It's no secret that Mortal Kombat is a very bloody series. Buckets of blood soak the arena as various fighters beat each other to a pulp and tear apart what remains. The latest entry -- Mortal Kombat 11 -- maintains that twisted standard of gore. Anyone worried the franchise might be getting soft in its old age has another thing coming.
Much of the gore comes in the plethora of fatalities. These are elaborate finishing moves players can pull off once their opponents are beaten and helpless. Each character comes with a few fatalities, and they each demonstrate the demented imagination of the developers. Even with this high bar, though, some fatalities stand above the rest, making players wince and laugh at the same time.
10 Mr. Cage's Neighborhood - Johnny Cage
It figures Johnny's fatality would be the most entertaining. The guy is an actor, so he lives for showmanship. Even then, he somehow tops himself with this two-person act.
Cage starts by separating his opponent from his/her lower half. The lights dim, and he then uses the upper half as a dummy in an improv puppet show.
It's so cheesy that the audience throws a tomato. To add insult to injury, though, it hits Johnny's deceased foe instead of him. You've got to keep the star looking fresh.
9 I Heart U - Cassie Cage
Cassie may be a soldier like her mother, Sonya, but she follows her father in many ways. Chief among these is her habit of messing with her enemies.
This is evidenced when Cassie blows a hole in her opponent. The camera zooms into said hole, and Cassie is ready and waiting to shoot her good side. She forms a heart shape with her blood-soaked hands and blows players a kiss. It's tough to top her hilariously topical selfie fatalities from the last game, but this one gives it a good go.
8 For The Kollection - Kollector
The name speaks for itself. Kollector pilfers anything he might deem valuable and hordes it in his backpack. It doesn't matter if someone's using it, and that philosophy extends to vital organs.
This little troll's rabid, greedy energy overwhelms anyone who resists. His fatality sees him leap on enemies and steal their stuff. It's not long before he's tearing into their flesh. In the end, it's a win-win scenario. The enemy is dead, and Kollector gets some prizes out of the deal. The game's extras would be more fun to unlock if they functioned like this.
7 Still Got It - Jax
Jax has lost a lot, including both of his arms. He's since received mechanized replacements, and he'll use them to take his pent-up aggression out on enemies and then some.
It's fitting that Jax's fatality involves ripping his enemy's arm off. Said arm comes in handy (pun intended) to whack the poor sap's head clean off. Jax follows this up with a final swing, sending the bloody noggin flying toward the screen. The baseball music only solidifies this as a home run. The Special Forces grunt missed his calling in the Major Leagues.
6 Nothin' But Neck - Jacqui Briggs
Jax's daughter may not have the cybernetic limbs of her dad, but she makes up for it with her brute strength and vast array of gadgets. Both of these are vital to her efficacy.
The same goes for her fatality. For her initial attack, Jacqui jumps up and delivers a downward punch on the target, obliterating his/her head and putting a gaping hole where it used to be. Her subsequent wrist rocket dazes the headless corpse and leaves it open for the finale. The soldier nonchalantly tosses a tool into the aforementioned hole. The gadget activates a force field that instantly slices the body in half. The opponent's organs are there for all to see. People generally picture force fields as a form of defense, but it turns out they make a conveniently twisted display case.
5 Bloody Mess - Skarlet
Blood is a staple of Mortal Kombat, and many fatalities obviously result in buckets of the stuff sprayed all over the place. However, Skarlet is the only one here who can weaponize it.
For her fatality, Skarlet sucks the blood straight from her enemy's body, but that's just the beginning. She then molds it into spikes and instantly crystalizes them. Finally, she sends those spikes raining down on the drained opponent. Sure, it makes for a brutal irony, but at least she returned the blood after using it.
4 New Species - D'Vorah
Even by Mortal Kombat standards, D'Vorah is a disgusting fighter. That's not surprising given she's an insectoid who infects others like a living plague. That said, her fatality is still sure to set off many players' gag reflexes, especially if they hate bugs.
The slimy villainess is way ahead of them as she vomits on enemies. Bugs fly into the victim's mouth. They could simply eat the infected individual from the inside, but no. The opponent's torso grows a set of spider legs before the head becomes a pair of pincers. Losers' bodies literally turn against them: a sadistic fate brought on by a fighter specializing in such body horror.
3 Unnamed Fatality - Kronika
The main villain in Mortal Kombat 11 is a temporal goddess. This means she can manipulate time as she sees fit. It makes sense that her fatality takes advantage of that.
Kronika begins by holding her foes helplessly in the air. Using telekinesis, she rips them apart with her bare hands. This would ordinarily be it, but the witch rewinds time to put her enemies back together so she can rip them apart again. It's a vicious cycle showcasing the elitist sadism of the new antagonist. Say what you want about the other fatalities; at least they had the courtesy to end.
2 Dead Or Alive - RoboCop
The original RoboCopwas always entertaining in its overly bloody violence. As such, bringing the dystopian lawman to Mortal Kombat is a match made in heaven. It's not just him getting in on the action, though.
It nevertheless begins that way with RoboCop disabling the perp with a precise stab and a well-placed shot to the hand. As he adjusts his arsenal, ED-209 looms behind him and pulverizes the target with its dual machine guns. The policeman himself delivers the final shot with his modified rifle. Is it excessive force? Not for this game.
1 Kondemned To The Damned - Shang Tsung
This sneering sorcerer is Mortal Kombat's most iconic baddie. Sadly, he's dead and therefore absent from the main game. When he returns in Aftermath, however, he doesn't disappoint.
Shang Tsung's powers and his brutal use of them are on point. He suspends victims in the air with spectral chains, but that's only the start of their misfortune. The villain then opens a portal to NetherRealm. His hellish minions reach up and start tearing his opponent's guts out. After ripping the person's face off, they finish by yanking the enemy's skeleton down through the gaping wounds. It's a merciless and savage display, rolling the ferocity of three fatalities into one glorious package.
Mortal Kombat 11 is available on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC, and Google Stadia.
