Mortal Kombat 1 nearly added The Walking Dead favourite

Mortal Kombat 1 nearly added The Walking Dead favourite
NetherRealm | AMC

Written by 

Tom Chapman

Published 

21st Nov 2023 11:05

The boxing gloves are off, as we're finding out what could've been with Mortal Kombat 1. NetherRealm's franchise reset debuted to rave reviews (just not on Switch) and has been selling well. One of its big selling points is the crossover guest characters, and apparently, we nearly entered the world of The Walking Dead.

With Mortal Kombat adding crossover characters since 2011's Mortal Kombat 9, we've enjoyed everyone from horror favourites like Freddy Krueger to gaming giants like God of War's Kratos. MK1 has been no exception, adding Invincible's Omni-Man to the mix, The Suicide Squad's Peacemaker, and The Boys' Homelander.

Mortal Kombat 1 nearly had a crossover with The Walking Dead

Much like franchise overlord Ed Boon said the team tried to add Keanu Reeves as John Wick, it turns out there were much grander plans for the Kombat Pack roster. Mortal Kombat has never had a female guest character, but apparently, The Walking Dead's Michonne could've bucked that trend.

Posting on Twitter, Boon said he'd met with The Walking Dead boss Robert Kirkman to discuss loaning Michonne for MK1. He doesn't expand on why the deal didn't go any further, but with The Walking Dead happy to lend Negan to Tekken, it might not have been a rights issue.

Instead of this announcement being met with joy, it instead left fans frustrated. One critic grumbled, "We could have finally had a female guest character and it would have been a woman of color on top of that. WE WERE ROBBED OF THE ZOMBIE SETUPS."

Another added, "Wait but then u… decided to go with … flying cape man #2 in the all-male kombat pack…. why would you do that..," and a third said, "I sure hope there's a female guest character in the next pack. Otherwise, this is something you should have kept to yourself Uncle Ed."

Mortal Kombat's strange history with women

Harley Quinn Injustice 2
Click to enlarge
NetherRealm

It's true that the long-running fighter franchise has included plenty of women, with Sonya Blade and Kitana being mainstays. More recently, MK1 added some more star factor when Megan Fox lent her vocals to Nitara. Boon said that the original plan was to have all of the cast voiced by celebrities.

It seems that female guest characters just don't make the cut for Kombat Packs. Boon has previously said how he wanted to include Buffy the Vampire Slayer. All of this could be about to change, as alongside Scream's Ghostface, DOOM's Doomguy, and Harley Quinn have been leaked for the next fighter pack. 

With Peacemaker finding his place in MK1, it makes sense that the Clown Princess of Crime gets her time to shine - especially given the popularity of Margot Robbie's live-action portrayal. There are any number of women we'd love to see in Mortal Kombat and one day, maybe we'll see Lara Croft take on Wonder Woman.

Tom Chapman
About the author
Tom Chapman
Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.
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