Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge is a 2020 American direct-to-video adult animated martial arts film based on the Mortal Kombat franchise created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. South Korean studio Mir animated the film and was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The film centers around the titular character seeking his revenge on those who murdered his family and clan after being resurrected by Quan Chi, while Johnny Cage, Liu Kang and Sonya Blade are chosen to participate on the Mortal Kombat tournament for the fate of Earthrealm.
It marks the first Mortal Kombat based property to be produced at Warner Bros. Animation after its parent company acquired the franchise in 2009 from Midway Games, and the first Mortal Kombat animated project since the 1996 animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, featuring co-creator Ed Boon involved as creative consultant as well as the first Mortal Kombat film to be rated R by the MPA.
The film was released on April 14, 2020, on digital, and on April 28 for 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD releases. A sequel, Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, was released on August 31, 2021.
== Plot ==
In Japan, Shirai Ryu grandmaster Hanzo Hasashi and his young son Satoshi are ambushed on their way home by several assassins from the rival Lin Kuei clan. Hasashi kills them after discovering that the Lin Kuei have slaughtered the rest of the Shirai Ryu, including his wife, Harumi. The Lin Kuei's Grandmaster Sub-Zero appears, uses his freezing abilities to restrain Hanzo in ice, and then slaughters Satoshi by crushing his neck. He then impales Hanzo through the neck with an icicle, killing him.
The thunder god Raiden and the Shaolin monk Liu Kang make preparations to defend Earthrealm by participating in the Mortal Kombat tournament, hosted by the aging warlock Shang Tsung. The tournament's victor will battle Goro to decide the fate of Earthrealm. The pair are accompanied by out-of-work Hollywood actor Johnny Cage and Special Forces agent Sonya Blade, with both having their reasons for participating: Sonya is in pursuit of Black Dragon crime syndicate leader Kano, while Cage believes that he is participating in a film project.
Meanwhile, in the Netherrealm, Hasashi awakens to impending torment from the Demon Torturer. Hasashi escapes and kills the Demon Torturer and several other demons. He finally meets with the sorcerer Quan Chi, who persuades Hanzo to fight for him in the Mortal Kombat tournament so that he can exact his revenge on Sub-Zero. Hanzo agrees, dubbing himself Scorpion.
Upon arrival on Shang Tsung's island, Scorpion attempts to steal Shinnok's amulet on Quan Chi's orders, but Raiden persuades him not to follow through on the deal. Meanwhile, Cage, Sonya, and Liu Kang witness Sonya's partner Jackson "Jax" Briggs having his arms ripped off by Goro until Raiden intervenes, and cauterizes Jax's arms. During the course of the tournament, Cage barely claims victory over a Tarkatan and realizes he is in an actual fighting tournament, not an action film. Sonya successfully garrotes Reptile, and Kang fights Kitana, emerging as the winner when she yields. In an attempt to stop the Earthrealm heroes, Kano has his assassins infiltrate the island to kill them, but they are all killed by Scorpion. While attempting to fight Kano, Sub-Zero appears and helps deal with the assassins, but a vengeful Scorpion attacks him and tackles him off a bridge into a spike pit, impaling them both and killing Sub-Zero. Cage and Sonya pursue Kano to rescue Jax while Kang rushes to Shang Tsung's throne room to face Goro.
Quan Chi appears before Scorpion and reveals that he was directly responsible for the slaughter of the Shirai Ryu, having disguised himself as Sub-Zero and manipulated the Lin Kuei into doing his bidding and that the real Sub-Zero had no part in the massacre. Enraged, Scorpion removes himself from the spike to exact revenge. At the climax of the tournament, Shang Tsung is revealed to have already known of Quan Chi's true intentions from the beginning and captures him. Liu Kang is almost killed during his match with Goro but is saved when Scorpion kills Goro with his kunai, while Cage, Sonya, and Jax successfully kill Kano. Shang Tsung attempts to have Scorpion fight Kang, but the spectre outsmarts the sorcerer and attacks him instead, forcing him to give him the amulet and willingly forfeit his status as a fighter, in turn securing Kang's position as the victor of the tournament. Tsung warns that Shao Kahn will have his revenge as he retreats to Outworld. The island begins to collapse, forcing the Earthrealm heroes to evacuate by a nearby boat. At the same time, Scorpion succeeds in killing Quan Chi in kombat before joining his family and clan in the afterlife. Later on the ship, Raiden tells Liu Kang that it was not his destiny to defeat Goro but to defeat Shao Kahn himself.
In the aftermath, Shang Tsung is tortured by Shao Kahn for his failure before being ordered to prepare for Earthrealm's invasion.
==== Summaries ====
Hanzo Hasashi loses his family during an attack by a rival clan the Lin Kuei. He is given the chance to compete in an inter-dimensional tournament to save his loved ones while other fighters try to save the Earth realm from annihilation.
== Voice cast ==
* Patrick Seitz as Hanzo Hasashi / Scorpion
* Steve Blum as Bi-Han / Sub-Zero
* Jordan Rodrigues as Liu Kang
* Dave B. Mitchell as Raiden, Lin Kuei Warrior
* Joel McHale as Johnny Cage
* Jennifer Carpenter as Sonya Blade
* Ike Amadi as Jax Briggs
* Darin De Paul as Quan Chi
* Artt Butler as Shang Tsung, Lin Kuei Assassin
* Robin Atkin Downes as Kano, Shinnok
* Grey Griffin as Satoshi Hasashi, Kitana
* Kevin Michael Richardson as Goro, Bystander
* Fred Tatasciore as Demon Torturer, Shao Kahn
== Production ==
=== Development ===
Reports of a new animated Mortal Kombat film was hinted at in January 2019 as a tie–in to the upcoming live–action reboot film Mortal Kombat. A year later, the animated film was announced officially as Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge. Upon the film's official release, a special variant of the Warner Bros. Animation logo featured Scorpion strangling the Looney Tunes character Daffy Duck in place of Porky Pig for the normal opening logo. The logo originally was going to be where Daffy was impaled through the head by Scorpion's Kunai, but that was changed due to the studio having to adhere to age-appropriation regulations for their opening logos. This would follow up a year later in the film's sequel, Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms featuring Shaggy Rogers from Scooby-Doo strangling Scorpion.
