Mortal Kombat II debuted last weekend to a tepid reception from critics and audiences. However, the venerable video game franchise has been through numerous ups and downs throughout its long history, so it’s never wise to count it out, even when it seems close to defeat. Indeed, while Mortal Kombat II‘s box office is not what the powers that be expected, the chances of seeing a third movie are far from impossible, especially because the film will surely do good business once it hits streaming.
If a third movie does indeed happen, then there is much to be excited about, especially considering several major characters from the series are still missing from these live-action adaptations. From fan-favorite villains to divisive figures that might be avoided for a good reason, the live-action movies are still missing a few major Mortal Kombat characters. Whether we’ll eventually see them in this blossoming franchise or not remains to be seen, but loyal fans would undoubtedly love to see these fighters on the big screen performing Fatalities in all their bloody glory.
Cyrax & Sektor
Image via Warner Bros. Games
Introduced to the franchise in 1995 as part of the arcade game Mortal Kombat 3, the cybernetic assassins Cyrax and Sektor have become two of the most iconic figures in the long-running franchise. Originally, these two were members of the Lin Kuei clan before being recruited by the Cyber Initiative, becoming emotionless and precise killing machines whose sole purpose is to hunt down and kill Sub-Zero. Although Cyrax has been portrayed more like a tragic antihero, Sektor is usually depicted as an utterly unhinged antagonist to Kuai Liang and Hanzo Hasashi.
Cyrax and Sektor represent two sides of the same coin, and their dynamic would be incredible to explore in live-action, especially if they’re introduced as a duo. Although they have been gender-swapped in the current continuity of the games, these two complicated figures could just as easily appear in their original form should they appear in a potential Mortal Kombat III. Their story is perfect to explore issues of humanity and redemption, adding some welcome dramatic gravitas to the franchise’s bloody mayhem. Indeed, if done right, Cyrax and Sektor have the potential to become two of the best and most complex cyborgs in movies.
D’Vorah
D’Vorah in Mortal Kombat 11Image via Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
I can already imagine a lot of you rolling your eyes at the inclusion of this controversial bug lady, and you might have a point. With so many cool characters to choose from, why go with one who is so polarizing among fans? However, love her or hate her — and I do really believe she has as many fans as she has hardcore haters — D’Vorah has very quickly become a major part of the Mortal Kombat lore. Introduced in Mortal Kombat X, this duplicitous Kytinn has committed enough betrayals to make Benedict Arnold proud.
D’Vorah is equally admired and despised for the same reasons: she’s killed many, many fan-favorites in the saga, from Mileena to Baraka and, perhaps most infamously, Hanzo Hasashi, the franchise’s de facto protagonist. However, no one can deny she is quite an original creation, with a striking design, unique powers, and some of the most disgusting Fatalities in Mortal Kombat history. Seeing her in live-action would be a chance for the movies to showcase their love for bloodshed, and it would also give fans a villain they would 100% love to hate.
Kenshi Takanashi
Image via Warner Bros. Games
If we’re talking about popular video game characters, we simply cannot leave Kenshi Takanashi out of the conversation. Debuting in 2002’s Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Kenshi is a blind swordsman and Special Forces operative with telekinetic abilities. He has a long-standing feud with Shang Tsung (join the line, amirite?), and his backstory has undergone quite a few changes, going from a born fighter to his current state as a former Yakuza and descendant of the Taira clan looking to recover its ancestral sword.
Overall, Kenshi is widely regarded as one of Mortal Kombat‘s best and most emblematic characters, with fans praising his gameplay and tragic backstory. Should he make his way into live action, his original journey would be the way to go, as it would also give him a valid reason to go after Shang Tsung. Sure, his status as a blind warrior with heightened senses that make him near-infallible is far from original, but overall, Kenshi is a valuable figure in the Mortal Kombat lore, and one of the additions who genuinely feel as if he’d been part of the saga from the beginning.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
Kuai Liang
Image via Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
The original Sub-Zero, Bi-Han, dies at the end of the first Mortal Kombat tournament, and his corrupted soul reincarnates as the evil Noob Saibot. His brother, Kuai Liang, takes over the Sub-Zero mantle and turns it into a synonym of honor and courage as opposed to the brutality that his brother enforced. He also forms a friendship with Scorpion, one of the best developments in the series as a whole. Sure, his current standing is divisive after the changes made in 2023’s Mortal Kombat 1, but Kuai Liang remains a pillar of the gaming series.
Fans expected Kuai Liang to make his debut in Mortal Kombat II, especially considering Bi-Han dies at the end of the first movie and returns in the sequel as Noob Saibot. Alas, Kuai Liang sat out the events of the 2026 movie, meaning he’s still out there in the live-action canon waiting to take over the Sub-Zero mantle. Not including him in the sequel was probably not the best idea, but it can always be fixed in a third movie. Kuai Liang is among Mortal Kombat‘s most heroic and compassionate characters, and those are always a surefire bet with fans. There’s also tons of dramatic potential in the dynamic with both his deceased brother and Scorpion, which would bring further depth to go with the tournament chaos.
Shinnok
Image via Warner Bros. Games
Also known as The Fallen Elder God, Shinnok is one of Mortal Kombat‘s most recurring and important villains. Vengeful and quite powerful, this God of Death seeks to destroy all realms. He rules the Netherrealm and possesses vast power and knowledge. Originally, his purpose was to battle his sister, Cetrion, forever, thus keeping a balance of light and dark. Unlike other villains in the saga, Shinnok falls in the category of “scheming, charming, manipulative foe,” using his intellect and influence rather than brute strength to pursue his goals.
Out of all the characters on this list, Shinnok has the most to gain from a well-executed appearance in live-action. Suffice it to say, his role in the games has been divisive at best, largely due to how one-note he seemed during his debut in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero. Flash forward nearly thirty years, and his reputation is still divisive at best, although his backstory in Mortal Kombat X did a lot to improve his standing. Bringing him into live-action could also be a perfect opportunity to further expand the lore of the series, especially if his complex family history is included.
Skarlet
Image via Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Making her debut in 2011’s Mortal Kombat, Skarlet is among the newest additions to the franchise. However, she has quickly made a name for herself, thanks to her unique abilities and the incredibly gory and hyper-violent Fatalities they come with, which are wild even for Mortal Kombat‘s lofty standards. A practitioner of the deadly arts of Black Magic, Skarlet is the adopted daughter of Shao Khan and his personal bodyguard. Skarlet originated as a fan theory due to a glitch that caused Kitana and Mileena’s sprited to turn red in Mortal Kombat 2.
Skarlet’s blood abilities would be extremely cool on the big screen, and her role as a major antagonist would also lead to a true carnival of carnage against Earthrealm’s heroes. Out of the major playable characters in the franchise, Skarlet is arguably the one with the most potential to truly make a name for herself in the movies after playing a significant but not impactful role in the games. Her visual design and abilities are striking, and her allegiances to the Outworld make her the ideal candidate to play a villainous role in a potential Mortal Kombat III. She would also immediately stand out among the current roster of characters in the live-action movies, making her inclusion all the more anticipated.
