Dead Pool

The Dead Pool is an arena in the Mortal Kombat series. The Dead Pool debuted in Mortal Kombat II and later reappeared in several sequels.

The Dead Pool is said to be a place for punishment and sacrifice. Captives would be bound with chains, then lowered into the acid below. Shang Tsung was said to have favored this method of punishment. The Dead Pool was a particular form of punishment sentenced to those condemned by Shao Kahn himself. The acid itself is a mass of residue of past creations from Shang Tsung's flesh pits.

In MKII, holding the down button during the Stage Fatality will make the voice of Dan Forden say something like "Oh, Whoa". The soundbite plays automatically in the deathtrap of Deception.

thumb|320px|right|The Dead Pool - Arcade Version

A 3D version of the Dead Pool appeared in Mortal Kombat: Deception. Instead of a straight walkway across the acid, players fight on a square patch of concrete in the middle of the acid. Players who are close to the edge can be knocked into the acid to perform a deathtrap, where an "Oh, whoa" would be heard as tribute to the MKII secret. Shang Tsung watches over the arena from a balcony, dressed in his original MKII outfit.

The arena also appears in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. When players approach this arena, they are ambushed by bloody skeletons. They must knock the skeletons onto the hooks hanging from the ceiling to pass. In the next room one must use the swing ability to leave the Dead Pool.

The Dead Pool has now been officially confirmed that it will appear in Mortal Kombat (2011). The arena is back to the single bridge that goes across the pool. The chains are now manually operated, handled by two barons using a large reel. Prisoners are bound and suspended above the acid by the hooked chains where they are promptly dipped into the acidic pool after a few moments and then dragged back up with their flesh and skin disintegrated and torn as burnt corpses. But there is no stage fatality.

Trivia

 * There are a few rumors concerning the Dead Pool which mainly involved the chains hanging from the ceiling. One such was that it was possible to knock an opponent into the hooked ends and that such chains acted as a mechanism to unlock something if body weight was applied to them. This rumor produced the Dead Pool in Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks.
 * In the SNES version of Mortal Kombat II, as well as the N64 version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the sky appearing through the barred "windows" is orange instead of dark, for some unknown reason.
 * In Mortal Kombat Trilogy, the Shao Kahn Treasures that involve fighting somebody (e.x. Chameleon) they are fought in the Dead Pool stage.