Mortal Kombat started out as an arcade game that eventually spawned countless action-adventure games, a comic book series, a card game, an animated TV series, and a live-action film.
The franchise has an extensive history, which isn’t always easy to follow amid the extreme fight sequences. Thankfully, there are those of us who take the time to lay it all out in layman’s terms, just so you don’t have to.
The complete history of Mortal Kombat
Pre-Mortal Kombat sees the Elder Gods fashion six powerful weapons called the Kamidogu. They successfully shatter the most powerful life form, The One Being, into six pieces, each containing one of the Kamidogu and a part of The One Being’s consciousness.
These pieces eventually became the main Realms of the Mortal Kombat universe; Earthrealm, Netherrealm, Outworld, Chaosrealm, Edenia, and Orderrealm. The Elder Gods decided that to maintain order and balance throughout the Realms, they would create a single elimination Martial Arts tournament that would determine their fates.
If one Realm wished to merge with another, it would have to defeat said Realm’s best warriors in 10 consecutive tournaments.
Goro, a half-human, half-dragon warrior, wins nine consecutive tournaments, leaving just one more before Outworld gains the right to conquer Earthrealm. Enter: the first Mortal Kombat game.
Mortal Kombat
This game takes place during the final Mortal Kombat tournament required for Outworld to merge with Earthrealm. Shang Tsung hosts the tournament and requests the participation of the God of Thunder and Earthrealm protector Raiden. He is joined by Shaolin monk Liu Kang, martial arts superstar Johnny Cage, and Lieutenant Sonya Blade of the U.S. Special Forces Unit. They fight against Outworld’s competitors: Goro, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero.
In the end, Liu Kang becomes the new Mortal Kombat champion and Scorpion gets his revenge on his alleged murderer Sub-Zero, sending his soul to the Netherrealm. At the same time, Goro is nowhere to be seen, presumably dead.
Mortal Kombat 2
Liu Kang, Raiden, Johnny Cage, Scorpion, Shang Tsung, and Reptile join the Mortal Kombat tournament. They are also joined by Sub-Zero, who was believed to have died at the hands of Scorpion. However, in a shocking twist, we discover that the Sub-Zero in Mortal Kombat 2 is not the same Sub-Zero as in the previous game. The new Sub-Zero turns out to be Kuai Liang, the younger brother of the original Sub-Zero, Bi-Han.
Five new characters join the tournament: Baraka, one of Khan’s enforcers; Jax Briggs, a member of the U.S. Special Forces; Kung Lao, a Shaolin monk; Kitana, Shao Kahn’s stepdaughter; and Mileena, a clone of Kitana.
Liu Kang wins the tournament once again, defeating Shao Kahn.
Mortal Kombat 3
Shao Kahn uses his Shadow Priests, led by Shang Tsung, to revive Queen Sindel, the former ruler of Edenia. Khan opens a portal between Earthrealm and Outworld, claiming the souls of billions of humans. In order to prevent the Earthrealm warriors from defeating him again, Shang Tsung sends an elimination squad to kill them, led by the centaur Motaro.
Johnny Cage was killed by Motaro, but since his soul was protected by Raiden, he became one of the chosen warriors fighting against Khan’s invasion. Jax frees Sonya and Kano from their imprisonment on Outworld, while a former Black Dragon warrior called Kabal joins the Rebellion.
The Earthrealm warriors gain new members in Nightwolf, a Native-American Shaman, and Stryker, the only survivor in New York City. Sub-Zero/Bi-Han returns, but this time, he’s known as Noob Saibot.
Sheeva, a Shokan (a four-armed half-human, half-dragon like Goro) is the last character to join the tournament.
Eventually, once Liu Kang and the Rebellion win again, Kitana is reunited with her mother Queen Sindel, who reclaims her rightful place on the Edenian throne.
In the spin-off game Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Quan Chi seemingly dies in the Netherrealm at the hands of his former ally Sareena.
