Gaming

Mortal Kombat Movie Trailer Reveals First Look at Shao Kahn

The Mortal Kombat movie reboot got its first trailer on Thursday with each of the characters […]

The Mortal Kombat movie reboot got its first trailer on Thursday with each of the characters we’ve seen so far making their violent cinematic debuts for the first time in years. One character who’s been absent from the previews shown prior to the trailer’s release was Shao Kahn, the Outworld ruler who’s routinely featured as a boss in the Mortal Kombat games. He made his first appearance of sorts in the new trailer, though it’s more of a depiction of what he will (or did) look like as opposed to his actual live-action character.

Videos by ComicBook.com

In the trailer above that shows a red band look at the Mortal Kombat movie, you can see what’s clearly supposed to be Shao Kahn at the 1:37 point in the video. The figure sports the tyrant’s over-the-top armor and his massive hammer that he uses to crush his opponents.

The only catch with Shao Kahn’s appearance in the trailer is that he’s the only character we’ve seen that wasn’t actually shown moving or even alive. It appears that this version of Shao Kahn we’ve seen in the trailer is only a statue erected in the ruler’s image, so while it shows what the movie’s version of the fighter looks like, we still haven’t seen Shao Kahn himself.

But not seeing Shao Kahn raises even more questions about the character. Since this is a rebooted movie, you can throw out most of the games’ timelines that’d impact Shao Kahn. We also know from previous discussions about the film that it takes place at least partially during a time set centuries before the main story, so there’s a chance for Shao Kahn (or just his statue) to make appearances in either setting. Other Outworld characters like Mileena, Shang Tsung, and Kano who’ve been featured in some of the Mortal Kombat movie posters prior to the trailer reveal all hail from Outworld as well and exist in the movie’s present-day timeline, so Shao Kahn certainly could as well.

Goro also apparently made an appearance in the trailer, so with that fighter and Shao Kahn both showing up, it’s evident there are still characters we haven’t yet seen. The Mortal Kombat roster is quite the expansive one, however, so it’s unlikely we’ll see everyone’s favorites included in the film when it releases on April 16th.