Mortal Kombat: Legacy Finally Breaks Out the Ninjas

Ever wanted to know what Scorpion was like before he was a fire-breathing, skull-faced, instrument of vengeance? Well, here’s your chance.

After nearly two months of waiting, Mortal Kombat: Legacy has begun to tell the tale of everyone’s favorite palette-swapped ninjas, Scorpion and Sub-Zero, and as is fast becoming the series’ trademark, the change of characters has also brought a complete change of tone as well.

The story that links the two ninjas is probably one of the most interesting in the Mortal Kombat canon, as it’s dripping with murder and betrayal. The details of the story have shifted in the game, as new releases have added new characters and details, but the core details – that Scorpion and Sub-Zero are members of rival ninja clans, and Scorpion comes back from the dead to avenge his death, and the death of his family, at Sub-Zero’s hands – have remained solid.

This new episode shows us director Kevin Tancharoen’s take on that story, who through a combination of directing and writing – Tanchoaroen also wrote the episode – tries to lend a little more emotional weight to the tale. As a two-part episode, it can afford to take a little time getting to gory part of the story, and the first half is much more about establishing what kind of a man Scorpion was before he became a vengeful specter, then watching the two ninjas fight for ten minutes.

As befits two of the most popular characters in the Mortal Kombat canon, the episode is one of the better ones, with beautiful scenery and an interesting take on the story. Tancharoen makes you wait to get a really good look at Scorpion and Sub-Zero as you know and love them, but it makes it all the more exciting when they finally do meet.

Although they don’t appear in this episode, the credits also reveal that we will meet the sorcerer Quan Chi – who resurrected Scorpion as a ghost in the games – and once again encounter Shang Tsung as part of this story arc. It seems pretty likely that Scorpion will make a deal with the devil – or at least, one of his representatives – in order to get the revenge he seeks.

Source: Machinima