Sonya Blade



''All Sonya knew for sure was that somehow she had to rescue her fellow agents. As her Special Forces training dictated, no man would be left behind.'' -- Sonya Blade's bio from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance

Lieutenant Sonya Blade, (USA), is a female soldier who is a member of Earthrealm's Special Forces unit known as Outer World Investigation Agency (OIA) in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. She is one of the few original Mortal Kombat characters, debuting in the first Mortal Kombat arcade game.

About Sonya
A member of a top United States Special Forces unit, Sonya Blade is a beautiful, stern, tough-as-nails lieutenant. Her impulsiveness is catalyzed by her superior and good friend Major Jackson "Jax" Briggs. Sonya represents a very emancipated and headstrong woman, but for all her stubbornness and pride, she deeply cares about the lives of her friends and comrades. She has a long-standing enmity with the thug Kano, who had murdered a former partner of hers, and stands for everything Sonya despises.

Mortal Kombat
Sonya and her team were in hot pursuit of Kano, the leader of the Black Dragon organization. After he jumped onto a ship, they followed him to a remote island where Shang Tsung's Mortal Kombat tournament was being held. Upon arriving they were ambushed by Tsung's personal guard. To keep her team safe, she agreed to compete in the tournament. Shang Tsung, however, had no intention of fulfilling his end of the bargain and had her unit killed. After he was defeated by Liu Kang in the final battle, Sonya teamed up with Johnny Cage and Kano, ignoring her personal feelings for the sake of survival, to fight Goro on the bridge high above the pit. During the battle, the island started to crumble and both she and Kano were taken prisoner to Outworld by Shang Tsung to appease the emperor, Shao Kahn.

Mortal Kombat II
Sonya was able to send a signal to her superior Jax from Outworld. He traveled there to find her. Jax made contact with the other Earthrealm warriors, and together they learned of Kahn's scheme to invade Earth. She was later freed by Jax who arrested Kano, but as soon as they had passed through the portal to Earth, Kano escaped and ran back into Outworld.

Mortal Kombat 3/Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3/Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Sonya and Jax now had other things on their minds, however. They tried to warn the United States government of the impending invasion, but their claims went unheeded. As such, they began preparing by themselves for the coming invasion. When the fateful day finally came, Shao Kahn stripped Earthrealm of all human souls, with the exception of a few chosen warriors, one of which was Sonya, who would soon encounter her old nemesis Kano on top of a skyscraper near Kahn's fortress. A fierce battle was waged between the two. Kano gained the upper hand, and kicked Sonya onto a stone gargoyle. Sonya feigned defeat, but when Kano advanced to finish Sonya off, grabbing her by the hair, she performed her most infamous special move: the leg grab, and hurled Kano off the roof to his apparent death, taking a lock of her hair with him.

Mortal Kombat 4/Mortal Kombat Gold
After her journey into Outworld and Shao Kahn's near destruction of Earth, Sonya became a member of Earth's own Outer World Investigation Agency. The Black Dragon kept crossing her path, however. Its last known member, Jarek, had fled to Edenia while Sonya was chasing him. This lead Sonya and Jax to team up with Raiden and Liu Kang to free that realm from the Fallen Elder God Shinnok's grasp, and to prevent him from coming to Earth. After Shinnok's defeat, in which Jarek had reluctantly participated to save himself, Jarek tried to kill Sonya, but died in the attempt.

Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance
Years later, Sonya would once again heed Raiden's call, this time to travel to Outworld after the Deadly Alliance had slain Shao Kahn and Liu Kang. For Sonya, this coincided with her search for two missing OIA agents, Cyrax and Kenshi. She was unable to find them, however, and was killed in a fight with the Deadly Alliance and its minions. The Deadly Alliance's victory was short-lived, as Onaga had been resurrected moments after their victory over Raiden himself, and reclaimed Outworld, as well as the amulet. With his ability to raise the dead at will, he resurrected and enslaved Sonya and her fallen comrades.

Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Sonya and her force found Sektor and his men invading territory protected by Earthrealm. Her ship destroyed Sektor's, but she found a tracer attached to an Edenian warrior named Taven in the snow region of Arctika. As Taven was about to fight a snow monster, Sonya destroyed it and proceeded to interrogate Taven. Though Taven was innocent, he would not reveal his quest, and Sonya attacked him. She was, however, no match for the half-god and retreated, promising Taven she'd be following him and for him to be on his guard.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
She is allied with her archnemesis Kano and her rival is Catwoman.

