10 Most Popular Mortal Kombat Characters

First Appearance: Mortal Kombat

The protagonist of the Mortal Kombat franchise, Liu Kang is a Shaolin Monk who acts as the Champion of Earthrealm. He is Mortal Kombats homage to the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee, similarly to Fei Long from Street Fighter, Marshal Law from Tekken and Kim Dragon from World Heroes. Liu Kang appears as a playable character in every Mortal Kombat game, except for 2002’s Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.

In the original game, Liu Kang is able to defeat Outworlds champion, Goro, as well as Shang Tsung in the first Mortal Kombat tournament and Shao Kahn in the second Mortal Kombat tournament.

Liu Kang is eventually killed by the Deadly Alliance, being resurrected in the following games as a Zombie by Raiden. In the current timeline, Liu Kang was accidently killed by Raiden before he could face Shao Kahn during the Outworld invasion. He is made into a revenant by Quan Chi and remains this way throughout the events of Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11.

Liu Kang is a popular character among the franchise, often being a fast versatile character easily able to put major dents into his opponents. He has a variety of iconic attacks, namely his ‘Bicycle Kick’, in which he flies at the opponent, kicking them repeatedly as if pedalling a bicycle. Liu Kang serves as an easy gateway to a variety of other characters and remains beloved by fans since the original game.