=== Casting ===
The film sees Patrick Seitz returning to voice Scorpion from previous installments after not returning to the role in Mortal Kombat 11 (where he was replaced by Ron Yuan), along with Steve Blum (known for voicing the Kuai Liang version of Sub-Zero since Mortal Kombat X) as the Bi-Han version of Sub-Zero, Grey Griffin voicing Kitana properly after previously turning down the role in Mortal Kombat X due to her pregnancy at the time and Kevin Michael Richardson reprising his role as Goro for the first time in twenty-five years since the 1995 film.
== Release ==
=== Rating ===
Ed Boon confirmed on his Twitter account that the film will receive an "R" rating, marking the first time a Mortal Kombat film has been rated R.
=== Marketing ===
The first trailer was released online on January 28, 2020. A red-band trailer for the film was released on March 8, 2020, during the "Final Kombat" tournament following the trailer debut of Mortal Kombat 11 guest fighter, Spawn.
=== Home media ===
The film earned $508,501 from domestic DVD sales and $2,126,194 from domestic Blu-ray sales, bringing its total home video earning to $2,634,695.
== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 90% based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10.
== Sequel ==
Main article: Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms
In June 2021, it was announced that a sequel was happening, entitled Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms, with most of the cast and crew from Scorpion's Revenge set to return for the film. It debuted on August 31, 2021, on Digital, and September 14, 2021, on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray.
== Trivia ==
* The first film in the Mortal Kombat franchise to get an R rating.
* It has been well documented that the Johnny Cage character was inspire by Jean-Claude Van Damme. During a fight you can see Johnny Cage perform Van Damme's signature helicopter kick.
* "Mortal Kombat" creator Ed Boon was creative consultant on the film.
* There is a scene where two fighters compete with each other in breaking anvils. This is a reference to the "Test Your Might" mini-games in the Mortal Kombat games, where players tested their strength on blocks of material, of increasing hardness (wood, stone, steel, etc).
* Kevin Michael Richardson reprises his role as the voice of Goro from Mortal Kombat (1995).
* Johnny Cage asks a winged one-eyed lady about organic foods, who then snarls at him. This lady is the vampire fighter Nitara.
* Liu Kang, Raiden, Kano, Sonya, Scorpion, Reptile, Quan Chi, Kitana, Jax and Goro have their designs based on their Mortal Kombat X (2015) standard costume.
* The second animated Mortal Kombat movie since Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins (1995).
* Johnny Cage gives an autograph to a monk in Shang Tsung's Island. This is a reference to his Friendship move in the Mortal Kombat games where he hands his opponent his autograph.
* Scorpion in the WB logo at the beginning was producer Rick Morales's idea. He originally intended Scorpion to pull Daffy to him with a kunai through the head.
* The film's battles feature various X-Ray shots of bones/organs being damaged. These shots are a tradition of the Mortal Kombat games Mortal Kombat (2011) and Mortal Kombat X (2015).
* Shang Tsung standing between the 2 fighters, announcing "Fight!" before battle is a direct reference to the game series.
* When the old palace collapses after a fight involving Johnny Cage, he looks back saying, "Toasty." Referencing an Easter egg that was first featured in the Mortal Kombat II video game.
* The centaur fighter Motaro makes a cameo appearance as a monster Kano deploys against Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage.
* Joel McHale improvised a lot of Johnny Cage's lines.
* A poster of "Ninja Mime" can be seen at Johnny Cage's residence.
* On July 12, 2021, the film was banned in Russia after experts found that it could motivate aggressive or self-harming behavior, making it the first Warner Bros. Animation film to ever be banned in a single country.
* In Germany, this was the first traditionally animated film since Dick Figures: The Movie (2013) to be rated FSK-18 in that country.
* Johnny Cage showing the middle finger to his opponent while making a backflip is the reference to Titan Fight scene from the Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
* The death of Hanzo's son, Satoshi, was originally going to show Sub-Zero's ice spike going through his neck in full, but was changed so that it can barely be seen.
== Gallery ==
== Animation Crew ==
* Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge Animation Credits Crew
== External links ==
* Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge at IMDb
Category:2020 films
Category:2020s American animated films
Category:2020 animated films
Category:2020 direct-to-video films
Category:2020 fantasy films
Category:2020 martial arts films
Category:American adult animated films
Category:American action films
Category:American splatter films
Category:Animated films about revenge
Category:2020s English-language films
Category:Films about parallel universes
Category:Films produced by Sam Register
Category:Films set on fictional islands
Category:Martial arts fantasy films
Category:Martial arts tournament films
Category:Mortal Kombat films
Category:Ninja films
Category:Resurrection in film
Category:Warner Bros. Animation animated films
Category:Warner Bros. direct-to-video animated films
Category:Warner Bros. direct-to-video films
Category:Films directed by Ethan Spaulding
Category:Anime-influenced Western animation