As can be expected from any franchise that’s lasted for over 30 years, theMortal Kombatseries has seen some big changes in its long history, some of which have massively impacted the universe’s status quo. Though narratives aren’t often a major selling point ofthe fighting game genre,Mortal Kombathas always had a fairly solid plotline running through each of its entries, albeit one that can get pretty bizarre and fantastical. But after 30 years, it seems to be time for a big reset, and that’s exactly whatMortal Kombat 1is doing.
Following on from the ending ofMortal Kombat 11’s Aftermath DLC campaign, Fire God Liu Kang has created a brand-new universe, fit for his own personal designs. After centuries of war and violence, Liu Kang wants his own rebooted universe to be completely peaceful and free from it, but an unknown enemy is on the way to threaten that. Now the protector of the universe, Liu Kang needs to team up with some old, but reborn allies, including a now-mortal Raiden. And while Raiden’s new role seems to be completely different to pastMortal Kombatentries, there are a few events in his history that could remain canon across even this new timeline.
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What Raiden’s Canon Events Could Be In Mortal Kombat 1
Since the very beginning, Raiden has been one of the most influential players inMortal Kombat’s narrative. The originalMortal Kombattrilogy sees Raiden, the Elder God, seek out and train two mortal warriors to defend Earthrealm in the Mortal Kombat tournament, a brutal brawl that determines the fate of every realm. Raiden is forced to relinquish his immortality if he wishes to interfere and protect Earthrealm, and puts all of his faith in Liu Kang, and that faith isn’t misplaced, with Liu Kang winning the tournament and defeating Shao Kahn.
InMortal Kombat 4, Raiden is granted Elder God status once more, though he quickly gives that up once again inMortal Kombat: Deadly Alliancewhen he discovers that Liu Kang has been killed by Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, and that the Elder Gods refused to intervene. This sends Raiden down a dark path which sees him resurrect Liu Kang’s corpse, believing it to be the only way to protect Earthrealm.
This path eventually leads to a fierce battle with a strengthened Shao Kahn, and right before he takes the killing blow, Raiden manages to send a message back in time to his past self. This results in an altered timeline that sees Liu Kang win the tournament, but die accidentally when trying to confront Raiden. Raiden is then forced to fight a reanimated, revenant version ofLiu Kang inMortal Kombat X.
InMortal Kombat 11, Raiden uses Shinnok’s amulet to become more powerful, and seeing this as a threat, Kronika the god of time seeks to erase him from the timeline, but in doing so brings his younger self to the present, along with a few other Kombatants. After using the amulet for himself and getting confronted by a younger Liu Kang for doing so, the former Elder God realizes that Kronika has manipulated every timeline to ensure that Liu Kang and Raiden always come to blows, and never merge their powers. Raiden then does exactly that, merging both Liu Kangs and himself to make Fire God Liu Kang, the character who goes on to restart the universe ahead ofMortal Kombat 1.
From what fans have seen ofMortal Kombat 1so far, it seems as though Raiden and Liu Kang’s roles are being reversed. In this new universe, Raiden is a mortal, and Liu Kang is the god in charge of protecting the world. It also seems like Raiden will be asked to fight alongside Liu Kang, potentially making him the new champion of Earthrealm in this timeline. The big canon event across all timelines seems to revolve around Liu Kang and Raiden’s intrinsic bond with one another. A possible twist on Raiden andLiu Kang’s canon events inMortal Kombat 1could be that Raiden dies at the hand of Liu Kang this time around.
Mortal Kombat 1will be released on Jul 23, 2025, for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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