Many of the most recognizable and iconic fighting game characters are from the Mortal Kombat series. You’ve got a badass ninja like Scorpion, the thunder god Raiden, the four-armed Goro, and many others. However, the series has been around since 1992 and not every new addition has been a success. There have been some incredibly stupid additions (some of which were joke characters) that would have been better off left on the cutting room floor.
With that in mind and Mortal Kombat 11 on the horizon, let’s take a look at the worst Mortal Kombat characters to appear in the beloved series.
Worst Mortal Kombat Characters | Blaze
Originally a background character in Mortal Kombat 2‘s Pit stage, fans begged Midway for Blaze to become playable. Clearly, they had not heard the saying “be careful for what you wish for because you just might get it.” As a result, Blaze was included as a playable character in Deadly Alliance. The generic-looking fire bro’s backstory is that he had been sitting around watching the Great Dragon egg until it hatched and then decided to join the battle. Not only is he not particularly fun to play as, but his design looks like a 10-year-old came up with it.
Worst Mortal Kombat Characters | Dairou
Quite possibly the most generic character ever added to the series, Dairou is a guardsman turned mercenary. So little care went into his character design that he has a Japanese name, yet wears traditional Chinese gear. The only saving grace is that Dairou actually has some cool moves. His fatality has him ripping out ribs and his tombstone drop is great for combos. But he, sadly, is not good for Mortal Kombat.
Worst Mortal Kombat Characters | Hsu Hao
A lot of Mortal Kombat characters can be described as “stupid” in a positive manner. An undead ninja with the ability to breathe fire? That’s gleefully stupid and awesome! However, Hsu Hao is just irredeemably stupid. First off, take a look at the device he has on his chest. His whole backstory is that Jax ripped out his heart. However, this contraption has allowed him to live. To make things even worse, after being given a second chance at life, this absolute geek decided to wear that awful looking peaked cap. He’s not even fun to play as and is a wasted addition in not just one but two MK titles. We can only hope that the campaign to put him in Mortal Kombat 11 (Amazon Link) was just a sick joke.
Worst Mortal Kombat Characters | Kai
This entry comes with a caveat as Kai had two extremely different different appearances. In Mortal Kombat 4, he was a fun to play Shaolin monk with a simple attire. However, when he returned for Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, he morphed into an old-looking guy that wore lame armor. It doesn’t help that they barely gave him any differences from Liu Kang and there wasn’t any point to him being on the roster.
Worst Mortal Kombat Characters | Kobra
The darkest era for Mortal Kombat was during the mid-aughts. One of the new characters debuted in Mortal Kombat: Deception was a generic street fighter named Kobra. Looking like a homeless man’s version of Ken from Street Fighter or Fatal Fury‘s Terry Bogard, Kobra had little to offer up. He doesn’t even fit into the aesthetic of the series. He’s a horrible character with zero redeeming qualities and that’s why he hasn’t been seen in any of the newer titles.
Worst Mortal Kombat Characters | Mavado
Like a lot of the characters on this list, Mavado was introduced in Deadly Alliance. He’s a crime syndicate leader and the boss of Hsu Hao. They’re an awful pairing that deserves one another. Rather than just being a badass, Mavado dresses like somebody attempting to be a badass for Halloween. With the long black coat and shoulder armor, he looks like a poorly done attempt at cosplaying as Sephiroth from Final Fantasy 7.
Worst Mortal Kombat Characters | Meat
Obviously included as a joke, Meat should be classified in the “so bad it’s good” territory. His inclusion in Mortal Kombat 4 was worth a good laugh. However, he’s still an awful character and a waste of space in Armageddon. As for the character himself, there’s not much to him other than being an experiment gone wrong by Shang Tsung. The poor dude has no skin and can barely keep his eye popped into his mutilated skull. You don’t have to be a doctor to thing that this doesn’t seem like the best condition for fighting. In fact, the worst athletic commission probably wouldn’t clear him to wash a car, let alone fight.
Worst Mortal Kombat Characters | Mokap
Once again, Mortal Kombat doesn’t know when to stop with a joke. A motion capture actor getting pulled into competing in a battle between worlds is pretty hilarious the first time. However, he didn’t just appear in Deadly Alliance but also Armageddon. Besides being a one-note joke, there isn’t much to say about Mokap. He used a combination of other characters’ moves, which was sort of interesting, but he’s still a lame character.
Worst Mortal Kombat Characters | Reiko
Reiko debuted in Mortal Kombat 4 looking like a ninja knock-off of DC Comics’ Nightwing. A general for Shao Kahn, it looked like he was going to play a larger role in the series as his MK Gold ending had him sitting on his former master’s throne and wearing his helmet, which you can see in the above picture. However, this detail was thrown away and never explored. So, we’re left with a generic-looking bad guy that holds a giant spiked club. That’s admittedly kind-of cool, but it’s a lame character when looking at the rest of the roster.
Worst Mortal Kombat Characters | Taven
As mentioned previously, Mortal Kombat has so many amazing characters. However, Armageddon forced players to play as this dork for its story mode. Named Taven, this half-god has zero personality and did not shine at all in the starring role. From his generic look to his boring combat style, there is simply nothing for fans to latch onto. He’s a terrible character design and he’s honestly best left forgotten at this point. Thankfully, NetherRealm agrees as beyond a brief cameo in the Mortal Kombat reboot, he hasn’t been seen again.
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