Get over here! The Mortal Kombat franchise began with the release of an arcade game in 1992, and grew steadily over the years into a multimedia juggernaut encompassing 24 games (12 main titles and 12 spinoffs and updates), five animated films, three TV and web series, over 60 comic books, and four feature films. MK lore includes hundreds of fighters, complex interlocking storylines that span thousands of years and multiple dimensions, and several complete timeline resets. Just making sense of it all can feel as daunting as a battle with Shao Kahn. Below are ten infographics that break down the entire violent, unruly Mortal Kombat universe.
Mortal Kombat’s heroes
If you’re playing Mortal Kombat head-to-head, the hero is whichever character you like from the Choose your Fighter screen, but the movie franchise has definite good guys. Below are the main heroes fighting for Earthrealm in the newest MK timeline, along with their weapons and supernatural powers.
Mortal Kombat’s villains and rogues
Mortal Kombat’s villains are a combination of muscle-bound conquerors and masters of manipulation and sorcery. They are victims of their own ambition, have been corrupted by outside forces, or they just like ripping people’s spines out.
But some of the franchise’s most memorable characters live in the gray area between Good and Evil. While they’re not necessarily complex characters, MK’s rogues are at least interesting. Below are the MK movies’ key bad guys and wildcards.
All about Arcana
Arcana hadn’t appeared in any Mortal Kombat game or movie until 2021’s Mortal Kombat, where dragon birthmarks that denote special powers drove the story. But in 2026’s Mortal Kombat 2, there is no mention of Arcana at all. Presumably, Johnny Cage was born with the special birthmark too, but it’s never revealed or discussed; Mortal Kombat lore can be mysterious.
Mortal Kombat’s movie timelines
Nailing down a single time line for the sprawling universe of Mortal Kombat is impossible. Part of the fun of the franchise are the variations on the theme of an interdimensional martial-arts-and-magic tournament with the whole world hanging in the balance. The four Mortal Kombat movies take place in two separate timelines. Here’s how they break down.
Mortal Kombat’s video game timelines
Mortal Kombat video games can be split into three distinct eras, the original games made by Midway, the middle era of games made by Netherealm Studios, and the new era, Netherrealm’s complete series reboot. Here’s how the games break down.
Mortal Kombat’s core concepts and characters
Character, plot, and lore details might change from game to game and movie to movie, but there are some concepts, relationships, and rules that are in every major Mortal Kombat release. These are the DNA of the franchise.
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The families of Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat may focus on weird monster-people ripping each others bones out, but it’s also about family. Bloodlines, marriages, and friendships are essential to how the universe functions. In the current Mortal Kombat game story line, here are the main kinships and connections.
The misfits of Mortal Kombat
With over 100 playable characters introduced over the 34 year history of the franchise, there were bound to be some clunkers. Below are the most iconic, hated, and hilarious of the fighters who didn’t make the cut.
Critical and commercial ranking of Mortal Kombat movies
The battle for earth’s existence may be fought in an interdimensional martial arts tournament, but the battle for Mortal Kombat as a movie franchise is played out through box office returns and critic reviews. Here’s how each of the movies did in each realm.
Mortal Kombat vs. the world
The Mortal Kombat universe has been a target for real life controversy since the first game raised parents’ eyebrows back in the 1990s. Here are three of the most consequential collisions between MK and the real world.
