Memes / Mortal Kombat

Over the years, Mortal Kombat has firmly ingrained its way into the pop culture, becoming a staple of the video game fandom. As such, a lot of things in it have become quite memetic.

Mortal Kombat 11 has its own page.

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Please add entries in the following format:

• The meme. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary.[[/labelnote]] ^ExplanationLike this.
  • Further mutations and successor memes, if any.

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General

• "FINISH HIM/HER!"^ExplanationThe famous call for the player to perform a Finishing Move.
• "FATALITY"^ExplanationMortal Kombat has popularized finishers in fighting video games, so many gamers, no matter what game, may call a killing move "Fatality".
• "GET OVER HERE!"^ExplanationScorpion yells this while pulling the opponent in with his spear.
• "FLAWLESS VICTORY"^ExplanationAchieving a perfect round will make the announcer applaud you with this phrase.
• Whatever-ality.^ExplanationThe trend of ending words with "-ality", essentially turning anything in Real Life into a gory, MK-style finisher.
• Nudalities.^ExplanationAn Urban Legend of Zelda rumor stated that a certain combination will make a female character, namely Sonya, lose her clothes and fight in the nude. Despite no such thing existing, people wracked their brains to try and find the sacred combination.
• "Nobody stays dead in Mortal Kombat.^ExplanationA common fan-coined phrase in regards to characters coming Back from the Dead at the drop of a hat. Even the devs themselves referenced this when explaining how Shao Khan was back in the Gamecube port of Deception despite having seemingly been killed in Deadly Alliance.
• Ayebabayay!^ExplanationRaiden's yell during his Lightning Fly move is quite infamous among the community.
• Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo! Doo-doo-doo-do-do-doo! Doo-doo-do-do-doo-doo! MOR-TAL KOMBAAAAT!^ExplanationOriginally the title yell was used in a commercial for the first game, but afterwards became a trademark of the series after being used in The Immortals' "Techno-Syndrome", the de facto theme of the franchise.
• Toasty!^ExplanationIn Mortal Kombat II, sometimes when you hit an opponent with an uppercut, Dan Forden (the series' sound designer) would pop up and sing "Toasty!" This is one of the keys to unlocking a secret fight with Smoke.
• Mileena owes Stryker money ^Explanation the supposed reason as to why Stryker has it out for Mileena across 3 different timelines, punching her in the face in the opening cinematic of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, meeting her and immediately labeling her as a foe and then immediately proceeding to beat her up during his story chapter in Mortal Kombat 9, and using her as a test-dummy to show off his Fatal Blow as a Kameo in the Mortal Kombat 1 Banished trailer.
• It's common to edit in a X-Ray/Fatal Blow move from the Netherrealm Mortal Kombat games in a work that has a character get hit with a particularly powerful and painful-looking attack.
• The Adventures of Samsung & Crunchy. ^Explanation A Mondegreen of Shang Tsung and Quan-Chi's names, refering to the multiple times they have formed a new Deadly Alliance together.
• Mortal Kombat but it ends when I die or get a boner ^Explanation A compilation of videos by youtuber MysticMancer that compiles all the cinematic moves and finishers together, but cutting off when the character would realistically have died or... well, they get a boner. Commenters have made a game out of figuring out which is which, and a running gag is that Jax never gets to do anything.

Game-specific

Mortal Kombat II

• Baraka Obama ^ExplanationCombining Baraka and Barack Obama, either verbally or artistically.
• "You really gonna do me like that, X?"^ExplanationAlso used with Baraka if anything negative happens to him, courtesy of DashieXP.
• I HAVE NEVER SEEN A KANO TRANSFORMATION^ExplanationRefers to an Urban Legend of Zelda about being able to make Shang Tsung transform into Kano in Mortal Kombat II. The message comes from a counter in the Arcade's test mode reporting the number of Kano morphs. The phrase itself was one of two captions that appeared in Nightwolf's Friendship in Mortal Kombat 3 where he turned into Raiden, an Mortal Kombat II cabinet dropped down beside him and this caption or the other "NO BUT I KNOW HOW TO DO A RAIDEN TRANSFORMATION" would appear.
• "IT'S OFFICIAL... YOU SUCK." ^ExplanationOne of Shao Kahn's taunts.

