mattteo
Apprentice
Fight me!
Returning always from previous game: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Johnny Cage, Sonya, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kitana, Mileena, Baraka, a shokan, Kotal, D'vorah, Erron Black.
In all games until now Jax and Kano have come back as well but for Kano I think it's time to retire him, he has been beaten and killed by Sonya in every game since the reboot (though we might see Kano's son or his ancestor). Jax has a big chance to come back if the game is set in present time. But there is also the possibility that the game goes in the distant past, 1.000 years or so before and then they replace Kung Lao with the Great Kung Lao and Sonya and Johnny with their ancestors. I am not sure about this, but their roster places are certain.
As for Jax, if the game is set in the distant past, he could be missing. Same for Jacqui and Cassie. If the game is in the present they will definitely be in, but if it's in the past the kids will be missing.
If Jax doesn't make it, there are big chances for another character to represent a cathegory of people that want such a character, such as Kai or Geras. Same for women, I believe at least 1 from Jade and Tanya.
Next I have the ones who will not come back: the MK11 DLC characters. These rarely come back in the next game. Yes, sometimes they come back later on, but returning in the very next game was just one case: Kenshi DLC in MK9 and then in MKX. But Rain and Skarlet from MK9 did not make MKX, Tanya, Bo'Rai Cho, Tremor and Triborg did not make MK11.
Safe to say that Sindel, Nightwolf, Shang Tsung, Fujin, Sheeva, Rain will not make MK12 roster. Mileena might though because the fanbase is soo vocal. NRS now knows it was a mistake to leave her out. Which kinda sucks, cause I really wanted Rain and Fujin to be back from among the DLC and I am sure they won't.
And if anyone thinks Shang Tsung's ending will be canon....think again. That would mean that Liu Kang has basically been a real idiot, so stupid that he got all his friends killed for nothing, for his arrogance and vanity, and they stay dead. No, NRS would never do that. They are making cartoons since the reboot, the story is shallow, Avengers level of jokes. They would never do something that extreme.
Shang is probably dealt with and though he might come back for MK12 (doubt they bring back more than 1 DLC and that will be Mileena, maybe Sindel too) , they would still not convince Cary Tagawa to come back. It was a voice and likeness one time thing.
Then we have the 3 ninjas that missed MK11 and will be back: Ermac, Reptile and Smoke. I don't know Noob Saibot's chances but he is linked to Sub-Zero and that story about the brothers has not really been explored by the new games and he increases his chances, he has ties to Sareena and Quan Chi as well ...
Cyrax and Sektor also have a big fanbase and they eill come back if the game is set in the present, but if it's in the past I don't know, or only in the human forms as Lin Kuei members if they are old enough.
From the 3D era NRS knows a lot of fans want Havik. Some leaker also gave confirmation of Reiko and this tells me that the MK9 Pit stage background characters are coming 1 by 1. The characters in the background there were Kenshi, Tanya, Frost, Reiko, Daegon and Sareena. Kenshi appeared as DLC in MK9 and then in MKX as a base character (most likely because they wanted to introduce Takeda). Tanya appeared as DLC in MKX. Reiko was supposed to appear in MKX but was cut and remained only in the comic and mentioned with the "Reiko accords". Sareena had an NPC cameo and looked great in MKX. Frost eventually came as a new character in MK11. All those characters have not been forgotten and with the confirmation of Reiko I believe there are big chances for Sareena and Daegon to have a 1-time appearance in MK12 too (before they are forgotten again). Now Daegon some think is only possible with Taven, but I don't think so. Or maybe they can do a combination of the 2 in a 2-in-1 character.
The final villain will maybe be Onaga because a return of Shao Kahn is not likely. If he comes back, then Shujinko needs to be back. And if he is not the final villain, Onaga will at least be a sub-boss. The MKX comic finished with Daegon trying to bring him back in the name of the Red Dragon clan. If they pursue this in the next game, we could have at least 2 bad guys: Onaga and Daegon, because you can't have a game with only 'good' characters. And if Daegon is in, maybe we see the story with Kenshi and Takeda chasing him. And my money is on the 2 kombat kids that were missing in MK11 to come back: Takeda and Kung Jin. Or at least Takeda if the game is not set in the present time. There are theories that Takeda time travels but they are only rumours.
And another villain coming back needs to be Quan Chi.
One character that is highly requested but I don't think comes back is Nitara. She has only been in the movies (cameo in Scorpion's Revenge and cameo in the live action movie) and Ed Boon has had nothing to do with the characters chosen there. He said he dislikes the movie. There have also been rumours that he dislikes Nitara in the past and they didn't even bother to give her a cameo or a model or even allude to her in the previous 3 games. Like I said, Kenshi, Tanya, Frost, Sareena Daegon, Reiko were in the background of MK9, Bo'Rai Cho, Fujin and Havik were in endings and all those were later DLC or are expected to come, even Li Mei had a NPC role. But there has been no mention of Nitara.