In her ending, she manages to salvage one of the Green Latern Corps. rings from a fallen user. Despite its power, the ring was weak with only one charge left in it.

Biographies

 * Mortal Kombat: "Sonya is a member of a top U.S. Special Forces unit. Her team was hot on the trail of Kano's Black Dragon organization. They followed them to an uncharted island where they were ambushed by Shang Tsung's personal army."
 * Mortal Kombat 3: "Sonya disappears in the first tournament, but is later rescued by Jax. After returning to Earth, she and Jax try to warn the U.S government of the looming Outworld menace. Lacking proof, they watch helplessly as Shao Kahn begins his invasion."
 * Mortal Kombat 4: "After her journey into the Outworld and Shao Khan's near destruction of earth, Sonya becomes a member of Earth's own Outworld Investigation Agency. Her first mission leads her to join Liu Kang on his quest to aid the troubled thunder God, Raiden. She must survive long enough to warn her government of the new menace brought on by Quan Chi."


 * Deadly Alliance: "Agent Sonya Blade and her team had finished their mission of demolishing any known ancient inter-realm portals when she received word from Jax that the Agency's portal chamber had been destroyed. With no means for traversing the realms, Sonya realized that there were now two agents lost in Outworld. The first had been the ninja cyborg Cyrax, whom some time ago. And now Agent Kenshi, originally sent to find Cyrax, was lost as well. She would have to find a way to get to Outworld and bring them home. Sonya was instructed to accompany Jax to an island in the Lost Sea where the Thunder God Raiden would meet them. The island had once been the location of her first Mortal Kombat tournament a decade ago. Now it was an abandoned reminder of the struggle between Earthrealm and the forces of evil. As she and the other heroes waited for Raiden to appear, she came to the realization that this time she had no plan of attack. All Sonya knew for sure was that somehow she had to recue her fellow agents. As her Special Forces training dictated, no man would be left behind."


 * Armageddon: "For a long time my objective was to hunt down and eliminate the rogue clans of the criminal underworld. Kano, a member of the Black Dragon, had been a particular thorn in my side. I was close to capturing him, but once I heard about Shang Tsung's Mortal Kombat tournament, protecting Earthrealm from invasion became my sole priority. Once Onaga was stopped, it seemed the threat was eliminated. I could resume my mission against the Black Dragon and Red Dragon clans. Jax and I came back from Outworld only to find ourselves fighting a different kind of invasion: one from inside our own realm. While we were gone the cybernetic ninja faction known as the Tekunin had grown in number and threatened the stability of civilization. My attention was fixed on this new ninja clan; I was forced to focus all of our resources on defeating them. The Tekunin leader, Sektor, seemed to have connections with hostile entities from beyond our world, blatantly violating Earthream law. I needed to uncover his plans and stop him. We had one chance: Intel revealed that Sektor was aboard a warship somewhere over the Botan jungle. The Special Forces attacked and brought down the ship. Jax led a ground team to look for survivors, but he's still MIA and, I'm afraid to say, most likely captured by the Tekunin. For days Jax's cybernetic bio-sensors indicated that he was alive, yet the readings were abnormal. His life signs were stronger, but there were changes in his brainwave patterns. Eventually his signal was lost and we have no way of knowing if he's alive or dead. We may have crippled the Tekunin, but they will regroup. I need to find out who they were working with from outside Earthrealm. The idea that these rogue groups are conspiring with outside agents is alarming and underlines the importance of eliminating them once and for all. I have to find some way to shut them down."
 * MK vs DCU: "The impulsive Special Forces agent Sonya Blade knew nothing of other realms until she stumbled upon the Mortal Kombat tournament while pursuing the Black Dragon clan member Kano. After meeting Liu Kang and Raiden on Shang Tsung's island, her purpose in life was forever changed. She convinced her partner, Jax, to help spearhead a division of the Special Forces dedicated to protecting Earthrealm from outside forces. Though she has defended against exotic threats from other worlds, nothing could have prepared her for the invasion to come."

