I would agree with you on your choices. Sonya of course, though I think that Either Kitana, Mileena and even Sindel could all go for runner up.

1. Sonya
2. Kitana
3. Mileena

I can't decide between Kitana and Sonya. It's gotta be one of them.

On the other hand wasn't Mileena promoted heavily during MK:D?

The no.1 female for me is absolutely Sonya. She's a legendary character, being the first female of the series. Not only that, I love her no-nonsense attitude, tough-as-nails personality and she got moves that rock (especially her leg grab, it's a classic!). She's a real badass.

For the runner-up, it's a match-up between Kitana and Mileena. They're both evenly matched. Can't make up my mind between these two.

The leading female in Mortal Kombat is Sonya. I wanted to say Kitana, but Sonya is more original to the series.

A lot of people are saying Sonya. To be honest, I'm surprised by this. To me, it has always seemed that ever since MK2, Sonya has been pushed to the side in favor of Kitana. Let's see, MK2 featured Kitana but not Sonya, MK3 had Sonya but not Kitana, UMK3 had both, MK4 had Sonya, MK Gold had both, Deadly Alliance had both, and Armagedon had both but only Sonya was featured in Armagedon.

I guess from those statistics Sonya would be the flagship female after all...I guess that Kitana's push wasn't as big as I thought it was even though it led to several other palette swap characters. Also, there's the case that I've never seen either make cameos in any show nor were they ever the star of any kind of advertisement but Kitana seems like she's a lot easier to advertise because Sonya's just a blonde human, easily mistaken for just a regular person. Kitana on the other hand, wears something recognizable. Of course, none of this changes the fact that Sonya's done more in MK history and, like MK's main male character Scorpion, is one of Ed Boon's favorites.

Well, I think all of my reasons for why Sonya and Kitana are the top women have been clearly illustrated. Sorry Kitana .

I'd say Sonya, followed closely by Kitana and Mileena.

Kitana and Sonya are easily the top candidates.

Kitana is by far the more prominent one story-wise. She's one of the most developed characters in the game and has one of the best storylines. I think the fact that even when Kitana is not in a game, she still retains a presence in the story tells how important she is. She originally wasn't in MK3, but was still mentioned in two endings. And when she did show up in UMK3, she played a crucial role. She sat out MK4...only left out at the last minute...but still played a part in Liu Kang's story before appearing in Gold. A key role in MK:DA, and even though she wasn't in Deception, again, she was prominent in the story.

Sonya has been featured in more games, but her story isn't as crucial. While she is the center of the Special Forces sub-plot. that storyline is and always has been a mid-level plot. Beyond that, Sonya has very little presence in the story.

Kitana is also one of the few characters to have evolved throughout the series. In her backstory, we know she was once an evil & villainous characters. We're introduced to her in MK2 as a mysterious assassin and over the course of the games we've seen her grow into the heroic princess and leader of her people she is now.

This is a big thing Sonya lacks. While Sonya is fairly well-developed character in terms of background, motivation, and fears...she hasn't changed much, if at all, throughout the games. Sonya now is pretty much the same Sonya in MK1. We've been given no sense that Sonya has grown or changed throughout the series or her experiences have changed her.
For example, they established that between MK4 and MK:DA, Goro became an important person for Kitana. He helped her grow into an effective leader and she came to value him as a friend. So naturally, his turning evil again will have an effect on her. Now compare that to Sonya and Kabal or even Jarek. She MIGHT have met Kabal during MK3 and if they did, we're given no sense he had any effect on her. So now that Kabal is evil...we have no sense that she'll care. She was forced to team up with Jarek in MK4. This didn't go anywhere. When it was over, Sonya moved on like nothing happened.
Reason I feel this is worth mentioning is because one of the reasons Sub-Zero is such a highly regarded character and one of the reasons he's become on of MK's flagship characters is his evolution throughout the series. He's changed and grown over time and even people who aren't really Sub-Zero fans at least respect that about him.

So when it comes to story prominence, I think Kitana trumps Sonya easily...regardless of the fact Sonya has been in more games.

