Accidental Aesop: Don't be afraid to trust others with your secrets and let them into your life, even if it means you have to show vulnerability. A lot of the friction between Earthrealm and Outworld comes from Sindel and Liu Kang keeping secrets from each other. Many of the heroic characters either learn to be more accepting and trustful of each other, or are open about their unfortunate pasts from the start and so earn sympathy from others (and the player), while the villains are all secretly scheming behind the backs of others and are themselves betrayed by someone else's secret scheme. Throughout the story, it is shown that trust is a key ingredient of peace and cooperation, and keeping secrets and being afraid of looking weak in front of others only leads to misunderstandings.
When Smoke mentions their father's teachings, Sub-Zero angrily puts him down and insults himfor being adopted. Is this attitude typical for Bi-Han, or was he agitated by the mention of their recently deceased father? Given how said father died, if the latter is true, then is Bi-Han just upset at being reminded of the "old fool" he supplanted, instead of being shown the unflinching deference he thinks the Lin Kuei's Grandmaster deserves, or is his anger born out of repressed guilt?
During Sub-Zero's Face–Heel Turn, he explicitly mentions that his father's death was an accident (the nature of which is left vague) and that Bi-Han allowed him to die; is he telling the truth about simply seizing an opportunity, or is he lying and either faked the accident or even caused it? And if he is being honest, did the possibility of killing his father simply not occur to Bi-Han, or is direct patricide just a line even he wouldn't cross?
Is General Shao's post-story contempt for Sub-Zero's treachery a clear-cut case of hypocrisy, or something more nuanced? Bi-Han betrayed his father and his realm, and Shao is shown to have both a high opinion of his own late father and a strong loyalty to Outworld, {if not to its sovereign rulers); it may be that Shao takes less issue with the fact that Sub-Zero betrayed someone, and more with the fact that he betrayed things that Shao himself would never betray.
Angst? What Angst?: Despite Syzoth/Reptile making such a big deal about the fact that he only serves Shang Tsung due to him holding his family hostage, once he learns that Tsung killed them ages ago and thus he's been serving him for nothing, he seems to get over it quite quickly, even forming a romance with Ashrah in the post-story.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Late into the game, General Shao attacks Liu Kang and his allies with the Amulet of Shinnok. He uses it to trap four of them within it, then after he's defeated in the following match, Liu Kang frees them and it vanishes from the story without further mention. It's not known where Shao even got it, because both Geras and Liu Kang claim it shouldn't exist in this timeline and give a quick Hand Wave "its creator is powerless". Despite Shinnok's amulet being a relic of great importance in both the original timeline and the rebooted trilogy, and its existence in this timeline being a huge question mark with massive implications for the cosmology of the new era, it is used simply as a convenient way to incapacitate a few members of the cast for a single, brief cutscene, with no explanation of where it came from or what happened to it afterward.
Though you may feel tempted to feel a little sorry for him, it's cathartic to see Shang Tsung (now reduced to a con-man selling snake-oil medicine) get his ass beat and unable to defend himself after he's exposed as a fraud by a man he sold a fake potion to, who lost his money and his daughter to sickness thanks to Shang's trickery.
Sindel getting her own chapter where she gets to beat up Shao was met with catharsis by fans too.
Mileena gets a chapter of her own, and gets to battle (and then swiftly kill) an evil version of Sindel, her mother. Fans found catharsis in that one of the franchise's fan favorites gets to beat up and kill one of the most despised versions of Sindel.
In arcade mode, if the player picks Scorpion as their Kameo, then it's very satisfying to see him beat the ever loving hell out of Quan Chi, to the point of punching him in the throat, and uppercut him to his death.
Complacent Gaming Syndrome: Kameo Sareena is an extremely popular choice in online play as her double knives gives combo damage when confirmed into, a move which slots well with pretty much every character in the cast. The knives also give free pressure against opponents who don't know the proper counter-play to it, which is still a fairly large portion of the online population. While there are definitely ways to punish reckless usage of her knives and other Kameos have far more utility, her ease of use still makes her very common.
