In Sub-Zero's MK1 bio, it was said that the Lin Kuei were a clan of legendary Chinese ninja. So to me, Sub-Zero is a ninja.

No, not legendary ninjas, legendary assassins, and yes both are not the same.

Scorpion is literally the only ninja.

Well, the thing is, when the series got to the time of MK Mythologies and MK4, John Tobias changed things up to give a clearer distinction. In the MK story, the Lin Kuei are the Chinese forerunners for the ninja. It was Takeda, a Japanese Lin Kuei warrior, who left the clan and took his knowledge of fighting and assassination skills to form the Shirai-ryu ninja clan.

But that's what it said on his bio, "legendary clan Chinese ninja" in MK1. So Sub-Zero is a ninja. It said so in his bio in MK1. He has the same attire as a ninja in MK1. So that makes him a ninja regardless, of whether the creators wanted to specify later on that the Lin Kuei were known as assassins. In his original bio it said that they were ninja.

I am fully aware of that. I should be since he is my all-time favorite. But they are not ninjas despite the original game stated that they were. Anyone can argue about this, but they are NOT ninjas.

they started with a ninja but made it clear in mythologies he wasnt. "i am not a ninja, i am lin kuei, scorpion was a ninja." in the first mortal kombat they probably weren't thinking about his long term story, but since it came this far, they changed it up.

but for the next game, all i want for him is to not be a cyborg and to have a mix of all his moves he had in every game he's been in. he doesnt really need any new moves just maybe bring back some ones he hasnt had the past few games. i like that one move he had when it was kinda like a perry from MK vs. DC, i think it was called Icy Counter.

not saying i was a big fan of that game, but just saying i liked that move hahaha.

Yes... YES.... YES!!!!!

I liked that move too.

Yeah, I like Icy Counter myself. That combined with Ice Clone would make him better. Although I like what they did with his normals in MK9, Sub-Zero's specials were kinda lacking. It wouldn't hurt to see him with at least a couple of new moves. It would be nice if Sub-Zero's Ground Freeze was more like the one Quan Chi (disguised as Bi-Han) used in MK: Legacy against Scorpion.

I just wish they kept the original MK1 vibe with the Asian themed backgrounds and setting and made Sub-Zero more like his original character instead of changing his costume every single series. MK3 was the worst. He looked like a buff Larry King in bulky suspenders.

I hope he gets some new moves like the Telefreeze move I mentioned earlier. It's where he teleports leaving a blinking imprint of himself behind and transports to the other side of the screen and quick flashes in a ice statue of himself and freezes his opponent if touched. I think that move would be awesome. And all ninjas/assassins should teleport in my opinion. It would look cool

They also explained in the backstory in Mythologies that Ninjutsu was invented by a Lin Kuei member, and is a complete ripoff of the Lin Kuei's style.

So technically, the Lin Kuei are the first ninjas. The protoninja. They don't like being called the name of their copycats, but there's no other word for it on account of "Lin Kuei" is a clan name, a proper noun, not a descriptive term.

I don't care how you explain it Mythologies...Sub-Zero is a ninja. I go by his bio in MK1. It said legendary clan of Chinese ninja were the Lin Kuei.

It really doesn't make sense for the Lin Kuei to be identified as "ninja" anyway since "ninja" is a Japanese term and "LIn Kuei" is a Mandarin Chinese term. "Ninja" in Mandarin Chinese would be "Renzhe". It could be said that the Lin Kuei are "ninja-like" if we're going by a fictional story definition of one as being a masked warrior assassin (especially one with special powers).

On a different note, after getting back to playing MK9 and going through Sub-Zero again in arcade mode, I realized what could have improved his gameplay. While it may not be the most practical special move for a 3D fighter, his Icy Pillar from MK: Armageddon could be more useful in a 2D (as in side-scrolling) fighter since there is no sidestepping. He doesn't have the easiest time getting across the screen and those zoners make it difficult for him. A move like Icy Pillar would be perfect. Sure, one could suggest his Ice Shower, which would be nice to see return. However, I feel that Icy Pillar would be more effective going by the animation of the move.

