Shang Tsung

Enemy of Liu Kang and soul collector in his youth

Shapeshifting

Pyromancy

Teleportation

Swordsmanship

Cunning

Great fighter with his Jian Straight Sword

Manipulation

Leading and ruling his island.

Hearing the cheer of the crowd in the Mortal Kombat tournaments.

Using his magic to mimic others or appear as them or copy their moves.

Meditating.

Giving orders to his followers.

Training fighters on his island.

Experimenting on living and creating things in his flesh pits.

Keeping prisoners on his island.

Recruiting people to serve him on his island.

Controlling and brainwashing people to do his bidding.

Grand theft animarum

Torture

Kidnapping

Experimenting in his Flesh Pits

Brainwashing

Impersonating others with his magic

Stealing souls

## History

### Mortal Kombat (2011)

Shang Tsung hosts the first Mortal Kombat tournament in his elderly form. It is he who decides who faces who for each match, and forces Johnny Cage to be the first of the Earthrealm fighters to fight first, following insults made by the actor regarding his age. However, Cage overcomes the challenges thrown at him by Shang. Later, after Sonya manages to free her superior Jax from imprisonment, Shang prevents them from leaving his island by shooting their rescue helicopter down. He also attempts to have the Lin Kuei Cyrax killed for speaking with Raiden. When the final Earthrealm competitor Liu Kang remains, Shang attempts to stack the deck against him. Each attempt, however, fails, as Kang defeats all of his challengers, including Goro. Shang is the final opponent for Kang, and is ultimately defeated, sparing Earthrealm from being merged into Outworld.

When Shang Tsung returns to Shao Kahn, he is almost executed for his failure. However, the sorcerer proposes a new idea for a single tournament to be held in Outworld. Shao Kahn agrees to the concept, and rejuvenates Shang. As Shang goes to the Wu Shi Academy to tell Raiden of the latest tournament, Tarkatans attack it when the thunder god rejects. Raiden engages Shang in combat, with the latter managing to escape back to Outworld. During the attack, Sonya is captured by Shang, forcing Raiden to accept the latest rules and start the second tournament.

Shang Tsung is seen in the emperor's throne room, when Raiden, Jax and Johnny Cage show up. Jax impulsively steps up to find out where Sonya is, and Shang announces they have a "volunteer" for first kombat. He then makes Jax fight Baraka. Jax defeats the Tarkatan and then confronts Shang, demanding to know where Sonya is. The sorceror just makes a snide comment about how he and Sonya are always having to rescue each other. He is about to make Jax fight a new opponent, when Reptile appears and whispers something to him. Shang asks the emperor permission to pause the tournament while he attends some important business.

Later, Shang Tsung is seen in the living forest striking a deal to buy Black Dragon weaponry from Kano. They are interrupted by Smoke, who wants to know how the elder Sub-Zero died. After Kano fails to defeat the Lin Kuei ninja, Shang morphs into the elder Sub-Zero and partners with Reptile in an attempt to defeat Smoke, but they ultimately fail. Sektor then appears and attacks Smoke, allowing Shang and his allies to escape and bring the Black Dragon's weaponry.

Shang Tsung is again seen in Shao Kahn's arena, administrating over the matches. When the younger Sub-Zero appears and demands to fight Scorpion, the murderer of his older brother, the sorcerer tells him that no one makes demands of the emperor. He then orders Reptile to attack Sub-Zero.

After Kitana discovers and defeats Mileena in Shang Tsung's flesh pits, the sorcerer appears and reveals to her that he is "perfecting" her by creating clones of her. The two then fight, and Kitana subdues him. When the princess brings Shang to Shao Kahn as punishment for his experiments, she is shocked when her stepfather praises him instead, revealing that he knew about the sorcerer's activities all along. As a result, Kitana is imprisoned while Shang is released and ordered to fetch Mileena. Later on, Kahn has Shang team up with Quan Chi to face Kung Lao, who proves victorious over both sorcerers.

After Shao Kahn's defeat and apparent death at the hands of Liu Kang, Shang Tsung is among the Outworlders deciding who should replace him as emperor. When Mileena is suggested by Baraka, Shang scoffs and argues that Mileena only exists as a result of his sorcery - implying that he should be the new emperor. Kahn emerges, however, and thus Shang's quest to become emperor is quickly ended. Kahn is furious with Shang, as now Outworld can no longer absorb Earthrealm. Quan Chi, however, suggests that Outworld simply invade Earthrealm, convincing the emperor that the Elder Gods are too weak to stop him.

During the invasion, Kabal, a former friend and ally of Kano, is badly burned by Kintaro. Kano brings Kabal back to Outworld, where Shang Tsung uses his magic to heal some of Kabal's injuries. When Motaro is killed by Raiden during the Earthrealm invasion, the recently revived Sindel states that she will finish what Motaro has started. To ensure her success, Shao Kahn drains the souls from Shang Tsung's body and transfers them into Sindel, killing the sorcerer in the process. However, when Raiden asks Quan Chi for assistance in the Netherrealm, Shang is not among the resurrected souls. It is possible that the necromancer did not resurrect him purposely, since Kahn allegedly only granted Quan Chi the souls of the fallen Earthrealm warriors for his service but not those of his own willing servants (hence explaining why Sindel was amongst those Quan Chi resurrected but Shang and Motaro were not).