Reptile

Desperately in need of a master, he offered his loyalty

-- Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Bio

Reptile is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. He is one of the few original characters, debuting in the original Mortal Kombat arcade game.

About Reptile
Reptile is a green garbed, human-like reptilian creature that embodies the archetype of the unhappy underling. Reptile is said to be physically hideous and repulsive, but he is renowned for his great stealth and unquestioning loyalty. Unlike many other henchmen of the lords he has served, Reptile does not strive for power. Rather, he is caught in a delusional state of mind, an obsession about finding the last remaining member of his race, the Saurians, or freeing his homeworld from Outworld's grasp. While well-meaning and sincere, this obsession is so important to him that it causes him temporary fits of insanity.

Reptile was hidden in the original Mortal Kombat and thus holds the distinction of being the very first secret character to appear in a versus fighting game. Before battles with an opponent he would make his appearance and jump in the middle of the screen in a Sub-Zero win pose. Above his head would be clues on how to find him, such as "Look to la luna" ("the moon" in Spanish or Italian and hinting The Pit stage), "Alone is how to find me" (denoting that he is only unlockable in single player mode), "Perfection is the key" (directing towards the double Flawless victory), or "Tip eht to mottob" ("Bottom of The Pit" spelled backwards, self-explanatory). This concept was then copied for Smoke and Jade in Mortal Kombat II.

He was a merge between the original Sub-Zero and Scorpion characters. Mortal Kombat co-creators John Tobias and Ed Boon admitted in an interview that the "birth" of Reptile was when they took Sub Zero and Scorpion and fused the two into one and colored him green (yellow + blue = green). They christened this character "Reptile" due to his green color and their reference to lizards. While he wasn't given a lot of character depth at the time, he was worked on more (character wise) and later, in Mortal Kombat II, Reptile was developed into a full character with his own special moves and would be available from the outset.

It is not quite clear how old Reptile is. Estimates run in the tens of thousands of years, or even millions. What is known, however, is that the Earth realm was nearly destroyed by a battle between the gods millions of years ago. Reptile's race of raptors, or Saurians, escaped to another realm, Zaterra, where it was then invaded and annexed by Outworld's emperor, Shao Kahn. As was the usual process for Kahn conquering another world, most of the Zaterrans were killed in the ensuing battles, only leaving a handful of people left. Among those, or among those descended from these survivors, was Reptile. Unlike the others of his kind, who were forced into slavery, Reptile was trained to be a servant of both Kahn and Shang Tsung.

Because of this, it is unclear exactly what Reptile's place of birth is - although Earth, Zaterra, or Outworld are the three likely choices.

Mortal Kombat
At some point - possibly before the death of the Great Kung Lao 500 years ago, or possibly after - Reptile joined Shang Tsung and Goro on Earthrealm. He stayed in hiding. Naturally, when Tsung returned to Outworld, so did Reptile.

Mortal Kombat II
He protected his master from harm, and then went on to receive special missions from Shao Kahn himself, who had promised to release the remaining members of his race from slavery if he would unquestioningly do his bidding.

Mortal Kombat 3/Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3/Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Such an opportunity arose when Kitana had escaped into the unknown regions of Earthrealm during Kahn's invasion of that world. Reptile was sent by Shao Kahn, who promised Reptile to resurrect his race if he succeeded, with Jade to find and, if necessary, kill Kitana. He did not succeed as Jade betrayed him to help Kitana.

After the war was over, with Kahn defeated and both Earth and Edenia free, Reptile was brought back as a prisoner to Edenia, and tried there for genocide, a bitter irony since his own race once was the victim of the very same act. Reptile was then exiled to the Netherealm.

Mortal Kombat 4/Mortal Kombat Gold
When the fallen Elder God Shinnok invaded Edenia, Reptile grasped the opportunity to join Shinnok's Army of Darkness as a commander, hoping to convince Shinnok to revive his near extinct race. After being on the losing side once more, he escaped into Outworld again and rejoined his old masters, in spite of the fact that neither had ever kept their promises towards him.

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Because of his state of separation from the other members of his race, and especially his matriarch, Reptile had begun to show signs of devolution. Where he used to mask his appearance by posing as a human, this proved to be no longer possible. Reptile had nearly gone insane and had a significantly changed appearance, including a tail.

With the armies of Edenia and Outworld locked in combat, Shao Kahn requested the services of the sorcerer Shang Tsung. Reptile was sent to tell Tsung of the emperors request but upon reaching Tsung’s new place of residence since being released from prison Reptile overheard Tsung and Quan Chi forming their Deadly Alliance and plotting to kill Shao Kahn. On his way back to inform his master he was distracted by Nitara, who revealed to him knowledge of his lost civilization. She gave him the Kirehashi blade, which was an artifact of the Zaterran civilization, as proof and revealed to Reptile the location of Kitana’s forces. Reptile knowing how this knowledge would greatly aid his master in the war with Edenia raced back to tell the emperor, but he was too late; Shao Kahn lay slain on the floor.