Its either....

a) A new character who is good and faster. Has a connection to the brothers as an old friend of Bi-Han, but not from the Lin Kuei.
b) Bring Kuai Liang back
or
c) Bring Bi-Han back as Sub-Zero for redemption and have Kuai Liang as the new Noob Saibot.

Well "assassin" started out as an Arabian word and now it's English for "hired killer". "Pizza" was Italian, "Hamburger" was German, most of the English language is made up of other languages, that's kinda how it works.

I think by this point, we can consider the word "Ninja" to have been integrated into English too and can use it for anybody who does martial arts in a mask.
I think there's a line between acknowledging that "in story, the Lin Kuei don't like to be called ninjas because ninjas are copycats of the Lin Kuei", and being full-blown anal-retentive about whether or not the word technically applies. It's sort of the same thing as that annoying "Jade can't be called black because she's from another planet" argument that occasionally crops up.
Yes, Scorpion is the only REAL ninja who comes from a Japanese Ninjutsu clan...but you can say that and still admit that in a looser sense, Ermac and Rain are ninjas 'cause they look like ninjas.

Going back to the topic on ideas for Sub-Zero, I thought he should get a remake of his Ice Grenade fatality from MK2 if he does come back in MK 10 (Cyber or Human).

Similar to Stryker's Blast fatality from MK 9, he forms an ice grenade and shoves it into his opponent's stomach. The opponent feels a queasiness and we see an X-Ray of the grenade blowing up and shattering inside of the stomach. Icicles pop out of their stomach with innards hanging out. The opponent falls dead to the ground with an icicle out of their stomach.

Just something fresh to think about

While we talk about ideas for Sub-Zero, what could his story be? He's now an undead cyborg under Quan Chi's control.

There are several thoughts like being revived and going the route of Cyrax, being saved by Sareena and eventually obtaining a new body.

Being Cyber or Human could work either way. As a cyborg, Sub-Zero could get the same treatment as Cyrax, but will have to struggle with being human and machine. Not that he has to be a cyborg permanently, but he was turned into one for a reason.

The human route could go in another direction. Someone mentioned him getting a body like Iceman from X-Men somehow. It would be a break from the senior citizen version of Sub-Zero we saw in Deadly Alliance and afterwards.

But after being a cyborg, would he really want to change the Lin Kuei after they turned him into a robot and sold him down the river? Would Rayden tell him the truth about the Lin Kuei (highly unlikely since that ending was Human Sub-Zero and he's not human in the story mode)

It seems like the fanbase was really split on their opinion on what happened to Sub-Zero in the Story Mode in MK9.

Would he still want revenge on Scorpion? Or it's unlikely if Scorpion saves him and somehow tells him his brother was a heartless tool who killed him without mercy.

Heck, he could be not in the roster for MK 10.

Just some food for thought...

I am going to be really technical with this post.

Ahem

I will admit, they screwed up his character in story mode when he "dies" by Sindel. First off, a fist to the face may not look as deadly as one could think.

I remember a long time ago, I made a thread asking if Edenians are more powerful than we thought, as we have seen them kiss people and have them explode. So, Sindel, although a fist to the face might look like a dainty thing to die from, she could very well have more power than we thought she had, plus Shang's spirit in her as well.

However, why he is a cyborg in Hell instead of his human self is something I can explain. That's not right, and I don't agree with him looking like that. It's not because I hated his cyborg costume, which that alone isn't true since I liked him as a cyborg, still... I felt that he should have been human.

I don't want him to permanently die off because I just don't see him being killed off entirely, not after having to be the most developed character in the series and I will, til the day the series die or I die, having that statement be true in my books. No other character is more developed than he. No, Scorpion isn't well developed because having the same story for the last twenty years isn't any kind of improvement.

I cannot say what I want to see from him because I do not know where they're gonna hear off to with the story other than what we know already.

I would like to say however... Human form please. I liked the cyborg, but I want the human form to come back.