Ever since Kuai Liang was confirmed to become Scorpion, there have been numerous theories about what role Hanzo Hasashi could now play in the new timeline, with one of the most popular being that he'll take the role of Noob Saibot, a role normally occupied by Bi-Han who is now back to life. In the final game, Smoke’s tower ending shows him encountering a young Hanzo and recruiting him for the new Shirai Ryu.
The 17-minute gameplay demo introduces a new character named Madame Bo, an elderly woman who trained Kung Lao and Raiden in martial arts and owns the Teahouse where they eat. Given the similarities in their names and backstory, many fans believe Madame Bo to be the New Era's Gender Flipped incarnation of Bo' Rai Cho (who trained both Kung Lao and Liu Kang in the previous timelines) or at least being related to him in some way (by blood or by marriage).
The same 17-minute video has some people assuming that the Outworlder confronting Shang Tsung over his lies is a pre-Tarkat Baraka. Considering their similar appearances it might be true. In the final game, Baraka has no pre-existing enmity for Shang Tsung, and he only says that his family died of Tarkat, with no mention of a daughter dying because of Shang Tsung's fake medicine like the Outworlder in the opening scene.
Multiple intro interactions reveal the now mortal Raiden has a sister, leading many to theorize that she's a Gender Swapped version of Fujin. This is helped by Fujin's arcade mode ending in the last game where he discovered multiple alternate versions of himself, one of which was a woman.
Ensemble Dark Horse: While both characters already had their fans, the New Era's versions of Baraka and Reptile both received a lot of positive attention for their more sympathetic and heroic characterizations, despite their relatively brief roles in the story. That both characters are also tragic figures doesn't hurt.
Nitara is a bloodthirsty vampire who sees humans as no different than pigs, but being modeled after and voiced by Megan Fox gives makes her a very attractive bloodthirsty vampire.
Fan Nickname: Mortal Kombat 12, since the previous game was Mortal Kombat 11, and to avoid confusion because the original unnumbered game was nicknamed Mortal Kombat 1 ever since the second game (using II instead of 2) came out. Some fans also call it "Mortal 1 Kombat" for distinction as well since it's how the title is literally arranged on the box.
Any and all of the massive Alliance of Alternates that both Liu Kang and Titan Shang Tsung recruit for the Battle of Armageddon. The diversity, distinctiveness, and downright wackiness of these briefly seen, but memorable kombatants is enough to make any fanfic writer salivate.
The ending of Invasion mode introduces a version of Harumi Hasashi, Hanzo's wife, who became Scorpion after Quan Chi killed her husband; her story and it's potential similarities to and differences from Hanzo's are rife with potential.
One bug can cause a severed limb to occasionally reappear on the victim's body after a Brutality. Some players, who encountered that bug after doing a Brutality on Havik, initially believed this to be a case of Developer's Foresight due to the character having a Healing Factor.
From story mode to pre-fight intros, the relationship between Johnny and Kenshi starts off from hostile to eventually them having a very close bond, which some players have noticed several moments during their arc together that can be considered to have romantic undertones to them.
In Chapter 3, after Raiden defeats Johnny and moves on to fight Kenshi, Johnny and Kenshi briefly faces each other while walking opposite directions, in slow motion no less.
There are a few scenes where they can be seen standing next to each other, such as when watching Raiden and Kung Lao's deciding match on who will be the champion representing Earthrealm.
Johnny screams out Kenshi's name in horror as he witnessed him getting his eyes gouged out by Mileena. Then when the heroes are thrown into the prison in Shang Tsung's lab, the first thing Johnny does after waking up is worryingly checking up on Kenshi, in which later Johnny rips a strip of cloth applied with salve to put around where Kenshi's eyes once were. The fact that Kenshi's blindfold originate from a part of Johnny's armor indicates that Johnny is now associated with the core part of Kenshi's design in this timeline.
