something in Kahn's arena.
Mortal Kombat 3
We learn that Johnny Cage has died. There's always been some ambiguity
surrounding his exact involvement in the MK3 series, which I discussed in a previous
episode, and then MK9 finally explains how he died: being impaled with a spear by Motaro.
Kano is claimed to have been killed by Sonya in her MK4 ending,
but Kano's Deadly Alliance Konquest mode reveals this not to be the case, as Motaro saved him.
However, this mode also reveals that Motaro was killed by Sheeva,
who then formed an alliance with Kano to overthrow Shao Kahn,
only for Kano to betray her and signal Kahn to run her through with a sword.
Shao Kahn explodes, but this doesn't seem to be canonical.
Mortal Kombat 4
The fire, earth and water gods are all killed prior to the game by Shinnok's forces.
Shinnok is claimed to be dead by Sonya in her ending, but this was never really confirmed,
and MKX reveals that Elder Gods can't die period, but MK11 both maintains and contradicts this.
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Sektor's Tournament Edition bio states that he overthrew the Lin Kuei Grandmaster.
Liu Kang has his neck broken and his soul taken by Shang Tsung.
Shao Kahn is likewise killed by the two sorcerers, until Deception reveals he had used a body double.
Goro is stated to have been killed by an assassin in Kitana's bio, later revealed to
be Noob Saibot in Tournament Edition, only for Deception to retcon this to have him survive.
Mavado's Konquest Mode heavily implies that he had killed Kabal,
but this turns out not to be the case in Deception.
Frost seems to die in her ending, which Deception confirms, but she's revealed alive in Unchained.
Most of the heroes die in battle with the Alliance and the tarkatans:
Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Jax, Kung Lao and Kitana.
Raiden then blows himself up along with the two sorcerers in a bid to kill Onaga, but fails.
Quan Chi is later confirmed to have survived via teleportation in Shang Tsung's Armageddon bio.
Mortal Kombat: Deception
Kabal is revealed to have murdered Mavado and taken his hookswords back.
Shujinko kills Onaga in his ending, which is made canonical by Armageddon. And since
Onaga is possessing Reptile's body at the time, it's a safe bet that he dies as well.
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Daegon, at some point, killed his parents, Argus and Delia, but they are revealed alive
in some endings. The canonicity there is unclear, especially with MK9's retcon.
Despite the massive battle the story revolves around, the only definitive fighter death in
Armageddon itself is Blaze. Other characters take grievous wounds in the intro, but many aspects
of it ending don't line up with the character allegiances and stories, plus those characters do
still have endings where they win, making survival possible. But MK9 kills off everyone but Raiden
and Shao Kahn, with some being brand new deaths and others just confirming the lethality of the
wounds from that intro. Here is a comprehensive list from what appear to be lethal wounds:
Li Mei is impaled on Hotaru's naginata.
Stryker is lasered in the chest by Kano.
Sheeva is hit by Nightwolf's arrow and run through with Kenshi's sword.
Kenshi is run through with Quan Chi's sword and stomped on by Shang Tsung.
Shang Tsung dies with Liu Kang's hooks in his
shoulders but the specific cause of death is unclear.
Johnny Cage's head is torn off.
Sonya Blade is torn in two.
Jax is impaled on a spear.
Noob Saibot and Sindel are both impaled with swords. I theorise Noob's to be one of Scorpion's.
Scorpion is impaled on Sub-Zero's kori blade.
Sub-Zero is run through by Baraka's right armbalde.
Baraka has his left arm severed while the blade is still in Sub-Zero and his upper body split
in two by Kung Lao's hat. Yeah, I'm not sure why he appears to have two right arms either.
Kung Lao is crushed under Shinnok's giant skeleton hands.
Blaze is killed by Taven, clearly, but MK9 changes this to Shao Kahn, but MK11's retcons suggest
these could be two different version of events and you can see why I hate that revelation so much.
Raiden has his skull caved in by Shao Kahn's wrath hammer.
Mortal Kombat (2011)
Here, the second timeline begins and things become easier to track thanks
to the cinematic story modes depicting everything.
Bi-Han is killed during the tournament by Scorpion via immolation.
When MKX flashes back to these events,
we learn a Shaolin master named Wen was killed in the tarkatan attack on the Wu Shi Academy.
Kung Lao's neck is broken by Shao Kahn in the Outworld tournament.
Motaro is smashed through a bridge by Raiden during the invasion.
Shang Tsung's soul is taken by Kahn and used to empower Sindel.
Noob Saibot is launched into the soulnado by Nightwolf and seems to die but he claims
otherwise in MK11. But then, he also claims he doesn't lose when the exact opposite is true so...
Sindel... stomps on Kabal's chest, punches Stryker in the face, crushes Cyber Sub-Zero's
chest cavity with a single punch, stabs Jax in the throat with her high heel,
breaks Smoke's neck, rips out Jade's heart and drains Kitana's lifeforce,
before Nightwolf uses powerful magic to kill himself and her.
Liu Kang is accidentally killed by Raiden's lightning. MK11 claims this
happens in every timeline, but MK11 can get stuffed.
