Cole's powers perfectly suit his fighting style. He's an MMA fighter whose style uses a lot of boxing moves, but his defense is lacking. The armor helps boost his defense, and the Tonfa are the best weapon you could give a boxer, because it gives him the ability to stab with his punches.
One reason for Kano to even be a Champion of Earthrealm in this timeline is because of Kronika's timeline manipulation, having done so for countless eons over and over again.
Unless the theories that Cole Young is Johnny Cage prove truthful, the latter's Adapted Out status could be interpreted as due to this as well. Johnny's daughter Cassie is the Chosen One in Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11, which lead to the defeat of Kronika's son Shinnok and ultimately his death. Naturally a timeline without the Cage family would be much more dire.
Jossed. The movie ends with Cole going to Hollywood to track down Johnny Cage.
But changes to the Timeline do explain the Shirai Ryu’s survival. After all, Fire God Liu Kang was helped by Hanzo Hasashi in the previous timeline and his reward is his clan's survival!
Kano didn't always work for Shao Kahn. In the original timeline, he only joined the first tournament to get all the treasure Shang Tsung had on his island, and even teamed up with Johnny and Sonya to fight Kano. He only joined Shao Kahn to save his own skin.
Why exactly did Bi-Han kill Hanzo in the opening? There doesn't appear to be that classic rivalry between the Shirai Ryu and the Lin Kuei in this universe like in the games. Well, in this movie, Shang Tsung's plan is to cull Earthrealm's champions to win the next tournament by default. Given that the sorcerer is a proven cheating prick, who's to say that he hasn't pulled this stunt before? Hell, he even flat out tells Mileena that he hasn't been following the rules during the nine tournaments that preceded this film.
Except that Bi-Han explicitly says "For the Lin Kuei" both times he fights Hanzo in the film and displays a personal distaste for the Shirai-Ryu. Also, Hanzo and Bi-Han already know each other at the start of the film, since upon discovering the attack Hanzo immediately yells Bi-Han's name, indicating he recognizes who the assailant was by the ice powers used. So they definitely have a history together before Bi-Han murders Hanzo's family, and based on the only mentions of the Lin Kuei in the film occurring specifically when Hanzo and Bi-Han fight, it seems incredibly likely that the rivalry is still there, if not clearly explained. Now, it is totally possible Shang Tsung co-opted this rivalry to enlist Bi-Han to murder Hanzo and his family, since if the rivalry was still in place Bi-Han would eagerly do so. So the above can still be correct while also incorporating the Shirai-Ryu/Lin Kuei rivalry.
Why did Shang Tsung steal Kung Lao’s soul? Simple, he killed Nitara, Shang Tsung’s favorite henchwoman.
Scorpion wears samurai armor when he's resurrected despite having been a ninja, who in real life, disguised themselves as regular people. Considering that he's been becoming more powerful while trapped Netherrealm and totally redid his appearance from when he died, he probably realized that he needed more protection if he ever got out of the Netherrealm to go after Sub-Zero, so he manifested some samurai armor onto his person along with a katana and a supernaturally enhanced kunai/rope dart.
While Hanzo is the leader of a ninja clan, he is also a samurai as was common in Edo era Japan. Ninja were often either members of samurai families or soldier who trained under them. During that period, samurai were considered a warrior class and the only ones allowed to carry swords. Hanzo uses a wakizashi to impale one of the Lin Kuei's assassins, and him having one in the first place pretty much spells out that he's a samurai. And while ninja did disguise themselves as normal people to act as spies, they also wore camouflage for guerilla warfare as well as regular armor in open combat. He chose to wear armor in his fight after being freed from the Netherrealm because it was practical, and likely would have put it on when he was attacked the first time if he had time to do so.
Just how did Hanzo escape the Netherrealm, which is explicitly stated to be a portion of Hell here? He states Bi-Han's actions had sent him there and might have been literal given Bi-Han was under the employ of a dimension hopping sorcerer who flagrantly broke the rules at the drop of a hat. The reason Hanzo could escape the ultimate prison and only got stronger since being sent there to the point he could finally fight Bi-Han on even footing? He wasn't supposed to be there to begin with; Shang Tsung and Bi-Han forcefully put him there and fate worked to subvert Shang Tsung and Bi-Han's future ploy.
