Liu Kang

Liu Kang is a video game character from the Mortal Kombat series. First appearing in the series' first title, Liu Kang is portrayed as a Shaolin monk who enters the Mortal Kombat tournament to save his world, Earthrealm, from being destroyed due to having lost nine consecutive tournaments. Since his victory in the tournament, Liu Kang acts as defender from the Earthrealms along with the Earth's other warriors under his mentor's guide, the thunder god Raiden.

Liu Kang appears in most games as a playable character, including as the lead character from Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks along with Kung Lao, and has also appeared in the live-action films from the series and the comic adaptations. His character was created to be the hero of the series, with most of his moves being less violent and easier to perform than the ones from other characters. His critical reception was mixed, with some of them criticizing his gameplay while others noted him to be entertaining.

In video games
Introduced in the first Mortal Kombat game as a Chinese Shaolin Kung Fu fighting monk, Liu Kang enters the tenth Mortal Kombat tournament in order to protect Earthrealm from being destroyed for having lost several tournaments. During the tournament, Liu Kang defeats Grand Champion Goro and the host Shang Tsung, emerging as the new champion of Mortal Kombat. In the sequel, Mortal Kombat II, Liu Kang finds many of his Shaolin killed in a vicious attack by a horde of nomadic mutants under orders from Emperor Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung's master. Enraged, Liu Kang decides to travel to Outworld, backed by his friend Kung Lao to seek revenge. At the tournament, Liu Kang fights Shao Kahn, eventually overpowering the emperor. In Mortal Kombat 3, Liu Kang and his friends fight against Shao Khan's extermination squad which invaded Earthrealm. Liu Kang once again defeats Shao Kahn, causing him and his forces to retreat back to Outworld. By the time of Mortal Kombat 4 Liu Kang discovers that Kitana has been captured by the Elder God Shinnok's forces and begins gathering Earth's warriors to defeat Shinnok. Eventually, Liu Kang confronts Shinnok and once again emerges victorious with Kitana and her people having survived to the attack. However, he is unable to commit himself to a relationship due to his duty while Kitana has to stay in Outworld as reigning princess.

In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, the sorcerers Shang Tsung and Quan Chi join forces to kill Liu Kang, who is unplayable in the game. By the time of Mortal Kombat: Deception, his mentor, Raiden, reanimates Liu Kang's body and sends it on a rampage, causing his soul to attempt to control it. The undead Liu Kang appears as a secret character that can only be unlocked through the Konquest Mode. In the PlayStation Portable version of Deception, Mortal Kombat: Unchained, he is directly playable as the staff noted that it was very difficult to unlock him in Deception. From there, Liu Kang enlists with the ninja Ermac to try to save his friends from Onaga who has been controlling them. He accomplishes this task in Deception, but by Mortal Kombat: Armageddon he is still unable to fully control his body.

Along with Kung Lao, Liu Kang is the lead character in the spin-off action game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. The game is a retelling of the storyline of Mortal Kombat II and features the two Shaolin Monks traveling to Outworld to find and defeat Shang Tsung, later ending in a fight with Shao Khan. Liu Kang also stars in the crossover Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, which features fights between characters from the Mortal Kombat and the DC Comics universe. In this game, Liu Kang appears as the protagonist of the first chapter of the Mortal Kombat story mode. Tobias said that the fight he expected to see in the game was between Liu Kang and Batman as he noted their back-stories to be very similar.

In the 2011 Mortal Kombat video game, Liu Kang reprises his role from the first two tournaments as Raiden who has visions from the future in which Shao Kahn remained as the last warrior believes him to be the warrior which his future self chose as the saviour. When Shao Kahn is preparing to invade Earthrealm, Raiden electrocutes Liu Kang before he could face him as he realized Shao Kahn had to win and merge the realms in order to avoid the events of the future.

Gameplay
Liu Kang specializes in kicks, with his most common move being flying across the screen and connect with a kick to the opponent's torso. He also has a "Bicycle Kick" in which Liu Kang flies across the screen with a series of multiple kicks to the opponent's torso resembling pedaling a bicycle, hence the name. Another of his signature abilities is the "Dragon Fire": with it Liu Kang sends a fiery flame in the shape of a dragon across the screen out of his hands at his opponent. After Mortal Kombat II, he gains the ability to perform this while crouching and in the air, same for Deception and Armageddon.

