Sonya Blade

**General (GEN.) Sonya A. Blade, (USA)** is a female soldier who was a member of Earthrealm's Special Forces unit known as Outer World Investigation Agency (OIA) in the *Mortal Kombat* fighting game series, now she commands all the operations of the Special Forces and Units like the new Earthrealm unit which is Cassie's team. She is one of the few original *Mortal Kombat* characters, debuting in the first *Mortal Kombat* game, and was the first female character introduced in the series.

## About Sonya

General of Earthrealm Special Forces, Sonya Blade is a beautiful, stern, tough-as-nails General. Sonya represents a very emancipated and headstrong woman, but for all her stubbornness and pride, she deeply cares about the lives of her friends and comrades. She has a long-standing enmity with the Black Dragon leader, Kano, who had murdered a former partner of hers, and stands for everything Sonya despises. She has also feuded with other Black Dragon members such as Jarek.

## Appearance

In her first appearance, Sonya wears a green sports bra, matching color pants and white socks. The holster on her pants, along with the groin region, are black. She wears upper arm bands and chunky forearm bands. Her hair is in a bob cut with a head band.

In *UMK3* and *MK Trilogy*, Sonya wears a green-black-and-white sports bra and tights set with black biker gloves,upper arm bands and white socks. She also has longer hair tied into a ponytail.

In *MK4/Gold*, she wears a halter-style crop top and jogger set, a bullet belt on her right leg, calf-high boots, upper arm bands and forearm guards.

In *Deadly Alliance*, *Deception*, *Unchained*, and *Armageddon*, Sonya wears a white crop top, a short Special Forces jacket, dark jeans and black boots, and her alternate is tight, grey-colored jumpsuit. In *MK vs DC Universe*, she replaces the jacket with a beret and long, fingerless sap gloves.

In *MK (2000)*, Sonya wears a short, tight Special Forces vest that goes above her belly button, with two straps buckled up, along with her I.D. badge. She wears a pair of dog tags, as well. On her upper arms, she wears arm bands, some of which form Xs over her biceps and triceps. She also wears dark green-and-black leather pants, a holster, knee-pads, and high-heeled, combat-style boots. Her alternate outfit consists of a white, low-cut crop top, green short shorts, tan hiking boots, green-and-black gloves, a hat, dog tags, and single arm bands just above her elbows.

In *Mortal Kombat Future*, Sonya wears a hat with the Special Forces logo, in a leaked image she wears a Green Beret also in the tower statue her hat says "ARMY", she wears a two colored blue and black leather jacket and a gray shirt, in her render and tower statue, she wears her wedding band along with her dog tags in separate necklaces, the wedding band necklace being the thicker and shorter one which, in her final model, the ring ended up being removed, black pants with blue leather pieces attached to them, carries a gun on the right side, with a couple of pockets and a belts, she has black gauntlets on her arms that allows her to do the Ring Toss and call in the Drone, and black leather boots just like the *Deadly Alliance*, *Deception*, *Unchained*, and *Armageddon military boots.*

## Bios

* **Mortal Kombat** - *"As a girl, Sonya idolized her father, a U.S. Marine. When he embarked on a covert operation and never returned, she vowed to honor his memory. She joined the Marines and pushed herself hard, quickly rising in rank. Sonya's impulsiveness didn't win her many friends, but her skills and loyalty gained the respect and admiration of all who fought beside her. Though she has never given up her quest to uncover the truth behind her father's disappearance, she realizes that she might never see him again. Now Sonya finds herself caught up in the mysterious Mortal Kombat tournament. Like her father, she too could become a casualty of war."*

## Kombat Characteristics

### Power and Abilities

Sonya has the power to fire and manipulate pink-colored energy (in *MKX*, the ability seems to not be magical in origin, but more an effect of using a high-tech weapon), as well as gain temporary flight (or at the very least the ability to maneuver in air). Her abilities are vast, mostly based on agility, as well as deadly and impressive due to her Special Forces training. She is very fast in combat, using quick and effective kicks and strikes. She also incorporates gymnastics into some of her moves, such as her **Kartwheel Kick** move and **Scissor Split** fatality. She is also, along with Liu Kang, Nightwolf, Johnny Cage, Jax, Sub-Zero, Smoke, Kabal and Stryker, one of Raiden's Chosen Warriors (being the only Earthrealm female with this honor) and, thus, one of the strongest fighters not only in Earthrealm, but all the realms.

In her Covert Ops variation focuses on hand-to-hand combat and brings back some of her classic moves. The Demolition variation gives her grenades to use againist the opponent in various ways, but she can only have up to three of them stored before having to call in a **Drone** to give her more. The Special Forces variation allows her to call in this drone and command it to attack the opponent in multiple ways.