Mortal Kombat 3

• Ladder-screen dead pool.^ExplanationThe ladder transition screen is a popular meme among Latin American people. The most common use of it is when a very elderly famous person dies, with the meme depicting another extremely old famous person getting through the one that has recently died, alongside other elderly celebrities that died before. The most frequent person to be featured in those is Betty White.

Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero

• Sub-Zero falling.^ExplanationAn FMV animation of Bi-Han falling is reused in every level besides the Shaolin Temple, the Earth Temple, and Shinnok's Fortress whenever he falls into a Bottomless Pit, resulting in a popular meme among the fandom to have Bi-Han's falling animation green screened and place him in other situations where he falls off a structure, typically in other franchises.

Mortal Kombat 4

• Unexpected Quan Chi.^ExplanationSub-Zero's ending where Quan Chi comes out of nowhere and suddenly whacks him in the head from behind was memed quite a bit. Usually cutting out half of Sub-Zero's yell of pain.
• The infamous Jarek endings.^ExplanationEvery line Jarek says in the three endings he appears in, particularly "I'M SO GAAAAAAAAAAY!" and his weird humming Un Evil Laugh.
• I'mgonnathrowyouoverthere!^ExplanationWhen throwing opponents, certain characters say gibberish that occasionally turns out to be sped-up phrases.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon

• The intro scene.^ExplanationThe game's intro has some amusing moments that also can be deemed out of character, such as Stryker sucker punching Mileena to start climbing the Pyramid and Shao Kahn helplessly screaming as Onaga flies away from the Pyramid with him in tow.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

• The most brutal Fatality ever.^ExplanationFatalities in this game are subjected to heavy censorship due to DC's rules on mutilating and killing characters, so they are rather tame, but one of Kano's Fatalities takes the cake, where he jumps into the air and lands on the opponent's chest with barely any impact.

Mortal Kombat 9

• WOOLAY ^ExplanationOne of Quan Chi's many battle cries in Mortal Kombat 9, famous for how he seems to shout it with damn near every move he does, though mostly shouted during his teleport stomp special.
• HE MUST WIN^ExplanationRaiden's message to the past leads to the tragic consequences, and so people use it to point out that something has to go the exact way it should, otherwise there will be more tragedy to come.
• ... And Kano is still frozen.^ExplanationThe last time that Kano is seen in the story is when he is frozen by Sub-Zero. Though he likely thawed out of the ice eventually as Noob Saibot mentions that he received a warning from him about Sub-Zero's defection.
• This was forged by the Gods.^ExplanationRaiden shows Liu Kang his amulet and explains to him that it was forged by the Elder Gods. It has become a meme template in which the amulet is replaced by the disc of a popular game.
• Scorpion hates teddies.^ExplanationIn one of the Challenge Tower matches between Scorpion and Mileena, the latter attempts to give Scorpion a teddy bear which he vehemently refuses, leading to a fight. This has come full circle in MK11, where Scorpion's Friendship has his pull a giant teddy bear in with his spear.
• Kung Lao's neck^{Explanation (Spoilers)}Many jokes and puns have spawned about Kung Lao's death in Mortal Kombat 9 from suddenly getting his neck snapped by Shao Kahn following his victory against Kintaro, which are especially more prevalent in videos featuring fanmade dialogue using AI-generated voices of the characters.

