Mortal Kombat, an adaptation of the 90’s game, recently hit the streaming services and gave fans a little trip down memory lane. This universe has a lot to offer and leaves us with a lot more questions. If you’re looking for answers, then GET OVER HERE!
Mortal Kombat’s universe is loaded with so many different characters, and superpowers that always keep you guessing what’s coming next.
The two most powerful characters we meet in this film are Lord Raiden and Shang Tsung! Raiden, the so-called protector of the Earth realm possesses the power of lightning and thunder. While Shang Tsung, the sorcerer of the outworld has the power to feed on one’s soul.
But there are beings above these two as well. They are mentioned scarcely in the film and are known as the elder gods. But who are these elder gods what role do they play in this vast universe?
The elder gods devised the Mortal Kombat tournament at the beginning of time to prevent an all-out war between the realms. Champions from every realm compete every 100 years, and if one realm wins ten times, they get to take over the other realms.
The game, no more than two decades old has a full-fledged timeline with detailed story arcs for individual characters. However, since this is the first film in the series (Hopefully there are more to come, fingers crossed!) we see only a tiny part of the universe being revealed to us.
1. The Cinematic Universe
We encounter only a couple of mentions of the elder gods in the films. The most significant one is in a conversation between Mileena and Shang Tsung.
Shang Tsung, the sorcerer from Outworld, wants to kill all the champions of the Earth realm even before the tournament begins. This is against the rules set by the elder gods, as pointed by Mileena.
This brief mention is all we have of the elder gods from the films, but it’s much more detailed in the game universe. Here’s a tiny glimpse of that.
2. The Game Universe
At the beginning of time, there was the one-being. This one-being fed off the elder gods, and just like anyone else, and they didn’t like it either.
So they defeated the one-being and split him into six different realms. In the film, we come across the three main realms – Earth realm, Outworld, and the Netherrealm, though the last one was hardly mentioned. The remaining three are Chaos, Order realm, and Edenia.
The elder gods then appointed one god for every realm who would be the protectors of that realm. However, the outworld realm wanted to invade and merge with other realms.
To prevent an all-out war, the elder gods devised the legendary Mortal Kombat. A tournament between realms that would take place every hundred years.
Every realm’s god will choose a few champions who will go on to battle it out in this tournament. If a realm’s champion wins the tournament ten times, it can take over the other realm.
3. Hierarchy Of Characters
- The One-being
- Elder Gods
- Gods Of Each Realm
- Mortal Kombat Champions
The film’s plot surrounds this tournament. Having won the previous nine tournaments, Outworld tries to kill all Earth realm’s champions even before the tournament begins. However, as you already know, they fail, and the Earth realm lives on.
4. Will There Be A Sequel?
At the end of this film, we got caged with a tease of the Hollywood superstar Johnny Cage. A staple character of the Mortal Kombat games. This does leave things open-ended and gives room for a sequel we’d all love to have!
Writer Greg Russo told Collider that he’d got plans for a trilogy. However, the greenlight is yet to come from Warner Bros.
If there’s a sequel, though (THERE SHOULD BE!), there are so many things I want from it. More characters from the games are my first request!
Johnny Cage is a part of it, and that’s fantastic, but wouldn’t it be insane if we got to see Mileena’s twin sister Kitana and the emperor of Outworld Shao Kahn himself!
Besides these, it wouldn’t be a site to see these characters battle it out in an actual tournament. A tournament that’s all kinds of brutal and quite fatal! I guess we just have to wait and wish for all this every time we see a shooting star.
5. Will The Elder Gods Be Revealed In The Sequel?
Considering little has been revealed when it comes to the elder gods, the sequel will perhaps shed more light on them. However, revealing them would be a tad bit much to expect.
Simply because the games themselves have taken a lot of time to reveal them, so I don’t think they’ll give it all away so easily.
6. About Mortal Kombat (2021)
Mortal Kombat (2021) is an American martial arts action fantasy film directed by Simon McQuoid. It is based on the video game franchise of the same name and serves as a reboot.
Hunted by the fearsome warrior Sub-Zero, MMA fighter Cole Young finds sanctuary at the temple of Lord Raiden. Training with experienced fighters Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and the rogue mercenary Kano, Cole prepares to stand with Earth’s greatest champions to take on the enemies from Outworld in a high-stakes battle for the universe.
The film stars actors like Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Tadanobu Asano, Mehcad Brooks, Ludi Lin, Chin Han, Joe Taslim, and Hiroyuki Sanada in various roles. It was released on HBO Max on April 23, 2021. A sequel is currently in development.
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