## Movelist

### Signature Moves

* **Energy Rings:** Clanging her wrists together, she sends out pink ring-like projectiles that would hit the opponent.
	+ In *MK:D*, the enhanced version is called **Rings Of Justice** and fires two rings, one at normal height and the other at a lower level.
	+ In *MK:A*, the enhanced version is called **Energy Blast**. The **Ring** has increased damage and knocks the enemy down.
* **Leg Grab:** Sonya does a handstand and grabs her opponent with her feet, then slams them to the ground behind her.
	+ In *MK:DA*, the enhanced version is called **Krazy Legs**. After the opponent is slammed onto the ground, they bounce over Sonya, who grabs them by the feet and slams them back down.
	+ In *MKII*, the enhanced version **Leg Slam** has armor.
* **Kiss:** Sonya blows a kiss that stuns the opponent by irritating their eyes. Note that this move won't work on Kenshi, due to the fact that he is blind. This is partially used to start her X-Ray.
	+ The enhanced version is called **Deadly Kiss** and hits the opponent at a further distance. This can be charged as well, but doesn't change the distance.
* **Arc Kick:** Sonya performs a kick that arcs through the air, enabling her to hit the opponent in the air or on the ground.
	+ In *MKF*, the enhanced version is called **Arc Wave**and travels at a faster speed, as well having increased damage.
	+ In *MKII*, the enhanced version is called **Flying Kick**, which has armor and travels faster. It will hit the enemy three times if they're very close to Sonya, but only once with much less damage if the enemy is too far.
* **Air Drop:** Sonya does a straight down kick after jumping in the air. If blocked, she's left in an extremely vulnerable state. In *MKII*, it's possible to combo after the kick if it hits, but it no longer has an enhanced version.
	+ The enhanced version is called **Air Strikes** and will do multiple kicks on the way down.

####  Special Forces

Can call in a Special Forces Drone for additional attacks. Tactical armband emits a green glow.

* **Drone:** Sonya calls in a drone, which will float next to her until a command is given. If not used, its lights will flash after some time and then it will disappear.
	+ **Park Drone:** Sonya makes the drone stand still at any part of the arena. Its lights get white while it's parked. She can use **Remove Park** to make it follow her again.
	+ **Heavy Blast:** The drone shoots an overhead blast at the enemy to knock them down. Its lights get blue when performing this. Only hits close enemies.
	+ **Homing Missile:** The drone shoots homing electric energy at the enemy to knock them down. Its lights get blue when performing this.
	+ **Kamikaze:** The drone flies straight at the enemy and explodes upon contact with them. Its lights get red while performing this.
	+ **Low Kamikaze:** The drone flies at the enemy's feet and explodes upon contact with them. Its lights get red while performing this.

#### Covert Ops

Gains the Garrote Parry and Military Stance. Black, camouflaged face paint is added onto her face.

* **Kartwheel:** Sonya performs a cartwheel at her opponent, kicking them on impact. In *MKII*, this can be done during **Military Stance**, which is called **Double Kick** and bounces the opponent to the air, but has no enhanced version due to now being a basic attack.
	+ The enhanced version is called **Kartwheel Bash** and increases in damage.
* **Garrote Parry:** Sonya extends her garrote in front of herself to parry high punches or kicks. If the opponent strikes her with one of these, she will wrap their wrist or ankle with the garrote and be allowed to strike them in two different ways before they break free.
	+ **Eagle Strike:** Sonya turns her opponent around and strikes them to make them kneel, then throws them in the air with a knee to their back and finally punches them to the ground in mid-air.
	+ **Freedom Strike:** Sonya wraps the garrote around the opponent's neck to throw them over her and slam them on the ground behind her. As they stand up, still stunned by the strike, she punches them away.
	+ The enhanced version **Garrote Punish** is activated slightly faster and replaces **Eagle Strike** and **Freedom Strike** for two different strike options.
		- **Stiff Neck:** Sonya wraps the garrote around the opponent'ts neck to flip over them, crouch behind them and pull them to her, hitting them with her backs and stunning them for combos.
		- **Justice:** Sonya wraps the garrote around the opponent'ts neck to pull herself to it, leaping at their neck with her crotch and slamming them on the ground with her legs, which bounces them and allows for a juggle.

#### Demolition

Gains various Explosive and Disruptor Grenades. Grenade cartridge bands are secured on either thigh.

* **Drone Drop:** A flying drone appears to give Sonya more grenades, always leaving her with the total of three.
	+ The enhanced version makes the drone itself fire grenades at the opponent, each one at a different distance. It will fire the number of grenades its normal version would normally give Sonya, so if she only has two of them, it will fire one, or if she has none it will fire three, for example.
* **Frag Grenade:** Sonya throws a frag grenade at the opponent, and it explodes after a short time, launching them in the air. There are close, medium and far versions of this move, and the grenade can be detonated prematurely with **Detonate**.
	+ The enhanced version is called **Shrapnel** and makes Sonya throw all remaining grenades at once in the air, in an arc like fashion.
* **Stun Grenade:** Sonya throws a stun grenade at the opponent, and it explodes after a short time, electrocuting them. As with the **Frag Grenades**, there are close, medium and far versions of this move, and the grenade can be detonated prematurely with **Detonate**.
	+ The enhanced version is called **Flashbang** and makes Sonya throw all remaining grenades at once in the air, in an arc like fashion.