Mortal Kombat: Deception
The desperate and purposeless Reptile wandered Outworld aimlessly until he came across Nitara yet again. Desperate for a new master Reptile declared his loyalties to Nitara, but unknown to Reptile, he had always been merely a pawn in Nitara's plan to free her people's realm from the Outworld. The first step had been to distract Reptile long enough for the Deadly Alliance to kill Shao Kahn unhindered; next, she manipulated Reptile and the cyber-ninja Cyrax into battle. Reptile damaged Cyrax, ensuring the cyber-ninja would later help Nitara in her quest for the portal sphere. Eventually, Reptile came to realize that Nitara had fooled him, and that her plan had lead to the death of his master Shao Kahn. Enraged, Reptile tracked the vampire and Cyrax to the Lava Chamber, but he was too late. The portal sphere had been destroyed, and of Nitara and Cyrax there was no sign. All that remained was the almost fully incubated dragon egg of Onaga the Dragon King. The egg hatched, a beam of light struck Reptile and Reptile's body became the vessel for the reincarnated Onaga.

It is described in an unlockable photo of Reptile's home realm Zaterra that members of his race can lose their humanoid appearance when separated for long periods of time from their monarchal leader; given the fact that this authority figure - like most of his people - were most likely wiped out centuries ago by Shao Kahn, the fact that Reptile did not start to 'devolve' until after he assumed his master killed at the end of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and his race's natural camouflage ability to look like normal humans, it's more likely that Reptile's 'devolution' was a result of his increasingly maddening state overriding what mental capacity was required to maintain his human guise instead of a physical metamorphosis into a prior state of evolution.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Reptile's separation from Onaga was seemingly explained by Nightwolf's ending in Deception, whereupon he bound Onaga's soul to the Netherealm. He is encountered by Taven in Konquest mode in the lair of the Red Dragon clan. Though no explanation is offered as to why he is there, it's possible that Reptile's DNA was also being used, along with Daegon's dragon, Caro's, as a means of creating human-reptilian hybrids, since the Red Dragon Hybrids do bear some resemblance to Reptile. Taven defeated Reptile in a fight and released Caro.

In his story ending, after his victory over Blaze, the Pyramid of Argus begins to crumble under his feet. Reptile finds a tomb within the pyramid containing a female Zaterran, and Reptile slowly reverts back to his humanoid form. With the female Zaterran, Reptile revives Zaterra to its former glory.

Powers and abilities
At his debut, Reptile's powers for the most part, were borrowed from the cryomancer descendant, Sub-Zero and the hellfire specter, Scorpion. By the time of MKII, he is given his own powers. Reptile appears to take abilities from several reptilian creatures. As a Saurian, Reptile remains mostly human in appearance. However, like Scorpion, the mask and the skin behind it is a mere guise to his true lizard form. However, he appears to do so more often than Scorpion. His saliva is compromised of powerful corrosive fluids that can easily burn right through steel, much like acid. He is also able to fire homing concussive blasts of energy. Reptile's distinguishing trait is his ability to render himself completely invisible. As revealed in one piece of art for Deadly Alliance, a Saurian's appearance is human for the most part. However, the longer they are separated from one another, the more their human guises degrade and vanish over time until their true forms are revealed. The change is more than skin deep as it also can affect the mind as well. Saurians who lose their disguises completely will begin to regress into priMal fits of blind rage, attacking both friend and foe.

Signature moves

 * Acid Spit: Reptile removes his mask and spits acid at the opponent. Sometimes the jet of acid spit would hinder the opponent for a very short time as the steam from the acid burns away at the opponent. In MKII to UMK3, it appears as a thick jet spit of acid. In MK4, it appears as a stream of acid bubbles and in MK:DA onwards, a ball of acid. (MKII, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:DA, MK:SM, MK:A)
 * Power Slide: Reptile slides across the floor to the enemy, hitting them and sending them flying into the air. In Shaolin Monks, Reptile secretes a trail of green fluid when he slides similar to the ice trail that Sub-Zero leaves when he slides. (MK, MKII, UMK3, MKT, MK:SM)
 * Chameleon: Reptile disappears or reappears in a puff of smoke. In UMK3, Reptile could not reappear unless he was hit. In Armageddon, Reptile can still turn invisible, though his weapon will remain visible. (MKII, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:A)
 * Running Serpent: Reptile swiftly runs behind the opponent and delivers a successful elbow into their face. (UMK3, MKT, MK:A)
 * Slow Forceball: Reptile projects a green ball of energy that slowly moves toward the opponent. When it hits the opponent, he/she is propelled toward Reptile. (MKII, UMK3, MKT, MK:SM)
 * Fast Forceball: Just a faster version of the Slow Forceball. (UMK3, MKT, MK:SM)
 * Dash Punch: Reptile slides and punches the opponent. (MK4, MKG)
 * Super Crawl: Reptile crawls under the opponent's feet knocking them over. (MK4, MKG)
 * Rolling Spikes: Reptile curls himself up into a ball and rolls forward, knocking the opponent off of his/her feet. (MK:DA, MK:A)



