Headscratchers / Mortal Kombat (2021)

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The Dragon Tattoos

• So, I have a few questions involving the dragon tattoos.
  • It's said that the mark passes from parent to child. Does this happen automatically as soon as the baby is born, or only when the parent dies? And what happens if there's twins? Do they both get the mark? What about multiple children? Does only the first born get the birthmark? If the mark is there at birth, why doesn't Cole's daughter Emily apparently have one?
    • The suggestion seems to be that the marks don't normally pass from parent to child, as every other one showed up later in life. Cole only has one from birth due to prophecy reasons.
  • In the film, it's stated that the only champions left are Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Jax, Kano, and Cole. The others have all been killed. However, at the end of the film, Raiden tells the group that there are indeed other champions and they need to be recruited, with Johnny Cage being the first up, and presumably Kenshi and/or Stryker after that. Where did the other tattoos come from and why didn't Shang Tsung assassinate those guys?
    • Raiden says he's going to "make a new list" before they go to recruit the next champions. Presumably that process actually means issuing the marks to begin with, and Johnny Cage simply didn't have one until the end of the movie?
    • That just makes me wonder why Raiden didn't do that earlier, instead of looking disgusted that the motley crew he assembled is all they have left.
    • That likely has to do with Shang Tsung's rule breaking. There likely is a strict limit on the amount of Champions he's allowed to give arcana to on top of the restrictions he has with interfering in general. But when Shang Tsung busted into his temple and tried to take everyone out, blatantly taking a crap on the rules with no restraint and mocking the Elder Gods, Raiden has pretty much had enough. He started interfering almost instantly afterwards, and likely figures if Shang Tsung is going to be so brazen as to ignore the tournament entirely and try an invasion of Earthrealm with armies he might as well bolster his squad (we'll see if Shang Tsung's disregard for all the rules set in place will come back to bite him like they did for Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat 9 when the Elder Gods finally had enough).
  • It's stated that if an Earthrealm champion is killed, their dragon tattoo will be transferred to the one who killed them. Does it matter if they are actually FROM Earthrealm? Do Shang Tsung and Sub-Zero have the tattoo on them?
    • Greg Russo confirmed that markings are exclusive to Earthrealmers. Joe Taslim said Bi-Han doesn't have a marking because he's half-Edenian, so I guess you also have to be 100% Earthrealmer too.
    • To try to give an answer: that birthmark seems to be a bloodline thing, but it also can be taken by the person who kills you, as Kano proved. There's no set rule to succession apart from those two references, so they can appear on anyone.
    • Cole's may be a result of blood, or just the prophecy that marked him and him specifically as the "blood of Hasashi" that would save Earthrealm. The Elder Gods (and/or Raiden) may choose the champions through means and for reasons known only to them. If you kill a champion you get his mark, but if you're already a champion, there's no reason to get another mark, so the mark is just lost, doubtless Sub-Zero has killed enough champions that he's already marked, so can kill more and simply reduce the number of active champions. The mark probably doesn't transfer to Kombatants from other realms, thus Outworld assassins like Mileena can kill all the Earthrealm champions they want, further winnowing the ranks.
    • I don't think the realm the fighters are from matter in the slightest. Kabal, Kano and presumably Bi-Han are all originally from Earthrealm and fight for Outworld, if the marks were realm-specific, the likes of Shang Tsung would probably prefer to keep those Earthrealm traitors far away from the fight, to minimise the risks of their marks going back to loyal Earthrealm fighters, as unlikely as that is.
    • Kano only just joined, Bi Han is half Edenian as mentioned above and it's not clear if Kabal's power even comes from a mark.

Raiden tracking through Dragon Tattoos

• So, it's clearly demonstrated multiple times that the characters can somehow "track" where the champions are by their dragon tattoo. Why didn't Raiden just teleport all of the champions to his temple earlier, instead of letting them fend for themselves?
  • Raiden needs to be sure the champions can fend for themselves. He can't bring in a nine-year old or an old lady just because they have a tattoo, anyone who has that tattoo mark has to prove themselves as solid fighters. It's why he was disappointed with Cole.
    • That doesn't really explain why Raiden didn't teleport the champions when he decided it was time to gather them, and instead gave that task to Liu Kang.
    • Radian said that as an Elder God, he can do very little aid Earthrealm in Mortal Kombat. For example, he never attacks anyone in the movie, but can protect them within his domain.
    • And then at the end when Raiden actually is teleporting people left and right without a care, Cole asks "I thought you couldn't intervene" and Raiden gives him a very smug look. Nobody involved really cares about the rules because nobody in position to enforce them is paying attention, it's a plot point in the movie.
    • Which can simply be explained by Raiden being willing to follow the rules right to the grave...until Shang Tsung went so far into Refuge in Audacity about breaking or subverting the known rules that Raiden said screw it and started to retaliate in kind.

