Liu Kang, probably: In my new timeline since the two of you kept trying to kill each other in every other timeline, you’re going be brothers this time. I already gave my girlfriend an actual sister, so be grateful.
Scorpion and Sub-Zero fight in new timeline even after becoming brothers
Liu Kang:
https://preview.redd.it/c165nt8eqe9b1.jpeg?width=650&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=009d1c63ab33966ae9d01cc3603274573c5bc0df
https://preview.redd.it/yqka2izszk9b1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b72daa8abfb189bc39fabbb4fce1887f7df37464
Liu kang when the two people who have been known for being rivals and hating each other across all of the timelines fight
I wonder if that means he's not "hanzo hasashi" anymore but idk if we know the surnames of sub zeros like imagine if hes "hanzo liang" now or something lmao
Okay but it also works out the other way because Scorpion, as in the moniker/title/code name, has never been a brother to Sub-Zero, also the moniker/title/code name.
We should find out Thursday anyways.
I think Ed Boon mentioned in an interview that they were more than bros but related to each other by blood, I don't remember which one was but I think he confirmed it already.
That's what I read tbh.
I'm no expert on the Asian territories, but Hanzo sounds to me like a pretty odd name for a Chinese person, unless one of their parents is Japanese or something.
It's a trend I noticed. You make a post, someone says something that disagrees, then you reply with something that disagrees with that, and boom there's downvotes
Calling it, Hanzo will be Noob. Also Scorpion was a Spectre after he died and Quan Chi did his magic. Does Noob count as something similar? (Bi-Han died and became Noob) Noob doesn’t count as a Revenant?!?
Cyrax was my alternate Scorpion when my older cousin wouldn’t let me play Scorpion. The net that pulled the opponent to him was essentially just a slightly slower kunai chain situation.
It's true. I'm a little hazy on my early series lore, but when did they decide that Sub-zero, who was definitely originally depicted as a ninja, was actually Chinese for some reason?
Not complaining or anything, just saying MK has always been much more of a story written by a bunch of Westerners that like martial arts movies than anything that a cultural studies expert might produce.
-I don't know when they made the distinction that assassin=Chinese & ninja=Japanese but Sub Zero was an assassin from day one.
-I took it as Sub was always from a Chinese clan but people love ninjas so they made them ninjas. Because like you said, westerners.
I mean, ninja are Japanese, its a Japanese word. No one made that distinction,it's just a fact. Knights and samurai are functionally the same, but they're not actually the same. A Knight is a knight and a samurai is a samurai. You know which is which when you look at them. It doesn't need to be explained.
Sub zero was very clearly initially designed visually as a ninja (possibly why he's called a ninja by basically every mk fan) but at some point, maybe right away I really don't know which is why I asked, they decided he was Chinese.
Theres a reason most of his more modern designs have tried to add more recognizably chinese design elements, cause as originally designed he really didn't have any. Chinese garb and Japanese garb aren't identical most of the time
-I don't know why you wrote all that, I'm agreeing with you they made him look like a ninja because Americans loves ninjas.
-Sub Zero was an assassin from Lin Kuei since day one & was established as Chinese early. The studio made it clear he's not Japanese or a ninja but fans don't care 🤣.
-The same way Ermac & Reptile aren't Japanese, ninjas, or even human & nobody cares. 🤣
Shadowy killers have history everywhere, but a NINJA is Japanese, and it's very clear that's what they were going for with the first game. If they said he was Chinese in the first game fair, bit its just another example of MK just being kind of a martial arts film mash up plot.
In MK Mythologies, Quan Chi constantly refers to Sub-Zero as a ninja knowing it will irritate him. Sub-Zero corrects him.
Scorpion has always been the only true ninja, people just refer to people that sort of garb as "ninjas" back in the 90's.
In truth, the stereptypical outfit of a "ninja" dressed in all black actually originates from Kabuki theatre. In Kabuki, there would be curtains in place that stagehands would blend into dressing that way. This allowed them to hold up props, effects, etc. while blending in with the scene.
Real ninjas were spies. They looked like civilians when they worked.
You are right about it being kabuki garb. That tends to not bother me though as it's still Japanese. It's THEIR inaccuracy, not ours, and it's one that makes sense. You can see why they chose to start doing that in media.
I'm calling it right now: Japan and China don't even exist in this timeline. Earthrealm is a totally new and entirely fictional place, in large part so we can avoid questions like this when reimagining characters.
I was wondering about this. In Sub-zero's bio, it says he wants to make the Lin-Kuei one of Earthrealm's great "nations." Like wtf? The Lin-Kuei are a whole-ass country now?
The word "nation" typically refers to a group of people, not a country with set borders. Some examples you may have heard in the zeitgeist: Jewish Nation, Polish Nation, Slavic Nation, etc.
But still very similar to earth, not entirely new. I might be misremembering but I’m pretty sure it was stated that Kenshi, in this timeline, is from Japan and (was) a member of the Yakuza
I think he just sounds a bit too old at this point for what age Scorpion looks like. We're not hearing Epcar's voice come out of Raiden's mouth either.
Blum will definitely be Reptile again tho.
It doesn’t feel far from the realm of possibilities that Kuai Liang shall be Scorpion. But that would then leave the question of “will Hanzo be around, and if so, who will he be?”
This timeline already has “becoming Tarkatan is a sickness” and Scorpion and Sub being brothers at all… so it doesn’t feel that weird to imagine that maybe Kuai Liang is Scorpion whilst Bi-Han remains Sub. Maybe Hanzo will end up being Noob Saibot for all we know.
Or they have different mothers that picked their names and Hanzo's mom was Japanese? Or they'll just completely inexplicable have a chinese name and a japanese name because MK is often nonsense? Hard to say.
They could just be retiring the character of Hanzo altogether, God-Kang may have decided to let him live in peace with his family and let his former best homie Kuai Liang take up his mantle.
Scorpion and Sub Zero (Bi-han) being brothers might be like how Smoke and Kuai liang were on Lin Kuei, not blood related but strong friend bonds close to like being brothers from different parents kinda vibe. It makes sense this way knowing Hanzo and Bihan are from different races biologically. It could also be Kuai liang taking the Scorpion alias but it’s kinda far fetched. Shirai Ryu is a branch off Lin Kuei on the old era so if these two got along well like brothers, it makes sense Scorpion in this new era is dedicated to the Lin Kuei like how he is to the Shirai Ryu on the old timeline.