Signature moves

 * Energy Rings: Clanging her wrists together she would send out ring-like fireballs that would hit the opponent. (MK, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MKvs.DCU)
 * Leg Grab: Sonya would do a handstand and grab her opponent with her feet and slam them on the ground. It is unblockable. One of her classic attacks. (MK, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MKvs.DCU)
 * Air Leg Throw: Using her legs she would toss the opponent to the ground from the air. (MK4, MKG)
 * Face Planter: She would take off into the air and fly across the screen with a punch to anyone who was in the air. (MK, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MKvs.DCU)
 * Inverted Bicycle Kick: Like Liu Kang, Sonya would rise into the air with a series of kicks to the opponent. This can turn into Bike Assault after doing a Bicycle Kick, Sonya does another Bicycle kick to the ground. (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MKG, MKvs.DCU)
 * Cartwheel Kick: Sonya would perform a cartwheel at her opponent kicking them on impact. (MK4, MKG, MKvs.DCU)
 * Flying Kick: Taking a page out of Liu Kang's book, Sonya would fly across the screen with a kick to the opponent's torso. (MK:DA)
 * Kiss Of Death: Sonya would blow a kiss that would stun the opponent. Note this move won't work on Kenshi, due to the fact that he is blind. (MK:DA, MK:A, MKvs.DCU)
 * Air Borne Bicycle Kick: Sonya preforms her Bicycle Kick in the air, kicking her opponent while coming down. (MKvs.DCU)
 * Armed Forces: Like Kira, Sonya crouches down and releases a pink projectile forward.

Fatalities

 * Fiery Kiss of Death: This fatality has been Sonya's trademark fatality ever since MK1. She would blow a flaming kiss in the direction of her opponent, burning him/her alive. (MK, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MKvs.DCU)
 * Crushing Kiss Of Death: Another variation of this fatality was found in Mortal Kombat 3 in which she would once again blow a kiss and an amazing glowing orb would be hurled towards an opponent, thus crushing the opponent and leaving behind a pile of blood and bones. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
 * Slicing Kiss of Death: The kiss returns with a different style. She conjures an energy ball that destroys the opponents upper torso once it makes contact. (MK4)
 * Leg Splitter: Sonya performs her leg grab trademark move and grabs her opponent with her legs, holding them high momentarily before ripping the body apart by splitting her legs. (MK4)
 * Poisonous Kiss of Death: The kiss once again returns and this time, with a sadistic new style. Sonya exhales a mystical poisonous mist at her opponent, causing him/her to choke and vomit organs, food and blood. Sonya then jumps in the air and crushes her opponent's head with her feet. (MK:DA)
 * Neck Breaker: Sonya grabs the opponent by the neck, stands upside-down while doing so and breaks their neck. (MKvs.DCU)

Other finishers

 * Friendship #1: Sonya dances. (MK3)
 * Friendship #2: Sonya would salute and flowers would grow all over the floor. (UMK3, MKT)
 * Animality: Sonya turned into a giant hawk and carried the opponent into the air and diced them to pieces. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)

Endings

 * Mortal Kombat: "Captured by Shang Tsung, Sonya's Special Forces unit was taken hostage - their only hope was the tournament. Shang Tsung promised to release the entire team... only if Sonya could win the contest. Her victory not only released her unit- but also put an end to the Black Dragon and Shang Tsung's powerful grip on the tournament."


 * Mortal Kombat 3: "Sonya defeats her arch-enemy Kano high atop a skyscraper near Shao Kahn's fortress. She then comes face to face with the emperor himself. In an incredible display of courage, Sonya wins. When the world returns to its normal state, Sonya has no trouble convincing her superiors to form the Outerworld Investigation Agency, devoted to protecting the Earth against possible future invasions from other realms."


 * Mortal Kombat 4: After Shinnok is destroyed by the "good guys", Sonya confronts Jarek close to a huge cliff, and attempts to escort him back to the Earthrealm where he will most likely be put into custody of the authorities. Jarek refuses, attempts to ambush Sonya, but ultimately throws himself off the cliff. Afterwards, Sonya radios Jax and informs him that she's returning to base.


 * Deadly Alliance: "After the destruction of the Deadly Alliance, Sonya searched for the missing Special Forces agent Kenshi. She finally discovered him badly beaten and near death apparently from hook-like wounds in his ribcage. She managed to return him to the rendezvous point where I transported them back to Earthrealm. Upon her return, Sonya was promoted to General and giver her choice of command. She hand-picked a team to deal with new terrorist threats located on Earth. While in Outworld, Special Agent Kenshi had learned of a new threat to peace. The Red Dragon had awakened."


 * Armageddon: (Non-Canonical) "As reward for her victory, Blaze offered Sonya any power she desired. Glowing with energy, she turned and faced Kano, who had just reached the top of the pyramid. Her gaze burned into Kano. With a final scream of agony, Sonya's nemesis exploded in a cloud of ash. A mere glance, and her wish had been granted: Kano lived no more. With this new power, she incinerated the remaining members of the Black Dragon and Red Dragon clans, clearing the way for a new era of peace."