Then there's recognizability. Kitana has the advantage of being a bit more iconic and memorable. Look at it this way: go up to someone who's not that big an MK fan or only has a vague knowledge of it...he/she might not instantly recognize Kitana by name, but they'll remember "the chick with the fans." This is something Sonya lacks. Outside of Mortal Kombat, Sonya is just "some blonde chick." She doesn't have that instant recognizability that Kitana has. Show someone who doesn't know much about Mortal Kombat a picture of Kitana and a picture of Sonya, they're more likely to remember the "blue ninja chick with fans" over the "blonde chick with her midriff showing."

If a non-MK fan will remember or recognize Sonya, it'll largely be because of the movies...in which she was featured more prominently than Kitana. Sonya was one of the main characters of the first one, while Kitana had bit of a side role. Then in the second, Kitana spent most of the movie being held prisoner or merely standing around.
Also, in the movies and TV shows, Sonya had the more visceral "tough chick" persona, while Kitana was presented in a very dull and forgetable manner. Unfortunately, a lot of people...even some MK fans...when they think of Kitana, they think of her as she was in the movies and TV shows.

Another thing Sonya has going for her is that she came first and she is the only female Earth hero. Some people hold the coming first thing in high regard and because MK is largely about Earth's defence, many feel main female character should be one from Earth.

IMO, another key thing a flagship character is he/she should somehow represent their franchise or whatever and this is something I think Kitana does better than Sonya, in my opinion. Mortal Kombat is an epic story of good against evil with lots or moral ambiguity...and Kitana, a former assassin who redeemed herself into a heroic princess who perseveres despite numeorous losses and tragedies fits the MK style and theme better.



*now waits patiently for Sonya fans to bite my head off and Kitana haters to accuse me of playing favorites*

Probably Kitana, although Sonya is extremely close behind her. Mileena is not too far behind,especially around the time of MKD.

Kitana, followed by Mileena (and possibly even Jade as well). Sonya doesnt get a look in compared to them. Being the first female or most used doesnt mean their the most popular or the flagship person. Just look at Liu Kang- The Original hero, in every game except MKD, yet he is completely overshadowed by a whole load of characters, Sub Zero and Scorpion to name a few.

It's a pretty close for me.

Sonya or Kitana.

Sonya has been on the covers of everything in relation to Mk.
Kitana kinda lead the movie and a decent portion of the comics though.

I'll say Sonya. plus she's heavier in the comics than Kitana too. Special Forces had like 3-4 books, Kitana, Mileena really only had one dedicated book.

heh, yea...I'll base it on the comics this time...

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close ups behind them would be Mileena, Sindel, and Jade.

Then, the ones who would get the "flag-ship torch passed to them would be Frost and Sareena with a 3-way tie add Nitara.

The other ones could probably go and it wouldn't even matter to me....flagship-wise.

To XiahouDun84: While you bring up excellent points for why Kitana could beat Sonya for top female, I think the movies are the reason you're wrong. Though Kitana is more important to the story, more recognizable to non-MK fans, and represents some aspect of the series, the fact that she wasn't shown much love in the movies and TV shows kind of matters more.

I don't know much about Street Fighter but I'm pretty sure the reason Chun Li is considered the top woman there has nothing to do with whatever her storyline is. You know how you see her in every movie, TV show, poster, trailer, etc for SF? That's why she's the flagship woman. Liu Kang may be MK's main character and the one that represents its "Good vs Evil" theme better than anyone else but Scorpion trounces him because he's on all of the posters. The fact that Kitana was a bit part in other media and Sonya had a starring role probably isn't what started the notion that she's more popular, it was created by that very notion. By the time the movies came out, the video games were up MK4 or at least UMK3 so the producers would've had a considerable amount of knowledge to work with that would have capitalized on Kitana's importance. However, they decided to make Sonya the leading lady.