Liu Kang's first finishing move is the Fatality "Shaolin Uppercut". With it Liu Kang performs a butterfly kick on his opponent, before hitting an uppercut that knocks them into the air for several seconds. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, there were two versions; one where the victim explodes to pieces upon impact and the original, in which the opponent is torn to pieces upon falling to the ground. In another signature Fatality he morphs into a large dragon, chomping the upper body of his opponent. Developer John Vogel noted this Fatality to be his favorite due to how much Liu Kang's appearance changes and how big he becomes. This Fatality was turned into an Animality in Mortal Kombat 3 and back into a normal Fatality in Mortal Kombat 4. In the Game Boy and Game Gear versions of Mortal Kombat II, he torches the opponent with a fireball. He also has a Fatality in which he disappears and then a Mortal Kombat arcade game machine drops down and crushes his opponent.

In other media
Liu Kang was the main protagonist of Malibu Comics' adaptation of the Mortal Kombat series. In the first miniseries, Blood & Thunder, his backstory was mostly kept intact as a Shaolin monk out to restore the tournament to their righteous owners, with the only difference being that he was not the chosen one to defeat Goro, which instead fell on twin monk brothers named Sing and Sang, two original characters created specifically for the comics; after they are killed by Goro in the third issue, Liu Kang becomes the Shaolin's only hope in defeating Shang Tsung. The following miniseries, Battlewave, stated that Liu Kang won the first tournament after defeating Goro, which never appeared in the first miniseries. He returns to his normal life as an architect in Chicago, having left the Order of Light before the events of the first series. However, he suffers from constant attacks by an unknown force of ninjas and later receives help from Johnny Cage's bodyguard Bo when Goro ambushes him in an office building. Eventually he decides to travel to Outworld, realizing that he cannot avoid Mortal Kombat.



He is the main protagonist in both Mortal Kombat movies, portrayed by Robin Shou. Director Paul W. S. Anderson wanted Liu Kang's character to be "really engaging" and chose Shou, noting his skills with martial arts. In the first film, he takes part in the tournament out of guilt over his brother's death at the hands of Shang Tsung, and defeats Tsung in the final battle. As a result of the film's style the relationship between Liu Kang and Kitana is more of a metaphysical than a romantic nature. Shou, along with Talisa Soto (Kitana), was one of only two actors to reprise their roles in the sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (Keith Cooke, who played Reptile, returned as well, but as the new Sub-Zero). In the sequel, Liu Kang joins the Earthrealm warriors to stop Shao Kahn's menace.

Liu Kang is also one of the lead characters in the 1996 animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, voiced by Brian Tochi. He was not the main protagonist therein as opposed to the game storyline, instead sharing this role with several other Earthrealm heroes.

In the animated film Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins, Liu Kang appears as one of the main characters.

He was announced to appear in the second season of the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

Concept and design
Liu Kang was originally going to be called Minamoto Yo Shin Soo, a Japanese mythological character, but John Tobias stated that they could not "deal with the name". According to Tobias, Liu Kang "was originally going to be a traditional monk - bald and in robes - but he wound up resembling Bruce Lee." As stated on his MK: Armageddon bio card, Ed Boon mentioned that Liu Kang was designed to be the most easily "accessible" character, meaning that both casual and experienced gamers could play as him with little difficulty. Liu Kang was the only character in the first game whose finishing move (Fatality) did not explicitly murder his opponent, and also without the background dimming. This was because Liu Kang was depicted therein as a Shaolin monk, who in general have strict beliefs regarding killing and murder. However, starting with Mortal Kombat II, he was given gory Fatalities as he was thereafter depicted as a renegade monk who decided to grow his hair back, and who had "strong Shaolin beliefs, but was no longer a part of the Shaolin monks." In response to rumors that Liu Kang would die in Mortal Kombat II and therefore not make it into Mortal Kombat 3, Boon said, "It'd be like doing part three of Star Wars and not having Luke Skywalker in there. You don't do that." His eventual death caused Dan Forden, the music composer of the series, to make a "funeral song" for Liu Kang as he felt saddened for his death. The track, named "Liu Kang's Tomb", would be used in Mortal Kombat: Deception in the arena that shows Liu Kang's tomb.