 * MK vs DCU: (Non-Canonical) "During the world-merge crisis, a member of the Green Lantern Corps was killed. At the moment of his death, his power ring traveled to Sonya, taking her as its new master. When the worlds were once again separated, the ring stayed with her. Now she has the ultimate weapon, but only one charge. She must use the ring sparingly until she can find a way to replenish its power."

Movie appearance
Sonya appears in both Mortal Kombat movies as one of the lead characters. In the first movie, played by Bridgette Wilson, she defeats and kills Kano before getting captured by Shang Tsung towards the end of the film. In the second movie, Sonya is played by Sandra Hess. She defeats Mileena and Cyrax in separate battles, and later kills Ermac during the final battle. Both films hinted at a romantic attraction between Sonya and Johnny Cage, similar to the 1994-1995 MK comic books by Malibu which also suggested a relationship.

Trivia

 * Inspired by the karate champion and movie actress Cynthia Rothrock.
 * Sonya was named after one of Boon's sisters. He confirms this in a video interview in the special edition of Deception.
 * Her known relatives are Major Herman Blade (father), Erica Blade (mother), and Daniel Blade (twin brother, deceased).
 * Sonya almost didn't make it into Mortal Kombat. Originally, Kurtis Stryker, who later debuted in MK3 (although, at the time, the name was given to the character who would eventually be called Jax in MKII) used her storyline, but he was dropped and Sonya created to add a female character to an otherwise all-male cast.
 * Sonya was revealed to be one of Ed Boon's favorite characters during an interview around the time Mortal Kombat 3 came out. Boon stated that she was not only one of the strongest, but also one of the most popular characters of the series.
 * Sonya and Kano were the first MK3 characters to be confirmed.
 * Originally, Mortal Kombat: Special Forces was to have both Jax and Sonya as playable characters; however, Sonya's part was dropped due to deadline issues. In early shots of Special Forces at the time when Sonya was still in the game, it listed her code name as "Panther"
 * Sonya was originally going to fight Jade during the first movie in a secret arena, but the scene was cut from the shooting script and never filmed.
 * In Malibu Comics' non-canon Mortal Kombat series, Sonya was kidnapped, and hypnotized by Reptile into marrying Shao Kahn. Their marriage would have opened the barriers of the two worlds (Outworld and Earth) and Kahn would had been able to take Earth as his own. The wedding was stopped during a battle involving the entire cast of the first two games. The comics suggested a love interest between Sonya and Johnny Cage.
 * Sonya's 2P costume in Mortal Kombat 4 and Gold gives her a striking resemblance to Nina Williams of Tekken, a fighting game series created by Namco. Ed Boon had stated in an interview that Tekken is his favorite fighting game.
 * A false rumor that spread among many players in the first Mortal Kombat was the existence of a code that would make Sonya appear naked in the game (referred to as the "Nudeality" or "Nudality"). Various reports told of its existence only appearing in the Sega version, only in the arcade version, and so on.
 * Sonya's partner who was killed by Kano was named Cliff LoDolce in Jeff Rovin's MK novel, Bill van Hoven in the MK movie novelization, and Wexler in the cartoon show, Defenders of the Realm.

Character Relationships

 * Daughter of Major Herman Blade and Erica Blade.
 * Twin sister of Daniel Blade who is dead.
 * Works for the Special Forces.
 * Partner of Jax.
 * Arch nemesis of Kano.
 * Ally of Johnny Cage, Liu Kang, Raiden, and Kitana.
 * She and Kano were taken away by Shang Tsung after MK1.
 * Held captive by Shao Kahn in MKII.
 * Rescued by Jax after MKII.
 * Defeated and nearly killed Kano in MK3.
 * She and Jax tried to arrest Jarek but as they heard of the upcoming invasion of Shinnok they offered Jarek to fight against Shinnok.
 * Found Cyrax and restored his human soul, then recruited him to the Outerworld Investigation Agency, then sent him to Outworld.
 * Recruited Kenshi to join the Outerworld Investigation Agency, then sent him to look for Cyrax.
 * Recruited by Raiden to join the fight against the Deadly Alliance.
 * Killed by Baraka's taraktan hordes.
 * Resurrected by Onaga to serve him.
 * Freed from Onaga's spell by Ermac.
 * Discovered Sektor and his Tekunin clan had been attacking society then brought down his ship.
 * Encountered Taven believing him to know about what Sektor is planning, then engaged in Mortal Kombat but was defeated by him.
 * Joined the forces of light to the last battle in Armageddon.