Recently, it seems that Mortal Kombat 11 director Ed Boon decided to tease a new addition to Kombat Pack 2: Stryker. This is interesting because Kombat Pack 1 hasn't even ended yet, with Joker still set to release next month and Spawn in March. Yet, hopefully Kombat Pack 2 continues the momentum and every-other-month schedule, meaning the first character could likely arrive in May 2020. While that remains to be seen, it's interesting that of all the possible characters, Stryker is currently being teased.
For those unfamiliar with the character, he is not particularly popular. Stryker was first introduced in Mortal Kombat 3 as a leader of the Special Riot Control division with a basic urban design. Immediately, he was panned for being "normal" and incredibly basic in the supernatural world, as he does not possess any type of special powers whatsoever. In short, long before the release of Mortal Kombat 11, many saw Stryker in a negative light.
Since then, he's undergone a number of changes and has even appeared as a Revenant. It's uncertain what his role would be if he did, in fact, return to Mortal Kombat 11, but here's what we do know about Stryker and Kombat Pack 2.
Who is Stryker?
Stryker, whose full name is Kurtis Stryker, served as a Marine during the Gulf War who was serving in the aforementioned Riot Control of NYC during the events of MK3. He attempted to keep order, but the chaos created by Shao Kahn made this practically impossible. He would then received a vision from Raiden, and would go on to assist the others in liberating Earthrealm.
In the 2011 reboot, Stryker has been changed just a little. He's now described as a one man SWAT team, once again joining Raiden to repel the Outworld invasion. Stryker is subsequently killed and brought back as a Revenant, appearing briefly in Mortal Kombat X as such. In a similar vein to Mortal Kombat 11 DLC characters Nightwolf and Sindel, it would stand to reason that he would have both human and Revenant skins in MK11.
Kombat Pack 2
The big question becomes whether or not Boon teasing Stryker actually means anything. Boon is well known for teasing and trollings, especially over the highly desired character Mileena, so it should all be taken with a grain of salt. Yet, Kombat Pack 2 characters haven't been confirmed, thereby meaning it is a possible scenario.
It's worth mentioning that, potentially due to a certain pre-release leak, some Kombat Pack 2 Mortal Kombat 11 characters have potentially already been revealed. The aforementioned leak accurately predicted every Kombat Pack 1 character, but also included three more that were not part of the DLC set: Fujin, Sheeva, and Evil Dead's Ash Williams. Since this leak, audio files have been found for Fujin, and there was once an accidental advertisement release stating Ash Williams would be a character (though, there have been a few issues with this, with Ash Williams' actor saying this wouldn't happen.)
Assuming this leak is at least mostly accurate, as it has been dead-on so far, then that means there's only a handful of more slots for the character. The first Kombat Pack had 6 characters, ranging from Shang Tsung to March's Spawn, so a similar number is to be expect for Kombat Pack 2. It's also worth highlighting that it was divided between 3 returning characters and 3 guest characters. Following this pattern, that only leaves 1 more returning character and 2 more guest characters.
While this could easily be changed up for the next Kombat Pack, there's not much to suggest that it would, so the addition of Stryker would lock in the 3 returning characters. Many, in response to this, would likely wish it was someone else, though it's possible that Revenant Stryker would be a more interesting character than he was initially. There are also rumors that John Cena would play Mortal Kombat 11's Stryker, should he actually join the roster. For now, players will just need to wait and see.
Mortal Kombat 11 is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch, and Xbox One.