NRS treats Nitara the same way they treat Drahmin (sadly), Moloch, Hsu Hao, Mavado and Kintaro. Like canon fodder. The only characters that Shawn Kittelsen was allowed to kill off in the MKX comic were these because they were never set to come back.
Kintaro wasn't even in MK9 when everyone from MK Trilogy was there. They see him just as the clone of Goro sadly and even if the next game is set into the past or in the present Goro is much more likely to be the shokan coming back. And no Nitara, sadly. They just have their minds set on Skarlet, the newer version. They would sooner put in Cole from the movies.
From MK11 I could see Kronika becoming playable in the future and Geras for representation of people if Jax is not in the game.
So that is pretty much my roster, to which we need to add a few new characters. We had a total of 25 base roster and 7 DLC MK characters in MK11 (without guests), so if the main toster for MK12 will be around 28-30 characters and we could get a few more DLC characters than in MK11 for a total of almost 40 MK characters without the guests, we should consider ourselves lucky.
Final predictions: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Johnny Cage or ancestor, Sonya or ancestor, Liu Kang, Kung Lao or the Great Kung Lao, Kitana, Mileena, Baraka, a shokan (Goro or his father), Kotal, D'vorah, Erron Black, Skarlet, Jade/Tanya, Ermac, Reptile, Smoke, Noob Saibot (possibly), Cyrax, Sektor, Havik, Reiko, Sareena, Li Mei, Daegon (or Daegon/Taven), Shujinko, Onaga, Kronika, Geras, Quan Chi, Kenshi, Takeda, 3-4 new characters and if the game is set in the present then Kung Jin, Cassie, Jacqui, Jax as well and quite possibly, Cole Young, especially as the movie has gotten a sequel (though I don't mind if any of these characters are missing).
Good guys: at least 28 from above, so the game needs bad guys too. I count: Mileena, hopefully Noob, Sektor, Havik, Reiko, Daegon, Onaga, Kronika, Geras, Quan Chi, maybe Tanya.
And neutral: Baraka, Erron Black, Skarlet Goro/Gorbak.
Fight me if I am delusional!
Returning always from previous game: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Johnny Cage, Sonya, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kitana, Mileena, Baraka, a shokan, Kotal, D'vorah, Erron Black.
In all games until now Jax and Kano have come back as well but for Kano I think it's time to retire him, he has been beaten and killed by Sonya in every game since the reboot (though we might see Kano's son or his ancestor). Jax has a big chance to come back if the game is set in present time. But there is also the possibility that the game goes in the distant past, 1.000 years or so before and then they replace Kung Lao with the Great Kung Lao and Sonya and Johnny with their ancestors. I am not sure about this, but their roster places are certain.
As for Jax, if the game is set in the distant past, he could be missing. Same for Jacqui and Cassie. If the game is in the present they will definitely be in, but if it's in the past the kids will be missing.
If Jax doesn't make it, there are big chances for another character to represent a cathegory of people that want such a character, such as Kai or Geras. Same for women, I believe at least 1 from Jade and Tanya.
Next I have the ones who will not come back: the MK11 DLC characters. These rarely come back in the next game. Yes, sometimes they come back later on, but returning in the very next game was just one case: Kenshi DLC in MK9 and then in MKX. But Rain and Skarlet from MK9 did not make MKX, Tanya, Bo'Rai Cho, Tremor and Triborg did not make MK11.
Safe to say that Sindel, Nightwolf, Shang Tsung, Fujin, Sheeva, Rain will not make MK12 roster. Mileena might though because the fanbase is soo vocal. NRS now knows it was a mistake to leave her out. Which kinda sucks, cause I really wanted Rain and Fujin to be back from among the DLC and I am sure they won't.
And if anyone thinks Shang Tsung's ending will be canon....think again. That would mean that Liu Kang has basically been a real idiot, so stupid that he got all his friends killed for nothing, for his arrogance and vanity, and they stay dead. No, NRS would never do that. They are making cartoons since the reboot, the story is shallow, Avengers level of jokes. They would never do something that extreme.
Shang is probably dealt with and though he might come back for MK12 (doubt they bring back more than 1 DLC and that will be Mileena, maybe Sindel too) , they would still not convince Cary Tagawa to come back. It was a voice and likeness one time thing.
Then we have the 3 ninjas that missed MK11 and will be back: Ermac, Reptile and Smoke. I don't know Noob Saibot's chances but he is linked to Sub-Zero and that story about the brothers has not really been explored by the new games and he increases his chances, he has ties to Sareena and Quan Chi as well ...
