Fans are just two months away from the next Mortal Kombat game, and along with it comes a brand new era for the franchise. At the end of Mortal Kombat 11's Aftermath DLC, the newly anointed Fire God Liu Kang uses his powers to defeat Kronika and Shang Tsung, and finds himself in possession of the Hourglass, a device that has the potential to bend space and time at will. With the previous battles leaving his universe in ruin, Fire God Liu Kang decides to use the Hourglass to create a whole new universe, one where his friends are alive and peace is the dominating force. And that's where Mortal Kombat 1 takes place.
Mortal Kombat 1 is set to take players all the way back to the beginning again, to before the first Mortal Kombat tournament. Fans will recognize a lot of the names, faces, and settings they'll see in Mortal Kombat 1, but a lot has changed about them, with many iconic characters now having completely different backstories. Sub-Zero is one such character, though there are some major life events that might remain canon, despite the new timeline.
What Sub-Zero's Canon Events Could Be In Mortal Kombat 1
In the original Mortal Kombat timeline, there are two characters that take on the mantle of Sub-Zero. The first of these is Bi-Han, the original Sub-Zero and member of the Lin Kuei clan. Before the events of the original trilogy, Bi-Han is manipulated by Quan Chi to seek out and kill Scorpion, and at the same time, Quan Chi pretends to be him as he slaughters the rest of the Shirai Ryu clan. Scorpion returns as an undead specter and kills Bi-Han in the first Mortal Kombat tournament. Following his death, Bi-Han's brother Kuai Liang becomes Sub-Zero and agrees to join forces with Raiden's Earthrealm warriors. Along the way, the Lin Kuei warrior Smoke is kidnapped and turned into a cyborg for Shao Kahn's army.
In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Kuai Liang's Sub-Zero becomes the leader of the Lin Kuei, and takes on an apprentice named Frost. In Mortal Kombat: Deception, the character of Noob Saibot is introduced fully. Sub-Zero soon learns that Noob Saibot is actually his brother Bi-Han back from the dead, now working as a revenant for Quan Chi.
Possible Canon Events
- Sub-Zero Being a Mantle
- Connections to the Lin Kuei
- Bi-Han's death at the hand of Scorpion
- Connections to Noob Saibot
- The First Mortal Kombat Tournament Events
In Mortal Kombat 2011, Raiden reboots the timeline by sending his past self a message and takes the franchise back in time to the events of the first Mortal Kombat tournament. From here, Sub-Zero's early timeline remains fairly similar to the original's, with Scorpion killing Bi-Han in the tournament and Kuai Liang adopting the Sub-Zero mantle right after. But things start to diverge from this point. Rather than Smoke being taken and turned into a cyborg, it's Sub-Zero, and rather than appear years later, Noob Saibot rears his head just a few days after the tournament, though he's quickly defeated by Sub-Zero. At the end of the game, Sindel kills Sub-Zero, sending him to the Netherrealm to become a slave of Quan Chi. In Mortal Kombat X, Raiden fully resurrects Kuai Liang, and he becomes the grandmaster of the Lin Kuei.
From what fans have seen so far, Mortal Kombat 1 seems to be following a similar pattern with its own version of Sub-Zero, though there are some big changes. The biggest change is that this version of Sub-Zero is still Bi-Han, and that his brother is now Scorpion. Though Kuai Liang hasn't been seen in Mortal Kombat 1's marketing so far, Bi-Han might still be in grave danger. In every timeline so far, Bi-Han has died at the hands of Scorpion, and that could be his canon event in Mortal Kombat 1 as well, albeit an even more tragic one as the two are now brothers.
Mortal Kombat 1 releases on September 19 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