### Other Moves

* **Throw:** Sonya climbs her enemy, getting to their back, and uses her weight to toss them into the air.
* **Reverse Throw:** Sonya grabs her opponent by the shoulders and knees him/her in the stomach. She then flips them over her shoulder.

### X-Ray Move

* **SF Beat Down**: Sonya initiates her X-Ray Move with a series of punches and kicks (two of each), which if any one (all, in some cases) of them lands, she then performs a leg grab on the opponent's neck, snaps it, then she uses the inverted bicycle kick and slams him/her on the ground head first, breaking their skull and neck.

## Finishing Moves

### Fatalities

* **Fire Kiss:** This fatality has been Sonya's trademark fatality ever since *MK*. She would blow a flaming kiss in the direction of her opponent, burning him/her alive.
	+ In *MKF*, this Fatality is renamed as **Kiss of Death**.
* **Scissor Split:** Sonya performs her leg grab trademark move and grabs her opponent with her legs, holding them high momentarily before ripping the body apart by splitting her legs.

### Brutalities

* **Thigh Master:** Sonya delivers multiple punches and kicks before doing a **Leg Grab** that separates their legs from their body and slams the body into the ground with such force, the face is rubbed off from contact with the ground.
* **Boot to Head:** Sonya tricks the opponent into grabbing her leg and spins around, delivering a counter kick to their head which decapitates them.
* **Kamikaze:** Sonya calls her drone to do a **Kamikaze** into her opponent. It skeletonizes the opponent's head and torso with the explosion. (*Special Forces Variation*)
* **Garro-That:** Sonya parries her opponent and performs a **Stiff Neck**, wrapping her garrote around them, and decapitating them. (*Covert Ops Variation*)
* **Time Bomb:** Sonya throws a frag grenade at her opponent which explodes and obliterates their torso, sending the arms and head flying elsewhere. (*Demolition Variation*)
* **Pain and Agony:** Sonya does her X-Ray move, with the neck break in the end of the move resulting in decapitation. (*Secret*)

## Sequences

### Battle Intro

Sonya rushes onto the battlefield and says, “I guess I’ll have to do this the hard way.”

### Victory Pose

Sonya gets a call from her wrist communicator asking, "Sonya, are you there?" She responds, "Mission accomplished" and makes a US army salute as fighter jets (off-screen, BTW) zip on top of where she stands.

## Endings

* **Mortal Kombat** - *"The loss of friends and allies during the battle with Shao Kahn took its toll on Sonya Blade's sanity. She left the Special Forces and went into seclusion to cope with her grief. But her solitude was brief as she found herself regularly visited by an apparition who claimed to be her missing father. With her father as a guide, Sonya embarked on a mission to exterminate what remained of Shao Kahn's army."*

## Trivia

* Sonya's character was inspired by the karate champion and movie actress, Cynthia Rothrock.
* Sonya was named after one of Ed Boon's sisters.
* Sonya almost didn't make it into *Mortal Kombat*. Originally, Kurtis Stryker, who later debuted in *MK3* (although, at the time, the name was given to the character who would eventually be called Jax in *MKII*) used her storyline, but he was dropped and Sonya was created to add a female character to an otherwise all-male cast.
* Sonya was revealed to be one of Ed Boon's favorite characters during an interview around the time *MK3* came out. Boon stated that she was not only one of the strongest, but also one of the most popular characters of the series.
* Sonya's body can be seen in the introduction of *Mortal Kombat Deception*, located on the stairs leading to Shang Tsung's palace.
* Sonya was planned to be a playable character in *Mortal Kombat: Special Forces*, along with Jax. However, Sonya's part was dropped due to deadline issues. Early shots of the game listed her code name as "Panther."
* Sonya was originally going to fight Jade during the first movie in a secret arena, but the scene was cut from the shooting script and never filmed.
* Sonya appears on Johnny Cage's movie poster as his romantic interest during his ending in *Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance*.
* A false viral rumor that spread among many players in the first *Mortal Kombat* was the existence of a code that would make Sonya appear naked in the game (referred to as the "Nudeality" or "Nudality"). Various reports told of its existence only appearing in the Sega version, only in the arcade version, and so on.
* Sonya's partner who was killed by Kano was never given a static name, having been named Cliff LoDolce in Jeff Rovin's *MK* novel, Bill van Hoven in the *MK* movie novelization, and Wexler in the cartoon show, *Defenders of the Realm*.[1]
* Sonya is the first character used in the Challenge Tower in *MK 2011*.
	+ She is also one of the only two survivors of the Earthrealm fighters in the *MK 2011* story mode, the other being Johnny Cage.
* Her alternate costume in *Mortal Kombat (2011)* is the same as the outfit she wore in the movie *Mortal Kombat: Annihilation*, with gloves, a hat, and sunglasses.
* Sonya is one of the only eight characters to have a Brutality that derives from her X-Ray, and not only from special moves, throws, or combos, the other characters being Erron Black, Jacqui Briggs, Jason, the Predator, Tremor, Leatherface, and Triborg.
* Sonya Blade's official theme is titled, "Go Go Go."