The only thing here that makes me consider that Shinnok may playable is that he was clearly wearing some new armour while being tortured. But Baraka, Rain and Sindel featured new looks in MKX and weren't playable at all so who knows.

It's definitely Kabal btw. The host of the event even said "was that Kuh-" whilst interviewing Lansdown. Who else in the MK universe has super speed?!

I had the exact opposite thoughts on Shinnok. Granted, I haven't scrutinized it side by side... but at a glance it looked pretty much the same as his MKX outfit to me.

On to new business...

There are two screencaps of Johnny Cage circulating on Reddit. One is undeniably him in the background of one of the stages. The other appears to be the same model, on a small blurry angled screen in the background of one of the streams... and is probably also him, but is far less convincing than the first. Either way, there's no firm suggestion he's playable yet, but he's definitely in the game in some capacity.

People are saying Kano can be spotted in the background of the Geras reveal video at 1:20... I just watched and admit it could be him. (Looks a lot like he did in the first movie)

Also this pic of non-dead Kitana came from somewhere...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DxJJvHUUUAAwkMw.jpg

You are actually correct! The gold shoulders looked different to me on first watch but they're basically identical to his MKX costume. Surprised I didn't recall that myself -_-

Other MK folk are saying a play tester / community figure broke NDA and revealed more on a stream. Those he mentioned;

Shang Tsung, Kabal, Noob Saibot, Jax, and Liu Kang.

Nice find, especially on that Kitana! And I thought I did see a character looking kind of like Johnny Cage in his MKX outfit in the background to one of the stages. I didn't get a screencap because I thought it was probably just a generic special forces guy with sunglasses. I also heard one of the commentators saying it was Kano in the background of the Black Dragon club drinking whiskey. I dont know if those commentators are associated with NRS so it could have just been their speculation.

I'll review and work on getting more captured later. Very exciting!

I'm hearing scuttlebutt on Reddit that apparently Rain is visible in one of the menu cards somewhere? (I imagine much like the Kitana pic above) but I have yet to see any evidence of it, or track said pic down. So if anyone has any info on that, I'd appreciate a link! *Thumbs up*

Yeah you can see him on the Konquer menu card. Not as clear as Kitana but definitely looks like him. Guy on YouTube called Super has it in one of his vids along with the Kitana card.

Found it! I'm not 100 percent sure if this is rain; it does look a lot like him, but I also saw a customized Sub-zero that looks a lot like Rain. It could also be just the art for this game mode and not necessarily correspond to the character.

Here is Sub-zero's "rain" variation:

(Sorry if these pictures are blown up, I am uploading from mobile and am having trouble re-sizing them)

Agreed. I would not call that 100% compelling evidence that Rain is in the game (and I frankly think Sub-Zero's outfit is a strike AGAINST Rain being in the game.) Anyway, the pic bears some resemblance to Rain, but I'm not totally convinced. Could just as easily be random artwork. Or even Scorpion (looks similar to one of his costumes too)

While we're almost on the topic: I dislike that characters with prominent color schemes like Sub-Zero & Scorpion can wear weird colors. In this and Injustice 2. Ruins their established aesthetic imo. But. To each his own if someone wants to use them I guess. I just don't relish the idea I could run into a red or purple Sub-Zero online. Seems stupid. There's something to be said for consistency of design.

It will be a cold day in hell before I personally create a Sub-Zero that isn't blue or a Scorpion that isn't yellow, I can tell you that! lol...

(error post)

A non-blue Sub-Zero, probably not, but a non-yellow Scorpion, definitely.

When I created Scorpion in Soulcalibur V, I gave him a red and black outfit with hints of yellow. Personally, I feel so long as the mask is yellow, nothing else needs to be.

The Rain image looks more like that Sub Zero variation due to the feet, that's what it seems to me at least.

Update!

Thanks to the Mortal Kombat Reddit, some Youtubers, and last but not least the users on this thread, there are a couple of extra characters spotted!

First, Kitana's playability likelihood is strengthened thanks to this artwork of her in her living attire. This seems to suggest we will also see a version of Kitana before she became the corrupted empress of the NetherRealm. She is shown in the icon for the customization menu:

Johnny Cage: I actually recall seeing him in the background of the special forces stage, but I thought he was just a generic special forces guy in sunglasses. With this closer look, I can now see it does indeed look like Johnny Cage. Although he is in the background, he does seem to be sporting a slightly new design with a new color palette. That, paired with the fact that background characters have been playable in the past, suggests he may be playable.

