Mortal Kombat 11 established Liu Kang, a guy who used to uppercut people really hard or drop Mortal Kombat arcade machines on them to end their lives, as one of the most powerful beings in its universe. After dying, returning as a mind-controlled zombie, and being revived with Raiden’s powers, leveling him up to fire god status, Liu Kang added the power to rewrite Mortal Kombat’s entire timeline to his bag of tricks.
That explains — kind of — how Liu Kang can teleport to outer space, create a black hole by snapping his fingers, and turn Sub-Zero into a gore noodle in his (second) Mortal Kombat 1 Fatality. Liu Kang’s black hole Fatality is already one of the fighting game’s best finishing moves, and arguably in the top 10 best Fatalities of all time.
Here’s a look:
Liu’s impressive new spaghettification Fatality was revealed Saturday in a new trailer for Mortal Kombat 1 that also confirms returning character Geras. He made his debut in MK11 as a creation of Kronika, the former keeper of time, and introduced some fascinating, time-trolling mechanics to that game. Geras checks in on Liu’s time-manipulation machinations and seems to appreciate how much the fire god is relishing his new role — but there appears to be an undercurrent of disapproval in how Liu is using Kronika’s all-powerful hourglass.
Developer NetherRealm shows off what Geras is capable of in his Mortal Kombat 1 appearance, including his ability to freeze opponents in time and to literally smash timelines together for a nasty headbutt. Recently confirmed Kameo Fighter Darrius even chips in, acting as a blunt object for Geras to twirl around.
But it’s the two Guardians of Time showing off their Fatalities that makes MK1’s new sneak peek such a crowd pleaser (the trailer has already racked up 2.8 million views). Geras summons a sand storm and grinds Baraka down to a sliver before spiking him, while Liu Kang lets gravity do the work on poor Bi-Han, who gets flayed and pureed by the black hole.
If you just want to see the power of a black hole extruding Sub-Zero into a miles-long tube, here it is edited in GIF form:
Mortal Kombat 1 is coming to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X on Sept. 19. An online beta for players who pre-order the game (on PS5 or Xbox Series X) will go live on Aug. 18.