Another thing to consider is that female video game characters are frequently judged by how well they represent their gender. The age of Princess Peach-like characters is over and people want to see more Samus-like characters. Kitana, being a current princess, former target of Shao Kahn, former prisoner of Shinnok, and current star-crossed lover of Liu Kang, seems to fit more into the Peach category, especially considering her role in Shaolin Monks. Sonya on the other hand, is a tough chick who's no nonsense and seems to realize that she's a female role modle given her behaviour and unreasonable demands of Taven in Armagedon's Konquest. Sonya definetly fits in with Samus and Lara Croft and is more likely to be featured in some kind of IGN "Top 52 Most Important Women in Video Games" list than Kitana.

While Kitana probably should be the the flagship woman, Sonya has too many feministic qualities, non-video game media appearances, and support from Ed Boon to play second banana to her.

I think that you're kind of exaggerating when it comes to Kitana when comparing her to Peach. Keep in mind that Kitana was once one of Shao Kahn's deadliest warrior assassins. Ever since her open betrayal, she's been helping the other heroes fight against the forces of evil. After MK3, with Edenia's separation from Outworld, she assumes her role as Princess of Edenia, in which she takes care of political and militaristic matters. Her role in MKSM? What about Sonya's role in MKSM?

Sonya is basically the typical tough chick. She doesn't have much depth to her nor has she had any character development.

Anyway, I'd probably lean towards Kitana when it comes to MK's flagship female, but I guess maybe it's more of a tie between her and Sonya.

Do you and Xia find it wierd how lots of people consider Kitana to be a typical princess? Her stories don't really matter in terms of how the general public sees her because only MK fans know what her stories are. The general public would recognize Kitana as just a ninja princess based on her appearance and demeanor, while Sonya would be recognized as a tough chick. I'm sure they'd believe Sonya handles political and militaristic matters long before they learn it's actually Kitana, btw.

It is true what n00b says about Sonya getting more media exposure, which has a lot to do with establishing a flagship character, like Scorpion through all his exposure even though Liu is more important to the MK story and such. I think Kitana has gotten plently of exposure, but I still don't see her as MK's Chun Li.

And I think Sonya didn't really have a role in MKSM because it was based on MK2, where Sonya barely appear. Johnny at least played a minor role but I think that was just cuz he's a male character so they put him in it over Sonya.

Not weird...irritating.
Because people for some reason can't see past the word "princess" or the shitty movies. I find that very sad, to be honest. Sadder bvecause no one thought of Kitana that way until the garbage movies came out, too.

But that really doesn't factor in what makes a character the flagship character. Case in point, Wonder Woman is the flagship female of the Justice Leagure...not Hawkgirl.


To n00b:
I disagree the movies matter more.

For starters, Sonya's prominance in the first MK movie and Kitana's lack of one make sense seeing as the first MK movie was based on the first MK game...which Kitana was not in. So obviously, Sonya...who was in MK1...would figure more prominantly than Kitana who was not. Actually, the fact that Kitana was in the movie even though she played no part in the actual MK1 story can be seen as evidence that she is a crucial icon to the series. Meanwhile the second movie...was just abyssmal...so I'm not going to bother with that crap. And the cartoon, Kitana and Sonya were both equally prominent. No one was more prominant than the other, if I remember.

Key thing with the movies though...we all know Scorpion and Sub-Zero are MK's flagship characters. But how were they portrayed in the movies? They had even smaller roles than Kitana. Same thing applies to the comics. If I remember correctly, during the time of MK1-MK3, Goro was usually the one plastered on all the ads and comics. There was a time when people would've probably figured Goro was MK's flagship character. Scorpion and Sub-Zero didn't really become the official icons of the series until UMK3 and MK4. Until then, they were just really popular characters.

BTW, Chun Li does play a key role in the Street Fighter storyline. That is one of the reasons she became SF's flagship female.

As Sub-Zero_7th pointed out...Kitana is nothing like Princess Peach. That's just way off. Prior to being a "princess" Kitana was an assassin and cold-blooded killer for several thousand years. She was taken prisoner by Shinnok...but how'd she get out? Liu Kang didn't free her...she escaped. While she and Liu Kang may have their little thing...that has not, nor has it ever been, her defining role in the story.