But if that's not enough, this screenshot was found showing this character apparently in-game facing off against Sub-Zero:

Kano: In one of the pro MK player versus sessions, one of the hosts cited that the character drinking whiskey in the background of the Black Dragon club is Kano. Upon closer inspection, this appears to be true:

Normally I'd say this appears to be just a little background reference; however, the local multiplayer card also features a detailed portrait of Kano (and another look for Cassie Cage), which makes me think Kano may yet be playable in this game:

Noob Saibot: This portrait of Noob was spotted on the towers in the MK11 demo. I believe this is not a direct character confirmation, and more of an icon for Kombat modifiers, similar to what MKX had. I would imagine that when you participate in a match with Kombat modifiers, you would get something like Noob's shadow attack interfering with the match. Keep in mind that if this is indeed true, it doesn't necessarily de-confirm the character as playable. I believe MKX had Cyrax's bombs as a modifier, and later had Cyrax available via one of Triborg's variations:

Smoke(?): A grey ninja appears on one of the menu cards. Although this ninja is grey like Smoke, there is little else to suggest that this is indeed the character. Especially considering that Scorpion has some color variations that make him look similar to this:

Cyrax: Again, this one appears to be only a Kombat modifier; Sub-zero is seen being caught in one of Cyrax's green nets in a screenshot of the gameplay footage. Like MKX, I think this is just to add some flare to the matches. I do hope that Cyrax is in the base roster though; of all they Cybers, he is my personal favorite:

Long time no posting here.

I think there is a rather intuitive/logical way of guessing what characters are making the cut and which aren't. For years now, NRS hasn't done any 'surprise omissions'. MK:A had all characters ever, MK9 had a highly classic roster and MKX didn't deviate from that very much.

Chances of a character making the cut depends on three elemens:
- does the audience like them?
- does NRS like them?
- does NRS think we expect them to be in (i.e. how many previous appearances have they had)?

I'm counting here on a final roster of 25 base playable characters +6 DLCs.

Sonya, Raiden, Scorpion and (a) Sub-Zero have been in nearly every MK game and they are in this one, too. Same with Liu Kang, Kung Lao and Kitana. The latter three are all but confirmed to be in MK11. Rounding these out is Jax with the most reliable appearance record, so I believe there is a 90% chance of him being in the game. That would make 8 characters.

The next batch doesn't have as many appearances as the 'core group' but is hot on its heels: Kano, Reptile, Baraka, Mileena and Johnny Cage. I'm wagering at least 3/4 (+Baraka, who is already confirmed) of these will make the cut, if not all of them. Also consider that Sonya and Mileena being in the game are very good indicators of Kano's and Mileena's presence, since these two never appear in an MK game without their arch-enemy (though it doesn't hold true the other way around). Baraka has also never appeared in an MK game without Mileena. Anyway, adding 3 out of these 4 (+Baraka) would raise the total to 12. Mileena, Cage and Kano look like the most likely candidates.

From the other MK1/2 alumni, Goro, Noob, Jade, Kintaro, Shang Tsung and Smoke are spottier to predict. NRS loves them some Goro even if players tend to be more on the fence. We know Shao Kahn is already in. Smoke is often treated as a part-character (as with Noob-Smoke or Triborg) and the rest's appearance record is more uneven. My impression is that Noob, Smoke and Jade at least have sizeable fan bases. Kintaro has never been in an MK game without Goro. If Goro is in, Kintaro's chances improve, but only very slightly, since already one 'former boss' character is in the game. Out of these 6, I think 2 or 3 more will get a spot. My bets are on Smoke (in some form), Jade and Noob (+Shao Kahn). That makes 16.

Things get more depressing if we turn to the class of (U)MK3. I'm not going to list them exhaustively, but looking at the track record, Cyrax, Sektor, Kabal, Nightwolf, Ermac, Rain and Sindel stand a bit above the rest. Kabal is all but confirmed and I think 2 or 3 more characters from this era will join him. Oddly, in terms of playability, Kabal is historically in sync with Nightwolf and Sindel, so perhaps either one of them will get the nod (though correlation =/= causation). NRS love Ermac, and should Sektor be somehow confirmed, it's a dead certainty Cyrax is in (Sektor never appears without Cyrax). Rain has a big fan base. My bets: Ermac, Rain and Cyrax (in some capacity) +Kabal. That's 20.