Mortal Kombat X

• Father of Dragons.^ExplanationSub-Zero being referred to as Khaleesi after his Klassic Tower ending.
• All Quan Chi wants is friends.^ExplanationIn a Mirror Match with Quan Chi, one of them laments over the fact that he's forced to fight himself, whom he regarded as his "only friend." The oddly endearing nature of this intro quickly caught onto fans. It helps that Quan Chi also expresses polite gestures to other characters in an extremely Faux Affably Evil nature, in which said characters (who obviously know better) reject the sentiment, causing Quan Chi to express false sorrow of losing a potential "friend" without losing the same polite tone.
• Blanche is the strongest character in MK.^ExplanationIn the Outworld Marketplace stage there is an elderly lady NPC that serves as an interactable, meaning the fighters can throw her at each other, making her bounce off and lie helpless on the ground. The fans quickly nicknamed her "Blanche" and started claiming she would actually destroy any opponent if she were a playable character. Then a later patch added an ability for her to be used as a Brutality, beating the opponent up to death, thus solidifying her status as a Memetic Badass.
• "I have no quarrel with you... I now have a quarrel with you."^ExplanationOne of the intros of Kung Lao vs. Reptile has Kung Lao claim he has no quarrel with the latter only to change his mind after hearing a threat. It's been mostly used as a meme, in situations regarding tastes and differing opinions.