Mortal Kombat 4
Shinnok has managed to escape the Netherrealm with the help of Quan Chi and seeks revenge against the Elder Gods. Shinnok’s first target is Edenia and Tanya, the daughter of an Edenian ambassador, who convinces Queen Sindel to welcome Shinnok and his Generals as refugees. Shinnok invades Edenia, captures Queen Sindel and her daughter Kitana, then attacks the Heavens, killing three of the four Elemental Gods.
Only Fujin, the God of Wind and brother to Raiden, manages to escape. Raiden and the Earthrealm fighters defeat Shinnok’s forces, banishing him back to the Netherrealm. Raiden acquires the status of Elder God, bestowing upon his brother Fujin the title of Earthrealm’s protector.
Mortal Kombat: Special Forces/Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Quan Chi forms an alliance with Shang Tsung to raise a deadly army and take control of the Realms. Quan Chi and Shang Tsung agree to eliminate the only two characters capable of stopping them, Mortal Kombat Champion Liu Kang and Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn. They manage to snap Liu Kang’s neck and consume his soul to resurrect Onaga’s army.
Jax Briggs, Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, Sonya Blade, and Kitana all die in battle. Raiden tries to defeat the Deadly Alliance himself, but the duo is far too powerful.
Mortal Kombat: Deception
Picking up the story after Quan Chi and Shang Tsung manage to revive Onaga’s army, the duo turn against each other as Shang steals Shinnok’s Amulet from Quan Chi. The two former allies fight to take control of Onaga’s undead army, only realizing after the fact that Onaga the Dragon King himself has returned.
Raiden destroys himself in the process of opposing Onaga, but an alternate version returns to Earthrealm, tainted by Onaga’s evil, becoming known as Dark Raiden. Onaga is defeated by Shujinko, the man Onaga manipulated into retrieving the Kamidogu.
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
We cut back to the end of the first Mortal Kombat tournament, where several fights break out among the contenders. Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, and Sub-Zero fight against Kano, Reptile, and Scorpion. Liu Kang faces Shang Tsung, who tries to consume his soul. Kung Lao comes to assist his cousin against Baraka and Goro enters the fray to fight anyone in sight. The chaos demolishes Shang Tsung’s palace, forcing Kano, Reptile, Scorpion, Goro, and Baraka to Outworld.
Baraka and the Tarkatans attack the Wu Shi Academy. Liu Kang, Raiden, Johnny Cage, and Kung Lao travel to Outworld to stop Shao Kahn and rescue a kidnapped Sonya, which they do successfully.
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Long before the events of the games, a powerful sorceress from Edenia called Queen Delia foresaw the end of the world, i.e. the apocalypse. To prevent this, Delia devised a plan with her husband Argus to incubate their sons Taven and Daegon until the time came when the apocalypse was upon them.
Taven and Daegon turn on each other after learning that their father promised whoever killed Blaze the Elemental to assume the status of Elder God.
After tricking the Deadly Alliance into killing one of his clones, Shao Kahn returns to kill Blaze and seize his godlike powers. Raiden sends a message to his younger self through his amulet in hopes of preventing the end of times.
In Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, we find out that Raiden’s message to his younger self creates a new timeline that begins with the reboot of the original Mortal Kombat Trilogy in 2011.
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Everything we know from the previous games doesn’t really exist anymore. The reboot takes us back to the first Mortal Kombat tournament, where the Earthrealm heroes are teaming up to defeat Goro and prevent him from winning a 10th consecutive tournament.
When they return from their meeting with the Elder Gods, Raiden and Liu Kang discover that Sindel has launched a large-scale attack that resulted in many casualties, including Kitana. Nightwolf sacrifices himself to kill Sindel. Liu Kang blames Raiden for the devastating destruction, then vows to take on Shao Kahn himself. When Raiden tries to stop him, he accidentally kills him.
