Cyborg



Cyborgs are some characters who have been turned into robots to improve their performance. The procedure began when the Lin Kuei clan decided to automate their warriors in Mortal Kombat 3.

Known Cyborgs

 * Sektor (unit LK-9T9): Was the first to undergo this process of automation, and he would prove to be their biggest success. The Lin Kuei programmed the cyborgs to do their bidding, and Sektor's main objective was to seek out and kill Sub-Zero, who left the clan after refusing to be transformed into a machine. Sektor was devoid of a soul, lost all human emotions, and has never succeeded in his mission.


 * Cyrax (unit LK-4D4): Was the second Lin Kuei warrior who was turned into a cyborg. However, Cyrax was captured by Sub-Zero, reprogrammed, and permanently malfunctioned. He was then captured by Sonya Blade and Jax Briggs, and was partially returned to his human state. In gratitude, Cyrax joined the Special Forces.


 * Smoke (unit LK-7T2): Was the third and only member of the clan to forcefully transform into a cyborg. After returning from a mission, he and Sub-Zero learned of the Lin Kuei's plans to transform their members into robots. The two fled; Sub-Zero escaped, but Smoke was captured and forced to become a cyborg. He was later captured in Outworld by Shao Kahn's army. Hopelessly imprisoned, he chose to shut himself down. Afterwards, Smoke was found by Noob Saibot and reactivated, along with some tampering of his machinery. The two would form a team called Noob-Smoke. As of now, Smoke is torn between serving his new master and searching for his lost humanity.


 * Cyber Sub-Zero (unit LK-520): Replaced Smoke in Mortal Kombat (2011), in this timeline Smoke was saved and Sub-Zero was turned into a cyborg instead. Cyber Sub-Zero is much like his human counterpart. He regained his soul almost right after automation, and helped the Earthrealm Warriors. He was later killed by Sindel. Unlike the other Cyborgs, Cyber Sub-Zero's blood in blue instead of black, there is no in game explanation for why that is, altough it is presumed to be a special coolant.


 * Jax: When his arms where replaced with robotic ones after his original organic arms where torn off by Ermac, Jax became a cyborg, although he is not a cyborg ninja.


 * Unit 5

It has never been clear as to how mechanical the automatons truly are. In Mortal Kombat 3, a damaged cyborg sparks and the skeleton is revealed. The skeleton is almost completely mechanical, aside from the rib cage and skull. The rest of the body is filled with odd mechanical parts and wires. This was about as complex as the cyborgs were at the time. In Mortal Kombat Gold, it was revealed that the cyborgs wore helmets and retained their faces underneath; Cyrax's alternate outfit and ending revealed this. His face had several implants on the eye and chin (which were removed in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance). Although Cyrax claimed to be human again in his Gold ending, he is still clearly mechanical as demonstrated by his abilities in Deadly Alliance, although this could be merely a figure of speech referring to regaining his humanity. In Mortal Kombat: Deception, however, Smoke's appearance does not allow the possibility of retaining flesh. This is most likely due to being remodeled from the nanomachines in his body. Sektor's level of cyberization has never been elaborated on, although Cyrax's Armageddon ending implies that it is possible for him to return to his human form.

In Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition, it is revealed that Sektor eventually creates his own clan of cybernetic warriors called the Tekunin. They are featured prominently in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's Konquest mode, where Sektor captures the protagonist Taven and brings him aboard his Tekunin warship until later he and his clan were attacked by Sonya Blade and the Special Forces, thus enabled Taven to escaped his captors.

Although non-canon, Jax, in his Mortal Kombat: Armageddon ending, was turned into a cyborg by Sektor, thanks to his careful planting of a neural chip in Jax's brain and his ending in Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, he was badly injured in the melee with the DC Universe, that he becomes a cyborg to save his life.

Behind the scenes
The cyborg ninjas were directly based on the eponymous Predator movie characters with their self-destruct mechanism being the one prominent reference to them.

The outfits used for the cyborg ninjas in MK3 were actually motorbike gear with some custom alterations made for the ninja part. The only completely original element used was the helmet itself. Jax's cybernetic arms were actually painted on the actor to give them a more fluid, high tech feel.