Mavado

"Scouring the realms for his sworn enemies, Mavado vows that he will not rest until every last trace of the Black Dragon has been erased."

- Mavado's Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Bio Card

Mavado is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. He made his debut in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance.

About Mavado
Introduced in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Mavado in many respects embodies the underworld antipode of Kano. Where as Kano seems to rely mainly on scare tactics and brute force, Mavado relies on discipline and superior intelligence to fight. In battle, he uses a pair of signature grappling hooks to augment his attacks, allowing him to propel himself quickly around the arena. Mavado is a leading figure, second only to Daegon, within the Red Dragon, which the games reveal to be an ancient criminal organization whose existence is known only to its members, and whose most prominent rivals are the Black Dragon, an offshoot of the Red Dragon which was led by Kano but is now reformed under the leadership of Kabal. Mavado is depicted as a vicious, pitiless, and cruel crimelord.

Appearance
Mavado wears a long black cape with a red interior and silver shoulderpads. He appears to be rather tall. On the back of his cape is the Red Dragon symbol. He wears long black pants with spiked metal boots. Under his cape are grappling hooks, used for planting in the ground and striking his opponent.

Storyline
Mavado's influence in the games' storyline began sometime before the events of Mortal Kombat 4. Since the Red Dragon's top priority (outside their later-revealed true main goal) is the extermination of the Black Dragon while still desiring to keep their existence secret, they decided to use the Special Forces to serve their own purposes. To that end, Mavado's instructed his subordinate, Hsu Hao, to infiltrate the Outer World Investigation Agency and help them in tracking down and killing the last members of the Black Dragon, a mission Hsu Hao performed to great success.

After the events of Mortal Kombat 4, with Jarek seemingly killed by Jax, and Kabal presumably killed by Mavado himself (the latter's trademark hookswords being taken as trophies in the process), Hsu Hao's task was deemed over. However, Mavado was then contacted by the Deadly Alliance. Both sorcerers saw the Red Dragon as a great potential ally for their eventual domination of Earthrealm. Mavado was hired to fend off Kenshi, in return acquiring the opportunity to be given the last Black Dragon member: Kano, at the time a general in the service of the Deadly Alliance. They also requested that the Red Dragon destroy the Outer World Investigation Agency's techno-portals to prevent the Special Forces from being able to travel to Outworld.

During the events of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Mavado complied with these tasks. He instructed Hsu Hao to destroy the Outer World Investigation Agency's underground portal facility, shortly before traveling to Outworld himself through a secret inter-realm portal located in the Lost Sea. Mavado tracked down and defeated Kenshi, allowing him to have his fight with Kano; however, rather than kill his foe, Mavado captured Kano and had his Red Dragon minions bring him to their headquarters. Mavado then ordered Hsu Hao to murder Shang Tsung before the Oni demons got to Quan Chi, but Hsu Hao never reported back. Like his overlords Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, though, he had little time to revel in his victory. Shortly before Mortal Kombat: Deception, Kabal returned fully recuperated from his stay in Chaosrealm and seemingly killed Mavado, retrieving his hookswords.

In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Mavado returns, apparently having survived. He is still seen wielding hookswords as a weapon, but these are presumably no longer Kabal's. In the game's Konquest mode, Mavado is seen in the Red Dragon's lair reporting to Daegon that the clan has located Blaze. Daegon then orders him to kill his brother Taven while he prepares to leave. Taven defeats Mavado, but Mavado is able to escape using a hidden elastic rope to propel himself into a secret compartment.

In Mavado's Armageddon ending, he discovers that upon defeating Blaze, he gained the ability to control those who wear the Red Dragon emblem. He telepathically influences his clan to defeat their enemies, and then tattooed the emblem on them. He uses his new army to take over the world.

Biographies

 * Deadly Alliance: "The Red Dragon had existed for centuries as a secretive criminal organization. Members such as Mavado were highly skilled and disciplined warriors. But in the last century, many of the more reckless members became dissatisfied with the restraints the code of the Red Dragon placed on them and broke away to form their own gang. Since then, it has been the Red Dragon's number one priority to completely eradicate the infidels known collectively as the Black Dragon. It was thought that the Black Dragon had been completely destroyed until Mavado was approached by the two sorcerers Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. The sorcerers offered to hand over the last member of the Black Dragon, Kano, in return for Mavado's assistance in eliminating a spy in Outworld. Mavado accepted the offer and traveled to Outworld with Quan Chi and Shang Tsung by way of a secret inter-realm portal located in the Lost Sea. The swordsman who had been spying on Shang Tsung for the past few months would soon be eliminated."


 * Bio Kard: "A leader of the Red Dragon Clan, Mavado has undertaken a ruthless campaign of extermination against his rivals, the Black Dragon. Scouring the realms for his sworn enemies, Mavado vows that he will not rest until every last trace of the Black Dragon has been erased."

Powers and abilities
Unlike the other Red and Black Dragon characters in the series, Mavado does not appear to have any supernatural powers or enhancements done to his body. Nevertheless, he is a very formidable opponent indeed. Like Kabal, Mavado fights ruthlessly while maintaining a level head, but appears to be much more collected in this aspect, besting him in kombat and taking his hookswords as trophies. While he is fairly good with these weapons, his personal weapon comes in the form of elastic whips with steel hooks attached to them. These whips seem to be especially sturdy, as they are able to support the body weight of an average adult male. Although he uses them to propel himself across vast distances, oddly enough, he never targets his enemies with these hooks. The soles of his shoes are equipped with retractable razor-sharp spikes, which can give him better traction, or give him the fatal edge with his attacks.