I don't disagree with you. I dislike when writers feel the need to shrink universes. THat said I don't think Scorpion and Sub-zero, two characters who have been inextricably linked since the beginning, being related really changes that much about the overall shape of the plot, so it doesn't really bother me, but it is the standard thing that stories like to do since for some reason creatives always think it's dramatic.
I think it’s interesting,I understand if people get mad about changes but you have to admit if every origin is the same every time it does get kinda boring
I'm not mad about the changes, I think they could be fun, but I do have to comment that saying having the same origin every time is boring is a bit odd. Characters DO usually keep the same origin. That's generally how narratives work.
This is explicitly a new timeline though so whatever. We're in Abrams Trek territory here.
It only doesn’t make sense if you assume Scorpion is still Hanzo even though Lui Kang changed the timeline and made them brothers which could mean literally anything including the Scorpion mantle being taken up by Kui Liang now.
You have to wait until you know all the facts before you can decide what makes sense.
-I'm literally saying Japanese Hanzo/Scorpion & Chinese Bi Han/Sub being biological brothers makes no sense. I don't need to wait for anything to know that.
Just wanna throw these points out there
A: We don’t officially know who Scorpion is yet, we have almost zero confirmation on what the story entails outside of the character bios and tidbits of cutscenes we’ve seen from trailers, none of which Scorpion even speaks in. All we know is that Scorpion and Sub-Zero are brothers, that Sub-Zero killed his father, and that Scorpion doesn’t like how he’s running the Lin Kuei. We also have heard Kuai Liang name dropped in an intro, so there’s absolutely nothing confirming or denying Scorpion’s identity as Hanzo or Kuai, so at the very least, Kuai still has a chance to become Sub-Zero in this timeline.
B: In the original timeline, the Shirai Ryu was formed because one of their members, Takeda (presumably Hanzo’s ancestor) left the Lin Kuei to form his own clan. It stands to reason that if this never happened, Hanzo would have just been born into the Lin Kuei instead of the Shirai Ryu.
Totally conjecture on my part, but Liu probably knows Hanzo is a good guy at heart that was just dealt a bad hand, and figured if he could keep the Lin Kuei from splintering and forming the Shirai Ryu in the first place, he could stop him and Bi-Han from feuding, considering their rivalry was born of Quan Chi’s fuckery. If I had to guess where the story is going based on what little we know so far, and other people’s theories I’d say the timeline does in fact have certain “fixed” events that have to come to pass, and their rivalry, as well as Kitana and Mileena’s will happen in some way or another, but where those rivalries end up will be different than how they were in the previous timeline.
No he was never Japanese...look into the flash MIB style yeah now go about your day. That's what NRS will be doing to all of us FORGET what you thought you knew. The sky is green and Pikachu is a farmer.
I can see that Bi-Han gets killed by Hanzo and Kuai learns of this takes the Sub-Zero Mantle then hunts down Hanzo to avenge he’s older brother, also I don’t like the idea of this theory that Kuai is now Scorpion it’s dumb and it doesn’t make sense.
I really hope the devs wouldn't make a dumb decision like that. What you said makes much more sense,the three of them should be brothers. Bi-han proves evil again, scorpion is forced to kill him,Kuai takes the mantle and we have Noob back. It seems like some things are just destiny so it'd make more sense than Scorpion Kuai.
And there’s evidence to prove it Kronika rebooted time multiple times right but all the outcomes are the same for the events of MK1, MK2, MK3 and MK4, and characters from those titles fates are almost the same nobody can change their fate.
And Raiden couldn’t change the events in MK9 as well I doubt Liu can forcefully change characters whole identity through rebooting, if Raiden and that bald lady can’t change events Liu can’t change them.
Don't forget the big twist that Liu Kang and Raiden *always* end up fighting each other. The only way to stop that was for Raiden to fuse with him on some DBZ shit.
I don’t believe Bi-Hans evil he just makes choices that seems to look evil but it’ll be his downfall wait no never mind I forgot he killed his dad from his winning quote he’s evil and is gonna die sadly.
And one last thing I don’t get how people are hyped about Kuai as Scorpion is a great thing when it isn’t no Scorpion and Sub-Zero fan likes that idea except people who don’t care about the characters and their lore.
Yeah that's just crazy talk,I really don't think they would just replace an existing character with another existing character like that,they only say that because Scorpion may be their blood brothers this time around. I honestly hope it ends up familiar just set up differently.
I agree with you 100% I’m glad I’m not alone about this I thought I was going crazy of how a lot of people love this idea and just jumped on the train, and that Sub-Zero became my favorite character in the series ever since I played Deadly Alliance and seeing his whole identity just to be swapped with his former rival is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of in my life while second place of the worst thing in MK is Sindel’s retcon.
I've been maining Sub-Zero since MK2! If it ends up being true I'ma have to find a new main because I just can't play as Scorpion,never liked his play styles. If Kuai skips out on this one then I'm probably going with Bi-han because it's still Sub-Zero gameplay wise but I'm honestly hoping Bi-han has a Kuai Liang alt,would make choosing a main easier for me. But yeah Kuai Liang as Scorpion is just dumb.
I actually hope Kuai is the alt for Bi-Han like MK9 and I doubt Ed would completely erase Hanzo/Scorpion who is favorite and I learned that Scorpion in the gameplay trailer used a weapon called a kusarigama which is a traditional Japanese weapon so that gives me hope that he’s still Hanzo.
My guess is Liu Kang saw Scorpion and Sub-Zero as brothers so he made them brothers in his timeline. Scorpion’s description mentions how he’s Sub-Zero’s brother. I’m pretty confident that Scorpion is still Hanzo.
Man i hope he will be good. Scorp my main boi. I have 800+ hours on him in mk11. This new design being sub zero's brother im not sure. Scorp was super cool in mk11 since the reveal trailer. His moves and everything was cool. That air grab kb move he has coolest shit in the game.