Just before the heroes move to confront Quan Chi, Johnny gently stops a willing-to-fight Kenshi from joining the fray to protect him, even handing over Sento, which cost Cage three million dollars, without prompting.
A pre-fight intro between Kenshi and Sindel has the latter call the former Earthrealm's "greatest swordsman", a boast Kenshi sheepishly attributes to Johnny, which says volumes about how highly Johnny has come to think of Kenshi.
Johnny calling Kenshi his "best friend" in his announcer intros isn't suspect on its own...except he also calls Tanya (Mileena's love interest) "Mileena's bestie" and Sareena (Sub-Zero's love interest in MKM:SZ) "Bi-han's future bestie". It doesn't help that one of his other nicknames for Kenshi is "Sexy Face 2".
The Deadly Alliance is formed once more in this new era, and the two sorcerers seem to genuinely enjoy each other’s company and don’t have any noticeable intentions of betraying each other. In fact, Titan Shang Tsung and Quan Chi even formed a deadlier alliance, and they seem to get along quite well with their matched mischievousness. Titan Shang Tsung even brought the New Era's Deadly Alliance together, essentially playing matchmaker, seemingly because he and Quan Chi just get along that well.
Upon Scorpion and Sub-Zero being revealed to be brothers in this game, many believed that Kuai Liang, the 2nd Sub-Zero, has taken up the mantle of the former. During an interview with IGN, Dominic Cianciolo, while discussing Smoke, would confirm that the Scorpion in this game is indeed Kuai Liang.
With Liu Kang becoming the new Keeper of Time, many predicted that if Geras were ever to return, it would be as Liu Kang's ally instead of his enemy. Come the release of the 'Keepers of Time' trailer, which revealed that Geras would be returning as part of the game's base roster, this was confirmed to be the case.
Sub Zero aka Bi-Han receiving Adaptational Villainy and undergoing a Face–Heel Turn was a twist pretty much everyone saw coming given the character's hostile interactions with heroic characters such as Liu Kang and Kitana in his pre-fight intros included in the game's Stress Test and Beta Test.
Kronika actually being the Shang Tsung from the bad ending of Aftermath in disguise also was predicted. Especially with the reveal of Invasion Mode all but confirming that there are multiple timelines.
Les Yay: Besides her relationship with Mileena, Tanya drops some...interesting hints to Scorpion about how she knows about his bride, Harumi.
Scorpion:You still haven't told me how you know Harumi. Tanya:Only she can tell you.
Reiko's already gotten this reputation pre-release. The fact he's one of the only characters in the game to only be shown off in the launch trailer is bad enough, but the fact his Early Bird Cameos prior in both a Comic Con clip and in the background of Raiden's section of the "Rulers of Outworld" trailer are him either right before or right after losing a fight made it worse. Fans have already decreed him to be the game's premiere Story Mode Jobber and joke the reason he was revealed last was because Netherrealm didn't care enough to give him his own trailer. Not helped that in the story proper he loses his every fight.
Reptile has become this game's designated "Fatality dummy" for showcases on YouTube. His green blood doesn't trigger the site's automated censors (which risks videos getting demonetized) so you get to watch the poor guy get brutalized again and again.
Kotal continues this trend too. His sole mention in the game's story mode is a line where he lost to Raiden offscreen.
Here and there, as to be expected with how cheesy the franchise can get. One example is after Titan Shang Tsung has taken over the Dragon Army of the New Era and Sindel just got Killed Off for Real, everyone opts to make their dramatic escape— in a single silly conga line, jogging after one another in between the Dragon Army statues on their way out.
When the multiversal Battle of Armageddon begins, Shang Tsung's army of Titans descend down the Pyramid of Argus to clash with Liu Kang's Titans. However, the epicness is deflated when you see everyone bunched together and awkwardly run up or down the stairs as if they're too afraid of tripping and falling.
