Raiden has definitely taken a twist, I'll tell you that. It'll be interesting to see what happens. I wonder if eventually he'll become a bad guy that the Earthrealm warriors will be forced to fight against. I will definitely be keeping an eye on him. No, he shouldn't die.
Killing Shujinko after he defeated Onaga - I hope that ending happens. That was totally unexpected and cool.

I certaintly hope they don't kill off Raiden. He's my favorite character, always has been. I was so happy to see the Torpedo and Teleport moves back. I like how they made a twist to his plot...it's about time.
And from what I understand about Raiden, he is a god in Mortal form, thus I suppose his powers would be weakened a bit from his standard god form. And besides that, the Dragon king is immune to projectiles(I guess "mystical" attacks sounds about right) during gameplay. So that explains why Raiden and the Deadly Alliance couldn't beat him on the first go. Also he had in his possession all the Kamidogu, which are insanely powerful together. If you read Shujinko's ending, he says that he shatters the Kamidogu first. That makes the King vurnerable, so then Shujinko beats him.
Oh, and if anyone remebers his ending in MK1, he has always had a bit of a bad side lurking in him ^_^
Note*: What is with everyone on this forum? "Gay" this and "gay" that. Come on...grow up. I see it so much here it is disgusting. I remember back when MK:DA first came out this place wasn't like this...

I think Raiden should stay and he seems more faster when he's evil.

I want him to stay and Onaga can die for all I care then the next game he could be the evil boss...
BUT he takes onaga's power to ressurect and he ressurects Shao Kahn and they unite to fight all Earthrealm warriors and they introduce 4 ppl fighting mode in mk7 If only...that could happen because it would be SO awesome bc i have always wanted to see them togetther and i have always wanted to see 4 ppl fighting in one arena... oh well a guy can dream, can't he?

na Raiden should stay it's about time Raiden lost that goody too shoe act. this is the thunder god we should of know from the start. he has a new direction in he's storyline as well. sorry but no kahn needs to stay out of it for while, what shao kahn was to the past games that what the Dragon King should be from here on out.

Raiden definatly needs to stay..He actually hasnt looked this good in a long time. I like the metal plates on his armor, it reminds me of Lightning from Big Trouble in Little China..and we all know he was a bad ass! And actually being "Evil" and all is nothing new to Raiden..Remember his ending in part 1 where he invited all the Gods down to earth to battle in which the earth was destroyed and the famous tag line "Have a nice day" I'ts good to see him going back to his roots!

I think Raiden is better than ever as a crazed thunder god wanting to win at all costs

No way raiden should die.. he just got a new plot twist and it woulod be silly to get rid of him now..

No way, no how should Raiden die. (I do admit they should either get rid of that damn hat or return it to a reasonable size)
As for his not having thunder attacks...hello what makes the sound of thunder but lighting. (They could use some better sound effects though)
As for his outfit....*sigh* I have to agree. I rather he had the blue and white outfit on the upload screens or at least kept his skin tone from MK:DA. It looks as if they gave him a back make-up job for a B-movie.
I like the idea that he's angry, but I personally believe he got angry at the wrong person. He should be pissed at the Elder Gods, after all who left those domi-whatchamacallits lying around in the first place. Didn't they notice that someone was collecting and leaving them at the Nexus? Don't say they sent Monster because they could have done better, like sending a particular thunder god. Instead they leave him out of the loop, even when he was one of them for a short period of time.

What exactly is the difference between 'thunder' and 'lightning'? Maybe it's some trick of the English language but isn't 'thunder' the lagged noise made when there is 'lightning'? So what would be a 'thunder' attack, and a 'lightning' attack?

I'll love to see a sound attack, how will it looks?

3 years ago i would have agreed with this guys post.... but raiden is finally getting interesting storyline wise, not to mention that he is one of the strongest characters in the game fighting wise. People complained about liu kang's endings being so stale and predictable, but it was Raiden who did the same thing everytime.... protect the mortals of earth from evil.
Now we really don't know where he stands in terms of good/evil because he is sorta a wild card. We know he is pissed at Shujinko and those mortals who put earth at odds, but I wonder how he feels about his old trusted allies like Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Maybe he will turn on them too, or those will be his only allies still. I am excited about Raiden now.

