San Diego Comic-Con's Mortal Kombat 1 panel revealed a host of new details on the upcoming game, including character announcements, new trailers and more. The 31-year-old franchise's soft reboot was announced in May 2023 and revealed which of Mortal Kombat 11's endings would be canon for the series going forward.Mortal Kombat 1 will continue from the "good" ending for Mortal Kombat 11's Aftermath DLC. In this ending, Fire God Liu Kang recreated the universe after securing the power to alter the timeline and bring peace to the six realms, but Shang Tsung found a way to bypass this and seeks vengeance on all who opposed him. This gives the series a fresh start that makes it more accessible for newcomers while simultaneously building upon the established lore for long-standing fans of the series. Here are 14 things revealed from SDCC on what fans can expect from the new game.Related: Why Mortal Kombat 1 Is A Complete Reboot Instead Of Being MK12
14 Mortal Kombat 1's SDCC Trailer Focused On The Umgadi Warriors
One of Mortal Kombat 1's multiple San Diego Comic-Con trailers showcased new gameplay and revealed more about the rebooted Mortal Kombat realms and their inhabitants. In particular, it shone a spotlight on the new story of the Umgadi warriors, who seem to be inhabiting the new version of Edenia, and Mileena who seems to be the princess of this realm.
These Umgadi warrior priestesses were trained from infancy to protect the Outworld royal family at any cost. Sometime prior to the events of Mortal Kombat 1, Li Mei led the Umgadi warriors but failed to protect the princess' father, leading to some friction with her former allies upon her return as she tries to warn them about some impending danger. It would appear that Tanya and Li Mei will now be at odds in this continuity.
13 MK1 Will Have An "Expansive" Single-Player Experience
It was confirmed that Mortal Kombat 1 will have an "expansive single-player experience" for "those who get sick of getting their butt kicked online!" as reported by CabooseEK, who attended the panel. Such an experience seemed fairly evident from the new SDCC "Umgadi" trailer, and makes sense with the reboot having a lot of ground to cover while introducing these new alternate versions of some of the franchise's most iconic characters and environments - and how their stories have changed in this new universe.
12 Mileena And Baraka's New MK1 Designs Explained By Disease
Following on from their appearance in the new story trailer, Mileena and Baraka's new Mortal Kombat 1 designs were explained as part of the panel. These new looks are attributed to a Tarkat disease that is transforming the once-human characters into new, more monstrous creatures with what Ed Boon describes as a “Hulking out” transformation. It was then explained that Baraka no longer looks human due to being inflicted longer than Mileena whereas she still can retain a human form but is quickly changing as the disease progresses.
11 Mortal Kombat 1's SDCC Panel Revealed 9 New Characters
It is rumored that half of Mortal Kombat 1's playable character roster has yet to be revealed, but the San Diego Comic-Con panel showed a further nine characters for players to take control of when the game drops. It was revealed at SDCC that the base roster will include Tanya, as well as the aforementioned Baraka and Li Mei, with this being the latter's first appearance as a playable character since 2006’s Mortal Kombat Armageddon.
10 Mortal Kombat's First DLC Confirmed Homelander, Omni-Man, And More
The remaining six new characters shown will be included in Mortal Kombat 1's first "Kombat Pack" DLC, which is available now for pre-order as part of Mortal Kombat 1's Premium and Kollector’s editions. This DLC will see the return of Mortal Kombat characters Quan-Chi, Ermac, and Takeda Takahashi alongside The Boys' Homelander, Invincible's Omni-Man, and DC's Peacemaker. Omni-Man will be played by JK Simmons.
The superpowered Homelander and Omni-Man had been rumored to appear in Mortal Kombat 1 for some time, with a variety of leaks prior to this SDCC announcement, and should be a perfect fit for the brutal combat the franchise is known for. A press release went on to announce a Johnny Cage character skin featuring voice & likeness of famed actor and martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme would be included in the Kombat Pack as well.
9 Some MK Characters Will Not Be Returning For Its Main Story
Despite the growing size of this roster, it was revealed that some Mortal Kombat characters will not be returning throughout the game's main story. It was confirmed that the Kombat Kids - Cassie, Kung Jin, Jacqui, and Takeda - won't be appearing in Mortal Kombat 1 due to not being born yet in the new continuity.
It's also worth noting that Li Mei's new actress, Kelly Ann Hu - who the panel revealed would be taking over the role from Tara Strong - previously played D'vorah in Mortal Kombat 10 and 11, which could potentially rule out D'vorah's return or indicate a recasting unless the actress is doubling up her roles much like she did in MK 10 where she also played Sindel and Frost.