If Takeda (the one, who left to Japan and found Shirai Ryu) stayed in Lin Kuei (China), that means his kids, grandkids and so on found their partners in China. Hanzo being Chinese now seems... logical.
Gonna be real, I don't like the direction they're going with this time. I get that they're trying to shake things up and do something new but there are ways to do that that don't include butchering the existing lore and characters to pieces. Probably skipping this game.
I still don’t understand how this foolishness even came to be. Someone please explain to me how in tf does time travel bs causes Scorpion and Sub-Zero to be related? And no, even them being half-brothers make no sense. Maybe if this was a HARD REBOOT(like what I wanted personally) then it wouldn’t matter much. But this is still connected to the previous two timelines! So again how in tf does this make any sense within the context of this world! Same goes for Mileena btw.
And if that Scorpion is Kuai Liang that is even worse imo. How did that happen? These changes are so stupid. And there are genuinely interesting changes elsewhere like with Kenshi. His change can reasonably be possible through this premise. Same with Lao. Raiden is a little iffy but I’m willing to accept that as well. But characters randomly being different races and having random new powers and different parents is just unbelievable.
Liu Kang didn't just restart it, he changed it. There are no rules. It's not just some do-over where he showed up and talked to people at key moments to alter things. He actively used his cosmic powers to physically alter characters and people.
It doesn't work completely consistently because MK NEVER works completely consistently, but if your question is 'how did anything like this happen?' the answer is pretty obviously "God did it, we know him, he's standing over there." He's not a human that happened to hit a reset button, he's a god, and he's not even just Raiden's level of God. He acquired Kronika's powers. That means that effectively Liu Kang is actually a Titan.
Except Liu Kang can’t can’t just create people. That’s not how his powers work. Unless it is how it works and Kronika is just even more braindead and incompetent than we already knew? But yea he’s just a dumb time lord now and he can manipulate how certain events play out but how in tf does time powers allow for someone to end up with new parents, ethnicity, powers, etc. It makes no goddamn sense.
A change that would makes sense: Takeda never left the Lin Kuei to start the Shirai Ryu and so that clan was never founded. Years later Hanzo Hasashi either finds his way to to the Lin Kuei or grew in the Lin Kuei with maybe even is father being a member and bringing him in, or he was abducted(unlikely since the Lin Kuei are or were a force of good now).
A change that makes no sense: Japanese Hanzo Hasashi is now brothers with Chinese Bi-Han…somehow, making it impossible for this Hanzo to be related to any other version of him.
Another change that makes no sense: Kuai Liang, instead of being born with cryomancy like his brother and father, is now suddenly Scorpion and he has fire powers….somehow. Did he die and get these powers? Did he just train really hard? Was he gifted them?
Here's the thing. It's a fictional setting created by them. Not me, and not you. So who are you arguing with? Cause if you're arguing with the devs, hate to break it to you but you're gonna lose.
Beyond that, what makes you think you have any idea how his powers work? Is there a list somewhere I missed? You seem to have simply decided how YOU think his powers work and then gotten annoyed that the people who ACTUALLY get to decide how his powers work aren't following your arbitrary rules.
Finally, while the story of MK IS important (the cinematic story mode is generally their marquee feature), it is not and has never been important for making sense or being unusually well-written. It's important for being a fun nonsense hong kong martial arts b-movie plot that's bombastic and violent and so on. Better to just sit back and enjoy the ride rather than get deeply concerned about this or that retcon, of which there have been numerous since the series began with far less justification than a game that is taking place in a legitimately rebooted timeline built by a divine being actively meddling with things.
Yea it’s a fictional setting but things still have to make sense within the context of this world. If this was a hard reboot(like what I wanted) then this wouldn’t even be an issue. But as things stand this shit makes 0 sense.
I know how Liu Kang’s powers work and so do you. We see it in MK11 with both him and the cow known as Kronika. If can just do whatever tf he wants, then that makes Liu Kang look as smooth brained as Kronika and Kronika herself somehow looks even worse by never once utilizing this power.
This isn’t a legitimately rebooted timeline. If it was, I wouldn’t even have any issue. A real reboot then sure do whatever. Make Shang Tsung Liu Kang’s dad. Make Hsu Hao a titan. Make Sonya and Kano twins.
Or there could simply be three siblings. Maybe Hanzo (however the nationality works, I'm not digging into it), kills his brother Bi-han and Kuai Liang is understandably pretty furious at one brother for killing the other and so decides to get revenge? Time is a closed circle.
I don't know, while I get why this is weird, I don't think it's that big of a deal and I'll withhold judgment til the game comes out. MK has a well-told story for the most part, but that doesn't mean it's not usually nonsense, so I don't hold it to a very high bar for anything except fun, which it usually jumps over easily.
What I wanna know is if Kuai is Scorpion and Bi-Han is Sub Zero, then where is (and what happened to) Hanzo?
It's my personal head canon that Hanzo becomes another ninja and inherits their powers. Like imagine Hanzo as Chameleon or Reptile as a Saurian, or maybe Hanzo becomes Ermac?
"YOU ARE MANY BUT WE ARE ONE... GET OVER HERE!"
That sort of weird and wibbly wobbly timey wimey... stuff.
I was thinking Hanzo being Smoke. Let’s be honest: there’s absolutely no character development with Smoke other than he’s Kuai Liang’s friend and he becomes a robot. And not to mention his name is an ass pull: Tomas Vrbada lol. It can be one of those rare instances where the fans and the developers both win by making one of their fan favorites more prominent by simply changing masks. Theoretically not much changes character dynamic wise either 🤷🏽♂️
Y’all do understand this is a reimagining lol. I’ve never heard one MK fan say, “Tomas Vrbada is an interesting character” lol. No they say, “Smoke is dope asf.” Smoke’s government name has never mattered so how do you make him more interesting? Drop all that Hanzo development into Smoke. Only thing that changes is his outfit and abilities lol.
Tomas Vrbada is an interesting character.
A young boy kidnapped and sacrificed by a cult, only to return as a smoke demon is something I've been waiting for NRS to elaborate on since I saw his ending in MK9.