Everyone who was dead looked however they looked when they died. That's usually true of ghosts.

If Sub-Zero's spirit had been human and whole again, then Jax's should've had his human arms and Kabal's shouldn't have had the scars and breathing mask.

That said, I sincerely hope they use the opportunity of his death to have Quan Chi change his form so that he looks human again. Hell, I'd even take Kuai Liang having a body made of ice, the way Deception Smoke had a body made of Smoke, I don't even care. Any body that can wear Cryomancer Armor would be cool with me, and robots can't wear armor because they're already covered in it, so...

Alternatively, it sure would be nice if the plot of MK10 were to revolve around someone knowing how things were SUPPOSED to go, knowing how badly Raiden screwed up, and trying to undo the damage and repair the timeline so that Shinnok can't steamroll everybody with his army of zombified main characters.

Could it be possible we have another time travel adventure for MK 10 where another character prevents Rayden from doing derp mistakes?

Well...I can't help but think they wouldn't have introduced that mystery girl in Jade's ending if they weren't going to make her a real character eventually.

I also kinda hope that, whatever the form Liu Kang comes back to life as may be, good or evil, he somehow finds out what the timeline was supposed to be like and isn't just trying to get revenge on Raiden but is actually trying to fucking fix things.

I was thinking about this Razor and it seems from all of the fake leaks on the MK 10 plot, Liu Kang is neutral with the conflict going on. Even though he is dead at the end of MK 9, Rayden could've resurrected him with lightning but his soul was going to be claimed by Quan Chi until Shinnok saw a better purpose in him and implanted false memories before Rayden revived him. This would lead Liu Kang to leave the good guys and go on his own path like in Legay.

I hope he's not like Legacy. He was a whiny, self-entitled little bitch in Legacy. "Oh no, ONE guy killed my girlfriend, that means the entire human race doesn't deserve to be saved..." I don't care how long he spent in America, that's such childish behavior coming from someone who was raised to be wise and enlightened.

I prefer the Liu Kang we saw at the end of MK9, when it looked to him like Raiden was losing his fucking mind and rambling incoherently after all the idiotic mistakes that got all their friends killed, because I actually agreed with him and that's a much more interesting conflict than an obvious good guy vs. an obvious bad guy. I hope the Liu that comes back in 10 isn't mind controlled or blinded by emotion and obsessed with getting even the way Scorpion always is, but rather still wants to do what he thinks is the right thing, he just simply sees Raiden as a failure and himself as the good guy who knows the best way to handle things. If he's a villain, then let him be a villain who has a motivation the viewer can actually agree with. That's how all the best villains, like Magneto, are written.

That how I feel the same way about Liu Kang. He should go neutral.

But scarred and hooded.

They need to keep Sub-Zero and Scorpion the way they were in the original MK! All these costume changes and alternate Sub-Zeros aren't working. The original posting of this thread has listed various ideas for how Sub-Zero can be improved upon. I think the oxygen mask that Sub-Zero wears is goofy. Sub-Zero should have a clothed mask covering the lower part of his face with the original v-shaped vest in royal blue and loose fitting ninja pants just like he did in the original Mortal Kombat.

Hooded Liu Kang looked weird in Legacy 2. I don't think he should be hooded at all. There is nothing mysterious about Liu, whereas Scorpion and Noob are.

Sub-Zero is not dead...ok?! MK9 was a reboot and all they did was flip Smoke and Subby, that's it. We had the Ninja/Assassin and Cyber Sub-Zero.
Whichever way Sub-Zero returns, it'll be ok. I would like him as an ice figure! Imagine what his arsenal would be like...?

Enough talk about Liu Kang already! He can sit out of MK10. He is not needed as he is not the "Hero" anymore. He can't even stop or reverse Raiden's time-travel.
The only remaining Shaolin/White Lotus is Kai (if Liu and Lao are dead). Kai wouldn't even be able to do anything.

If NRS could twist Ashrah's story and have her unfold Raiden's time-travel or introduce Argus?