The Ultimate Roster! Unveiling Mortal Kombat 1's Epic Kombat Pack Guest Characters

Highlights

Mortal Kombat 1's release marked a successful return to experimental gameplay and strong single-player offerings.

The initial Kombat Pack for Mortal Kombat 1 comprises three guest characters, with two being morally intricate figures from superhero-related entertainment, aligning with the game's overarching theme of intense violence. Considering the theme surrounding guest characters, it appears improbable that future Kombat Packs will feature traditional superheroes, as their morally upright nature would create tonal discrepancies.

Mortal Kombat 1 received widespread critical acclaim upon its release in September. In recent years, there has been a resurgence in fighting games, with Street Fighter 6 and MK 1 exemplifying the positive direction the genre is taking. Both games deviated from the simplified approach of their predecessors to embrace more experimental and open-ended gameplay. Additionally, Mortal Kombat 1 offered strong single-player content and incorporated modern roll-back netcode, ensuring smooth and enjoyable online play.

Even before the release of Mortal Kombat 1, NetherRealm Studios had already announced the game's first Kombat Pack. This pack is set to include six primary Kombatants and five Kameo Fighters. Among the returning characters are Ermac, Quan Chi, and Takeda, while the DLC expansion will introduce three new guest characters to the franchise: Homelander, Omni-man, and Peacemaker. This selection aligns with previous Mortal Kombat games, which often featured various villainous guest characters. Notably, this pack appears to have a theme centered around superhero media, with one unique twist.

Supervillains Are Coming To Mortal Kombat 1

Mortal Kombat is no stranger to incorporating comic book villains into its games. One notable example is Mortal Kombat 11, which included characters like The Joker, an infamous nemesis of Batman, and Spawn, an anti-hero. Additionally, the game series has also featured iconic horror movie villains such as Jason Voorhees. However, what sets Mortal Kombat 1's first Kombat Pack apart is the inclusion of two guest characters who possess a higher degree of moral complexity compared to their third guest character counterpart.

Although characters like Omni-Man and Peacemaker demonstrate some level of empathy, it would be a stretch to consider them entirely virtuous. While some players might hope that a potential second Kombat Pack would pit these characters against morally upright heroes, such a scenario appears highly unlikely.

Villains are a natural fit for Mortal Kombat. The series' inclination toward extreme violence means that even the most morally upright characters in the series engage in gruesome acts of brutality. While heroes have made appearances as guest Kombatants, they are typically characters like Robocop, whose source material portrays him as stripped of his humanity and critical of the dystopian world that created him. Other heroes featured in the series include Kratos and John Rambo, tragic anti-heroes who grapple with their past actions and traumas in their respective stories. As a result, Mortal Kombat has never introduced a guest character who unequivocally embodies the essence of a hero.

Mortal Kombat's Themes Makes The Inclusion of Heroes Unlikely

It seems unlikely that do-gooder superheroes will be included in Kombat Pack 2. While it's expected for Homelander to kill someone in a grotesque manner, it's hard to imagine traditional superheroes performing Mortal Kombat's fatalities. Leaks have indicated that Harley Quinn and Deathstroke might be included in the second Kombat Pack, suggesting the possibility of MK1 featuring more comic book characters. However, NetherRealm is well aware of the tonal inconsistencies that morally upright characters would introduce to the series. Rumors also suggest that the demon-killing Doomslayer from Id Software could be included in this second pack.

Mortal Kombat 1 shouldn't expect any superheroes in Kombat Pack 1. This is actually a good thing because choosing morally corrupt characters allows NetherRealm to embrace the extreme violence that has always been part of the series' aesthetic. Evil and twisted characters give the developers more freedom to create unpredictable, brutal fatalities and brutalities.

In addition to introducing new fighters, previous MK games have offered story DLC. Mortal Kombat 1's story had a weak ending, so adding some extra narrative content would be a great option for the game, especially for those who aren't interested in the new single-player Invasion Mode.

Mortal Kombat 1 is available now on PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.