Liu Kang

Liu Kang is one of the main characters from the Mortal Kombat series.
== Charactah Account ==
Known as "The Immortal Champion of Mortal Kombat," Liu Kang is one of the best warriors of Earthrealm, and has beaten many powerful foes to prove his valor. Throughout the years, Liu Kang has been portrayed as the main hero of the series, becoming champion after the events of the first game.
Liu Kang has found a nemesis in the traitorous Shang Tsung, a sorcerer who he has defeated on numerous occasions. He is often considered the greatest threat to the plans of Shang and his emperor, Shao Kahn. He is a member of the White Lotus Society and trains extensively at the Wu Shi Academy. It was at the Academy that he was murdered by a Deadly Alliance of Shang with Quan Chi.
His body was resurrected without his spirit in Mortal Kombat: Deception. This physical half killed hundreds of innocent people, with the skills he refined to protect them while he was alive. Liu Kang retained his personality as a zombie, as he still had his trademark yells.
== Appearance ==
=== Cartoons ===
* Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm
=== Comics ===
* Mortal Kombat
* Mortal Kombat 4
* Mortal Kombat Collector's Edition
* Mortal Kombat II Collector's Edition
* Mortal Kombat Tournament Edition
* Mortal Kombat VS DC Universe
* Mortal Kombat X
* Mortal Kombat: Battlewave
* Mortal Kombat: Goro, Prince of Pain
* Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition II
* Nintendo Power
=== Video Games ===
* Mortal Kombat
* Mortal Kombat (2011)
* Mortal Kombat 3
* Mortal Kombat 4
* Mortal Kombat 11
* Mortal Kombat Advance
* Mortal Kombat Gold
* Mortal Kombat II
* Mortal Kombat Mobile
* Mortal Kombat Trilogy
* Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
* Mortal Kombat X
* Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
* Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
* Mortal Kombat: Deception
* Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
* Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition
* Mortal Kombat: Unchained
* Ultimate Mortal Kombat
* Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
== Trivia ==
* Liu Kang was originally going to be called Yoshitsune Minamoto, a historical character based on a famous Japanese clan but John Tobias stated that they could not deal with the name.
* Although "Liu", a common Chinese surname, is generally treated as Liu Kang's family name as seen in various localizations in Asia per his localized name , his surname is officially "Kang" in Mortal Kombat Collector's Edition, the SNES manual of Mortal Kombat, and the 1995 film. This is further reinforced by the introduction of his ancestor, Cheh Kang, in a Mirror Match intro in MK11.
* Liu Kang is said to be one of the Great Kung Lao's descendants in the 1995 film Mortal Kombat and its spin-off trading card.
** It should be noted that Kung Lao is the Hokkien and Cantonese pronunciation of "鋼劉" (while Kang Liu is Mandarin).
* Liu Kang's official theme is "Born in China", which is featured in Mortal Kombat: The Album.
* According to his person information in Mortal Kombat, Liu Kang's father is Lee Kang and his mother is Lin Kang. He also has a younger brother, Chow Kang.
* Liu Kang is the longest running protagonist in franchise history, playing the hero for an entire decade. However, in recent years, he has been written into increasingly-antagonistic roles, starting as a monstrous zombie beginning in Mortal Kombat Deception and culminating in becoming an anger-driven enemy in Mortal Kombat (2011), resulting in his accidental death at Raiden's hands. Throughout Mortal Kombat X'sstory mode, though he is an unwillingly evil revenant, his behavior portrays him as a self-centered, taunting and vengeful warrior, while his human form in the game's Arcade mode portrays him as jaded and self-aggrandizing. Mortal Kombat 11 sees his return to the series protagonist for the first time in over two decades.
* Liu Kang retains all of his special moves from Mortal Kombat into Mortal Kombat (2011).
* Liu Kang is uniquely playable in all 5 Mortal Kombat Arcade games, this being MK, MKII, MK3, UMK3, and MK4.
* Liu Kang has been in every major game but not every spin-off. The only major game to not feature him as a playable character was Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.
* Liu Kang is the default choice for player 1 in MKII and the default choice for player 2 in MK3. In both games, the opposing default character is a reptile-themed villain (Reptile and Shang Tsung respectively.)
* Ho Sung Pak, who played Liu Kang in the first two games, also portrayed Shang Tsung in the first game as well. He did not reprise his role in MK3 along with other actors from MK & MK II. He was replaced by Eddie Wong.
* Liu Kang is unique in that he has his own voice files in each game he has appeared in, which consist of 'kiai', a shouting technique that serves to maximize the force of the user's attacks.
* Liu Kang's dialogue speaking voice was changed from a regular American voice in Shaolin Monks to a more East Asian inspired accent in MK vs DCU. MK 2011 and MKX saw the return of an American accent, which was then replaced with an East Asian accent in MK11.
* Liu Kang is in several "Top 10" lists hosted by Screwattack.com. His zombie form was placed at #9 of the worst characters in the Mortal Kombat series due to his late accessibility (needing to clear Konquest Mode in Deception) as well as his zombie status; and both his Dragon Bite and Deadly Uppercut Fatalities were both placed at #2 of the best and worst Fatalities in the Mortal Kombat series respectively.
* Liu Kang was the second fighting-game character to be based on Bruce Lee. He is predated only by Kim Dragon from World Heroes, released two months before the first MK game.
** An interaction with Reptile in Mortal Kombat X has the Saurian refer to Liu Kang as "Little Dragon", which was the English translation for Bruce Lee's mandarin name, Li Xiao Long.
* An achievement for the Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection is called THE CHOSEN ONE, referring to Liu Kang's moniker in the films. It is earned by completing all three tournaments.
* Liu Kang is one of the few characters in the series to be listed as multiple species: Human, Undead, Revenant, and God. He ties with Sub-Zero who at different points has been a Human, a Revenant, a Cyborg and, in his MKA ending, a God for the most depicted species.
* The wrestler Human Tornado uses a move he calls the Liu Kang Kick in homage to the character.
* According to Daniel Pesina on the WWE wrestler Xavier Wood's UpUpDownDown Youtube Channel, Liu Kang's later design from MKII onward was modeled after Marvel's character Shang Chi.
== Gallery ==
File:Liu Kang Render 01.png
File:Liu Kang Render 02.png
File:Liu Kang Render 03.png
File:Liu Kang Render 04.png
File:Liu Kang Render 05.png
File:Liu Kang Render 06.png
File:Liu Kang Render 07.png
== External Links ==
* Liu Kang at Mortal Kombat Wiki
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Category:Mortal Kombat