Raiden sacrifices himself to the Emperor of Outworld and Shao Kahn begins to merge the two worlds. This is when the Elder Gods finally show up, since Outworld never won 10 consecutive tournaments, as per the rules. The Elder Gods possess Raiden’s body to help him defeat Shao Kahn in combat.
Unbeknownst to the others, Quan Chi is working under Shinnok to conquer both Realms.
Mortal Kombat X
Quan Chi and Shinnok put their plans into action. Shinnok attacks the Earthrealm with an army of Netherrealm demons. Some of the remaining Earthrealm warriors arrive to fight against the Netherrealm demons. Quan Chi turns Sub-Zero, Smoke, and Sindel into Revenants.
Two decades later, Johnny Cage has assembled a team of youthful fighters comprising Johnny’s daughter Cassie, Scorpion’s mentee Takeda, Jax’s daughter Jackie, and Kung Lao’s nephew Kung Jin. They go off to Outworld to resolve a civil war between the former Empress Mileena and Outworld’s current Emperor Kotal Kahn. They defeat Mileena, who is executed on the Emperor’s orders.
At a refugee camp, Quan Chi manages to cast a spell to release Shinnok from captivity just before Hanzo beheads him.
Raiden strips Shinnok of his godlike powers once more, purifying the Jinsei. Unfortunately, Shinnok had already influenced the Jinsei, prompting Raiden to become Dark Raiden once more. We find that Raiden had beheaded Shinnok.
Mortal Kombat 11
This latest installment reveals another race of primordial beings that predate the Elder Gods, known as the Titans. The Titans are far more powerful than the Elder Gods and appeared right after The One Being. We only have information about one Titan — Kronika, the Keeper of Time and mother of Shinnok.
Kronika arrives to request an alliance with Liu Kang and Kitana, rulers of the Netherrealm. They agree to team up with the Titaness to protect their own Realm from Dark Raiden’s wrath. Kronika reverses time to rebuild the cathedral and remove Dark Raiden from existence.
Doing so also cancels the deaths of several characters. Meanwhile, Kotal Kahn, the current Emperor of Outworld, is interrupted during an execution by a Time Storm, which brings back Shao Kahn, Skarlet, Baraka, and younger versions of Kano, Erron Black, Jade, Raiden, Kitana, Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade, Jax, Scorpion, Kabal, and Kung Lao from the past.
D’Vorah gets the jump on Hanzo and fatally poisons him.
Kronika captures Liu Kang to keep him away from Raiden, then takes him to his counterpart, Revenant Liu Kang, who absorbs his past self’s soul. Kronika sends Revenant Liu Kang to fight Raiden in the hopes that they’ll kill each other. Instead of going along with Kronika’s plan, Raiden merges with Liu Kang and Revenant Liu Kang to become the Fire God Liu Kang.
Kronika turns back time to the Mesozoic Age, erasing everything that ever happened in the Mortal Kombat universe. The Fire God Liu Kang defeats Kronika and meets a now-mortal Raiden, who appoints him the new protector of Earthrealm.
Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath Expansion
As Fire God Liu Kang and Raiden attempt to put everything back to normal, they are interrupted by the apparition of Shang Tsung, Fujin, and Nightwolf, who were all imprisoned in the void for refusing to join Kronika.
Kitana loses the fight against her mother Sindel and Shao Kahn defeats Liu Kang. Shang Tsung is proven to be a double-crosser, just as prophecy foretold, and wears the crown to evolve his powers so that they’re akin to Kronika’s.
With his newfound powers, Shang Tsung easily defeats Raiden, Fujin, Jax, and Nightwolf. He then defeats her and absorbs her soul, but Fire God Liu Kang confronts him.
Since Mortal Kombat 12 has yet to be released as of this writing, we don’t know which of Mortal Kombat 11‘s endings are canon. If Shang Tsung wins, he absorbs the soul of the Fire God Liu Kang and rules over the Realms. If Fire God Liu Kang wins, he erases the sorcerer from existence, retrieves the crown to forget his own era, and goes back to his Shaolin Temple.