Mortal Kombat 1

• THE TEAHOUSE^ExplanationRefers to the announcer's voiceline for the "Fengjian Teahouse" stage a.k.a. Madam Bo's Teahouse, which was featured quite prominently in the game's early playable betas, being the stage of choice over the other available stages (Cage's Mansion and later the Wu Shi Academy). The announcer's delivery makes the stage look like the most frightening place to fight despite being, you know, a friggin teahouse.
• Johnny Cake.^ExplanationOnce the Summer Games Festival trailer came out, people started to pay attention to Johnny Cage's behind being rather thick.
• Scorpion's tattoo.^ExplanationA lot of fans thought that Scorpion's literal scorpion tattoo on his bicep looks too on the nose, so they started Photoshopping other silly tattoo designs on different ninjas, such as a snowman on Sub-Zero or a storm cloud on Rain.
• Bi-Han is a hater/dick.^ExplanationIn the trailers and in the demo Bi-Han makes an impression of a jealous person who is either envious of Liu Kang's divine power or his brother's bond with Smoke, constantly giving everyone a side-eye. After the full release, more of his characterization was unveiled, revealing him to be a constantly snarling and arrogant man who belittles others without any reason.
  • SHUT UP SMOKE, YOU'RE ADOPTED!^ExplanationAt the beginning of Sub-Zero's chapter, he, Smoke, and Scorpion are discussing the teachings of their late father. When Smoke says they can't abandon tradition, Sub-Zero has a massive Kick the Dog moment where he basically insults the former for being adopted into the Lin Kuei and says he'll never be truly one of them. Considering how sudden and randomly cruel it is, especially considering Smoke was only adopted by Bi-Han's father because the Lin Kuei killed his family by mistake, it's been memed by many to show just how much of an asshole Bi-Han is even before his Face–Heel Turn. Jokes that Bi-Han hates orphans or just randomly despises Smoke for no real reason are also common.
  • Between his intros in this game and his intros as Noob in 11, the fanbase has concluded that Bi-Han hates orphans^note His intros with Skarlet in 11 and Smoke in 1 where he insults them for having no family., immigrants^note His intros with Reptile and Ashrah in 1 where he tells them they don't belong in Earthrealm, the sick^note His intros with Baraka in 1 has him insult the latter for having Tarkat, Tarkatans^note His intros with Baraka and Mileena in 11 where he mocks their status as Tarkatan and Half-Tarkatan respectively, and women.^note His intros with Frost in 11 where he says he would've never allowed female Lin Kuei, though this is likely only a result of his corruption into Noob Saibot, as intros in 1 imply that his still-alive New Era counterpart doesn't have this issue as Frost is implied to be his disciple.
• Where there is Smoke, there is elder abuse.^ExplanationSmoke's first appearance in-game, as revealed by IGN during Gamescom 2023, has him extorting Madame Bo and subsequently fighting her when she resists, ending with him punching the elderly woman in the face before throwing her off a balcony. Gifs and videos of this spread like wildfire, with many jokingly seeing Smoke as a Memetic Psychopath who beats up old people for fun.
• Live Shang Tsung reaction.^ExplanationAs Shang Tsung listens to Kronika's offer to help regain his power, his expression slowly twists into a Slasher Smile with a creepy close-up that fans have started to use as a reaction GIF. This has also spread to other memorable expressions he makes during the Story Mode, such as biting his lip. r/MortalKombat rolled with it and made more Live X reactions for most of the MK1 characters, and even on some who weren't in the game.
• Invisible Peacemaker^ExplanationWith Peacemaker, played by John Cena, being a Guest Fighter, discussion of him will often include jokes claiming that he's invisible, a continuation of a Play-Along Meme where wrestling fans take Cena's "You can't see me" catchphrase literally. This meme is amplified by how Peacemaker's inclusion is Overshadowed by Awesome, due to his series not being as popular as The Boys and Invincible, who provide Kombat Pack 1's other guests, thus making him "invisible" in another sense of the word.
• Quan Chi soyjak ^ExplanationWhen the heroes pursue Quan Chi into the Living Forest where he creates a soulnado to create Ermac, after creating Ermac Quan Chi points to the heroes and orders Ermac to attack in a position that looks like the infamous wojak pointing meme.
• Johnny Cage mains when they're about to die^ExplanationAfter activating his Fatal Blow, Johnny does a little dance, which animator Spine_Apples looped to "International Love" by Pitbull in an animation parodying it. From there, the song has become MK1 Cage's unofficial theme song, having spawned mods that add the song in during his fatal blow and ironic fancams with "International Love" as the background music.
  • YOU JUST GOT CAGED^ExplanationRelated to the above, "International Love" and this phrase are almost guaranteed to be used in conjunction with footage of insane Johnny Cage comebacks or utter Cage dominations.
  • You put it down like New York— [splat!]^ExplanationAfter a few weeks of International Loving, this clip of the newly-added Omni-Man blitzing right through Johnny's Fatal Blow with his own Brutality, cutting off the song on impact, proceeded to also start going viral.
• Twitter / X Anarchist Havik^ExplanationHavik's intro dialogues in this game have him apply the most insane reasons to call anything "oppression", to the point of calling people who willingly follow Liu Kang his "slaves" and even calling ice a form of oppression of water. Many people noted the similarity between his justifications and the flimsy reasons people on social media like Twitter use to explain their hate/dislike of certain things.
