Mortal Kombat: How Kung Lao Snuck Into the Original Tournament - CBR - Comic Book Resources

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Fans of the original Mortal Kombat who haven't checked out some of the recent games may be somewhat confused by some of the characters set to appear in the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie. The original Mortal Kombat timeline was rebooted with Mortal Kombat 9, with even more retcons coming with the later games in the series. One notable change is who was exactly present during the original Mortal Kombat tournament, with certain characters introduced later in the series being retconned onto Shang Tsung's island.

One such character is Kung Lao, friend and rival of Liu Kang, who was officially introduced in Mortal Kombat II, which took place after Liu Kang's original tournament victory. When the Mortal Kombat timeline was rebooted with Mortal Kombat 9, Netherrealm Studios needed to find ways to include many of the characters introduced later into the original timeline into the first game's events. The result was a slightly rewritten series of events to bring Kung Lao to Mortal Kombat.

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When the Shaolin chose one of their own to represent them in the tournament, they had Liu Kang and Kung Lao battle each other in a qualifying tournament. Liu Kang won this fight and moved on to represent the Shaolin Monks, but Kung Lao was not satisfied with the result. Having always considered himself Liu Kang's equal, Kung Lao disguised himself as one of Shang Tsung's guards in order to sneak onto the sorcerer's island and enter himself in the tournament.

His disguise would eventually be exposed by Raiden, who would approach Kung Lao, demand that he reveal his true identity and leave the island. Raiden would further antagonize Kung Lao by expressly telling him that he was not Liu Kang's equal. Kung Lao would reveal himself and challenge Scorpion for his tournament spot. Scorpion defeated Kung Lao and forced him out of the tournament for good, leaving the Shaolin Monk to begrudgingly cheer on Liu Kang.

However, Kung Lao would not be put on the sidelines for long. Much later into the events of Mortal Kombat 9, Kung Lao would finally get the opportunity to prove himself when he defeats Shang Tsung, Quan Chi and Kintaro in quick succession. After finally proving himself as Liu Kang's equal despite the odds against him, Kung Lao would unceremoniously be killed by Shao Kahn, with a quick and brutal neck snap.

Assuming that the Mortal Kombat movie follows the story and lore set by MK9, fans could expect Kung Lao to have pulled a similar stunt in order in this retelling of the original Mortal Kombat tournament. It appears as though the new Mortal Kombat movie will stick to the plot of the rebooted timeline, at least somewhat, though Mortal Kombat 9 did end up setting up a lot of the time travel plot-points that would set up both Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11's plots. Given that this new film would probably need to stand on its own, there could be significant changes to Kung Lao's fate.

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Jacob Creswell (209 Articles Published)

A writer for CBR since September 2020, Jacob Creswell is a life long writer and gamer. Has written for both local and global publications. Lover of Animal Crossing, Undertale, Team Fortress 2, and a little professional wrestling on the side. Often can be found doing way more research than needed for his video game theories. Can also be found on his Twitter, @Creeology98