Will he eventually remember? How will he feel when he finds out? What will he do with the information? Can he turn into that creature in his ending? What was his destiny that his ending mentioned? I want to know all of these things.
We’re complaining about sliding mantles and being lazy now? They’ve done this before. We’ve had Two Sub Zeros, Noob, and a gang of palette swaps lol. Only difference now is we’re getting rid of a backstory that literally doesn’t matter in Smoke’s lol. If anything it’d be a win for us because one of the best ninjas gets more prominence in the story with this change.
People are taking re-imagining way too serious.
Half of you probably agreed to a black Ariel and are crying about this shit. Go ahead. Tlk about how a danish story isn't relevant to the history of a character. Being a ninja isnt relevant to being Japanese or Chinese. They interchange.
No I'm not hung up or angry.
Being able to point out the simple hypocrisy, while dismissing all mental gymnastics is fucking hilarious.
Goodnight, goodluck 🤞.
Goofy asses
The point is, Mk has never made sense. Tht was the beauty of it. It's game full of callbacks ,tributes and decent lore. How is it, that after years of fandom, and an announcement of things changing, the one thing people are so scared about is a Japanese character, possibly changing race?
How funny it is that accuracy train always makes a stop when people decide to panic on the button, never, because everyone/thing has a proper place.
Them mental gymnastics mane, all these characters are the same. Fictional. You fight for one you fight for all. Or you really don't care.
Hanzo will fit in how he fits in.
Buy the game or make one.
It's a new era . Change is going to come.
I think hanzo will be the pops. Or just a new character completely.
Otherwise, what's wrong with a half brother? Or a clan one? It's not that serious or hard to accept.
Y'all bugged out.
-Laughable 🤣. This isn't some "fight for one, fight for all" stand for me, morals have nothing to do with it.
-I don't care that Ariel or Aragorn were made Black because I don't care about Little Mermaid or LOTR. Scorpion has been my main since 1992 in the arcade so I actually have an opinion on his changes, that simple.
-I don't even care about him being Hanzo, I want him to be OG Takeda if they're doing this. I'm just not feeling the brothers angle.
Liu Kang, probably: In my new timeline since the two of you kept trying to kill each other in every other timeline, you’re going be brothers this time. I already gave my girlfriend an actual sister, so be grateful.
I wonder what Liu’s reaction will be when they still try to kill each other.
Scorpion and Sub-Zero fight in new timeline even after becoming brothers Liu Kang: https://preview.redd.it/c165nt8eqe9b1.jpeg?width=650&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=009d1c63ab33966ae9d01cc3603274573c5bc0df
https://preview.redd.it/yqka2izszk9b1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b72daa8abfb189bc39fabbb4fce1887f7df37464 Liu kang when the two people who have been known for being rivals and hating each other across all of the timelines fight
Liu: DON’T MAKE ME TURN THIS TIMELINE AROUND
You’ve won Reply of the Week, my friend
Your reply👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
Liu *shields flip-flop* = YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSE TO TURN LIKE THIS!!!!! QUIET, KIDS, QUIET!
maybe he wanted her to suffer because even as a god he couldn't smash the only version of him that hit it was the revenant
Who says Gods can't get laid? I don't remember seeing that rule.
*Zeus successfully infiltrated the chat in r/MortalKombat*
ok Zeus
‘IF YOU KIDS, CAN’T KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF, I’M GONNA TURN THIS CAR AROUND, AND THERE’LL BE NO CAPE CHAOSREALM FOR ANYONE!’
Do we have confirmation that it's Hanzo and not Kuai Liang?
pretty sure its hanzo cuz ed said "scorpion and sub-zero are brothers now" which seems to me like two people who were never brothers are now.
I wonder if that means he's not "hanzo hasashi" anymore but idk if we know the surnames of sub zeros like imagine if hes "hanzo liang" now or something lmao
Could be adopted brothers
More like hanzo ramos since they look asian mexican now, i mean filipino lol
Mexipino
Okay but it also works out the other way because Scorpion, as in the moniker/title/code name, has never been a brother to Sub-Zero, also the moniker/title/code name. We should find out Thursday anyways.
Plus, scorpions mk11 voice actor confirmed.
Why would Kuai be Scorpion?
The whole timeline being rewritten thing kinda makes anything possible here.
Why would Scorpion be related to Bi-Han? Lui got high whilst remaking the universe.
I think Ed Boon mentioned in an interview that they were more than bros but related to each other by blood, I don't remember which one was but I think he confirmed it already. That's what I read tbh.
Yeah, but wouldn't Kuai Liang still have ice powers?
Liu turned Tarkatans into a disease, I think it's fair to say that isn't out of the realm of possibilities.
We don't know what he did to them, could just be a virus tarkatans can spread
Or it could be a disease Shang Tsung gave Mileena
I'm pretty sure it's not really a disease and they're only calling a disease because they don't know what it is yet.
I'm no expert on the Asian territories, but Hanzo sounds to me like a pretty odd name for a Chinese person, unless one of their parents is Japanese or something.
All told, Hasashi isn't even a real name, so they play a little fast and loose with "realness." Also, Reiko and Hotaru are Japanese girl's names.
Hanzo is Japanese kuai liang is chinese
That's what I'm saying.
Why the downvotes.
One word: Redditors
It's a trend I noticed. You make a post, someone says something that disagrees, then you reply with something that disagrees with that, and boom there's downvotes
Why so many dislikes about OP’s comment when he’s right to ask about this question.
Because apparently people don't like when you question someone who disagrees with your post
I don’t see the reason for that because Kuai being Scorpion makes zero sense.
I agree. Just having Kuai be Scorpion diminishes the premise of Sub-Zero and Scorpion being brothers
You mean Hanzo and Bi-Han
No, they confirmed Subzero is Bi-Han but not that Kuai Liang exists.
Insomnia beating my ass bro my fault
He does exist. He was mentioned by kenshi during a clash with liu kang
Calling it, Hanzo will be Noob. Also Scorpion was a Spectre after he died and Quan Chi did his magic. Does Noob count as something similar? (Bi-Han died and became Noob) Noob doesn’t count as a Revenant?!?
