Mortal Kombat (2011)'s Story Mode

The story mode of Mortal Kombat (2011) contains 16 chapters total, telling a cohesive story retelling the events of the first three Mortal Kombat games, with both major and minor changes. Each chapter focuses on a single character from the series (except Chapter 11, with Liu Kang taking the final fight), and contains a combination of fights and extended cut-scenes.

Below is a list that shows the chapters in order:
 * 1) Johnny Cage
 * 2) Sonya Blade
 * 3) Scorpion
 * 4) Cyrax (human)
 * 5) Liu Kang
 * 6) Jax
 * 7) Smoke
 * 8) Sub-Zero
 * 9) Kitana
 * 10) Jade
 * 11) Kung Lao (the final fight of this chapter is fought as Liu Kang)
 * 12) Stryker
 * 13) Kabal
 * 14) Cyber Sub-Zero
 * 15) Nightwolf
 * 16) Raiden

Storyline
The story begins at the aftermath of the Battle of Armageddon, where nearly all of the kombatants have been killed. Only two fighters are shown to have survived: the Thunder God, Raiden, and the Emperor of Outworld, Shao Kahn. Kahn had his powers increased (by the 3rd outcome of the defeat of Blaze by Taven), and is currently engaged in a fight with Raiden (although his powers were increased, were not sufficient because he was fighting in the foreign realm of Edenia), he easily gains the upper hand and taunts his victory, destroying the thunder god's medallion in the process. Realizing the battle is lost, Raiden gathers up the pieces of the medallion and sends a cryptic message to his past self, including the words "He Must Win", moments before Shao Kahn kills him.

Mortal Kombat bracket
The message, along with a series of mental images, travel back in time to the events of the first Mortal Kombat tournament covered in the series. The Raiden from back then not only senses these visions, but also notices his amulet is cracked. He thinks nothing of it at first as the tournament begins, with the arrogant fighter, Johnny Cage, defeating Reptile and Baraka, respectively. He is congratulated on his victories by Raiden, but he does not believe the warning that Raiden and Liu Kang give him that Earthrealm is in grave danger. Instead, he leaves to try to ask Sonya Blade out on a date, whom he had spent much of the night hitting on. Sonya initially refuses any attention from Cage, but comes to respect him after he saves her from an attack by Kano and defeats him in her defense.

Sonya reveals that she is actually looking for her superior, Jax Briggs, who has been taken prisoner. As she tries to tell Shang Tsung, the tournament's host, that she is not part of his plans, but he tells that she is and she will face Sub-Zero. After beating him, Raiden appears and receives a vision of Liu Kang defeating Shang Tsung. Believing this means something, he prevents Sonya from attacking him, only for Sonya to attack him instead. After that he assists her in freeing Jax. Later, they are ambushed by Kitana and Jade, but Sonya manages to beat them. Then the helicopter arrives, but Shang Tsung destroys it and has Sonya fight Kano. After that, he leaves. Then Raiden meets up with the Earthrealm forces and explains the images he has been getting. Although he senses a grim future, he decides the best course of action, for now, would be to let the tournament run its course.

The next day, the ninja spectre, Scorpion is sent to fight. He expresses a desire to battle Sub-Zero, but is challenged by Kung Lao (who Raiden recognizes while posing as a Masked Guard) and also faces Nightwolf, both of whom he defeats. Sensing a vision that, if Scorpion kills Sub-Zero, another more dangerous threat will emerge, Raiden confronts him and encourages him to spare his life on the condition that he will ask the Elder Gods to resurrect his clan. Scorpion accepts this agreement. He then faces Cyrax and Sektor, both of whom he defeats. He finally fights Sub-Zero, and refuses to kill him. Quan Chi, however, shows him some images of the Lin Kuei's destruction of the Shirai Ryu, including one of Sub-Zero murdering his wife and child. Despite Sub-Zero pleading that the warrior responsible was, in fact, not him, Scorpion kills him anyway in a fit of rage.

A distraught Scorpion later returns with Sub-Zero's charred skull and spine, and leaves soon afterward. Raiden next speaks to Sub-Zero's former friend, Cyrax, and learns that he opposes the Lin Kuei's plans to turn some of their best warriors into cyborgs. Unfortunately, this conversation leads him to being ambushed by Baraka and Sheeva, who had been sent to kill him by Shang Tsung. Cyrax is victorious over both warriors, then confronts Shang Tsung with Sektor, who explains that Cyrax will nonetheless continue to compete in the tournament. Cyrax fights and defeats Johnny Cage, but refuses to kill him, leading him to rebel from his clan. Sektor confronts him, but Cyrax defeats him in the process.

