YMMV / Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms

• Catharsis Factor:
  • D'Vorah has earned the ire of a large segment of the fandom for killing Mileena and Baraka in Mortal Kombat X and the present day version of Scorpion in Mortal Kombat 11. As a result, a lot of fans enjoyed seeing her brutally killed by Sonya.
  • The Lin Kuei Grandmaster has been turning his warriors into cyborgs, willingly or not. Sub-Zero manages to escape this, but the same can’t be said for his friend, Smoke. It's quite wonderful watching him realize he's been unwittingly working for Shinnok, and gets killed by him without even trying to put up a fight.
• Complete Monster: Shinnok, the Mad God himself, is the true ruler of the Neatherrealm. In the past, he was sealed away by the Elder Gods and, as revenge, plans to merge the realms and end existence. Shinnok threatens to flay Scorpion alive and bring him back to do it again if he does not cooperate. When Scorpion escapes, Shinnok hires the Lin Kuei to make sure that Scorpion gets the final piece of Kamidogu, needed to awaken the One Being. The Lin Kuei Grandmaster is horrified to discover this and tries to stop him, though in vain as Shinnok's demons murder him along with Sektor, Cyrax, and Smoke. Shinnok then summons the One Being, merges with him, and beings to merge all the realms together to destroy them all.
• Funny Moments:
  • The Logo Joke. After emerging from the Warner Brothers logo with a display of some of his martial arts prowess, Scorpion is suddenly hit with a Neck Lift from a sorcery-empowered Shaggy Rogers and bodily hauled back into the logo.
    Shaggy: Like, get over here, man.
  • Johnny Cage getting kicked in the nuts this time by D'Vorah in the second trailer is as funny as ever, especially with Sonya's indifferent reaction to it.
    Sonya: Don't be such a baby! It's just a kick in the nuts!
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The use of Ultra Instinct Shaggy in the Logo Joke becomes this when MultiVersus was announced a few months later that will also include Ultra Instinct Shaggy. You might be forgiven for believing that the gag was an unintentional Production Foreshadowing.
• Just Here for Godzilla: A number of people otherwise uninterested in Mortal Kombat were drawn to the film solely for the Logo Joke.
• Love to Hate: Shao Kahn pretty much steamrolls all his fights and brutalizes his opponents both verbally and physically. Which makes him so fun to watch.
• Tear Jerker: While he does get better, Raiden's death at Shao Kahn's hands is this. Especially when Liu Kang tearfully runs over and cradles his mentor's body in his arms. There's also Raiden's last words to Liu Kang were that his parents loved him. As he says that he did too, Shao Kahn breaks his neck.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Li Mei's fans were not pleased that she was not only portrayed as a villain but apparently she was also unceremoniously killed off in a fight with Sonya. In the games, Li Mei had an interesting backstory as an Outworld warrior who sought to win the freedom of her people and was one of the few consistently heroic Outworlders (although she may have actually survived and may or may not appear again.)
  • Like with his portrayal in Mortal Kombat (2021), Kung Lao fans were greatly displeased when he was unceremoniously killed off. Fans are especially displeased with the fact that not only were both of the films to kill him off released in the same year, but they are also currently Kung Lao's only movie appearances, period. Even worse, if one takes his game appearances into account, then this movie marks the fourth time Kung Lao has been killed off within the span of 10 years and the third time he’s been killed off within the span of 2 years. Unlike his portrayal in MK (2021), fans are also displeased with how little Kung Lao contributed to the plot before his death despite his role as The Lancer to Liu Kang. In MK 2021, Kung Lao at least killed Nitara before getting killed by Shang Tsung, whereas here he didn't kill anyone before dying at the hands of Shao Kahn.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Both Shaggy and Scooby-Doo appear in the Warner Bros. Animation Logo Joke of this movie, the former empowered by Quan Chi's sorcery.
  • For the movie itself, was anyone expecting to see the One Being, a character who's never even made a canon appearance in the games, as the Greater-Scope Villain?
  • And for Unexpected Location, how about the Temple of the Elements from the Sub-Zero platformer spinoff?

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