WePlay's Favorite MK Fatalities

When Mortal Kombat made its debut way back in 1992, it was met with a lot of controversy. Sure, it has an interesting design style that we weren’t used to back in the day, and it had a decent story to boot, but without a doubt, the most eye-catching thing about the game was the brutal fatalities. 

Horrified parents watched as their kids tore open torsos, beheaded, ate up, froze and broke, set on fire, and stole the souls of their opponents. It was so bad that there was a congressional hearing bemoaning the effect of the game on kids. To this day, MK is still banned in certain countries and typically seen as way too violent. Has that stopped the growth of the game? Not even a little bit. 

Today, Mortal Kombat is a juggernaut in the gaming industry, and as time has gone on, the fatalities have only become more spectacular. MK is a history maker, and while there is no concrete evidence for this, it could be argued that the game introduced the ‘fatality gimmick’ in fighting games. Killer Instinct, released in 1994, also has Ultras  — a system in which you brutalize your opponent way beyond their life bar and send them crashing to their death. Even Street Fighter introduced “supers”, and you could argue that MK had a hand in that. 

Since its inception, there have been up to 20 Mortal Kombat titles, which means that there have been a LOT of fatalities. We thought it would be a fun idea to ask the content team which ones have stuck in their heads and why. You are probably thinking of a fatality right now, and if you’d want to, feel free to leave your favorite in the comments below. 

Without further ado, let’s get to the kills, shall we?

Dillon

Head of English Content Team at WePlay and the first guy that gets kicked out in Among Us

Favorite Fatality- Johnny Cage: Here's Johnny! 

Game- Mortal Kombat X

MKX is probably the MK I played the most in adulthood. I am also a big Stephen King fan, so the tribute to The Shining in Cage's fatality made me laugh and want to keep doing it over and over again.

Felix

Resident CS:GO writer and keeper of the most excellent beard

Favorite Fatality- Kotal Kahn: Kat Food

Game- Mortal Kombat 11

I've mained quite a few characters in MK11, starting off with Scorpion, then moving onto Sub-Zero, etc. The character I played towards the end of my time in MK11 was none-other than Kotal Kahn, specifically in his second variation, where he grabs his enemies and drinks their blood. I especially liked going up against D'Vorah and Spawn due to their blood being a different color. In that same respect, my favorite Mortal Kombat Fatality is none-other than Kotal Kahn's Kat Food. He rips open his enemy's rib cage, transforms into a panther, and eats their heart. While it may sound quite gory, in actuality, it looks very goofy. It's just a silly looking cat eating what looks like a big "gushers" candy, especially when the blood is of a different color.

Arseny

Resident DOTA 2 specialist and writer, also the greatest celebrity to ever live

Favorite Fatality- Kung Lao: Friendly Rabbit

Game- Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks

While there are cool and brutal fatalities all across the MK games, my favorite is for sure SubZero's spine removal. Though it is quite popular so I have something interesting that you might have missed. In a spin-off named MK: Shaolin Monks (PS2, Xbox), Kung Lao and Liu Kang have their own journey, and there's a fatality where Kung Lao crushes his opponent with... a rabbit from a hat. WHAT? It's both utterly disgusting and ironically hilarious.

Pedro

Social media handler, meme lord 

Favorite Fatality- Sub-Zero: Frozen In Time

Game- Mortal Kombat 11

Having played as Sub-Zero for most of my life, I have always been a fan of his fatalities. My favorite Sub-Zero fatality comes from Mortal Kombat 11 and is the one where he impales his opponent on an ice sculpture, then reaches into their chest to rip out the spinal cord and head. It was so gory I got misty-eyed just looking at it. I swear I’m not weird! It’s just sooooooo cool!

Albina

Game journalist, Overwatch queen

Favorite Fatality- Liu Kang: Dragon Fatality

Game- Mortal Kombat II

My favourite Fatality is Liu Kang's with the dragon. It was the goriest thing I had ever seen in my life at the time, and I really just thought it was crazy that he could do that. Then he did it in the Annihilation movie, and I was much less impressed. I know he has assumed the dragon form in many other MK games, but nothing beats the original in my eyes. 

Femi

FGC writer, worst league of legends player ever to walk the face of the earth

Favorite Fatality- Kenshi: Tele-copter

Game- Mortal Kombat X

I remember how awed I used to be when I watched Mortal Kombat fatalities, and I can mention a lot that stood out, especially Kabal’s where he took off his mask and scared the opponent’s ghost away. I really liked that one because even with all the blood and gore, I loved that there was something humorous for me to get behind. But, in terms of sheer spectacle, I can’t look past Kenshi’s excellent Tele-copter fatality in Mortal Kombat X. For that fatality, Kenshi would take out his blade, leave it hanging in mid-air and make it spin like a helicopter. Then he’ll use his telekinetic abilities to feed his opponent into the rotating blade. What made the kill so visually appealing was the look of absolute terror on the opponent’s face as he/she was fed into the blade. There was a sense of desperation as the victim tried to get away from certain death. Besides, that first slow-motion slice was divine!

Matt

Social Media manager, barely legal

Favorite Fatality- Kabal: Hooked

Game- Mortal Kombat 11

My favorite fatality is Kabal’s hooked from Mortal Kombat 11. Look, what can I say? I love my gore. The finish is so delightfully disgusting that I flinch whenever I see it. For the uninitiated, Kabal uses his hookswords to tear open the opponent, exposing entrails in the process, cutting of their legs at the ankles and then proceeding to do some truly horrible things to their heads. It’s so utterly gross...I think I’m going to go watch it again.

And there you have it. As mentioned before, if you have any that you feel was left out, or you just can’t help to share, you can leave that in the comments below.