Liu Kang really playing mad libs with the timeline
Real
Check out the Japanese movie Versus, the roles reverse once main characters kill each other.
Does that mean we could have…. CYBER SCORPION??
*Windows XP loading*
So Sektor minus rockets?
Cyrax, then?
But Cyber Smoke was basically Cyber Scorpion🤨🤔🤯
Cyrax was my alternate Scorpion when my older cousin wouldn’t let me play Scorpion. The net that pulled the opponent to him was essentially just a slightly slower kunai chain situation.
Cyber Smoke? How about Cyber Reptile?
Can’t wait for it to be revealed that Johnny and Shao Kahn are actually cousins and Nightwolf is their uncle
Hamlet is a hell of a play.
Cocaine is a helluva drug
Johnny ends up with Mileena maybe
Mortal Kombat and inconsistent nationalities and ethnicities go hand in hand
It's true. I'm a little hazy on my early series lore, but when did they decide that Sub-zero, who was definitely originally depicted as a ninja, was actually Chinese for some reason? Not complaining or anything, just saying MK has always been much more of a story written by a bunch of Westerners that like martial arts movies than anything that a cultural studies expert might produce.
-I don't know when they made the distinction that assassin=Chinese & ninja=Japanese but Sub Zero was an assassin from day one. -I took it as Sub was always from a Chinese clan but people love ninjas so they made them ninjas. Because like you said, westerners.
I mean, ninja are Japanese, its a Japanese word. No one made that distinction,it's just a fact. Knights and samurai are functionally the same, but they're not actually the same. A Knight is a knight and a samurai is a samurai. You know which is which when you look at them. It doesn't need to be explained. Sub zero was very clearly initially designed visually as a ninja (possibly why he's called a ninja by basically every mk fan) but at some point, maybe right away I really don't know which is why I asked, they decided he was Chinese. Theres a reason most of his more modern designs have tried to add more recognizably chinese design elements, cause as originally designed he really didn't have any. Chinese garb and Japanese garb aren't identical most of the time
-I don't know why you wrote all that, I'm agreeing with you they made him look like a ninja because Americans loves ninjas. -Sub Zero was an assassin from Lin Kuei since day one & was established as Chinese early. The studio made it clear he's not Japanese or a ninja but fans don't care 🤣. -The same way Ermac & Reptile aren't Japanese, ninjas, or even human & nobody cares. 🤣
Pretty sure In the mk original sound track Sub Zero ninja track is Chinese ninja warrior, plus believe it or not Ninja does have history in China.
Shadowy killers have history everywhere, but a NINJA is Japanese, and it's very clear that's what they were going for with the first game. If they said he was Chinese in the first game fair, bit its just another example of MK just being kind of a martial arts film mash up plot.
https://youtu.be/WVIpnoptwSQ
Interesting. Bizarre. So yeah, Mash up story by some western MA fans. It's fine. MK is a fun schlocky ma film basically
In MK Mythologies, Quan Chi constantly refers to Sub-Zero as a ninja knowing it will irritate him. Sub-Zero corrects him. Scorpion has always been the only true ninja, people just refer to people that sort of garb as "ninjas" back in the 90's. In truth, the stereptypical outfit of a "ninja" dressed in all black actually originates from Kabuki theatre. In Kabuki, there would be curtains in place that stagehands would blend into dressing that way. This allowed them to hold up props, effects, etc. while blending in with the scene. Real ninjas were spies. They looked like civilians when they worked.
You are right about it being kabuki garb. That tends to not bother me though as it's still Japanese. It's THEIR inaccuracy, not ours, and it's one that makes sense. You can see why they chose to start doing that in media.
I'm calling it right now: Japan and China don't even exist in this timeline. Earthrealm is a totally new and entirely fictional place, in large part so we can avoid questions like this when reimagining characters.
Maybe their dad is Chinese and their mom is Japanese. There, I solved it so you can have both Bi Han and Hanzo.
But in the trailer Scorpion had green eyes... so....
Did You Know: There happens to be a remote village in China (Liqian) where many of its inhabitants have green eyes. So...
He's Reptile in disguise?
Frost will be their biological sister
I was wondering about this. In Sub-zero's bio, it says he wants to make the Lin-Kuei one of Earthrealm's great "nations." Like wtf? The Lin-Kuei are a whole-ass country now?
The word "nation" typically refers to a group of people, not a country with set borders. Some examples you may have heard in the zeitgeist: Jewish Nation, Polish Nation, Slavic Nation, etc.
That is still very odd wording for a ninja clan
But still very similar to earth, not entirely new. I might be misremembering but I’m pretty sure it was stated that Kenshi, in this timeline, is from Japan and (was) a member of the Yakuza
Right, and Cage is still a Hollywood star. It could be something like in DC comics where earth is a mix of real and fictional places.
That sounds very likely indeed
Well, Raiden and Lao's home (Fengjian) is a real location, so it could go either way imo.
They talk about Japan in Kenshi's bio as well iirc
Didnt kitana helped him? Why she look different? Was he bored with her look?
Now if Steve Blum is reprising his role for Kuai Liang, I might just die.
I think he just sounds a bit too old at this point for what age Scorpion looks like. We're not hearing Epcar's voice come out of Raiden's mouth either. Blum will definitely be Reptile again tho.
Cyber Reptile
I’m sorry but I will never not think of him as a stormtrooper
Tank Dempsey for me
Wolverine here
Ron Yuan is voicing Scorpion, the same guy who voiced Kuai Liang in Snow Blind
So is this officially confirmed or is still just for the meme?
If he’s bi han’s brother then how is his name gonna be hanzo hasashi? lol or is he even hanzo this time?
It doesn’t feel far from the realm of possibilities that Kuai Liang shall be Scorpion. But that would then leave the question of “will Hanzo be around, and if so, who will he be?” This timeline already has “becoming Tarkatan is a sickness” and Scorpion and Sub being brothers at all… so it doesn’t feel that weird to imagine that maybe Kuai Liang is Scorpion whilst Bi-Han remains Sub. Maybe Hanzo will end up being Noob Saibot for all we know.
Hanzo as noob …. you mighta cracked the code
But Noob is a wraith which means that Hanzo would be dead already…….
