It stated in the 'original timeline' section of Liu Kang's page on the MK Wiki that he was an orphan. If that doesn't count, then I believe his MK 2011 bio is the first source that outright states it.

"Orphaned at a very young age, Liu Kang was raised by Shaolin monks, who taught him the way of the spiritual warrior. They soon recognized his potential as a contender for the Mortal Kombat tournament and rigorously trained him for this task. Raiden, too, understood that Liu Kang was Earthrealm's best hope for freedom and introduced him to Master Bo' Rai Cho to further his development. Once fully trained, Liu Kang bested all challengers and earned the high honor of representing the Shaolin in the Mortal Kombat tournament. He and Raiden then embarked on their fateful journey to Shang Tsung's island to compete in this pivotal kontest."

That came about due to the movie combining Liu Kang and Kung Lao into one character. And since the game devs didn't have a writer or someone to keep track on lore / consistencies... things got muddled in the games.

Read the official Mk1 comic book. In his profile it is written that he and his deceased brother were orphaned when they were still kids.

Also, Liu is a fisherman. Ain't kidding.

I really like that. Fleshes him out more - considering that's pretty much the only backstory he has.

Being a fisherman makes him feel more humble too... like he was in the original timeline, until MK(2011) made him an angry rebellious teenage edgelord. And then later turned him into a revenant.

Was gonna say that his MK1 Bio listed parents as deceased and brother Chow is missing. People already beat me to it. He's always been an orphan but only a descendant of Great Kung Lao in the movies. Kung Lao is the descendant but lost to Liu in the Shaolin's Champion Tournament and is trying to reclaim his honor and "birthright". They are friendly rivals.

No it doesn't.

http://www.mortalkombatwarehouse.com/mk1/liukang/bio/

He is talking about the console (SNES and Sega Genesis) physical Mortal Kombat 1 manual and the MK 1 comic that came out back in 1992.

This thread got my curiosity wheel turning... I never remember Liu Kang not being a descendant of Great Kung Lao, yet some of you said that wasn't always the case... I was always under the impression both he and Modern Kung Lao were Great Kung Lao's descendants... but since folks in this thread said that came from the movie, I questioned the idea, and asked myself, "Wait, did it?"

I was admittedly young when all this stuff was new, so *Shrug* maybe it did come from the movie for all I knew...

So, I did a little digging, and these trading cards, based on the MK1 comic by John Tobias explicitly state Liu Kang is Kung Lao's descendant. They're dated 1994 and the movie came out in 1995...

http://www.angelfire.com/dragon2/ladyrayden/LiuKang.jpg

http://www.angelfire.com/dragon2/ladyrayden/Story4.jpg

I honestly have no idea when the idea that he was Great Kung Lao's descendant was first clearly stated in the games, but as these cards predate the movie by a year, it's clear that the idea wasn't introduced by the movie. Seems to be part of his backstory as early as MK1 merchandising.

Does the comic itself name Great Kung Lao as his ancestor? (I don't have a copy, no idea)

MK 4/Gold bio of Liu Kang clearly stated that he is The Great Kung Lao descendant.

Liu Kang and Kung Lao are cousins.

Liu Kang and Kung Lao are the same name spelled in two different forms of Chinese.

If his MK9 ending is canon, Kung Lao is not only a descendant of the great Kung Lao but also his reincarnation.

The back stories used by the movies are pretty close to the canon/source material: Sonya hunting down Kano for revenge, Cage being some b-lister actor, etc

Even Chow Kang disappearance is suspect: shaolin monks usually do not disappear in the nothing, so he was killed or abducted by the Chinese army or the by Shang Tsung, and this second hypothesis is the more plausible because we are talking about a descendant of the great Kung Lao.

The movie distanced itself from the source material at a later point but the backstories of every character are mostly correct.

Yes, I also clearly remember it stating in the manual that he had a missing brother. That's why I wasn't all surprised and like, "oh so they gave Liu Kang a brother??" when I first saw the movie.

EDIT: I also remember it mentioning that Johnny Cage has a sister.

Yeah her name is Rebecca IIRC.

Sonya's missing twin brother Daniel. Bi-Han & Kuai Lang's sister.

Ka-Tra

Sonya has a twin brother?

I'd actually like to see him appear in a future game.

He's dead, though no detail about his departure has been given.

My personal fan-Canon is that he was killed by Kano.

Remember: Daniel and Sonya are twins, so they have the same age, and most likely they had the same job as Sonya's ending in MK9 implied that she came from a military family.

SO much early untapped lore. Just be cool to have even cameos or just references to Chow, Rebecca, Daniel, etc. Just make them more REAL people, ya know?

I always thought NRS would tap into the siblings as surprise characters but nope. Guess they'll continue to remain in my fan fiction.