MK4 started the sad tradition of introducing new characters only to throw them into the garbage later, with Quan Chi as the sole exception, Tanya getting two more shots, and Shinnok getting rehabilitated in MKX. Discontent about no playable Fujin was big in the fan community, and Reiko has a sizeable fan base. I think Fujin has the biggest chance to make his return to the big stage (though I wouldn't count out Reiko or Tanya). That's 21.

The MK:DA and MK:D era brought us three reappearing characters: Kenshi, Li Mei and Bo' Rai Cho. NRS loves their drunken master and Kenshi seems to be liked by the audience. My bet: Kenshi and if not Kenshi, perhaps a surprise return of an unlikely character with an attempt to rehabilitate it. Who that might be is anyone's guess, though for sure it isn't going to be Hsu Hao. Perhaps a female character is the roster looks too male-oriented, or perhaps a character with a fan base, like Havik. Anyway, that makes 22.

Skarlet was the only truly new MK9 character and she's in. That's 23.

MKX actually succeeded at creating a batch of new characters that seem to have resonated with the audience. There is a very high chance Cassie is in the game. Looking at most picked characters in MKX online, Takeda stands out as a popular new kid, so I would peg him to be there, too. Erron Black was also popular right from the start. My conservative estimate is they will bring back 3 or 4 of those new faces, with the aforementioned three getting the nod. If they pick a fourth one, Tremor and Ferra/Tor stand out as unlikeliest, the former for being too close to Geras in his moveset, the latter because of their unpopularity (though NRS has been relentlessly foisting Bo' Rai Cho on us for years, too, so...). Triborg would be a neat way to have one spot held by three/four characters. Anyway, that would make 27.

This would mean there's room for 4 new faces, with two of them already held by Geras and Kronika. That leaves us with four unknown 2 newcomers (newkomers?). That's not unheard of for a fighting game in its 11th main instalment.

As to my personal hopes, that's a different story, and a pointless one at that.

I've noticed that when predicting rosters and/or collecting facts about previous rosters, people have a tendancy to write off the first iteration of each game, and act like the updates are all that matters. When I hear things like, "Jax has never missed a chapter" or "Mileena has never been in a game without Kitana" ... I think there's a flaw in that logic. Because both of those statements aren't true.

I understand that Jax got added to Unchained... but he wasn't in Deception. I understand that Kitana got added to Unchained, but she also wasn't in Deception. And even when they got added, neither of them were very fleshed out. They were added to 1 handheld port, using their existing models from MKDA, as a bit of bonus flavor to sell the game to people who had already played Deception to death. It's not like they were first string roster choices, available in the most played or the most accessible versions of the game.

Same kind of logic often applies to games like UMK3, MKT & MK Gold. I admit, UMK3 was probably just as accessible, if not more accessible than MK3, but MK Gold was far from the most accessible version of 4. And in any case, none of them were the first string roster.

I mean Scorpion HAS missed a game. Reptile has missed 2. Mileena has been in a game without Kitana. Kitana has been in a game without Mileena. Just because Unchained exists, doesn't mean that the roster choices made in Deception never existed. If you get my drift? *Shrug*

If anything I'd say games like Unchained, Gold, Ultimate or Trilogy help us predict patterns for potential DLC more than for the core rosters. They basically served the function of DLC before DLC existed.

But I'm rambling.

I don't think Cyrax, Rain, Reptile & Shinnok have good odds, because I think the tower modifiers are a bad sign. Reptile is by far the most likely of the 4, and he's sat out 2 games before.

I think Kano & Cage have decent odds, just based on the screen grabs we've seen. But. I personally don't need them.

I'm up in the air on Mileena. I'd love to see her return, and I think she easily could. But I think she could easily sit too. She's sat more than once before, and her death was very deliberate in MKX.

Kabal's blue streaks look like the energy that Geras uses when he manipulates time. That got me thinking. I've been wondering what Kronika's moves will be. Then it hit me, what if she "pulls" fighters from the timeline to fight for her? So the Kabal that we see there, is perhaps just Kronika's special move. She would hover into the background, and then some NPC mk-alumni would come out and perform a task for her. Besides the kabal dash, there could be a sheeva stomp, a stryker grenade toss, etc. The data for this mechanic is already in the game because of the assist-modifiers in the towers. Just a thought. I also really fuckin hate Kabal. Lmao