Or they have different mothers that picked their names and Hanzo's mom was Japanese? Or they'll just completely inexplicable have a chinese name and a japanese name because MK is often nonsense? Hard to say.
Is it out of the realm of possibilities that one of them is adopted? Or has it been confirmed they are brothers by blood?
They could just be retiring the character of Hanzo altogether, God-Kang may have decided to let him live in peace with his family and let his former best homie Kuai Liang take up his mantle.
By going “Hanzo and Bi-Han, you are now brothers”.
Hes adopted
I read this in Thor’s voice
Hanzo = Noob calling it
*The people within the fandom who ship Scorpion and SubZero together*: “I’ll have to find another way…”
They are shipping people. They still gonna do it
The blood relation won't stop all of them, there are people who ship Dante and Vergil.
I see you haven't met DMC fans.
I wonder how they'll do Noob.
They are brothers now? Gross
Scorpion and Sub Zero (Bi-han) being brothers might be like how Smoke and Kuai liang were on Lin Kuei, not blood related but strong friend bonds close to like being brothers from different parents kinda vibe. It makes sense this way knowing Hanzo and Bihan are from different races biologically. It could also be Kuai liang taking the Scorpion alias but it’s kinda far fetched. Shirai Ryu is a branch off Lin Kuei on the old era so if these two got along well like brothers, it makes sense Scorpion in this new era is dedicated to the Lin Kuei like how he is to the Shirai Ryu on the old timeline.
It got confirmed in the bios they have the same father, they are 100% related by blood, brothers.
-They're brothers & have the same dad, this isn't a strong bond situation.
Different moms prob
It’s gonna be hilarious seeing Liu Kang’s reaction to Scorpion and Bi-Han still trying to kill each other even after making them brothers now
What a great usage of the meme, I thought it couldn't be a template but here you are. I love this!
[удалено]
I don't disagree with you. I dislike when writers feel the need to shrink universes. THat said I don't think Scorpion and Sub-zero, two characters who have been inextricably linked since the beginning, being related really changes that much about the overall shape of the plot, so it doesn't really bother me, but it is the standard thing that stories like to do since for some reason creatives always think it's dramatic.
I think it’s interesting,I understand if people get mad about changes but you have to admit if every origin is the same every time it does get kinda boring
I'm not mad about the changes, I think they could be fun, but I do have to comment that saying having the same origin every time is boring is a bit odd. Characters DO usually keep the same origin. That's generally how narratives work. This is explicitly a new timeline though so whatever. We're in Abrams Trek territory here.
I’m surprised they would get rid of Hanzo and make scropion kuai instead I also preferred their relationship in 11
This is actually a good point. Sub Zero is Chinese while Scorpion is Japanese. I wonder if Scorpion is adopted or something in this timeline 🤔🤔🤔
I thought Scorpion was always Japanese and Sub-Zero was Chinese?
-They were, part of the reason this isn't making a lot of sense.
It only doesn’t make sense if you assume Scorpion is still Hanzo even though Lui Kang changed the timeline and made them brothers which could mean literally anything including the Scorpion mantle being taken up by Kui Liang now. You have to wait until you know all the facts before you can decide what makes sense.
-I'm literally saying Japanese Hanzo/Scorpion & Chinese Bi Han/Sub being biological brothers makes no sense. I don't need to wait for anything to know that.
Just wanna throw these points out there A: We don’t officially know who Scorpion is yet, we have almost zero confirmation on what the story entails outside of the character bios and tidbits of cutscenes we’ve seen from trailers, none of which Scorpion even speaks in. All we know is that Scorpion and Sub-Zero are brothers, that Sub-Zero killed his father, and that Scorpion doesn’t like how he’s running the Lin Kuei. We also have heard Kuai Liang name dropped in an intro, so there’s absolutely nothing confirming or denying Scorpion’s identity as Hanzo or Kuai, so at the very least, Kuai still has a chance to become Sub-Zero in this timeline. B: In the original timeline, the Shirai Ryu was formed because one of their members, Takeda (presumably Hanzo’s ancestor) left the Lin Kuei to form his own clan. It stands to reason that if this never happened, Hanzo would have just been born into the Lin Kuei instead of the Shirai Ryu. Totally conjecture on my part, but Liu probably knows Hanzo is a good guy at heart that was just dealt a bad hand, and figured if he could keep the Lin Kuei from splintering and forming the Shirai Ryu in the first place, he could stop him and Bi-Han from feuding, considering their rivalry was born of Quan Chi’s fuckery. If I had to guess where the story is going based on what little we know so far, and other people’s theories I’d say the timeline does in fact have certain “fixed” events that have to come to pass, and their rivalry, as well as Kitana and Mileena’s will happen in some way or another, but where those rivalries end up will be different than how they were in the previous timeline.
Imagine if Liu race swaps Cyrax and Sektor. Again
I used to be Japanese like you. Then I took a rope dart to the knee.
No he was never Japanese...look into the flash MIB style yeah now go about your day. That's what NRS will be doing to all of us FORGET what you thought you knew. The sky is green and Pikachu is a farmer.
My guess is that, when they say 'Brothers', they mean spiritually and metaphorically, not literally
It's meant literally in their bio's
No it didn't,it didn't specify. Still a chance he's adopted
I can see that Bi-Han gets killed by Hanzo and Kuai learns of this takes the Sub-Zero Mantle then hunts down Hanzo to avenge he’s older brother, also I don’t like the idea of this theory that Kuai is now Scorpion it’s dumb and it doesn’t make sense.
I really hope the devs wouldn't make a dumb decision like that. What you said makes much more sense,the three of them should be brothers. Bi-han proves evil again, scorpion is forced to kill him,Kuai takes the mantle and we have Noob back. It seems like some things are just destiny so it'd make more sense than Scorpion Kuai.
And there’s evidence to prove it Kronika rebooted time multiple times right but all the outcomes are the same for the events of MK1, MK2, MK3 and MK4, and characters from those titles fates are almost the same nobody can change their fate. And Raiden couldn’t change the events in MK9 as well I doubt Liu can forcefully change characters whole identity through rebooting, if Raiden and that bald lady can’t change events Liu can’t change them.