Fatalities

 * Tasty Meal: Reptile takes off his mask, revealing a reptilian face. He then opens his mouth and stretches out his long tongue, sticking it to his victim's head, then quickly retracts it, ripping off the head and eating it. Reptile then rubs his stomach, giving a satisfied "Mmmm..." noise. In Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Reptile proceeds to eat the opponent's torso and legs after eating the head. In Deadly Alliance, he mixes this with the Acid Puke by vomiting acid on the victim's face, leaving behind a burned skull before ripping it off the neck with his mouth. (MKII, UMK3, MKT, MK:SM, MK:DA)
 * Hidden Chop: Reptile turns invisible, then rips or cuts off his opponent's torso before reappearing. How this is done is not precisely explained. (MKII, MK:SM)
 * Acid Puke: Reptile gets close to the victim, opens his mouth, and spews acid over them, melting them down to a sizzling puddle. In UMK3, he regurgitates acid on the victim's body from the head top, while in MK4, he sprays acid bubbles from the same position, but inexplicably gains levitation powers while doing so, much like Kai as the bubbles literally peel away at the skin and flesh of the opponent, leaving behind a bloody corpse. (UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MK:SM)
 * Face Chew: As the name implies, Reptile hops on the opponent's legs and shoulders and proceeds to savagely eat the opponent's face, leaving behind chunks of blood in the process. Once done, he jumps off and wipes away some of the blood on his face while the opponent staggers back in pain before plummeting to the ground as some leftover blood spills on the floor, showing a close up of the victim's now-mutilated head. {MK4, MKG)
 * Claw Frenzy: Reptile continuously claws his opponent's head until it is cut off. (MK:SM)

Other Finishers

 * Animality: Reptile turns into a monkey/ape, possibly a chimpanze. The chimp then chases the opponent off-screen. (UMK3, MKT)
 * Friendship #1: Reptile pulls out a Reptile Doll and a message appears onscreen saying "Buy a Reptile Doll." (MKII)
 * Friendship #2: Reptile winds up on a box and a giant snake's head erupts out of the box which scares off Reptile's opponent. (UMK3, MKT)

Film
Reptile appeared in Mortal Kombat. In the movie, he was a bipedal lizard humanoid. Initially disguised as a statue, Reptile received orders from Shang Tsung to keep Liu Kang and the other humans away from Kitana. During Liu Kang and Johnny Cage's journey to rescue Sonya in Outworld, Liu Kang encounters the reptilian creature and throws him into a statue. The statue consumes Reptile, transforming him into a human ninja form and, after an extended fight, is defeated by Liu Kang when he performs his trademarked bicycle kick. Liu Kang then crushes the de-transformed Reptile to death as he squirms out of the destroyed statue. The nature of Reptile's consumption by the statue and transformation is not explained, because the camera moves up to the statue's face as the consumption is occurring.. Like Scorpion and Sub-Zero, Reptile shared the same ninja outfit, but with a green color, and his mask had a jaw built into it. He was played by Keith Cooke, who would play the younger Sub-Zero's role in the sequel. In his lizard form, Reptile had the ability to spit water-like acid and blend into his surroundings like a chameleon.

In Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, three ninjas dressed similar to Reptile confront the Earth warriors. Due to their similar costumes and powers, these three are supposed to be of the same species as Reptile. Raiden fights and defeats two of them, while the third is noticeably absent.

Television
Reptile was portrayed on Mortal Kombat: Conquest by martial artist Jon Valera, primarily in his guise from the Mortal Kombat films. Hailing from the rainy, barren world of Zaterra, Reptile and the thousands of his race have the ability to shift into a camouflaged lizard form that makes visual detection difficult. Their humanoid forms command formidable martial arts abilities, and they have the ability to spit corrosive acid through their fanged masks. This acid is so corrosive that it can even kill Zaterrans themselves.

