Mortal Kombatis a tenured franchise that drums up excitement any time a new installment is announced. It has developed a proven track record as the series continually sets the bar for visuals and narrative within the fighting game genre. However, while gameplay is a key factor inMortal Kombat’s success, crossover characters have also become a major draw for recent entries in the series.
Starting with the inclusion of Freddy Krueger in 2011’sMortal Kombat, the series has continued to include more and more guest characters in its games. This trend has continued in 2023’sMortal Kombat 1, with characters like Omni-Man, Homelander, and Peacemaker joining the game’s roster in Kombat Pack 1. NetherRealm Studios has confirmed that the recently announcedKombat Pack 2will bring even more guest characters toMortal Kombat 1, but many fans are questioning NetherRealm’s decision-making behind the collaborations selected for the Khaos Reigns expansion.
The Handling of Kombat Packs in MK1
Taking a look back at the Kombat Packs inMortal Kombat XandMortal Kombat 11, each game had thematic camps that its characters could be sorted into.MKXsourced its characters from classic horror and science fiction films, bringing Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, the Predator, and the Xenomorph into the fold. MK11 then followed this up by including 80s and early-90s action movie protagonists like Rambo,RoboCop, and the Terminator. It also added some darker comic book characters in the form of Spawn and the Joker.
WhenMK1’s first Kombat Packwas revealed, many assumed that this pattern from the previous games would continue. Omni-Man, Homelander, and Peacemaker were all edgy, murderous “heroes” that had popped up in recent comic TV adaptations. However, rather than continue this motif or create a new one, Kombat Pack 2 is taking an entirely different — and somewhat confusing — path with its guest characters.
Kombat Pack 2’s Inconsistent Character Choices
MK1’s second batch of guest characters will feature Ghostface from theScreamfranchise, the T-1000 fromTerminator 2: Judgment Day, andArnold Schwarzenegger’s Conan the Barbarian. While all of these characters are certainly violent enough to fit into aMortal Kombatgame, their inclusion feels random. Not only are the T-1000 and Conan far from relevant at this point in time, but there’s nothing that ties Kombat Pack 2’s characters to each other or those in Kombat Pack 1 — besides the obvious jokes to be made about the T-1000’s Robert Patrick playing Peacemaker’s dad in the Max streaming series.
The sole connector for these characters is that they each would have been a better fit for a previousMortal Kombatgame. Ghostface slots perfectly into the serial killer-heavy roster ofMKX, Conan is a great match for the retro action heroes ofMK11,and the T-1000 could arguably fit into either game as both a sci-fi villain and another terminator.
The Downside of NetherRealm Breaking with Tradition
Mortal Kombat 1continuing down the twisted comic character route could have allowed for some truly fun inclusions in the game. Guests like Judge Dredd or the Comedian would have paired nicely with Kombat Pack 1 and been easy to incorporate from a gameplay perspective.Rumored DLC characters forMortal Kombat 1even included Harley Quinn and Deathstroke at one point, who similarly would have meshed with the game’s theme and filled the void for impatientInjusticefans. Even with Kombat Pack 2 moving away from this realm, having some homogeneity between its guest characters would have been more satisfying for players and more logical for the game.
Tossing together a hodgepodge of unrelated pop culture figures certainly makes the task of selecting DLC characters easier for NetherRealm, but it takes away the charm that these Kombat Packs typically bring. The thematic similarities that guest characters in previous Kombat Packs shared supplied their respective games with a unique identity. They also gave players that toy box feel of getting to put hotly debated match-ups like RoboCop and the Terminator or Omni-Man and Homelander to the test. After theKhaos Reigns DLCannouncement,Mortal Kombat 1is instead left feeling more akin toFortnite’s IP palooza than the thoughtfully constructed experiences thatMKXandMK11provided.
