Sub-Zero

**Kuai Liang**, AKA **Sub-Zero**, is one of the main protagonists of the *Mortal Kombat* series. He fought Ken Masters from Street Fighter in episode 6 of Mini Rumble Season 2.

## Description

Kuai Liang is the young brother of the previous Sub-Zero Bi-Han, codenamed Tundra, taking up his brother's name and uniform after he was killed by Scorpion during the events of Mortal Kombat. While an assassin in the Lin Kuei, his moral conscience about the clan's doings, including automation, drove him to defect from the clan.

Both during his exile and after returning to the clan, Sub-Zero has always come to the aid of Raiden and the heroes of Earthrealm whenever needed. After defeating Sektor, Sub-Zero became the Lin Kuei's new grandmaster and strives to reform the clan as a force for good.

## Trivia

### General

* "奎良", the localized Chinese name of Sub-Zero, going by the first name-last name standard (the second character represents the person's first name), can be translated as "Liáng Kuí". 良 *Liáng* ("good") is a rare surname in the Sinophone region.
	+ The alternative Chinese characters for his name *Kuai Liang* are "快涼" (WG: K'uai4 Liang2; PY: Kuài Liáng), literally meaning "Fast and cool"; additionally, "涼快" means "cool".
* The Chinese characters on Sub-Zero's *MK:DA* primary costume "冰龍的" (WG: Ping1-Lung2 tê; PY: Bīng-Lóng te), mean "Ice Dragon's" (as in "this belongs to Ice Dragon"). 冰= "Ice" // 龍= "Dragon" // 的= "'s". His alternative costume of the same game has the same Chinese Characters with addition to another "Ice" (冰龍的冰). As a result, it now means "Ice Dragon's Ice".
* His weapon is called the "*Kōri*-Blade". *Kōri* (or *hyō*) is Japanese for "ice" (氷), *hyōten* (氷点) is "freezing point", and *hyōtenka* (氷点下) is "below freezing" — or, "sub-zero".
* In *Defenders of the Realm*, Sub-Zero is shown to grow weak and debilitated in hot environments. It is unknown if this applies to other depictions.
* In an episode of *Malcolm in the Middle*, Reese mentions the fact that nobody believes that he beat the last level of *Mortal Kombat*, to which Hal responds "Because that's just ridiculous; no one beats Sub-Zero."
* Sub-Zero inspired the professional wrestling character known as Glacier in World Championship Wrestling. Ray Lloyd, a regional Karate champion, played the role for several years.
* Despite not being a playable character in *MK:TE*, he is still involved in Sareena's ending.
* Ed Boon stated that Sub-Zero was originally going to be called "Tundra", which canonically was Sub-Zero's original codename before changing it to Sub-Zero, honoring his fallen brother.
* The game *Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks* has a small Easter egg when two players select Sub-Zero in versus mode; his player 2 outfit is recolored black and resembles Noob Saibot.
* In a Top 10 list hosted by *Screwattack.com*, Sub-Zero was placed at #2 of the Mortal Kombat Characters in the *Mortal Kombat Series*.
	+ In another Top 10 list hosted by *Screwattack.com*, Sub-Zero was placed at #5 of the ninja characters in the video games.
	+ In another Top 10 list hosted by *Screwattack.com*, Sub-Zero's **Spine Rip** Fatality was placed at #1 of the top *Mortal Kombat* Fatalities.
* According to John Vogel, the Sub-Zero who taught Shujinko is an ancestor of the current Sub-Zero. As the event happened decades ago, this Sub-Zero should be Bi-Han and Kuai-Liang's grandfather.
* Machinima held a V.S. video featuring Scorpion and Sub-Zero where fans could vote on who would win. Sub-Zero received 5,728 votes, but Scorpion won with 6,262 votes.
* A parody character called Absolute Zero appears in the game *Adventure Quest Worlds*.
* Kuai Liang's older brother Bi-Han had a weapon called the Troll Hammer in *MK Armageddon*, Kuai Liang has similar weapon in *Mortal Kombat X*, made out of ice.
* Fans of the Saudi Arabian soccer team known as Al-Hilal have payed tribute to Sub-Zero & the Mortal Kombat series before their club's matches first by showing Sub-Zero's face and then showing the words: "Finish 'em."
* Sub-Zero is similar to Taven in the regard that they both have a brother (Noob Saibot/Daegon) that became corrupted (Noob's descent into darkness/Daegon's influence from Shinnok) and both have tried to kill them (Noob in *Deception*/Daegon in *Armageddon*).
* The League of Legends character Shen has two alternate skins that reference both Scorpion and Sub-Zero.
* Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Jax and Sindel are currently the only characters who have returned to Human form from being Revenants.
	+ Sub-Zero is currently the only character to change from two different Revenant forms before returning to Human form.
		- This is because he was transformed into a Revenant as a Cyborg in *MK 2011* then changed into the Revenant form seen in the Story Mode of *Mortal Kombat X* before being returned to Human form.