Liu Kang was played by Ho Sung Pak in the first two games, and John Tobias stated in an interview that he originally intended for the character to be a traditional bald monk, but the actor refused to shave his head. In the first game, Liu Kang was modeled after Bruce Lee, as he had short hair and went shirtless, with a threadbare outfit of only black pants and white shoes. The word "Otomix" was supposed to be written in his pants as Otomix is a supplier of martial arts and athletic wear, but the staff decided to remove to avoid advertising it. In Mortal Kombat II, his outfit was enhanced with red stripes, and now included a red headband, black shoes, and studded wristguards (the intro of MKII shows the younger version of the character defeating Shang Tsung in the background, while the updated character is in the foreground). In Mortal Kombat 3, his hair was considerably longer, with the only alteration to his outfit being thin black leg strips wrapped above his ankles in order to give him a "sleeker" look for the game. He was given a red tank top in addition to his usual costume in Mortal Kombat 4, but his alternate outfit was blue and featured him shirtless again. His wardrobe from the third game was carried over into Deception and Armageddon, but due to his resurrection, his skin was ash gray, and he wore hooked chains around his wrists. This form is also known by fans and Mortal Kombat producer Shaun Himmerick as "Zombie Liu Kang". Nevertheless, his alternate outfit for both games featured him as a living person in order to contrast his undead form. In Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, he sported a slightly altered version of his third costume, in addition to a championship belt adorned with the Mortal Kombat dragon emblem. Although in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, Liu Kang's design remains similar to his Mortal Kombat II one, Himmerick comments that it was the most revised one from the game along with Kung Lao's.

Promotion and reception
In 1996, Toy Island published a Liu Kang action figure which had a white shirt. Two Liu Kang action figures from Shaolin Monks were released by Jazwares. Apart from being flexible, both figures included different types of weapons such as swords and axes.

Liu Kang's character has received fairly positive response by gaming publications. GameSpot featured him in their poll for the title of "All Time Greatest Game Hero" in 2009, in which he has lost to Yoshi. BrightHub also ranked Liu Kang as the second best character in the series. In UGO Networks' 2012 list of the "Top 50 Mortal Kombat Characters", Liu Kang placed at 1st. He was also ranked as 94th on UGO's 2008 "Top 100 Heroes of All Time" list, noting his role in the Mortal Kombat series as well as character depth. GamesRadar featured him their article "Kickass Bruce Lee clones" citing his similarities with Bruce Lee and with one of his shouts featured in famous quotes. Pete Richards, freelance writer for Cheat Code Central, mentioned that Liu Kang's moves made him the most reliable character in the first Mortal Kombat games as he could figure ways to defeat all opponents. His relation with Kitana was ranked fourth in IGN's list of "Best Videogames Couples" in 2006.

Upon his death in Deadly Alliance, IGN's Jeremy Dunham noted that Liu Kang was killed as the series needed "'starting over' mentality", as he regarded Liu Kang as the series' strongest character. Game Informer listed his death in their article "Characters That Died Under Our Watch" calling it a "shock" as Liu Kang was stated to be one of the "most loved" characters from the series. GamePlayBook ranked Liu Kang as the second best Mortal Kombat character, who commented "His nimbleness and fighting expertise make him an ideal pick" and how he is as good as zombie as when he was alive. His redesign in Mortal Kombat: Deception was praised by GameSpot for being one of the best ones from the title, and was featured in GamesRadar's list of "The 37 greatest zombie triumphs" in 2009, but was ranked as the ninth worst Mortal Kombat character by ScrewAttack in 2011. ScrewAttack also ranked Liu Kang's dragon Fatality as the second best in the series and referred to it as the most iconic Fatality in Mortal Kombat 2, but ranked his cartwheel Fatality from the first Mortal Kombat as the second worst in the series. Additionally, GamesRadar noted this incarnation to be a stereotype of gaming heroes who reveal an evil alter-ego which ruins the character's appealing traits. IGN also said that "it just wouldn't be right having a game without him", noting that him to be as fierce as the DC characters from Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.

Some video game publications criticized his gameplay and shouts while others noted him to be entertaining. IGN's Douglas Perry wrote that he preferred Liu Kang over Kung Lao as a playable character in Shaolin Monks because of his "intuitive fighting moves," adding that his shouts were "annoying" yet "strangely pleasing." GameDaily also complained on his voice, saying that "Liu Kang screams out like a chicken". Eurogamer commented that Liu Kang's kicks are ridiculous, while their intensified versions from Shaolin Monks are demented. Liu Kang's finishing move turned into a dragon fatality has been listed as one of the best fatalities from the series by both Game Informer and UGO. On the other hand, his fatality in which he throws a Mortal Kombat arcade and his first fatality were pointed by both Game Informer and GamePro as one of the worst from the series due to their humor and lack of violence, respectively. Like all the characters from Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Liu Kang was selected to be a playable character based on his popularity.