Fans are just two months away from the nextMortal Kombatgame, and along with it comes a brand new era for the franchise. At the end ofMortal Kombat 11’s Aftermath DLC, the newly anointed Fire God Liu Kang uses his powers to defeat Kronika and Shang Tsung, and finds himself in possession of the Hourglass, a device that has the potential to bend space and time at will. With the previous battles leaving his universe in ruin,Fire God Liu Kang decides to use the Hourglass to create a whole new universe, one where his friends are alive and peace is the dominating force. And that’s whereMortal Kombat 1takes place.
Mortal Kombat 1is set to take players all the way back to the beginning again, to before the first Mortal Kombat tournament. Fans will recognize a lot of the names, faces, and settings they’ll see inMortal Kombat 1, but a lot has changed about them, with many iconic characters now having completely different backstories. Sub-Zero is one such character, though there are some major life events that might remain canon, despite the new timeline.
RELATED:Why Johnny Cage Has Kenshi’s Sento in Mortal Kombat 1
What Sub-Zero’s Canon Events Could Be In Mortal Kombat 1
In the originalMortal Kombattimeline, there are two characters that take on the mantle of Sub-Zero. The first of these is Bi-Han,the original Sub-Zero and member of the Lin Kuei clan. Before the events of the original trilogy, Bi-Han is manipulated by Quan Chi to seek out and kill Scorpion, and at the same time, Quan Chi pretends to be him as he slaughters the rest of the Shirai Ryu clan. Scorpion returns as an undead specter and kills Bi-Han in the first Mortal Kombat tournament. Following his death, Bi-Han’s brother Kuai Liang becomes Sub-Zero and agrees to join forces with Raiden’s Earthrealm warriors. Along the way, the Lin Kuei warrior Smoke is kidnapped and turned into a cyborg for Shao Kahn’s army.
InMortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Kuai Liang’s Sub-Zero becomes the leader of the Lin Kuei, and takes on an apprentice named Frost. InMortal Kombat: Deception, the character of Noob Saibot is introduced fully. Sub-Zero soon learns thatNoob Saibot is actually his brother Bi-Hanback from the dead, now working as a revenant for Quan Chi.
Possible Canon Events
InMortal Kombat2011, Raiden reboots the timeline by sending his past self a message and takes the franchise back in time to the events of the first Mortal Kombat tournament. From here, Sub-Zero’s early timeline remains fairly similar to the original’s, withScorpion killing Bi-Han in the tournamentand Kuai Liang adopting the Sub-Zero mantle right after. But things start to diverge from this point. Rather than Smoke being taken and turned into a cyborg, it’s Sub-Zero, and rather than appear years later, Noob Saibot rears his head just a few days after the tournament, though he’s quickly defeated by Sub-Zero. At the end of the game, Sindel kills Sub-Zero, sending him to the Netherrealm to become a slave of Quan Chi. InMortal Kombat X, Raiden fully resurrects Kuai Liang, and he becomes the grandmaster of the Lin Kuei.
From what fans have seen so far,Mortal Kombat 1seems to be following a similar pattern with its own version of Sub-Zero, though there are some big changes. The biggest change is that this version of Sub-Zero is still Bi-Han, and that his brother is now Scorpion. Though Kuai Liang hasn’t been seen inMortal Kombat 1’s marketing so far, Bi-Han might still be in grave danger. In every timeline so far, Bi-Han has died at the hands of Scorpion, and that could be his canon event inMortal Kombat 1as well, albeit an even more tragic one as the two are now brothers.
Mortal Kombat 1releases on September 19 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE:Why a Spider-Man Reference in Mortal Kombat 1 Would Actually Make Sense
