Well, MKSM is officially the stroy of what happens after the final MK1 battle tournament. So it is basically telling the story of what happens. We shall yet see why Kung Lao is jealous by playing the game a little.

However movies like MKA have no part in true storyline, so the movies really have no part in games...Hope that helps...

And obviously this jealousy changed to close friendship during the game (Or perhaps Kung Lao reflects after his "death" in MK3 )

I think it's a friendly rivalry between Kung Lao and Liu Kang. Kinda like how close friends compete with one another, always trying to go one better than their friend, but when somethings up, they'll both be there to help each other.

To me, Kung Lao always seemed to be the bad boy of the Shaolin temple, while Liu Kang is a goody two shoes. MK2 hints that Kung Lao had once quit the Shaolin (MKSM may retcon this) by telling us he was a former member. Perhaps he's annoyed that the Shaolin chose Liu to represent them rather than him, it was Kung Lao's ancestor who was killed by Goro after all.

Or maybe MKSM will give us another reason, perhaps both men are trying to get into Kitana's panties, who knows? We'll find out soon.

It isn't a friendly rivalry. Kung Lao does not like Liu Kang because of what he accomplished. Liu Kang stole Kung Lao's birth right to win the Mortal Kombat tournament and become the chosen one. I bet that once Kung Lao heard the news of Liu Kang becoming the chosen one, he fled the Shaolin Temples and went on his own to defeat Shang Tsung.

When the Shaolin Temples were attacked by the Tarkata I bet that Kung Lao put the responsibility on Liu Kang for making the Shaolin a target for the Tarkata to attack in Earthrealm.

During Mortal Kombat 2 I bet Kung Lao tried to upstage Liu Kang and they had a rivalry going on, yet they were still on the same side, they probably didn't like each other untill they fought together side by side and developed a friendship through life and death situations.

After the Shaolin Temples were destroyed and Liu Kang and Kung Lao survived the events of Mortal Kombat 2, they decided to rebuild the Shaolin Temples and that is when they decided they were Shaolin Brothers.

Then Shao Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm happened and Liu Kang and Kung Lao were best friends fighting against the Emperor.

Its about time we had some ripples between them in this game to make it a little more interesting.

I don't think we've ever seen any evidence to say that Kung Lao ever went so far as to hate Liu Kang, though maybe MKSM will reveal this, I don't know. For now, I still think it's a Ryu and Ken style friendly rivalry.

Maybe the friendship hit a rough patch at the time. Kung Lao was likely to be annoyed at Liu being chosen by the Shaolin to represent them, and then defeating Shang Tsung, while Liu may not like the fact that Kung Lao had quit the Shaolin before, then turns up again just like that. I don't know for sure, I'm just trying to come up with a likely scenario based around the facts we currently know.

Lui kang nd Kung Lao friends??? i thought lui was kungs descendent?

Both Liu Kang & Kung Lao are descendentants of the "original" Kung Lao, the shaolin warrior that defeated Shang Tsung and in the next tournament was defeated (and killed) by Goro.

LIu Kang is only descended from the Great Kung Lao by their shared beliefs and participation in the Mortal Kombat Tournament. Only Kung Lao is blood related to the Great Kung Lao. LIu Kang hails from another and different bloodline.

So Liu and Kung are not related by blood in any way. The movie has a non canonised storyline.

What about Goro's MK4 bio? It seems to indicate that Liu Kang is also a descendant of the Original Kung Lao.

Thanx for all that info guys.
I had no idea Liu Kang was mad at Kung Lao in John Tobias' comics. I guess they have a right to change this in MKSM b/c John Tobias is no longer involved with Midway or the MK games.

Maybe what happends between Liu Kang and Kung Lao within the storylines of MK1, MKSM, and MK2; bios in each game have hinted that Kung Lao left the shaolin temple b/c he was not the one chosen to compete in the tournament and avenge his ancestor. So yes, apparently Kung Lao is jealous of Kiu Kang b/c he stole the victories from Kung Lao by defeating both Shang Tsung and Goro. So I guess MKSM is gonna focus on what Kung Lao can do in order to not be jealous of Liu anymore.
I don't recall if MK2 gave us hints that Liu and Kung were having a friend rivalry (explaination for this would be appreciated and helpful), but I do think when MK2 ended they both got to share a victory. Maybe this is why they got along better in MK3.

liu kang's always had it going for raiden and i think liu wants to be the reciver kung lao's just mad that he always has to be the butch u know? with liu kang looking like michael jackson in all who could resist ?

The "buddies" formula was tried in the Street Fighter tv show with Ryu and Ken, but people didn't like it, so I take it Boon and Co. got the hint.