Shao Kahn is exploded by the Elder Gods for his defiance and it's finally canonical this time.
Sonya's ending has the ghost of her father, Major Herman Blade, appear,
suggesting he died between the tournament and now.
Sektor's ending depicts him once again slaying the Grandmaster to usurp control of the Lin Kuei.
Mortal Kombat X
The fire, earth and water gods are again suggested
to be killed prior to the game by Shinnok's forces.
D'Vorah impales Baraka's head with her stingers during the timeskip.
Mortal Kombat X (comic)
Suchin Takahashi is shot dead by a Red Dragon assassin.
Hsu Hao's skull is caved in by Scorpion in the opening pages.
Forest Fox is split in two with a sword by Takeda.
Kotal K'etz's head is caved in by Goro with Shao Kahn's wrath hammer.
Kotal Kahn returns the favour by crushing King Gorbak's skull with his bare hands.
Mavado's stomach is sliced open by Cassie Cage with his own hookswords.
All of Sonya's squad, bar herself and Johnny, are killed in the battle with the Shokan, with two
being named: Pierce is torn in two off-panel, and Shaun is split in two with a giant axe.
Tremor is shot in the back by Sonya and seems to die from it.
Havik shoves a hand into Hanzo's gut and I'm pretty sure it kills him.
Skarlet's legs are exploded by Mileena, which she claims won't kill her, but Kotal says in
MK11 that she is dead by then, so she may have overestimated her own healing ability.
Reiko is melted by blood magic as part of Havik's scheme.
Hanzo kills his inner Scorpion, which technically counts, even if it's just a metaphor.
Kintaro's head is torn off by the possessed Sonya.
Havik's severed head is crushed underfoot by Quan
Chi (an MK11 writer has said he survives this but that's stupid).
Moloch is decapitated by Kitana.
Drahmin is reduced to a skeleton by Quan Chi.
Sektor is decapitated by Sub-Zero.
Cyrax blows up the cyber factory and dies in the process.
Mortal Kombat X
D'Vorah gave Mileena a kiss of death to have bugs devour her flesh.
Quan Chi is decapitated by Scorpion.
Bo' Rai Cho is beaten and blasted by Shinnok and disappears after
he stops moving, seemingly suggesting he died.
Some pre-fight intros in MKX and 11 make claims of character deaths, but I'll leave out the
ones that clearly don't fit with the story mode canon, like Shang Tsung killing Ermac.
Erron Black claims to have killed Kobra.
Mortal Kombat 11
The Krypt is non-canon, as proven by Kano's death not lining up with either
timeline (and do not get me started on the many timelines in between).
Vera Briggs dies of unknown causes between MKX and 11.
In an intro, D'Vorah claims Ferra and Torr are dead, possibly by her hand.
Goro is said to have been killed by Kotal as
per the second season of the MKX comic that was never made.
Numerous Mileena and Rain intros claim Tanya is dead by Kotal's hand,
but Mileena's presence is non-canon so the same might apply to Tanya's fate too.
Sonya dies when she detonates the explosives to destroy Shinnok's spire.
Dark Raiden is erased from reality, which I'd say counts,
but I don't consider the later time reversal as one.
Geras dies a number of times, but he comes back so quickly that it's not even worth being specific.
Past Cyrax seems to die in the same way he did in the comic, but one intro claims otherwise.
The Elder Gods are wiped out by the time merger, I think.
Johnny says his "dad was an asshole",
seemingly suggesting that Robert Carlton has died since the first tournament.
Kano detonates Past Sektor to destroy the SF base.
Sonya shoots Past Kano in the head, resulting in Present Kano being erased.
D'Vorah stabs Hanzo in the chest with a poisoned stinger and he dies soon after.
Cetrion gives her soul to Kronika to power her up.
Fire God Liu Kang burns Kronika to crystal and shatters her.
Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath
Revenant Nightwolf's soul is taken by Shang Tsung.
Twindel kills Sheeva, apparently.
Geras' skull is caved in with the Wrath of Kahn.
Kahn or Twindel throws Past Kung Lao into the Sea of Blood, presumably drowning him.
Kotal Kahn is decapitated.
Shang Tsung probably kills Nightwolf.
Despite having their souls taken, Raiden and Fujin survive.
Cetrion gives her soul to Kronika to power her up. Again.
Twindel impales Revenant Kitana and Jade on her kwan dao.
Revenant Kung Lao has his neck broken by Shang Tsung.
Shang Tsung takes Shao Kahn, Twindel and Kronika's souls.
Either Fire God Liu Kang reduces Shang Tsung to dust, or the sorcerer takes his soul.
And that is, I believe, every notable death in the main MK canon. For the final tally, I'm not
including anyone who wasn't in Armageddon's intro because there's no real proof they took
part in the battle. I may have missed some, and there'll be a pinned comment about that if so.
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Today's recommended video is Mortal Kombat Fatalities That Are Now Brutalities by
deathmule. I was gonna go for one of those three hour compilations of every finisher ever,
but they've all got cringey intros that go on forever and this is more interesting anyway.