Why does Sonya manage to unlock her arcana pretty much as soon as she gets her dragon mark? Because she spent however many weeks in Raiden's temple watching everyone else work towards it, hearing the instruction given by Liu Kang and Kung Lao, and witnessing Kano unlocking his. She understood exactly what to do before she actually had to do it. It's even Foreshadowed by Liu Kang telling Cole that he unlocked his arcana as soon as he received his mark, because he wanted it so badly.
Cole Young being Asian/Caucasian mixed race. After five hundred years, of course Hanzo's descendants would spread to other ethnic groups. However, Cole looking entirely Caucasian just feels wrong, given how important that Japanese ancestor is - and that's even without the whole whitewashing controversy.
Cole mentioning he's adopted, explains a whole lot about how he managed to live to thirty-something and fathering a child without ever being targeted. Anyone tracing that particular line of Hanzo's descendants would have been stopped by closed adoption records note Jax and Sonja being Special Forces means they probably know someone who could hack the records, and Cole being given his adopted parents surname rather than an Asian one means that anyone looking for a descendant of a Japanese man would be totally confused by an all-American name like Cole Young.
How did Jax survive getting his arms literally shattered? Liu Kang mentions that the freezing cauterized the wounds, but what about shock? Many people have survived grievous wounds only for the shock to take them out. However, Jax's line about 'six tours' wasn't just a throwaway Badass Boast. Six tours means that Jax has lots of experience dealing with battlefield wounds and the resulting shock, and being Special Forces was probably specifically trained to deal with PTSD and post-injury trauma.
It's been noted that Sonya's character arc seems more fitting for a main protagonist than Cole, not having a dragon mark but still trying to prove herself as a worthy Champion. But as the main source of knowledge about what's going on (until Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Raiden enter the narrative), she'd still need someone to explain it to. Johnny Cage could work just as well as Cole in this role, the Hollywood actor instead of the MMA fighter, both equally clueless about the greater destiny their dragon mark has chosen them for. But then it hits you. Since the reboot, Sonya and Johnny have become the franchise's Official Couple, so the film would fall headlong into the male and female lead inevitably hooking up, a trope that is becoming less and less loved by audiences and filmmakers in recent years. Cole being an original character with a wife and daughter means he and Sonya are free from any romantic tension, and he won't be getting in the way of Sonya Cage for fans of that ship.
Many people complain that Raiden or Liu Kang could've saved Kung Lao from Shang Tsung if Liu shot a fireball at him or if Raiden struck him with lightening. But any of those attacks have the potential to hit Kung Lao if the two missed. Plus, Raiden explains that he's not allowed to interfere in Mortal Kombat-related matters since he's a god.
Elaborating on that last note, Raiden says that he can't interfere in Mortal Kombat, yet he gives the Earthrealm champions shelter, trains them, defends them from danger, and later aids them by teleporting them to different places so that Shang Tsung's henchmen don't ambush them. What Raiden's trying to say is that he can't fight in Mortal Kombat, which makes sense, because as a god, he'd be overpowered compared to most of the competitors in the tournament, giving Earthrealm an unfair advantage. That doesn't mean he can't help at all, though, since he's supposed to defend his realm, he just can't hit or kill anyone.
Why is Kung Lao so much friendlier to Liu Kang, and apparently in general? Well, look at his reaction to the others, especially Kano. He's arrogant, and smug, but can back it up. There's also a prophecy about Scorpion's child, not Liu Kang being treated as special. In this timeline, he's never given an Inferiority Superiority Complex by Liu Kang being BETTER then him. He's actually one of the best, thereby letting him feel better about himself. Without this, he and Liu Kang serve as Bash Brothers, and can be more healthy. Which, if Fire God Liu Kang caused...makes sense.
The reason Liu Kang isn't the star of this, is that Liu Kang is, quite frankly, a boring character unless he's given some motivation and something to latch onto. Conveniently? The death of Kung Lao, means that he has a GOOD motivation to get rid of Shang Tsung, and with the story set up, and Cole's arc done...there's a good reason for him to step up.
There's a meta reason why Kano replaces Johnny Cage as the film's comic relief; In the original "Mortal Kombat", Kano's the first character highlighted on the player selection screen and Johnny Cage is right next to him. Kano ran out of lives in this movie, so maybe it's time to try playing as a different character...