Narm Charm: Natch, given the franchise, but the concept of the fourth act of the story goes even further by escalating the conflict to a multiversal war level between the New Era and Titan Shang Tsung's Dark timeline, which escalates even further when they start bringing an Alliance of Alternates which look like fan fusions. Even though it is ridiculous, the whole fourth act comes across as something hard not to smile at.
Obvious Judas: Bi-Han generally acting unpleasant and aggressive when he was serving Liu Kang is a complete giveaway that he's still going to be evil, something that fans saw coming right when there were only the trailers.
Depicting Tarkatans as victims of a mutagenic disease is actually taken from Deception, where it was spelled out that Tarkata (as they were called in that game) are mutant hybrids of demon and mortals. It was the 2011 game and its sequels that established them as an actual race of beings.
This isn't the first game where Tanya is seen without her Prophet Eyes; she didn't have such in her very first appearance in MK4.
Reptile has always been portrayed as being a reptilian creature who can assume a human form, but his human face was always behind a mask. It wasn't until this game that we finally see what Human Reptile looks like.
One-Scene Wonder: The Big Badass Battle Sequence between Liu Kang and Shang Tsung's respective Alliances of Alternates is packed full of bizarre alternate characters, ranging from Evil Counterparts to Distaff Counterparts to characters that are amalgamations of other characters — all of which get at most a single scene or a short brawl with the player before being unceremoniously disposed of. Some standouts include "Sento Storm" (Kenshi and Rain), "Klockodile" (Geras and Reptile), Ninja Mime, "John Kahner" (Johnny Cage and Shao Kahn), "Scorp Lao" and "Stung Lao" (Kung Lao and Scorpion), Shock Priestess (Raiden and Tanya), some good counterparts of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, the dark versions of the Kombat Kids who Titan Kitana unceremoniously kills, and an unnamed merger of Goro and Shao Kahn quadruple-wielding warhammers.
Padding: The first half of Johnny Cage's chapter has him on the set of a movie that's an Indiana Jones knock-off, where Johnny fights some demons and an undead king before the shoot wraps up. The film isn't even an Excuse Plot, its given the same treatment as an actual story sequence, in that several minutes of cutscenes sandwich the fights and treat the film as though it were real right up until they stop shooting. Nothing about the film Cage is shooting has any relevance to the actual plot, which only progresses when he goes home, making the film merely an excuse to increase the length of his chapter.
Scrappy Mechanic: In 9 through 11 as long as you knew the input of a character's second fatality it would permanently unlock in their move list even if you didn't discover it in game. That isn't the case here. Due to the character mastery system a character's second fatality won't unlock in a character's move list until that character reaches level 14, even if you perform it before that.
The depiction of Sindel from Mortal Kombat 11 is one of the most hated characters in the entire series for retconning the character to have been Evil All Along. In this game, a version of that evil Sindel is battled, and then swiftly killed by Mileena while being yelled at for being nothing like the mother that she loved.
Mileena: I can't imagine my mother ever having been evil. Geras: It was not a look she wore well.
In an easy to miss example, at one point in the story when Johnny, Lao, Kenshi and Baraka infiltrate Shang Tsung's laboratory, Shang Tsung talks about one of the Tarkat-curing serum's ingredients being "crushed Kytinn larvae". Given the absence of D'Vorah in the roster, it's hard not to feel some catharsis for it.
While fans approve that the pre-fight intros are much quicker and snappier than in X and 11, what hasn't made fans happy is them being relegated to only being before Versus mode matches. Meaning you won't see them in any other gameplay mode.
Sub-Zero's Adaptational Villainy has upset many fans of the character, who believe Bi-Han has gotten the short end of the stick in terms of characterization compared to the more anti-heroic character he was in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero.
To the surprise of many, quite a lot of the 3D-era kombatants have made a return either as a part of the main roster or as Kameos, many of them having not been available since Armageddon.
Li Mei is a character from the 3D era many didn't expect to see back, given that her last appearance was a small cameo in MKX's story.