By now, only Liu Kang remains for Earthrealm's forces. Liu Kang faces and defeats Ermac. It is at this point that Raiden receives the message of "He Must Win". Believing that this refers to Kang, he further encourages him. Later, Kang is ambushed by Kitana, who Sonya fought earlier along with Jade, but when he defeats her, he spares her life instead of killing her, like she asked him to. He says that their encounter never happened, and that they will meet again "under different circumstances". Kang then fights Scorpion and Quan Chi, defeating them and eventually earns the right to face Goro and, after a long, hard fought battle, defeats the Shokan warrior. With this victory, Kang faces off against his last opponent: Shang Tsung himself. As Raiden foresaw before, Kang bests the sorcerer, who concedes defeat, handing victory to Earthrealm. Raiden and the other Earthrealm forces congratulate Kang on his victory, but to Raiden's surprise, his amulet cracks further.

Mortal Kombat II bracket
In order to save himself from being executed, Shang Tsung quickly makes a new proposition to Shao Kahn. He suggests a single tournament, replacing the original system of ten, and that if Earthrealm wins, Shao Kahn will refrain from attempting to merge it again. However, should Outworld win, Earthrealm will be instantly merged. Kahn agrees to these rules, revitalizes Tsung and sends him to Earthrealm, where Liu Kang's victory is being celebrated, to invite Raiden and his Earthrealm forces.

Raiden initially refuses, which results in the Wu Shi Academy being overrun by Tarkatan warriors. In the chaos, Sonya is kidnapped. Raiden receives another image, showing Liu Kang winning the new tournament. He decides to accept the challenge, but concludes that he must change the outcome of this image, as Kang's victory over Tsung had no effect. He sends Liu Kang and Kung Lao to tend to their masters, whilst he, Jax and Cage confront Shao Kahn himself. The first round of the new tournament sees Jax defeating Baraka, but the tournament is briefly called off after Reptile informs Shang Tsung of some "pressing matters". Raiden, Johnny Cage, and Jax then teleported to the Armory after one of Raiden's visions showed him Sonya sentenced to be executed. Johnny Cage questioned Jax about his relationship with her, to which Jax stated that he was her commanding officer, nothing else. Jax became increasingly angered by Johnny's gloating and they got into a fight, which was put to an end by Raiden. Jade appeared soon afterwards, and demanded that the three warriors leave. Jax fought Jade and defeated her. After rendering Jade unconscious, Johnny and Jax patched things up and the three continued their quest to find Sonya.

They finally located Sonya by the Dead Pool, being guarded by Sheeva and her guards. After killing one of the attacking guards and jumping over the rest of them, Jax fought and defeated Sheeva while Johnny and Raiden dealt with the guards. He was then able to free Sonya, repaying the favor from earlier.

Sonya's wrist communicator picks up two readings from Outworld's shores. These turn out to be the Lin Kuei warriors Smoke and Tundra, the latter of whom is the younger brother of Sub-Zero. It is revealed that he has taken up his brother's rank and name in order to honor him, and avenge his killer. As they split up, Smoke fights Kitana and then encounters Kano selling some advanced weapons to Shang Tsung. Smoke confronts and defeats Kano, Shang Tsung, and Reptile, only to be ambushed by Sektor, who is now a cyborg. He attempts to bring Smoke back to the Lin Kuei temple to undergo the same procedure. Smoke defeats Sektor, but is overwhelmed by Sektor's fellow Lin Kuei cyborgs. They are stopped by Raiden, who received another vision. Smoke agrees to join him and Johnny Cage, expressing fears that Sub-Zero may be in danger.

Sub-Zero himself is ambushed by Cyrax, also now a cyborg, but manages to defeat him just as Jax and Sonya arrive. Surprised to see him alive, they eventually explain the original Sub-Zero's death at the hands of Scorpion. The three are ambushed by Ermac and, in the resulting confrontation, both of Jax's arms are telekinetically ripped from his body by Ermac, who then engages Sub-Zero in combat, but is defeated. Sub-Zero eventually reaches Shao Kahn's Coliseum and is forced into a duel with Reptile. Emerging the victor, Sub-Zero demands to fight Scorpion, which Shao Kahn agrees. Scorpion shows up and fights him. Sub-Zero wins the match, but before he can kill Scorpion, he is attacked by various cybernetic Lin Kuei warriors, who offer their allegiance to Shao Kahn in order to take Sub-Zero back to their temple.