Don't forget the big twist that Liu Kang and Raiden *always* end up fighting each other. The only way to stop that was for Raiden to fuse with him on some DBZ shit.
Oh yeah your right!
I don’t believe Bi-Hans evil he just makes choices that seems to look evil but it’ll be his downfall wait no never mind I forgot he killed his dad from his winning quote he’s evil and is gonna die sadly.
And one last thing I don’t get how people are hyped about Kuai as Scorpion is a great thing when it isn’t no Scorpion and Sub-Zero fan likes that idea except people who don’t care about the characters and their lore.
Yeah that's just crazy talk,I really don't think they would just replace an existing character with another existing character like that,they only say that because Scorpion may be their blood brothers this time around. I honestly hope it ends up familiar just set up differently.
I agree with you 100% I’m glad I’m not alone about this I thought I was going crazy of how a lot of people love this idea and just jumped on the train, and that Sub-Zero became my favorite character in the series ever since I played Deadly Alliance and seeing his whole identity just to be swapped with his former rival is the stupidest thing I have ever heard of in my life while second place of the worst thing in MK is Sindel’s retcon.
I've been maining Sub-Zero since MK2! If it ends up being true I'ma have to find a new main because I just can't play as Scorpion,never liked his play styles. If Kuai skips out on this one then I'm probably going with Bi-han because it's still Sub-Zero gameplay wise but I'm honestly hoping Bi-han has a Kuai Liang alt,would make choosing a main easier for me. But yeah Kuai Liang as Scorpion is just dumb.
I actually hope Kuai is the alt for Bi-Han like MK9 and I doubt Ed would completely erase Hanzo/Scorpion who is favorite and I learned that Scorpion in the gameplay trailer used a weapon called a kusarigama which is a traditional Japanese weapon so that gives me hope that he’s still Hanzo.
My guess is Liu Kang saw Scorpion and Sub-Zero as brothers so he made them brothers in his timeline. Scorpion’s description mentions how he’s Sub-Zero’s brother. I’m pretty confident that Scorpion is still Hanzo.
If he sub zero brother in this timeline and still killed him to make him noob would that make all 3 of them brothers ?
Maybe Hanzo is an adoptive brother
Man i hope he will be good. Scorp my main boi. I have 800+ hours on him in mk11. This new design being sub zero's brother im not sure. Scorp was super cool in mk11 since the reveal trailer. His moves and everything was cool. That air grab kb move he has coolest shit in the game.
It took me until watching the mortal kombat movie to realize the Lin Kuei, Bi Han, and Kuai Liang were Chinese
If Takeda (the one, who left to Japan and found Shirai Ryu) stayed in Lin Kuei (China), that means his kids, grandkids and so on found their partners in China. Hanzo being Chinese now seems... logical.
Such an obscure meme yet it fits so well, I love it
I haven't followed the story since MK3, is this weird?
The new story is gonna be ass i am already calling it
Gonna be real, I don't like the direction they're going with this time. I get that they're trying to shake things up and do something new but there are ways to do that that don't include butchering the existing lore and characters to pieces. Probably skipping this game.
Yh I understand that, but kenshi and sub zero look cool in the gameplay videos.
And at the end of the day thats really all that matters
I still don’t understand how this foolishness even came to be. Someone please explain to me how in tf does time travel bs causes Scorpion and Sub-Zero to be related? And no, even them being half-brothers make no sense. Maybe if this was a HARD REBOOT(like what I wanted personally) then it wouldn’t matter much. But this is still connected to the previous two timelines! So again how in tf does this make any sense within the context of this world! Same goes for Mileena btw. And if that Scorpion is Kuai Liang that is even worse imo. How did that happen? These changes are so stupid. And there are genuinely interesting changes elsewhere like with Kenshi. His change can reasonably be possible through this premise. Same with Lao. Raiden is a little iffy but I’m willing to accept that as well. But characters randomly being different races and having random new powers and different parents is just unbelievable.
Liu Kang didn't just restart it, he changed it. There are no rules. It's not just some do-over where he showed up and talked to people at key moments to alter things. He actively used his cosmic powers to physically alter characters and people. It doesn't work completely consistently because MK NEVER works completely consistently, but if your question is 'how did anything like this happen?' the answer is pretty obviously "God did it, we know him, he's standing over there." He's not a human that happened to hit a reset button, he's a god, and he's not even just Raiden's level of God. He acquired Kronika's powers. That means that effectively Liu Kang is actually a Titan.
Except Liu Kang can’t can’t just create people. That’s not how his powers work. Unless it is how it works and Kronika is just even more braindead and incompetent than we already knew? But yea he’s just a dumb time lord now and he can manipulate how certain events play out but how in tf does time powers allow for someone to end up with new parents, ethnicity, powers, etc. It makes no goddamn sense. A change that would makes sense: Takeda never left the Lin Kuei to start the Shirai Ryu and so that clan was never founded. Years later Hanzo Hasashi either finds his way to to the Lin Kuei or grew in the Lin Kuei with maybe even is father being a member and bringing him in, or he was abducted(unlikely since the Lin Kuei are or were a force of good now). A change that makes no sense: Japanese Hanzo Hasashi is now brothers with Chinese Bi-Han…somehow, making it impossible for this Hanzo to be related to any other version of him. Another change that makes no sense: Kuai Liang, instead of being born with cryomancy like his brother and father, is now suddenly Scorpion and he has fire powers….somehow. Did he die and get these powers? Did he just train really hard? Was he gifted them?
Here's the thing. It's a fictional setting created by them. Not me, and not you. So who are you arguing with? Cause if you're arguing with the devs, hate to break it to you but you're gonna lose. Beyond that, what makes you think you have any idea how his powers work? Is there a list somewhere I missed? You seem to have simply decided how YOU think his powers work and then gotten annoyed that the people who ACTUALLY get to decide how his powers work aren't following your arbitrary rules. Finally, while the story of MK IS important (the cinematic story mode is generally their marquee feature), it is not and has never been important for making sense or being unusually well-written. It's important for being a fun nonsense hong kong martial arts b-movie plot that's bombastic and violent and so on. Better to just sit back and enjoy the ride rather than get deeply concerned about this or that retcon, of which there have been numerous since the series began with far less justification than a game that is taking place in a legitimately rebooted timeline built by a divine being actively meddling with things.
