Got another retcon for this thread. Kung Lao. In MK9 it was stated Kung Lao was the reincarnation of The Great Kung Lao. (Lazy AF NRS.) But now in this game he can conjure his...own soul to assist him in battle? What?

Kabal: Red Dragon or Black Dragon?

Kabal: Red Dragon, all the way!

Kabal: Wrong choice, Future Me...

Ka-Tra

Good thing Kabal is fast otherwise he wouldn't be able to keep up with all these jobs he has

Well he did grow up poor, dude seriously needs that Koin...

Ka-Tra

Cop by morning, Black Dragon by day, Red Dragon by night. Wonder what benefits if any Kano and Daegon provide.

Kabal's probably still paying off his implants...

Ka-Tra

Maybe it works by Avatar rules? It's a reincarnation, but the older versions with their skills, experiences, and personalities don't go away, and can still be called upon through spiritual channels.

Who said his Mk2011 ending was canon? This is quite misleading to state it like a fact. His bio says GKL was his ancestor which is still correct. So, no retcon on this one.

*facepalm* You still didn't get it. At all. It's REVENANT Kabal that claims he is from BD. Revenant, from the CURRENT timeline. The good guy. That never accepted Kano. NEVER.

Regarding realms "merging". Never understood, how this works. Always thought realms are just different planets, it's not so important if these planets are from the same universe or from the separate dimensions, though it seems separate dimensions are the case.

But how can one "merge" the planets??? Sounds stupid. What, they are merging physically? That means, the mass of Outworld planet is growing and it becomes bigger?? Or the Outworld planet just gains the resources and people of other planets? That would mean other planets are destroyed, then what are all of the rebels trying to achieve by separating them???

I got it, really. But because you saw Revenant Kabal saying this, it doesn't mean it's Revenant words per se. I thought so too. For example, there is a fight where two Jades are fighting, one is Rev, another one is from different timeline. And their dialog also based on that they are different - but then I saw another fight with two Jades with absolutely same dialog, which led to me to conclusion not to pay attention to the skin they use, but to the words they say.

I can try and find these videos if you want.

Hmm, I see. Interesting, did they forget to add limitations to different "skintones"? If what you're saying is true, then past-Jade, for example, can say some lines as if she was revenant! That would be a huge mess and lazy work on NRS side. Maybe it's only BETA problem.

Come on it was a lore ending just like Smokes' or Noob Saibots' from Deception. The only non canon part of that ending was him still being alive. So yes it's a retcon. Likely because the writers again, couldn't be bothered to go back and check on the lore, two games back.

With that kind of logic we can just hand wave Smoke as an Enenra.

I don't even know why I'm getting worked up, you all see it. NRS is proving more and more how stupid it is to get invested in any of this seeing how they just change things at the drop of a hat.

I don't think the intro lines are connected to skin choice. Sometimes a past version skin will say something you'd expect from the future version and vice versa, because the lines are only tied to the characters themselves.

There are only so many lines to go around, especially in this build, and in single player fights your character always gets the second intro line. So if you're wearing a classic Kabal skin and fighting a Revenant Kabal, and this line is the one that randomly pops up, you're still going to get the second line, and so the Revenant will call you "Future Me."

It's a pretty insignificant issue if you understand how it works.

Just to make sure we're on the same page:

Here is the video where there are 2 Jades: REVenant and REGular, check the dialogue

Here is the video where both Jades are REGs - same dialogue

Sorry, but it was not a canon ending, Kung Lao died in MK2011 and became Revenant, and he still is in MKX. So how does this stick into what you're saying? Where is the logic?

To be fair, Smoke as enenra is canon because it showed up in mkx story mode. Can’t wave a hand at it.

But ladder endings aren’t canon; although sometimes they become canon like in the case of smoke/enenra

Stuff dealing with the past (set before the games) tends to hold true.

And revenant Liu Kang is ruling the Netherrealm, while revenant Smoke calls himself Enenra.

Clearly, being a revenant has its effects. I wouldn't call it a retcon, rather than a corrupted character gone bad.

@Heinrich_Faust Yeah, it is stupid. They should have just treated them like separate provinces, like in the Roman Empire.

@ckl3456789 Like this? https://www.trmk.org/forums/showthread.php/31208-Mortal-Kombat-storyline-respecting-the-entire-known-canon

That's not what I meant. Still, even revenant Kabal has no reason to become part of BD and Kano's lackey.

That's the problem with 1 kharakter representing multiple versions of themselves, instead of like some DBZ games that had multiple era specific versions of the same person. People already fight about roster spots without 8 Scorpions, Sub-Zeros, and Raidens.

Ka-Tra

But it was establishing lore of the character. It wasn't a ending that hypothetically progressed his story. They told us a little detail about Kung Lao, that sticks.

But like I said, it doesn't matter. They don't care so why should I.

I appreciate everyone here's passion for lore and trying to make some sense of continuity but it's not something I concern myself with at all anymore. It's a lesson I've learned not just as an MK fan but as a comic fan. I don't get caught up in worrying about continuity errors/retcons. The only thing I focus on is whether or not the story in front of me right now is entertaining me. As long as story mode in this game is decently entertaining I will be happy with it.

So here's hoping it isn't ass like in MKX. The problem in that game's story mode wasn't changes or continuity errors, it's just that it plain wasn't good.