As Kitana was meant to eliminate any intruders, she is scolded by Shao Kahn for failing to do her duty. As she leaves, Raiden follows her. After arguing with Jade, Kitana is confronted by Raiden and the Earthrealm warriors. Determined to redeem herself to her father, Kitana fights and defeats both Smoke and Johnny. Before she can finish them, Raiden stops her and attempts to help her understand her true nature. To this end, he encourages her to examine Shang Tsung's Flesh Pits, somewhere she has been forbidden to go. As Kitana makes her way through the Living Forest towards the Flesh Pits, Jade reveals herself and pleads to Kitana to turn back by order of the Emperor. Kitana refuses and fights her, knocking her unconscious and then moving on. When Kitana finally arrives at the Flesh Pits, she discovers a series of clones designed in her image, but also sporting Tarkatan features. One of these clones, who looks exactly like Kitana, except for her eyes and mouth, ends up attacking her, but the clone is soundly defeated.

Shang Tsung then confronts Kitana and tells her that he made the clones, in an attempt to "perfect" her. She then fights Shang Tsung, defeating him and she informs Shao Kahn about his actions, only for the emperor to not only praise him, but to reveal that he actually killed her real father. He sends Kitana to be executed, and demands his new daughter, who he names "Mileena", be brought to him. However, Jade, overhearing Shao Kahn's confession of his involvement in murdering Kitana's real father, decides to switch sides and free Kitana. She manages to defeat Baraka and Sheeva and attempts to free Kitana, but she urges her to locate Raiden, which she manages to do after encountering and defeating Mileena. The heroes show up and Smoke, who mistakenly thinks she attacked Kitana, attacks her, but is defeated.

After Jade informs Raiden of the events, Liu Kang and Kung Lao go to the Tower to rescue Kitana, leaving the others to go to the Coliseum to take part in the tournament. There, they defeat Sheeva, Noob Saibot and Goro. Upon learning that Kitana is being held at that coliseum, they head there.

Back at the Coliseum, things are going badly for the Earthrealm warriors. Smoke and Johnny Cage have been defeated, and Sonya and Jax have left Outworld. Shao Kahn demands that Raiden chooses a champion, but Liu Kang, believing that he is not the "he must win", refuses to compete and goes to free Kitana instead. Raiden selects Kung Lao in his place. Lao manages to defeat Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, and even defeats Kintaro, but is then suddenly killed himself by Shao Kahn. Enraged, Liu Kang, having freed Kitana, fights in Kung Lao's place, and defeats the Emperor by punching straight through his chest, seemingly killing him. Kang is declared the winner of the tournament and, as they mourn Kung Lao, Raiden concludes that Liu Kang was meant to win after all, and Shao Kahn was who he was meant to defeat. Despite this, Raiden's medallion cracks even further.

Mortal Kombat 3 bracket
With the aid of Quan Chi's sorcery, Shao Kahn survives his injuries. Quan Chi makes a new proposal to him - the invasion of Earthrealm. This by itself is not possible due to the wards that the Queen of Edenia, Sindel, put upon Earthrealm when she committed suicide. Quan Chi, however, is able to overcome this by resurrecting her, with full loyalty to the Emperor. With the wards broken, Outworld begins a full-scale invasion of Earthrealm, overwhelming the conventional military forces of Earth.

During the invasion, police officers Kurtis Stryker and Kabal are amongst those fighting a losing battle against Outworld's forces. Reptile attacks them, but Stryker manages to fight him off. Further in the streets, they encounter Mileena, who also attacks Stryker but is likewise defeated. Stryker and Kabal then witness a fight between Johnny Cage and Motaro, which is interrupted by Raiden, who kills Motaro to prevent Cage's foreseen death. Kintaro then appears and seriously burns Kabal with a stream of fire. After defeating Kintaro and fending off an attack by Ermac, Stryker agrees to join Raiden and the other Earthrealm warriors when Nightwolf finds him and informs him about the situation. When he returns to where Kabal was left, Stryker finds him gone.

Kabal awakens in the Outworld, where Kano has revived him using Shang Tsung's magic and a respirator he created himself, and tells him with his upgrades, he can serve the Black Dragon again. Kabal insists that he has renounced crime and, after besting Kano in kombat, demands that Kano take him to Shao Kahn. There, they witness Shao Kahn promoting Sindel to general of his army after Motaro's death, draining Shang Tsung of all his souls, and thus destroying him, to give her more power. He knocks out Kano using the hilt of a knife, and is then spotted by Mileena. She challenges him, and Noob joins the fight. After defeating Mileena and Noob Saibot, Kabal makes an escape through the Earthrealm portal, where he encounters a now cybernetic Sub-Zero. After Kabal defeats him and knocks him unconscious, and fends off Sheeva, Raiden arrives to invite him to join the other Earthrealm warriors.

