Mortal Kombat 1 Teases "Surprise Kombatant"

Mortal Kombat 1's next Kombat Kast is coming up soon, and ahead of its air date, we've already gotten a bit of info about what we might can expect from it. This presentation from NetherRealm will apparently be focused in part on "banished" characters including Smoke and Li Mei which are two fighters that have already been revealed previously. A third character will be part of the next Kombat Kast, too, though NetherRealm is so far only referring to that one as a "surprise kombatant."

One Mortal Kombat fan who goes by AshlynThePally on Reddit first shared details on the next Kombat Kast stream by uploading a screenshot captured from the YouTube app on their PS5. The video highlighted is a seemingly soon-to-be released stream titled "Kombat Kast 2 – Revenge of the Banished." We've only gotten one Kombat Kast so far, so it's safe to say this is a placeholder for the one that's coming up.

What's this?
by u/AshlynThePally in MortalKombat

In a comment shared by the same poster, a description of the video offered a bit more info.

"New Trailer, new characters, new breakdowns!" the description of the video says. "Join NetherRealm now for Kombat Kast 2, featuring detailed gameplay breakdowns of Smoke, Li Mei, and a surprise kombatant."

That Mortal Kombat player wasn't the only one to see evidence of this stream either. Another poster shared a similar screenshot captured from Twitch that showed a Kombat Kast of the same name. A link to the NetherRealm team's page on Twitch showed us those same results, but the page appears to have been updated since we first saw it and no longer advertises the upcoming Kombat Kast.

2nd Kombat Kast got leaked 💀 expect an official announcement soon!
by u/MistahJ17 in Mortalkombatleaks

So, who's that "surprise kombatant" supposed to be? Many in the comments suggested that it'd be Baraka given the character's story in Mortal Kombat, but "surprise" certainly sounds like it's referring to someone who we haven't seen confirmed yet, so Baraka seems less likely. We saw him already alongside the reveal of Li Mei, and if she was named in this trailer description, why wouldn't Baraka be named, too?

In a reply to someone on Twitter, Mortal Kombat 1 lead Ed Boon said on July 26th that a new Kombat Kast should be coming within the week, so we should hear from NetherRealm soon about when, exactly, this stream will take place.