Mortal Kombat 1 ending explained: What happens in post-credit scene in MK1?
Mortal Kombat 1 rewrites the series' timeline once more, but there's plenty more teased at its conclusion. Here's the Mortal Kombat 1 ending explained, including the post-credits scene.
Mortal Kombat 1 is finally here, and the long-running fighting game franchise understands the importance of a single-player story.
Mortal Kombat has long carried the torch for impressive story modes within the genre, and Mortal Kombat 1 is no different - in fact, it might be the best one yet. As Liu Kang recruits his cohorts to defend the timeline, things get more and more complex, meaning explaining the Mortal Kombat 1 ending is crucial to understanding the future of the franchise.
Here's what happens at the end of Mortal Kombat 1, as well as what's included in the post-credits scene.
Spoiler Alert As you can probably imagine, there are spoilers here for Mortal Kombat 1's ending and post-credits scene.
Mortal Kombat 1 ending explained
Mortal Kombat 1 reimagines many of the franchise's characters with fresh origin stories, or new abilities altogether. This is thanks to Liu Kang's role as Keeper of Time after Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, where he opts to place his deadliest foes in relative obscurity so they never rise to power.
As a result, Shang Tsung is a travelling merchant, but with the interference of a mystery benefactor, he rises to power in the MK1 timeline regardless, colluding with Quan Chi in a sort of reprise of the Deadly Alliance storyline.
As things progress, however, the mysterious force pulling the sorcerer duo's strings is revealed to be none other than another version of Shang Tsung himself. It's revealed that the final battle in Mortal Kombat 11 split time, so there are universes where other fighters secured victory against Kronika.
This more powerful Shang Tsung reveals his plan to destroy Liu Kang's timeline, prompting Liu Kang to venture into the multiverse to recruit Mortal Kombat characters from alternate timelines.
Unfortunately, Shang Tsung has the same idea, pulling from the franchise's roster, too. This leads to a titanic clash where hundreds of Mortal Kombat characters fight each other on the steps to a temple, with players able to pick their fighter of choice for the final battle.
Along the way, they fight a variety of hybrid fighters, including:
- Guard of Thunder (Li Mei with Raiden's abilities)
- Clockodile (Geras crossed with Reptile)
- Ninja Mime (a character from a Johnny Cage movie)
It's a fun nod to the franchise's history, and showcases some of the unique outfits that'll likely be added to the store at some point.
After the battle, Liu Kang and whoever the player chooses to fight as are victorious, seemingly finishing the game by turning Shang Tsung and Quan Chi to dust.
Mortal Kombat 1 post-credits secret ending explained
It's not quite the end, however, as there are two post-credit ending scenes for Mortal Kombat 1.
In the first, Jackson 'Jax' Briggs, is shown with his arms removed, struggling to get up after the climactic battle. While he lies wounded, a quartet of characters approach him, before the leader, revealed to be an armoured version of Havik, crushes the Jax's head with a mace.
Havik laments he wasn't able to reach the battle in time to fight himself, telling his associates, Kenshi, Tanya, and a version of Quan Chi with Sub Zero's ice powers that "next time it won't" end so quickly - suggesting more timeline shenanigans are coming in the franchise's future, and with Lord Havik as the main antagonist.
Finally, we see Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Kung Lao and Raiden enjoying food at Madam Bo's where the game began. Liu Kang mentions he must leave to help Scorpion's new Shirai Ryu clan in the wake of the Lin-Kuei abandoning Earthrealm, before leaving.
That's everything we know about the Mortal Kombat 1 ending, including both of the post-credit scenes. For more on Mortal Kombat, be sure to check out our character tier list for the latest fighter.
About The Author
Lloyd Coombes
Lloyd is GGRecon's Editor-in-Chief, having previously worked at Dexerto and Gfinity, and occasionally appears in The Daily Star newspaper. A big fan of loot-based games including Destiny 2 and Diablo 4, when he's not working you'll find him at the gym or trying to play Magic The Gathering.