• MK12_148_154,11^ExplanationIn Chapter 11, when Sindel confronts Reiko, she tells him "Know that it will cost you your life!". However, the subtitles mistakenly show the phrase's ID rather than the phrase itself, with people treating the subtitles as the most memorable line in the game as a result of this bug. Sadly the bug was patched up in a later update.
• Johnny opens the door.^ExplanationIn Chapter 2, Johnny opens his front door and sees Liu Kang along with Sub-Zero and Scorpion waiting for him, becoming confused. Fans started making green screen edits not unlike Peter opening the door.
• Quan Chi got his melanin revoked.^ExplanationIn Chapter 6, after Ashrah destroys a soul stealer, one of the ghosts used by Quan Chi (who is an Outworlder in this timeline) attacks him and absorbs a part of his soul, turning his skin ashen white. Jokes have ensued about both pros and cons of this, such as Stryker not bothering him anymore but he's not being invited to cookouts.
• Let us pass, Tanya.^ExplanationIn Chapter 10, Li Mei and Liu Kang arrive near the palace where they run into Tanya and Li Mei utters the line. Humorously enough, the line has spawned many memes on Twitter.
• Shang Tsung betraying Shang Tsung is the most Shang Tsung thing Shang Tsung could do. ^{Explanation (Spoilers)}Shang Tsung is notorious amongst the Kombatants and the fandom for being the single-least trustworthy man in Outworld who seems to take active pride in betraying people at the drop of a hat. So much so that when the game's plot reveals that he was acting under orders from Titan Shang Tsung from MK11, there was little surprise that Titan Shang is so self-interested that even another version of himself is on the table of people he would screw over for more power and proceeded to betray himself.
• Sub-Zero Jumpscare ^ExplanationWhen the Lin Kuei make their first appearance, Sub-Zero makes his entrance by appearing on the rooftops and throwing one of his iceballs at Kung Lao and Raiden, before immediately following it up by pouncing on Raiden. Fans quickly turned it to a meme, comparing it to Foxy's Jumpscares from Five Nights at Freddy's or even the Hunter's pounce from Left 4 Dead. Any 'falling/jumping' memes can also be applied here, and this series already have two, involving Jarek or even Bi-Han himself.
• "Reiko, who hurt you?"^ExplanationReiko's Fatalities, especially his second one are widely considered some of the most violent and painful-looking in the game, leading many to ask this very question.
• THINK, LIU KANG, THINK!!^ExplanationWith Omni-Man being a Guest Fighter, it's inevitable that some of his memes are going to bleed to this game. The most famous being the "THINK, MARK, THINK!" meme, but directed to Liu Kang, who's on the receiving end of his Fatal Blow, based on his No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Mark before he said the line, on his reveal trailer, additionally because Liu Kang did have some 'unforeseen consequences' when making the timeline. Many are hoping that his 'pointing to the head with both fingers' somehow makes it as some sort of pose. After his release, fans were ecstatic to see that the pose is one of his possible round win poses.
• "DON'T I SCARE YOU IN THE LEEAAST?!"^ExplanationWhenever people bring up Megan Fox's performance as Nitara, there is a very good chance that they will bring up this particular line when criticizing her. And because this line is used when she's facing Johnny Cage, it's also common for her to be compared negatively to the performance of Jean-Claude Van Damme.
• "Nope" ^ExplanationJust this single word comprises Antony Starr's response to the question of him voicing Homelander. It was shortly declared to be "the most devastating one-word answer in history."
• "Deja de leer el mapa Tomas!"^ExplanationTranslation: "Stop reading the map, Thomas!". The Latin American fanbase began making edits of scenes with Sub-Zero, Scorpion and Smoke by splicing dialogue from the Regular Show episode Terror Tales of the Park II where Muscle Man berates Thomas for supposedly reading the map into scenes involving the trio, with Bi-Han/Sub-Zero acting as Muscle Man due to his jerkassery towards Smoke/Tomas (who takes Thomas' place) and Scorpion as Benson. This in turn lead to a surge of dubs using other dialogues from either Regular Show or another work to fit in scenes of the game with the same effect.
• Geras (double) BBC Combo^ExplanationA common combo attack for Geras is to freeze the opponent in a compromising position, usually bent over, before having Geras do a string of attacks that bear resemblance to a Pelvic Thrust, making it look like Geras is performing sexual intercourse on the opponent as shown in this Reddit post, with the Double Time-created clone allowing him to do an even more dirtier-looking combo that resembles double penetration. It became common for online players to perform this combo and leave the match immediately after.
• Li Meg^ExplanationLi Mei' s pariah status is often exaggerated to the point where she is compared to Meg Griffin, an infamous Butt-Monkey who is hated and mistreated by almost everyone. It doesn't help that her Deception skin includes a bandana that brings Meg's signature beanie to mind as well as having a huge bald patch when it vanishes for certain moves.
• Reiko's price tag^ExplanationReiko's default outfit features a badge hanging off of his armor that denotes his rank, which greatly resembles a price tag. Both General Shao and Goro have similar badges, but Reiko's is more noticeable due to the positioning of it. This has led to many jokes about how Reiko only bought his armor for one fight and left the tag on because he plans to return it to the store later, or that he forgot to remove the tag.
• Liu Kang in heat^ExplanationUpon the game’s release, players took notice of the rampant Adaptational Attractiveness everyone underwent, especially the more monstrous Kombatants like General Shao, Baraka, and Reptile. Fans began joking that Liu Kang intentionally made everyone hotter, with some variation of Liu Kang being in a state of horniness during the creation of the New Era.