This probably not so much a question of who IS MK's flagship female character...but who SHOULD be.
In that regard, I say Kitana because of the role she's played in the games, she's more memorable and iconic, and I do not hold the movies in high regard at all....because the movies were wrong.

To Sub-Zero 7 and Xia: I understand that Kitana is a capable warrior and was one of Shao Kahn's deadliest assassins. However, not ever critic might know that. I'm looking at this as someone who may only know as much about MK as you tell them. If they hear that Kitana's been in jams before, they might start to think to relate to her Peach and her ever-growing number of problems. Also, Kitana didn't escape from Shinnok's prison, Mileena let her out so that they could fight (A fight which Kitana won...).

While you present a good argument that Scorpion and Sub-Zero had minor roles in the movie despite their popularity, I think that's only because MK isn't about them. When you have to condense it to its main storyline, it's about Liu Kang. Considering their lack of importance, I think both ninjas were given interesting and lengthy fight scenes as well as considerbale hype. What does this have to do with Sonya and Kitana? Kitana may have only been in both movies because she's so crucial to the story and I think we can agree that the first Mortal Kombat movie was somewhat of a hybrid between MK1 and MK2 considering that Shao Kahn was indirectly mentioned many times and the cast even went to Outworld. Kitana was there to explain most of the plot of the movie because of her origin story and the fact that she's too crucial a component to the games' stories. I think the second movie only put Kitana in a cage because of her story during MK3 (Granted, she was never captured but that's the least of the second movie's offences.). While the same critics that will view video game Kitana as a helpless princess will probably say the same thing about movie Kitana, I can understand why she's there and won't hold that against her. Besides, she had a few fights herself and even spat in Shao Kahn's face so it's not like she was just chained up somewhere in the background. And if you want to argue that Kitana's being in the first movie had something to do with her flagship-ness, then why was Sonya in the second movie? While the second movie was MK3, there still should have been at least one scene in which Sonya was a prisoner of some sort to reference MK2, not fighting Mileena, Cyrax, and Ermac. She was given so many lines and fights not because of her importance to the series, but because of the series' ability to market her.

I'm not arguing who SHOULD be the flagship character, because I agree that it should be Kitana. I'm agruing who MIGHT be the flagship character and, unfortunately, the public doesn't always think the way it should. I know Kitana to be a sound political ruler and strong warrior but throw the word "princess" anywhere and, as you said, people will walk all over her. Sonya, on the other hand, though less important and under-developed, is a more out-going person and can attract more attention despite her realistic and unrecognizable appearance.

Kitana has been in plenty of jams, but wouldn't the person telling someone who doesn't know much about MK also mention how she manages to overcome her problems? Getting into problems and situations doesn't make her like Peach. If she needed someone's help to get out of them, then she would. But Kitana doesn't. Mileena attacked her in MK2...Kitana won. Kitana escapes Outworld and tries to find Sindel and free her from Shao Kahn....she succeeded. Kitana got taken prisoner in MK4...she got out. Kitana went to fight Quan Chi in MK:DA....well she lost; but hey, so did everyone else.



Even more accurately, Mileena didn't exactly let her out. She just made Kitana's escape easier.
But semantics aside, my point was even though Kitana was taken prisoner during MK4's story, she was not rescued by her knight in shining armor the way, say Peach, would.



My point was...you seemed to be implying the reason Sonya had such a large role in the movies was because she is the flagship character. My point in bringing up Scorpion & Sub-Zero is that either...
a) characters' flagship status was not as much a factor in deciding who would play the larger role...
...or...
b) at the time of movies, the movie-makers did consider Sonya the main female character. But my second point on this is this...if Sonya was the flagship character at the time, that doesn't mean she still is. Like I said, at the time of MK1 and such, Goro was heavily marketed on comics and ads. But Scorpion and Sub-Zero went to become the icons of the series.
Bear in the mind, the first movie was made around the time MK3 was made. At the time, Sonya was the only really established female character and Kitana hadn't yet been established as a key character in the storyline. That didn't really happen until her appearance in Ultimate MK3.