Cyrax and Sektor also have a big fanbase and they eill come back if the game is set in the present, but if it's in the past I don't know, or only in the human forms as Lin Kuei members if they are old enough.
From the 3D era NRS knows a lot of fans want Havik. Some leaker also gave confirmation of Reiko and this tells me that the MK9 Pit stage background characters are coming 1 by 1. The characters in the background there were Kenshi, Tanya, Frost, Reiko, Daegon and Sareena. Kenshi appeared as DLC in MK9 and then in MKX as a base character (most likely because they wanted to introduce Takeda). Tanya appeared as DLC in MKX. Reiko was supposed to appear in MKX but was cut and remained only in the comic and mentioned with the "Reiko accords". Sareena had an NPC cameo and looked great in MKX. Frost eventually came as a new character in MK11. All those characters have not been forgotten and with the confirmation of Reiko I believe there are big chances for Sareena and Daegon to have a 1-time appearance in MK12 too (before they are forgotten again). Now Daegon some think is only possible with Taven, but I don't think so. Or maybe they can do a combination of the 2 in a 2-in-1 character.
The final villain will maybe be Onaga because a return of Shao Kahn is not likely. If he comes back, then Shujinko needs to be back. And if he is not the final villain, Onaga will at least be a sub-boss. The MKX comic finished with Daegon trying to bring him back in the name of the Red Dragon clan. If they pursue this in the next game, we could have at least 2 bad guys: Onaga and Daegon, because you can't have a game with only 'good' characters. And if Daegon is in, maybe we see the story with Kenshi and Takeda chasing him. And my money is on the 2 kombat kids that were missing in MK11 to come back: Takeda and Kung Jin. Or at least Takeda if the game is not set in the present time. There are theories that Takeda time travels but they are only rumours.
And another villain coming back needs to be Quan Chi.
One character that is highly requested but I don't think comes back is Nitara. She has only been in the movies (cameo in Scorpion's Revenge and cameo in the live action movie) and Ed Boon has had nothing to do with the characters chosen there. He said he dislikes the movie. There have also been rumours that he dislikes Nitara in the past and they didn't even bother to give her a cameo or a model or even allude to her in the previous 3 games. Like I said, Kenshi, Tanya, Frost, Sareena Daegon, Reiko were in the background of MK9, Bo'Rai Cho, Fujin and Havik were in endings and all those were later DLC or are expected to come, even Li Mei had a NPC role. But there has been no mention of Nitara.
NRS treats Nitara the same way they treat Drahmin (sadly), Moloch, Hsu Hao, Mavado and Kintaro. Like canon fodder. The only characters that Shawn Kittelsen was allowed to kill off in the MKX comic were these because they were never set to come back.
Kintaro wasn't even in MK9 when everyone from MK Trilogy was there. They see him just as the clone of Goro sadly and even if the next game is set into the past or in the present Goro is much more likely to be the shokan coming back. And no Nitara, sadly. They just have their minds set on Skarlet, the newer version. They would sooner put in Cole from the movies.
From MK11 I could see Kronika becoming playable in the future and Geras for representation of people if Jax is not in the game.
So that is pretty much my roster, to which we need to add a few new characters. We had a total of 25 base roster and 7 DLC MK characters in MK11 (without guests), so if the main toster for MK12 will be around 28-30 characters and we could get a few more DLC characters than in MK11 for a total of almost 40 MK characters without the guests, we should consider ourselves lucky.
Final predictions: Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Johnny Cage or ancestor, Sonya or ancestor, Liu Kang, Kung Lao or the Great Kung Lao, Kitana, Mileena, Baraka, a shokan (Goro or his father), Kotal, D'vorah, Erron Black, Skarlet, Jade/Tanya, Ermac, Reptile, Smoke, Noob Saibot (possibly), Cyrax, Sektor, Havik, Reiko, Sareena, Li Mei, Daegon (or Daegon/Taven), Shujinko, Onaga, Kronika, Geras, Quan Chi, Kenshi, Takeda, 3-4 new characters and if the game is set in the present then Kung Jin, Cassie, Jacqui, Jax as well and quite possibly, Cole Young, especially as the movie has gotten a sequel (though I don't mind if any of these characters are missing).
Good guys: at least 28 from above, so the game needs bad guys too. I count: Mileena, hopefully Noob, Sektor, Havik, Reiko, Daegon, Onaga, Kronika, Geras, Quan Chi, maybe Tanya.
And neutral: Baraka, Erron Black, Skarlet Goro/Gorbak.
Fight me if I am delusional!
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