It's been four years since Mortal Kombat X was first announced and unveiled at E3 2014!

Along with a couple of series favourites; initial previews thrust a mysterious new generation of fighters into the spotlight. Their stories were told in MKX, a mobile game, comic book tie-ins, and the expanded edition of Mortal Kombat XL. A couple of franchise legends even made the leap into Injustice 2 in time for last year's 25th Anniversary celebration!

At every step of the way, MK Online has invited fans all over the world to take stock of characters new and old. This year our annual tradition is turning our attention towards the future of the series! We're thinking about what happened last, and what will happen next, while asking the eternal question: Who is the Supreme Mortal Kombat Champion?

You'll decide the answer as the ultimate fan voting tournament returns to Mortal Kombat Online for another year! We're inviting every fan to make their voice heard in the Fan Koliseum as we speculate about the future of the series! Read on to learn more about the ins and outs of this year's unique tournament! Keep scrolling for regularly updated results and links to each battle!

In 2002, Mortal Kombat embarked upon an exciting new era for the series' first major release of the new millennium: Deadly Alliance.

Kombat was completely revolutionized with a diversified roster of distinct characters, all-new fighting style mechanics, and the unlockable treasure trove of The Krypt! They were exciting times for the fighting game dynasty, but by no means unique in their scope of ambition.

In 2003, the movie world was confronted with its own daring new take on the independent film drama. A movie so unconventional it tore the rule book apart, offering much to be discovered and unlocked within the confines of The Room.

If you haven't been part of the movie's growing cult following, and don't know who writer/director/star Tommy Wiseau is - you soon will!

Like Ed Wood before him; Wiseau has turned creative calamity into a curious case of cult stardom. He is himself the subject of a major biopic film release, but this is merely the extra thirty minutes to a full hour of fame achieved in the past. Oh hi, point to all this.

In 2010, The Room inspired a fan-made point-and-click Flash game that caught the attention of TIME and Wired. It was around that time that Machinima unleashed TW upon a wider gaming audience with The Tommy Wi-Show. At long last TW found his calling as a Mortal Kombat streamer. Be advised: some content may contain offensive language. Watch:

Beginning in May; MK Online summoned fandom from across the Earthrealm to determine a 2017 Supreme Mortal Kombat Champion!

The annual tournament tradition took on special significance this year in anticipation for the 25th Anniversary of Mortal Kombat! With history back in focus: Sub-Zero endured three months of eliminations to be crowned Supreme Champion! As it turns out, this wasn't the only competition the ice warrior was facing...

For a quarter of a century Mortal Kombat has been a titan of the fighting game genre! The iconic cast of memorable characters has helped the series thrive as a gaming leader -- and pop culture phenomenon!

In 2017, fandom has helped us crown Sub-Zero as the Supreme Mortal Kombat Champion! Bloodfeuds and rivalries drive the best individual kombatants as they fight for supremacy, but since the very first game, there has always been strength in numbers, too!

Twenty-five years ago, it was called an Endurance Match: a challenge to stand alone against a team of two opponents. In 2011, fully fledged 2-on-2 fighting arrived as Tag Team Kombat! For the series' twentieth anniversary, we celebrated the greatest teams of all-time by crowning the first Supreme Tag Team Champions! Five years later, we return to celebrate the 25th Anniversary with a contest of some of the greatest teams to feature in Mortal Kombat X! Read on for more detail:

It's almost hard to believe that this is the year Mortal Kombat celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary!

From humble beginnings of seven playable digitized fighters, two legendary bosses, and one secret character -- the franchise now boasts more than seventy main characters appearing in games, comics, film and television!

For almost twenty of those years, Mortal Kombat Online has bared witness as the internet's most visited MK fan destination of all time! As a supplier of information and digital record; we've watched and documented the many changing phases of the games -- as well as the reactions of fans across the globe!

MK Online was here in 1999 when you wondered if Reiko could really be Shao Kahn. In 2002, Hsu Hao became one of your most talked about new characters. In 2006, you wondered who could possibly survive Armageddon when Blaze returned. 2008 provoked your rage when the DC Universe invaded for the first time. In 2011, it all began again as Warner Brothers took control of the franchise, and the klassic trilogy was reborn.

The unshakeable constant that's excited fans throughout all these many years has been the characters!

Every one has their favourite fighter and they're eternally evolving with every appearance. They look different, play different, and have new goals in almost every game. This endless sense of change has always given fans ammunition to fiercely debate which character is the best. That's why, on the 20th anniversary of the series, MK Online finally set out to ask the question: Who is the Supreme Mortal Kombat Champion?

As an annual tradition, the tournament now invites every fan to vote in what has become a living document of the series, and a Kombat census. Opinions evolve as we go through a cycle of: Year of speculation, year of release, year of new content, year of reflection. These perspectives change how we view the series and its characters, but the question that tests them remains the same. Here are some of the things we've learned so far in the reboot era...

Way back in 1940, Dick Grayson was the comic book find of the year -- bursting onto the scene as Batman's crime fighting "Boy Wonder" - Robin! In the decades since, there have been several young heroes to adopt the sidekick mantle. In his latest poll, Injustice 2 Creative Director Ed Boon asked Twitter followers which of three Robins fans would like to see!

The inaugural Kombat Kon proved an outstanding success, gathering fans of all walks to celebrate the long running Mortal Kombat franchise. The event was headlined by an all-star cast responsible for the original arcade games, but that wasn't the only representation of kreativity at the event!

As outlined in MK Online's special report: the event invited fans to dress as their favourite characters, and join art vendors in paying tribute to the iconic fighting game franchise! In this article, we cast the spotlight on the warriors who took part in the Kosplay Kontest, and showed off their unique kreations! [Click pics to enlarge].

Thanks to the efforts of Doc Mack and all the folks at Galloping Ghost Arcade, the very first Kombat-Kon has come and gone! The two-day event was a huge success and will hopefully spawn future gatherings for mortals across Earthrealm, and other domains as well!

The simmering boil of Injustice 2 has been unusually quiet for the past few months, but Creative Director Ed Boon has used Twitter to stir the pot back to bubbling life!

Bypassing the curious absence of recent DC Comics character reveals, Boon went for the ever popular talking point of inter-company guest characters. Two polls quizzed fans on their preference between four figures from other franchises.

In the first poll Boon asked which Mortal Kombat character fans would like to see. The quiz returned an emphatic 52% in favour of obvious pick: Sub-Zero. Nearly five thousand votes behind was last year's WWE Immortal guest Johnny Cage at (23%), and alternate mascot god of lightning Raiden (20%). Metal armed All-American Jax was a distant 5%. There were 19,453 votes registered.

This weekend Chicago's famed Galloping Ghost Arcade will play host to a massive celebration of the Mortal Kombat franchise with two days of non-stop Kombat Kon!

The weekend festivities will feature a who's who of the klassic arcade game production, from co-creator John Tobias to the actors and staff who helped make the magic! Fans can collect autographs, take photos, or even have breakfast with the krew! The event also boasts arcade and console tournaments for the original trilogy and Mortal Kombat X!