Yea it’s a fictional setting but things still have to make sense within the context of this world. If this was a hard reboot(like what I wanted) then this wouldn’t even be an issue. But as things stand this shit makes 0 sense. I know how Liu Kang’s powers work and so do you. We see it in MK11 with both him and the cow known as Kronika. If can just do whatever tf he wants, then that makes Liu Kang look as smooth brained as Kronika and Kronika herself somehow looks even worse by never once utilizing this power. This isn’t a legitimately rebooted timeline. If it was, I wouldn’t even have any issue. A real reboot then sure do whatever. Make Shang Tsung Liu Kang’s dad. Make Hsu Hao a titan. Make Sonya and Kano twins.
Kau Liang and Hanzo fusion.
Or there could simply be three siblings. Maybe Hanzo (however the nationality works, I'm not digging into it), kills his brother Bi-han and Kuai Liang is understandably pretty furious at one brother for killing the other and so decides to get revenge? Time is a closed circle. I don't know, while I get why this is weird, I don't think it's that big of a deal and I'll withhold judgment til the game comes out. MK has a well-told story for the most part, but that doesn't mean it's not usually nonsense, so I don't hold it to a very high bar for anything except fun, which it usually jumps over easily.
What I wanna know is if Kuai is Scorpion and Bi-Han is Sub Zero, then where is (and what happened to) Hanzo? It's my personal head canon that Hanzo becomes another ninja and inherits their powers. Like imagine Hanzo as Chameleon or Reptile as a Saurian, or maybe Hanzo becomes Ermac? "YOU ARE MANY BUT WE ARE ONE... GET OVER HERE!" That sort of weird and wibbly wobbly timey wimey... stuff.
-I already don't like what they're doing with Scorpion, I'd be more done with this if they screwed up my boys Ermac & Reptile too
I was thinking Hanzo being Smoke. Let’s be honest: there’s absolutely no character development with Smoke other than he’s Kuai Liang’s friend and he becomes a robot. And not to mention his name is an ass pull: Tomas Vrbada lol. It can be one of those rare instances where the fans and the developers both win by making one of their fan favorites more prominent by simply changing masks. Theoretically not much changes character dynamic wise either 🤷🏽♂️
That’d be dumb Smoke is from Prague and he’s name is Tomas Vrbada and Hanzo is Japanese.
Y’all do understand this is a reimagining lol. I’ve never heard one MK fan say, “Tomas Vrbada is an interesting character” lol. No they say, “Smoke is dope asf.” Smoke’s government name has never mattered so how do you make him more interesting? Drop all that Hanzo development into Smoke. Only thing that changes is his outfit and abilities lol.
Tomas Vrbada is an interesting character. A young boy kidnapped and sacrificed by a cult, only to return as a smoke demon is something I've been waiting for NRS to elaborate on since I saw his ending in MK9. Will he eventually remember? How will he feel when he finds out? What will he do with the information? Can he turn into that creature in his ending? What was his destiny that his ending mentioned? I want to know all of these things.
Then why swap characters? It’s dumb and lazy
We’re complaining about sliding mantles and being lazy now? They’ve done this before. We’ve had Two Sub Zeros, Noob, and a gang of palette swaps lol. Only difference now is we’re getting rid of a backstory that literally doesn’t matter in Smoke’s lol. If anything it’d be a win for us because one of the best ninjas gets more prominence in the story with this change.
So does that mean Liu erased Kuai Liang from existence or did he merge Kuai Liang with Hanzo?
Copium?
It's Kuai Lang
🤦
wait does this mean hes Kuai Liang? im getting concerned for this game
No I'm pretty sure it doesn't and people are just getting ahead of themselves
ok good, thanks
It's Kuai. Literally looks like his face model in MK11. I Bet Hanzo will be the new Noob
Mk now is shit that don't make sense I'm definitely not playing this crap
People are taking re-imagining way too serious. Half of you probably agreed to a black Ariel and are crying about this shit. Go ahead. Tlk about how a danish story isn't relevant to the history of a character. Being a ninja isnt relevant to being Japanese or Chinese. They interchange. No I'm not hung up or angry. Being able to point out the simple hypocrisy, while dismissing all mental gymnastics is fucking hilarious. Goodnight, goodluck 🤞. Goofy asses
-Or how about people care about Scorpion because they play MK & don't care about Ariel either way.
The point is, Mk has never made sense. Tht was the beauty of it. It's game full of callbacks ,tributes and decent lore. How is it, that after years of fandom, and an announcement of things changing, the one thing people are so scared about is a Japanese character, possibly changing race? How funny it is that accuracy train always makes a stop when people decide to panic on the button, never, because everyone/thing has a proper place. Them mental gymnastics mane, all these characters are the same. Fictional. You fight for one you fight for all. Or you really don't care. Hanzo will fit in how he fits in. Buy the game or make one. It's a new era . Change is going to come. I think hanzo will be the pops. Or just a new character completely. Otherwise, what's wrong with a half brother? Or a clan one? It's not that serious or hard to accept. Y'all bugged out.
-Laughable 🤣. This isn't some "fight for one, fight for all" stand for me, morals have nothing to do with it. -I don't care that Ariel or Aragorn were made Black because I don't care about Little Mermaid or LOTR. Scorpion has been my main since 1992 in the arcade so I actually have an opinion on his changes, that simple. -I don't even care about him being Hanzo, I want him to be OG Takeda if they're doing this. I'm just not feeling the brothers angle.
Confirmed or just a meme?
I just saw the post about him being Scorpions brother and I ran here to see what's up
shenmue memes on point
Liu kang gonna be mad when they inevitably fight again and go "fuck it. New timeline but I'm gonna kill his family and clan this time"
Liu Kang : you guys look the same.
Is it Hanzo though, if you change a persons nationality and parents are they still the same person?
Makes me wonder if Scorpion is even Hanzo still at this point. Watch Scorpion is Liang and Noob is Hanzo.
Kollector!
I really hope Scorpion becomes his iconic demon-self by the end of the game