At Smoke's insistence, Cyber Sub-Zero is bought back to the Special Forces base and has his soul restored by Jax. Sub-Zero decides to head back to Outworld in an attempt to deceive the villains. Sektor, however, quickly realizes that Sub-Zero has been reverted and attacks him. After a fight, Sub-Zero subdues Sektor and hacks into his database. He learns from Sektor that Kano, Goro and Kintaro have captured some soldiers at the cemetery, and goes to the clock tower to investigate. There, he freezes Kano and defeats the two Shokan along with Ermac, before freeing the soldiers. Sub-Zero next travels to the cemetery, where he discovers Quan Chi preparing to perform a spell to create a soulnado. He is then confronted by Noob Saibot, who reveals to him that he is, in fact, his older brother Bi-Han, the original Sub-Zero resurrected by Quan Chi, but promptly relinquishes all former family ties.

Sub-Zero manages to defeat his brother, but is unable to prevent Quan Chi from completing his spell in time. Nightwolf arrives, fights and defeats Quan Chi. He then fights Noob Saibot and kicks him into the soulnado, seemingly killing him in the process and destroying the soulnado as well. Nightwolf returns to the church and tells that Earthrealm's souls are safe. To Raiden's frustration, his amulet cracks further. In desperation, he and Liu Kang decide to confront the Elder Gods. As they leave, however, the rest of the Earthrealm warriors are ambushed by Sindel and the Lin Kuei. Although the warriors are able to defeat the Lin Kuei warriors and Cyrax and Sektor with relative ease, they are overpowered by Sindel. Empowered by Shang Tsung's energy, she single-handedly kills Kabal, Stryker, Sub-Zero, Jax, Smoke and Jade, and severely injures Nightwolf, Johnny, Sonya and Kitana. Nightwolf then fights Sindel.

Meanwhile, Raiden and Liu Kang try to convince the Elder Gods to intervene, but the Elder Gods refuse, stating that Shao Kahn has not broken any rules since he has not yet merged Earthrealm with Outworld. Having achieved nothing, Raiden and Liu Kang return to Earthrealm just in time to witness Nightwolf sacrificing himself to destroy Sindel. Sonya and Johnny manage to recover, but Kitana succumbs to her injuries and dies in Liu Kang's arms.

The now desperate Raiden decides to form an alliance with Quan Chi, but is forced to go alone after a grieving Liu Kang, believing him to have gone mad, refuses to come along. Leaving him to tend to Cage and Sonya, Raiden travels to the Netherrealm and, after fighting off Scorpion, confronts Quan Chi and offers him the souls of all the fallen warriors, including his own, in exchange for his co-operation. However, Quan Chi has already obtained all the souls of the Earthrealm warriors (Kung Lao, Smoke, Sub-Zero, Jax, Kitana, Nightwolf, Jade, Kabal, Sindel and Stryker), and sets them on Raiden. During the encounter, however, Quan Chi indirectly reveals to Raiden that He must win in fact refers to Shao Kahn - if he is allowed to merge Earthrealm and Outworld without a victory in Mortal Kombat, he will have violated the rules set by the Elder Gods and punished.

Raiden quickly returns to Earthrealm to find that the merge is nearly complete. He explains to Liu Kang that they must allow Shao Kahn to merge the realms, but Liu Kang refuses to believe this and tries to attack Shao Kahn prematurely, forcing Raiden to fight him. Liu Kang, infuriated by Raiden's actions, attempts to kill him, but Raiden creates a shield of electricity. Unfortunately, when Liu Kang's fiery fist makes contact, it accidentally causes a backlash, burning and electrifying Liu Kang, much to Raiden's horror. Raiden begs Liu Kang to forgive him, only for him to say "you...have killed us...all..." before seemingly dying. Cage and Sonya attempt to defeat Shao Kahn together but are quickly incapacitated, and a distraught Raiden finally admits defeat. Shao Kahn beats Raiden into submission (in much the same way his future self did), but before he can land the killing blow, the Elder Gods possess Raiden's body.

Infused with their power, Raiden battles and defeats Shao Kahn. The Elder Gods then attack Shao Kahn and, as punishment for breaking the rules of Mortal Kombat, destroy him, before returning to the heavens. Earthrealm is returned to normal, and the cracks in Raiden's amulet disappear, signalling that he has, at long last, prevented Armageddon. After grieving over the losses of the aftermath, Raiden decides to help restore Earthrealm. He then teleports himself, Cage, and Sonya, as well as Liu Kang's body away. Quan Chi is then revealed to have been acting on the orders of his master, the fallen Elder God Shinnok, this whole time. With both Earthrealm and Outworld severely weakened, Shinnok vows that he will soon be free and that both realms will soon be theirs.

Story Mode Video Playthrough
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