Other media

Mortal Kombat: The Movie

• "YOUR SOUL IS MINE!"^ExplanationShang Tsung's line is by far the most quoted line of the film.
• "'Ello, baby."^ExplanationTrevor Goddard's portrayal of Kano made him a Fountain of Memes, even affecting his portrayal in the games.
• "Those were $500 sunglasses, asshole!"^ExplanationJohnny Cage utters this quote before finishing off Goro and knocking him off a cliff.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

• "Too bad YOU... will die!"^ExplanationSindel's line falls squarely into the So Bad, It's Good territory, with the actress' overdramatic delivery.
• "And it is GLORIOUS!"^ExplanationShao Kahn's boast about beginning the invasion is a prime example of Large Ham, with Brian Thompson going an extra mile with his delivery.

Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm

• KOMBAT TIME!!^ExplanationSonya gains several Leeroy Jenkins tendencies in the series, often rushing into danger while shouting this line.

Mortal Kombat: Conquest

• SIRO, THE GREATEST MORTAL KOMBAT KHARACTER!^ExplanationStarted as a Running Gag on Phelous's episodic review of the entire series, the idea of an obscure Ensemble Dark Horse being "the greatest", coupled with Phelous's delivery, have made the phrase and its variations quite popular.
• That's it... ^ExplanationThe scene where Siro crumpled up a written ultimatum from the Black Dragon into a ball with his fist while uttering the line in question in episode 7 "Debt of the Dragon" is another meme that originated from being a running-gag of Phelous's reviews. Daniel Bernhardt's delivery and conviction certainly helped.

Mortal Kombat (2021)

• "Why isn't Chun-Li in [franchise]?"^explanationSpawned from a Jezebel article that facetiously joked that Chun-Li was part of the Mortal Kombat series and had been left out of the film, joking that it "sounds like a pretty big plot hole to me that the ultimate ''street fight'' is supposed to be won by a ragtag team helmed by Sonya Blade" Many users on Twitter got outraged at the article, believing it to be serious. An update reading "Chun-Li is not part of the Mortal Kombat megaverse. Wow!" confused people further.
• "What do you mean?"^explanationJax apparently doesn't know what a birthmark is, asking "What do you mean?" and needing the concept that a birthmark is a mark you are born with explained to him. In the actual movie the lines are reverse, saying first that he was born with it, then Jax asks and she clarifies it's a birthmark, which is much less stupid.
• Where’s Johnny Cage? ^explanationFor people who are familiar with the games, fans have griped and questioned the apparent absence of Johnny Cage. Recently though, the filmmakers revealed that Johnny Cage isn’t in the movie because of Kano; Kano's already set to be the Comic Relief in this Darker and Edgier adaptation of the series and the filmmakers felt that having two egotistical showboats in the same movie would cause them to overshadow each other. They do intend on including Cage if a sequel for this movie is greenlit. Indeed, the film's Sequel Hook explicitly teases him.
• "Cole has literal plot armor!" ^explanationCole is revealed to have the ability to create armor around his torso; his detractors have been saying this and similar variations as a Take That! towards the character.
• "I have risen from Hell to kill you."^explanationScorpion's line at the start of the finale fight is both incredibly obvious and very badass.
• "He's about to get his soul sucked."^explanationSaid by Kabal to Liu Kang, right as Shang Tsung kills Kung Lao in the usual manner. This line gets memed a lot due to how unintentionally lewd it sounds, coupled with Kabal's husky voice and his close proximity to Liu.

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