Reiko

Reiko is a general who has served Shinnok and Shao Kahn. He first appears assisting Shinnok's invasion in Mortal Kombat 4, while Armageddon depicts him under Shao Kahn's command. After making a background cameo in the 2011 reboot, he appears in the Mortal Kombat X prequel comics, in which he becomes a blood god before being betrayed and killed by Havik.
The character was added to Mortal Kombat 4 to replace Noob Saibot after the developers found the game had too many ninja characters. While his original ending simply depicted him walking through a portal, Reiko's FMV ending showed him wearing the helmet of Shao Kahn. This led to speculation that Reiko was Shao Kahn, which was dispelled when the Konquest mode of Deception revealed that Reiko would sneak into Shao Kahn's throne room to wear his helmet. In an interview, John Tobias stated Reiko was intended to be a reincarnation of Shao Kahn, but this story would be disregarded in later installments. Nevertheless, Reiko's appearance and special moves in Armageddon would be stylized after Shao Kahn.
Reiko was played by Jim Helsinger in the 1998 television series Mortal Kombat: Conquest, where he is one of Shao Kahn's generals. Reiko also appeared in the 2021 Mortal Kombat film, portrayed by Nathan Jones, as one of the Outworld champions. In the 2021 animated film Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, he is voiced by Robin Atkin Downes. In the 2023 game Mortal Kombat 1, he is voiced by Derek Phillips.
Reiko placed 42nd on UGO's 2012 list of the top 50 Mortal Kombat characters. Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek rated Reiko last in his 2015 ranking of the series' playable characters for what he considered the wasted potential of his storyline in regards to his connection to Shao Kahn. WhatCulture ranked him fourteenth in their 2015 selection of the series' twenty worst characters for "having zero individuality".
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