Which brings me back to my earlier point...I don't think it's so much who IS as it is who SHOULD. Maybe back during MK1-MK3, Sonya MIGHT have been the flagship female character...by default if nothing else...but now? The only female character to have been really marketed as the top woman is Mileena. Oh yeah...and you've got Jade who was part of the "Sexiest Video Game Character" thing.

Beyond that, there are no MK comics or TV shows anymore. God knows when the next movie will come out, and when it does...maybe they'll present Kitana as the main female. Or maybe they'll focus mainly on Sonya again. Mortal Kombat just isn't the huge phenomena it once was. Really, going by the "which female character the average person/fan instantly associates with Mortal Kombat," you're likely to either get "the chick with the fans" or "the blonde chick in the movie."
I guess it'll depend on which people remember more...the games or the movie.


But you know something else...we should also take into account Boon referring to Kitana and Mileena as the "female Scorpion & Sub-Zero."
While some may dismiss that as he was simply referring to them both being pallette swiped rivals...I think he meant in terms of iconic status as well.

Sonya actually was very recognizable back then during the 2D games. In the same way many characters were recognized by their looks or special abilities, people could point Sonya out of a movie or commercial or something for being the military blonde with the "leg grab" and famous "kiss of death." Her pink energy rings also made her recognizeable.

Special moves make characters distinct and memorable also.

Nowadays, it is a little hard to point her out of a crowd since her look isn't as flashy and she's lost many of her classic moves, but back then, it was pretty easy since her moves were original and distinct, as well as her appearance.

To Sub-Zero 7: I understood everything you said so don't let my "What's this gotta do with Sonya and Kitana" disuade you. When I asked that, I was referencing how I myself went off topic and if you look at that paragraph again, I think it becomes clear that I was using this question as an opening for my next point. Going back to the movies, I seem to remember the MK history video that you could see in Deadly Alliance stating that MK4 came out before the first movie so the way I see it, if Kitana didn't have a bigger part in the movies by then, it was because they wanted to focus more on Sonya.

You said that she was hunted by Outworld and resovled that herself. Not entirely true. While she did manage to free Sindel on her own, Jade helped her throw off Kahn's forces when she betrayed Reptile and fought him with Kitana. While this may give Kitana and/or Jade even more credibility seeing as how it was "Girl Power" against a male such as Reptile, I just wanted to point out that she didn't take care of everything on her own.

Referencing the Goro to Sub-Zero and Scorpion, I guess it is possible that Sonya has gone down in popularity. Sonya is the only one out of the two that is featured on one of Armagedon's Premium Edition cases and is also in MKA's Konquest whereas Kitana is absent but Kitana, on the other hand, has a lot more involvement with the storyline what with being the leader, or at least assembler, of the Forces of Light. I think MK's decline in popularity dealt a major blow to Sonya's marketability and might have taken her from the throne of Flagship Female. By now, it seems MK is favoring both women. Both have been big names in the series for some time and have an equal number of flagship-like qualities. While it might have been easier to say Sonya was bigger back in the day, it's kind of hard to say who is the real flagship female character these days.

I don't really consider this to be hardcore evidence, but of the males on MKA's character select screen, Scorpion is first in line, and of the females, Sonya is.

Does that mean Midway sees her as the leading lady the way Scorpion is the leading male?

Just something to think about.

I don't think it proves anything really, though.

The first Mortal Kombat movie came out in 1995, the same year as MK3. MK4 came out in 1997. If you dont believe me, look here.



Yeah, and Kitana was brought back in Unchained while Sonya was not....and it wasn't for storyline purposes because Kitana's Unchained story was meaningless. Also, Kitana played a role in Deception's Konquest, while Sonya did not.
I don't think either proves or disproves their cases.

I would have to say Sindel. Sindel really got e mean look that really makes her character. Sonya would be 2nd. The only thing I hate abt Sonya is tat she looks like a man with her build body. That is like YUCKS!!!! I wonder she is half man and half woman

Yeah, her look is much more dark and comic-booky than most other females. I think her image could be easily used as a marketing tool for MK, like it was in MK3, since it sums up a lot of famous MK qualities. Sonya gets the most publicity though, which I don't mind cuz I like her too.