10 Most Popular Mortal Kombat Characters

First Appearance: Mortal Kombat

Shang Tsung is one of the main villains of the Mortal Kombat franchise, behind the likes of Shao Kahn. He is an ancient Sorcerer, originally from Earthrealm, who has pledged to serve Shao Kahn - despite having ulterior motives. He is playable most games except for 1992’s Mortal Kombat, where he acts as the unplayable final boss, and 2015’s Mortal Kombat X.

In the original game, he has the appearance of an old man and acts as the host of the tournament until his defeat at the hands of Liu Kang. However he returns in the second game, made younger by Shao Kahn. He would not take up the role of main villain again until 2002’s Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, in which he forms one half of the titular ‘Deadly Alliance’ along with Quan Chi. In the current timeline, he is killed by Shao Kahn during the Outworld invasion so that his life force can be used to power Sindel.

Shang Tsung is one of the most popular villains of the series, with his evil, self-serving plots and schemes intertwining with the storylines of most characters. His powers as a sorcerer are seen in his moveset, specifically his signature technique: Morphing. This allows players to morph into the opponent of the match for a short time. This move was most broken in Mortal Kombat Trilogy, in which Shang Tsung had codes allowing him to transform mid-match into any character on the roster.