THIS THREAD SHOULD BE TITLED LIU KANG SHOULD STAY DEAD!!!!
I LOVE RAIDEN AND THE FACT THAT HE HAS HAD ENOUGH OF THE
PATHETIC LITTLE PEONS HE HAS TRIED TO PROTECT. I DON'T THINK HE IS EVIL, JUST INDIFFERENT (NO LONGER CARES) ABOUT WHAT
HAPPENS TO US HUMANS ANYMORE. AND I LOVE HIS NEW LOOK !!!
AS FOR LIU KANG IT WAS AN EVIL IDEA TO HAVE HIS REANIMATED CORPSE AS A RETURNING CHARACTER! BUT THAT SHOULD BE IT!!
ONCE IT IS DISPOSSESED HE CAN RETURN TO HIS "ETERNAL SLUMBER" I DO NOT WANT HIM BACK !!! ONCE YOU KILL SOMEONE
PLEASE KEEP THEM DEAD !!! OR IT KINDA LOSES ANY EFFECT !!!

Raiden should turn evil and Fujin should help the earthrealm warriors.

I actually really like the way the new Raiden looks minus the hat. The whole red eyes thing and the black outfit with the shredded cape is cool. it's different from what we expected. Keep Raiden and keep twisting his story around. I don't think he will become completely evil, but i do believe he will not hinder from killing some more Earthrealm fighters, especially if they do something stupid or get in his way from protecting the Earthrealm.
DEFINITELY KEEP LIU KANG
he is one of the best all around fighters in MK
and he is awesome in MKD. super fast, decent special moves, and great combos plus did i say that he mention that he ridiculously quick

The next Mortal Kombat should be called
Mortal Kombat: Endgame
in which Raiden and Fujin must team together to stop the ultimate evil
and Fujin has to kill Raiden (Played by Christopher Lambert) to get all his power to defeat the ultimate evil.

Raiden will never die! I like this new twist on his story. Raiden is extremley angry at everyone and I think he feels like he is the only being in Earthrealm that can protect it.
Raiden should go on a one man mission to gather an amulet that closes all of the portals to the realms for good and be absolutley sure that Earthrealm will never have threats from another realm again. Raiden would not relize that if he obtains this amulet and closes the portals to the realms, that he would awaken the one being and bring destruction to the entire universe.
I think that Fujin would take a stand and take Raiden's place as mentor to the Earthrealm warriors. Kung Lao, Johnny Cage, Sonya, Sub-Zero, Jax, Kenshi, Bo' Rai Cho, Jade, and even Scorpion will unite to stop Raiden in his quest to obtain an amulet. The Elder Gods would unite with these warriors to stop Raiden and inform them of the things that is happening. (Even though they are lies.)
Raiden would be responsible for the death of Shujinko who defeated Onaga. Raiden would also revive Liu Kang to his previous form and have Earthrealm's greatest warrior to help him. Liu Kang would not know of the threat that Raiden and him will awaken the one being.

You're fucking crazy, this is the best thing they could have done with Raiden, he was queer looking before, now he looks fucking sweet. A dark thunder god, I honestly don't belive that he looks gothic, but what is wrong with him looking gothic anyway, he's UNDEAD he is supposed to have that look.
Stop spazzing out over this change, it's one of the better changes. If anyone should stay dead, it should be Liu Kang, but I have to admit, I love playing as him.

Twisting Raiden's story makes him matter now. Just like killing made Kung Lao matter, it is a good thing John Vogel is building on many of the characters stories (i.e. Noob Saibot = Classic Sub-Zero). Plus if one character's story is twisted, it will affect other characters that interact with him/her. The only thing I wished they didnt do is have the theme of resurrection in the series. Overtime, it waters down the significance of the character in the MK saga.

LOL the first post makes me laugh(because of the stupidness it contains)... He has never done a thunder attack. (Thunder being a sound). But yea Raiden should stay. He is the protecter of earth realm. The white staff is cool for him because it adds a good light to his character. His story line should twist a little though. It would be nice if he did something different. Have him torn between good and evil. He would be an uber boss.

What? Raiden should die??? Come on man he looks and plays better, with an amazing story too, i would seriously be pissed up if he wasn't in the next game.

WTF maaaan !!! Raiden is one of the main chars ́ in a game.....YOU should die not RAIDEN God of thunder .....
He is now better than ever so.....shut up...also liu kang is better than ever we have robots, ninjas, sorcerers...etc so yeah we have a dead body(zombie) too...WTF

lets clear this up. raidens not i repeat NOT evil. hes dark. he is tired of mortals screwing up and putting the earth in danger for personal glory. hes not evil he just will kill any mortal who puts earthrealm in danger. thats why if shunjinkos ending came true so will raidens murder of shunjinko