The Throne of Shang Tsung

• OK, this may just be a nitpick but... what exactly is the point of Shang Tsung's throne? It's out in the open, on top of a small peninsula cliff (what's the word for that?) thing, out in the middle of nowhere. It seems like its only purpose is to wait for the various assassins to arrive. I thought maybe that this was supposed to be the area between realms, but the movie states that it is indeed Outworld. At least Shao Kahn in the games had a reason for his throne to be in a gladiator arena.
  • Outworld seems to be an Asskicking Leads to Leadership world. By having a throne in such an open space is likely intended to show that the ruler is so powerful that they can't be defeated. It may also prevent rulers from using "cowardly" means to maintain their authority like having the throne inside a heavily fortified mountain.
  • But the throne is literally in an arid wasteland. Who is he trying to intimidate, in-universe? And it's heavily implied that Shao Kahn does indeed exist in this universe, so Shang isn't even at the top of the food chain.
  • Find a Mortal Kombat media or timeline where Shang Tsung isn't a self-important asshole. Even when he's a loyal servant of Shao Kahn he makes it a priority to remind many of his own superiority to everyone else. It's definitely in character for him to have a throne in the middle of nowhere just for the sake of it.
  • It does have a great view, if anyone was coming for him he'd see them well before they reached him, even if they were flying, which is entirely possible in Outworld.

The Arcana can influence technology

• If the Arcana can adapt and update technology, as seen with Jax's arms, then is that an instance of Magitek?
  • More perhaps magic influencing technology. Not straight Magitek, but rather using magic to rebuilding and enhance what already exists.
    • Jax's first set of arms were from yet another realm, so for all we know they are actually some sort of magitek, so the arcana magic was able to work on them.
    • it does beg the question what if Jax never fot prosthetic arms? What would his arcana do?
    • Maybe he would get the Cole treatment, but it would be on his arms (and maybe back) and make him stronger?

Raiden cannot interfere with the wars between realms, except when he can

• At the heroes' lowest point, Jax asks Raiden why he couldn't save Kung Lao from Shang Tsung. Raiden responds that gods like him cannot interfere with the war between Earthrealm and Outworld, and that he can't save every soul in Earthrealm, including Kung Lao. After Cole and Scorpion kill Sub-Zero, Raiden arrives and Cole makes a connection with Hanzo's kunai. Cole questions this subtle act of assistance by repeating what Raiden said to him earlier, only for Raiden to respond with smirk, implying that he's making an exception for him. He also banishes Shang Tsung right after this moment. Why didn't Raiden banish Shang Tsung much earlier in the film when he and his minions infiltrated his temple? Kung Lao would be still alive and a lot of the trouble later in the film would have been averted. How is this not the exception?
  • The way this troper perceived it was that Raiden was adhering to the rules up until Kung Lao's death. After that, he says "Fuck it; if the elder gods can't be bothered to punish Shang Tsung for breaking the rules, nothing is stopping me from doing so either."
    • That's a trope actually - Screw the Rules, They Broke Them First!. The only thing is when did Raiden know they were breaking the rules, and whether he held out on honor for some time or just decided to go ahead and fight dirty too.
  • I view that what Raiden means by interference is the use of kombat against Outworld forces, since being a god, he can very easily wipe the floor with them with his powers. However, going with the above, he probably thought "screw it" after all the crap Shang Tsung has done, so that's why he forcibly teleports Shang Tsung to Outworld at the end. An act could be considered assault, not that Raiden cares anymore.

When did Jax learn Reiko's name?

• When the Earthrealm champions are planning out who fights who, Jax refers to Reiko by name. Reiko's name wasn't spoken on screen until this scene, so when did he learn it?
  • Maybe Raiden, Kung Lao or Liu Kang told him his name off screen.
    • A lot of scenes and bits of fight scenes were cut for runtime. So there likely a moment during Jax and Reiko's first fight where probably declares his name to Jax in a way like: "I am Reiko! General for Shao Kahn of Outworld!".

Scorpion and Sub-Zero's relationship

• I’m confused by Scorpion and Sub-Zero's interactions in the beginning when Sub-Zero attacks Scorpion's home. At one point Scorpion sees ice everywhere and at one point clearly calls out his real name but when they meet face to face acts like as if he doesn’t know who he is or that he’s Chinese. So what gives?
  • It's clear Hanzo knows who Bi-Han is, it's just that Hanzo's Japanese and he doesn't understand Chinese, so he was confused because he doesn't know what the asshole who killed his family was telling him.

Kung Lao's Arcana

• After the film goes out of its way to establish Arcana, a single personal power possessed by those with the dragon mark, Kung Lao is shown both manipulating his hat and teleporting through the ground. These two powers have nothing to do with each other, so which one is supposed to be his Arcana? And if teleporting is just a regular old magic power learned through training, what makes Arcana so special, and why can't other highly trained allies like Liu Kang do anything similar?
  • I think he was teleporting through the hat instead of the ground. It seems like his hat is inextricably tied to his power, letting him call it to him, spin it like a buzz saw, or teleport to it - basically calling himself to the hat,