Mortal Kombat fans are all a little confused about the identities of the characters shown in the Mortal Kombat 1 reveal trailer, especially when it comes to Kung Lao, Sub-Zero, and Scorpion.
After years of speculation and teasing, when NetherRealm Studios finally reveals that its next game is Mortal Kombat 1, you’d think it would answer all the questions fans have had for years. Well you would be wrong. As revealed in the upcoming Mortal Kombat reveal trailer, this is a timeline reset that not only changes everyone’s personality, but most if not all of them look rejuvenated.
Because of this, there’s been a fair amount of confusion about who each character actually is. It all starts with one of the first shots of him shown in the trailer. It depicts Raiden waking up and walking into the field. Considering Mortal Kombat 11’s Aftermath DLC ended with Liu Kang talking to Great Kung Lao, many assumed this was him, and especially considering how young he looks, it’s I had no idea that it was actually supposed to be a human Raiden.
Twitter user TheSpineRip even had to post a photo revealing it was Raiden It is shown in an intro shot, sharing an image of the shot with the caption, “This is actually Kung Lao and Raiden in this scene. Not the great Kung Lao.” Judging by the comments at the bottom of the post, many people are unaware that this is Raiden, even though the hat, the distant lightning bolt, and the Amulet of Shinnok are all clearly human Raiden. did not.
This confusion has carried over to Kung Lao as well, and it’s not clear at this time if that’s what we know. Or if it’s meant to be Great Kung Lao. The website only refers to him as “Kung Lao” so we have no clue at this point, but much of the current confusion stems from the identities of his first two characters.
Raiden and Kung Lao are the main sources of confusion (Liu Kang, Milena, and Kitana are thankfully pretty obvious), but it carries over to Scorpion and Sub-Zero, who are the youngest we’ve ever seen. However, there is at least a positive side to this confusion. It’s a fan theory.
One interesting theory comes from Twitter user RealmKast., noted that both Scorpion and Sub-Zero have Lin Kuei emblems on their chests. They theorize that this version of Scorpion could actually be Takeda (son of Scorpion from Mortal Kombat X), which would be an interesting development.
Another popular topic of discussion right now is the identity of Sub-Zero in the trailer. We know for sure that he is Sub-Zero, but the canonical history of Mortal Kombat does mention two characters, Beehan and Kuai Liang. Twitter user Scotia834 points out that Sub-Zero looks old Less scarred here than Scorpion, which suggests he’s the first Sub-Zero, Beehan.