Signature moves

 * Grapple Hook Strike: Mavado catapults himself with his ropes at the opponent, kicking his opponent. (MK:DA, MK:A)
 * Change Sides Hook: Mavado uses his ropes to evade the opponent's attack by swinging to the side. (MK:DA, MK:A)
 * Anger Management: A power-up move that adds strength to Mavado's physical attacks. (MK:A)
 * Low Grapple Slide: Mavado flies forward with a low kick, using a grapple hook to anchor himself. This attack causes the opponent to trip face down to the ground. (MK:A)
 * Escape Grapple: Mavado uses his grapple hooks to pull himself backward and out of harm's way. (MK:DA, MK:A)

Fatalities

 * Kick Thrust: Mavado sticks his hook claws into the ground as he stretches himself far back from his opponent. He then lifts his legs up, and as he does, a spike sticks out of each of his boots. He then releases himself and his feet hit his opponent, the spikes impaling him or her upon doing so. He then takes each foot off of his fallen victim, with one of the spikes taking an internal organ out of the victim's body. (MK:DA)

Endings

 * Deadly Alliance: (Semi-Canonical) "For many years Mavado's Red Dragon clan had been secretly engineering the destruction of their rivals, the Black Dragon. Through careful manipulation, Mavado had used the Special Forces to unwittingly aid them in this task. In return for eliminating Kenshi for the Deadly Alliance, Mavado was finally granted his battle with the last known member of the Black Dragon: Kano. After a long, brutal fight, Mavado emerged victorious and all traces of the Black Dragon had been erased. Impressed with the fighting skill and discipline of Mavado as well as other members of his clan, Quan Chi realized the potential the Red Dragon held for staging the eventual invasion of Earthrealm. In return for their continued assistance, he offered crucial information about a new threat to Mavado's Red Dragon clan... the Lin Kuei."


 * Armageddon: (Non-Canonical) "Mavado felt the fire of Blaze awaken something within him. Focusing his mind, he found he could control anyone bearing the Red Dragon symbol. Telepathically guiding his clan in battle, Mavado quickly subdued the Special Forces and the Black Dragon clan. He then tattooed their faces with the mark of the Red Dragon so they would serve him. As his forces grew, Mavado gained full control of Earthrealm."

Character development
Mavado's name was originally going to be "Malvado", which is Spanish for "evil man". At first, his character was going to be portrayed as a matador-type fighter, but developers felt that this look didn't fit well into the Mortal Kombat series. Since they were not pleased with this direction, Mavado's appearance was given a complete overhaul, aiming towards a darker persona.

Game information
Mavado had a cameo appearance in Mortal Kombat: Deception ' s Konquest mode in which the player, as Shujinko, finds him looking for an assassin to work for the Red Dragon clan in Edenia. The assassin would end up being Hsu Hao. Mavado is also found in Orderrealm, willing to trade for red koins.

Character Relationships

 * Leader of the Red Dragon Clan.
 * Subordinate of Daegon.
 * Hired Hsu Hao and recruited him to the Red Dragon Clan and sends him to work for the Outer World Investigation Agency.
 * Nearly killed Kabal and took his hookswords as trophies.
 * Recruited by Quan Chi to serve the Deadly Alliance.
 * Nearly killed Kenshi.
 * Earned the right to face Kano, defeated him, and sent him to the Red Dragon stronghold to experiment on him.
 * Sent Hsu Hao to kill Shang Tsung.
 * Almost killed by Kabal who took his hookswords back.
 * Was somehow resurrected and rejoined his clan.
 * Defeated by Taven in Armageddon ' s Konquest mode.
 * Joined the Forces of Darkness in the final battle in Armageddon.

Stage Relationships

 * Dark Prison: Is one of the captives held here. It is possible that Mavado was resurrected by Onaga and kept here until his services were required.
 * Red Dragon Caverns: A section of the Red Dragon headquarters where experiments are conducted. Here, Mavado was instructed by Daegon to take care of his brother Taven, however failed to do so and thus escaped through a secret passageway.

Trivia
In General Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Mortal Kombat: Deception Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
 * Despite the Red Dragon clan being in existence before the Mortal Kombat tournament (along with their rival's the Black Dragon clan), Mavado and Hsu Hao were the first Red Dragon members to be featured in the series with the release of Deadly Alliance in 2002.
 * In the Deadly Alliance Krypt, he has a company called Red Dragon Ent. in which he acts as an "assassin-for-hire."
 * Has the same voice actor as Sub-Zero.
 * He is one of the characters that appears in one of the cells in the Dark Prison stage.
 * He is one of the characters that can be found in the Krypt.
 * His corpse can be seen in the background of Kabal's alternate costume biography, having been impaled with a hooksword.
 * He makes an appearance in the Konquest Mode in Orderrealm and Edenia
 * Despite Kabal having his hookswords back, Mavado still uses the same hookswords. This was most likely done to ensure Mavado had a weapon style for the game.
 * He was given a power-up special move called Anger Management.