Reptile's debut was an attack on behalf of Shao Kahn, which left civilians and an ally of Kung Lao dead. It was later discovered that he had been selected as a mate necessary to propagate the Amazonian race of Queen Kreeya with Zaterran features, and betrayed the Emperor. The Zaterrans allied with Kreeya as the guardians of her breeding hives while they matured. Reptile was shunned by Vorpax when she slew Kreeya and became the new Queen. He was narrowly defeated in combat by her chosen mate, Shang Tsung, and died at the hands of Shao Kahn's invading Shadow Priests. The demise of the rest of the Zaterrans is unknown, although one, Kiri, was slain simultaneously with Reptile.

Reptile also appeared on the animated television show Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm where he lead an attack on Earthrealm with other Zaterrans (here incorrectly called Raptors); he was called Komodai. He battled with Jax and dripped acid on the latter's mechanical arms breaking them and causing Jax to lose his confidence. He also captures Sonya Blade for unknown reasons Jax later defeated Reptile in Mortal Kombat thereby regaining his confidence. In the show, Reptile bares an appearance similar to the Spider-Man villain Chameleon and the Harry Potter villain Voldemort.

Comic books
Reptile is a minor character in the Malibu Comics series. He remains the loyal servant of Shao Kahn, and never loses a chance to make those around him remember he doesn't respond to Shang Tsung. Reptile appears in the Goro: Prince of Pain miniseries as a member of a team lead by Kitana to find the missing Goro. He also appears in the Battlewave series, most of the time alongside Mileena in a sort of love/hate relation. His most noteworthy action on the comics is when he brainwashes Sonya into marrying Shao Kahn by means of eye-induced hypnosis, an ability never found in the games.

Trivia

 * A previous attempt for the game writers to expand on Reptile's Saurian origins brought the creation of the character Khameleon in Mortal Kombat Trilogy. She was said to be the other last remnant of Reptile's race. Her only similarity to Reptile was that she was a palette swapped ninja, although she was female. In the PlayStation and Saturn versions of the game, a similar character exists, though he is male and his name is spelled "Chameleon". This character has only been said to be one of Shao Kahn's greatest warriors. Chameleon has appeared again in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, while Khamelon appeared in an exclusive appearance alongside Chameleon in the Wii version.
 * While Reptile's MK4 bio states that he was banished to the Netherealm for committing genocide on other species, the MK4 comic shows Sindel (reclaiming her role as Edenia's Queen) banishing Reptile to the Cobalt Mines of Shokan for his crimes against Edenia. This is of note because until that point, the Cobalt Mines of Shokan had only been mentioned in MK: The Journey Begins and MK: Conquest.
 * In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Reptile appeared in his most animalistic form yet. However, in Mortal Kombat: Deception, in Sindel's ending, he appeared in his original human appearance from the first few Mortal Kombat games; this is either an indication that Reptile has regained this form, or a continuity error due to the fact he appears in Deception's Konquest mode in his human-guise.
 * He and Kano are the only characters from the first MK game who don't appear in the animated movie Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins.
 * For some odd reason, performing Reptile's "Tasty Meal" Fatality in Mortal Kombat II on the Armory stage causes the floor to unexplainably slide to the left until the end of the victory screen. Only the floor will be moving, Reptile and his newly dead opponent do not move in the direction of the floor despite them being on top of it.
 * In the first two Mortal Kombat games, Reptile bled red blood like the other characters. In Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat Trilogy however, he bled green blood. (Although this is presumed this was put in due to his reptilian nature, the physical complications are off). In Mortal Kombat 4/Gold, his blood was turned back to normal red. In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, his blood was turned back to green, although broken body stubs would appear red. His technical appearance as Onaga in Mortal Kombat: Deception, he bled red blood again. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, he bleeds red blood. Reptile bleeds green blood once again in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. Strangely enough, though, Reptile bleeds red blood in Armageddon should he fall victim to a death trap.
 * On the back of the Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks box at Blockbuster, he is mistakenly listed as being called Lizard.
 * Although Reptile is considered an evil character, he is always more concerned for the well being of his race than the agenda of his masters, as many of his endings have shown.
 * Of all the characters who appeared in Deadly Alliance and Deception, Reptile was the only one who received a new costume and character model for Armageddon, due to considerable fan demand for his "Shaolin Monks" costume to become playable.
 * Reptile was part of Jazwares.inc's third wave of Mortal Kombat action figures along with Kano, Johnny Cage and Noob Saibot released just prior to the holiday season of 2006.
 * When Liu Kang or Kung Lao find Reptile on the Pit in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, they refer him as "another servant of Shang Tsung", however, he will reply "I do not serve Shang Tsung". His MKII bio states he is Shang Tsung's protector and he does serve the sorcerer.
 * In Deadly Alliance, his alternate bio presents his first costume, and vice-versa.
 * In Mortal Kombat II, if Reptile is hit by Sub Zero's freeze-ball while he is performing his acid spit, Reptile will appear to have no face.