Even fewer people expected Darrius to be included as a Kameo Fighter, especially since he hadn't made a proper appearance since Armageddon.
Even more 3D-era characters make their return with Havik and Ashrah becoming part of the main roster and Sareena as a Kameo revealed in the "Banished" trailer.
Even more people who watched the Umgadi trailer were taken aback by a surprise kameo appearance from Khameleon, who not only hadn't been seen in the series since Armageddon, but it's the first time she appears outside of a Nintendo console (she was exclusive to the Nintendo 64's version of Trilogy, and to the Nintendo Wii's version of Armageddon). While her outfit was only shown in yellow, those who analyzed said footage noticed her attire was one-to-one with her Armageddon design.
WB later confirmed in a press release that Mavado from Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance would be returning as one of the Kameos. Not many people were expecting to see him again, given his last playable appearance was in Armageddon, and that he was widely considered a Replacement Scrappy for taking Kabal's trademark hook swords.
Along with Nitara being confirmed as a playable character for the first time in 17 years since Armageddon, it's been confirmed that she'll be played by none other than Megan Fox.
The launch trailer confirms another character who hasn't been playable since Armageddon. This time, it's Reiko.
Not a lot of people were expecting Geras to return considering how he was portrayed as a near-mindless minion of Kronika in 11. Here, he has not only taken Kronika's place as the Guardian of the Hourglass but has also become good friends with Liu Kang.
The Rulers of Outworld trailer also revealed that Motaro and Shujinko will appear as Kameo Fighters. Motaro is especially a surprise given that he now has four legs again for the first time since Armageddon.
Havik returns as a playable character, whilst having a relatively minor role in the story. Intro dialogues reveal that this Havik is not the same one from previous timelines, it is in fact Dairou who has taken up the mantle. This makes sense given the stories of both Dairou and the original Havik aligned together as enemies of Seido, the realm of order, with Dairou's story starting the same way it did in past timelines before gaining traits that made him more like the original Havik.
The story mode reveals that Rain is in fact not Rain's given name, but doesn't reveal said given name. Intro dialogues reveal his true name is Zeffeero, a name previously used for a minor character in Mortal Kombat Deception's Konquest mode. Unlike this timeline's version of Havik, who is actually Dairou, Rain's new character uses nothing from the original Zeffeero beyond the name.
Despite having seemingly been Killed Off for Real in the last game, Kronika, much like Shang Tsung, appears Back from the Dead in the beginning of story mode to guide Shang towards the path of becoming a villain. Except it’s not really her; it's actually a guise used by Shang Tsung from 11, in a dramatic aversion of No Canon for the Wicked.
In the story too, no one expected Jerrod to effectively come Back from the Dead by seizing control of Ermac's body and thus actually have a speaking role for the first time in the franchise. Additionally, Ermac being a DLC fighter will make Jerrod technically playable for the first time ever.
People might have expected the usual characters to be playable in the story mode, with relatively little changes, so a lot of people were surprised when Ashrah, Reptile, Li Mei, Mileena and Baraka got their own chapter in the story.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: Ermac has gotten this impression by some, specifically when Jerrod takes over, whose face has a lot more natural softer features which contrasts pretty large with Ermac's undead mummified design.
Upon the release of the trailer for the Kombat Pack, everyone was quick to notice and criticize Ermac's redesign with the lack of mask and bandages that he's typically known for, furthering the "mummified" design type for Ermac that's base breaking at best.
Tanya's redesign has also received a fair share of criticism, mostly for her hair and harsh facial features, though that was due to a ill-timed snapshot of the character being angry and yelling.
Li Mei has also received some criticism for having almost identical clothing and hairstyle to Mileena, making them somewhat difficult to tell apart.
Reptile's natural Zaterran form was met with slight criticism, some comparing it to the Lizard from The Amazing Spider-Man.
Sub-Zero has a Day Of The Dead costume that's exclusive to Latin American players at launch, with fans in that region and others confused why it's not a skin for Kung Lao due to the sombrero he's wearing.