8 The Kombat Kids May Still Return In Future MK Content
Despite Boon's confirmation that the Kombat Kids won't be in Mortal Kombat 1's main story - which sets it around the time of Mortal Kombat 9 in Liu Kang's new timeline - Takeda was revealed as part of the game's first Kombat Pack DLC. This led to a tease that while not being part of the game's main campaign, the team's appearance isn't completely ruled out for a future game or DLC.
7 Goro Is Confirmed As One Of MK1's Kameo Fighters
Mortal Kombat 1 will feature a "Kameo" fighter mechanic in which players can choose secondary fighters to assist them during their fights. These fighters won't be playable throughout the fights - which are still predominantly 1v1 battles - but their actions can be triggered at certain points, enabling them to enter the arena, execute their move, and exit.
The SDCC panel revealed Khameleon and Darrius would be joining the Kameo roster alongside Goro, confirming the latter's return after his canonical death in Mortal Kombat 9, and a press release that followed confirmed Ferra, Johnny Cage, Mavado & Tremor's inclusion as Kameo fighters as well.
6 Smoke Will Side With Scorpion In MK1
The SDCC panel included a new story clip, which has yet to be released to the public, but was reported on in another tweet from CabooseEK. The lack of a public release is likely due to the fact that this clip seemed to mainly expand upon what was shown in the previously released Lin Kuei trailer.
The extended footage teased more about how Sub-Zero and Scorpion’s ideologies will differ, despite the two shown teaming up alongside Smoke in the new continuity as "brothers". Throughout Mortal Kombat 1's story, Sub-Zero suggests that rather than defending the Earthrealm, they should be leading it, hinting at another villainous turn down the line, but Scorpion disagrees, stating that they "can't abandon tradition" and the new footage reveals that Smoke would be siding with the latter on the matter.
5 MK1's Story Clip Teased A Mysterious Flying Character
According to Caboose, the new story clip ended with a character attacking Smoke, however, their identity wasn't revealed. The character appeared to be flying into the area, but the lack of a full reveal makes it unclear whether this is a pre-existing Mortal Kombat character like the winged Nitara or D'Vorah - and if so, why their new design is being kept secret - or a new one created specifically for MK1.
4 Motaro And Reiko Are Confirmed To Be In MK1
Motaro and Reiko will be returning in Mortal Kombat 1, and were revealed in the story footage interrupting a discussion between Li Mei and Liu Kang. The clip ended right before Li Mei and Reiko entered a fight, but Reiko's armor clearly displayed Onaga's head, indicating that he will also play a role in the game's story.
Motaro also seems to only have two legs, much like he did in Mortal Kombat Armageddon, rather than his four-legged model, which implies that the Shokan curse that turned the Centaur race into bipedal Minotaurs is in effect in the new continuity. It is unclear whether either or both characters will be playable or Kameos throughout the game.
While Shao Kahn did not appear directly, the story footage mentioned him by name as he has assumed the role of general in Outworld's army. It had previously been rumored that Shao would be behind the revival of Onaga's army in Mortal Kombat 1 when a now-amended official bio for Rain previously revealed General Shao and Empress Sindel's roles in the game's story, with the latter appointing Rain as Outworld's High Mage.
2 The Living Forest Will Return In MK1
Mortal Kombat 1 will see many arenas from the franchise returning, and the SDCC panel confirmed the haunted Living Forest would be one of them. As its name would suggest, this arena - which first appeared in Mortal Kombat 2 - included sentient trees that groaned and roared with hunger in the background.
It was rumored at the time that players could perform a Stage Fatality where one of the trees would eat the losing character. While this was disproven, it was included as a feature in the action-adventure Mortal Kombat title, Shaolin Monks as a way to progress through that game's level. Hopefully, with the arena's return in Mortal Kombat 1, the original Stage Fatality rumor could become a reality.
1 Mortal Kombat 1 Might Have Different "Alities"
In addition to the gruesome "Fatalities" the franchise has become known for - a few of which were rejected by Boon due to going too far in the upcoming game - the Mortal Kombat series has had a variety of different, often more bizarre or comedic Finishers, affectionately deemed "alities". These included "Animalities", which allowed the winner to turn into an animal, and "Friendships", which was a joke response to the controversy surrounding the series' violence and saw characters performing acts of kindness on each other instead.
CabooseEK reported that a fan asked Ed Boon about "Babalities" - which transformed opponents into infant versions of the characters - and Boon teased that he'd like to revisit different types of "alities" that they haven't included in a while in Mortal Kombat 1's rebooted universe.
SDCC 2023 provided a treasure trove of new information about the upcoming game, and thankfully, fans don't have long to wait until they can experience it for themselves. Mortal Kombat 1 will release on September 14, 2023, on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5.
Source: Mortal Kombat/Twitter (1, 2, 3), CabooseEK/Twitter (1, 2, 3)
