Shang is responsible for wresting control of the original Shaolin tournament from the monks and corrupting it to Outworld's influence. When OG Kung Lao beat him, he brought in Goro. He created Mileena for Kahn (He also created Meat, if we want to credit him with that). He's the one who comes up with the idea for the MKII tournament, and is responsible for the plot to resurrect Sindel on Earth before MK9 botched the plot. When he teams up with Quan in DA, he brings in Moloch and Drahmin as assets because he knows the alliance won't last. He fails, yes, but every time - every time, he comes back with a new angle.

Count the number of times throughout the series he's been instrumental to the bad guys' plot: MK1, MKII, MK3, MKDA. The schemes were always his, or he shared in their planning. He didn't ride his fame anywhere, he earned it. He's been essential and crucial to the plot from 1992 - 2002 - ten straight years of being a major character in the series, only taking breaks for the spinoff games and MK4. He is much more than "The first game's boss," he's arguably Outworld's mastermind and an essential asset to Shao Kahn.

And I'll remind you that Quan and Shang turned on each other in Deception at the exact same moment. Neither trusted the other, and it was a close fight.

It's fine not to like a character, but to insinuate he's a one-trick pony who had nothing after "boss status" for one game? No. No way in hell, not even close.

If anything, Quan Chi is the one I'd define as boring, because without fail, every damn time he pops up out of nowhere to go "Bahaha, it was me all along, look at how I manipulated you" before running away to cause problems another day like Dr. Claw off Inspector Gadget. Only bloody reason he came out of MK9 looking so good was because they gave him what was Shang's to start with - the plan to resurrect Sindel.

How can Quan Chi be boring? He has accomplished and done more than Shang ever did. Lets look at him accomplishments.

-Started off as a nobody and became Shinnok's #2
-Was behind the death of The Shirai Ryu.
-Took the amulet and tricked Shinnok
-Escaped the Netherrealm
-Helped take down Shao Kahn and Liu Kang
-Briefly ran Outworld
-Defeated Shang Tsung
-Survived MK9, unlike Shang.
-Resurrected Sindel
-Made Bi-Han into Noob Saibot
-Took control of Sindel, Nightwolf, Jax, Smoke, Stryker, Kabal, Kuai Liang, Jade, Kitana, Kung Lao and Liu Kang
-Helped Shinnok invade Earthrealm
-Escaped Capture a few times
-Allowed himself to be captured to release Shinnok
-Managed to convert D'Vorah.

Shang Tsung is ok but he needs a better appearance and moveset. To say Shang is a better villain is INSANE. Quan Chi is 10x more evil and deadly.

How many games has Quan Chi been instumental to the main conflict? Mythologies, MK4, DA, MK9 and MKX.

I honestly do not have no problem with Shang but he has been so boring for so long. I DO want Shang to return in MK11 and be a major threat, but right now he has been seriously outclasses.

I voted for Shang Tsung. He is one of the best characters in the series. Havik is one of the worst characters in the series, in my opinion. Havik has no real purpose in MK. He is just a Noob Saibot alt reject to me.

Shang Tsung

Shang Tsung duh. That sindel member needs to stop with its essays, makes Li Mei fans look bad.

Sindel789 Completely agreed!!

And Havik can cause some conflicts in the future (if he not dies in the comics). I want to see him as playable too. That's why I chose him.

Your list of Quan Chi's accomplishments is questionable, cites far too many minute actions as important (surviving a game isn't a major accomplishment, nor is winning single fights, nor is getting captured or evading capture, to start. You'll note I didn't list every time Shang survived death), and omits major details. I'll do you one better and rewrite it with better points. Seriously, you missed way too much stuff trying to pad your list out with small details:

-Freed Shinnok from captivity and torment under Lucifer, enabling Shinnok to become the Netherealm's ruler. If that's not an accomplishment I don't know what is.
-Manipulated the entire Shirai Ryu vs Lin Kuei rivalry to his own ends to acquire the Map of Elements
-Massacred the Shirai Ryu while framing Sub-Zero for the murder of Scorpion's wife and child.
-Converted both Hanzo Hasashi and Bi-Han into his own servants.
-Assisted in the assault on the gods which resulted in most of them being killed
-Kept control of the true amulet, managing to deceive Shinnok
-Discovered Onaga's army, which had been lost for ages
-Devised the whole plan to propose to Shang which enabled them both to kill Liu Kang and take control of Outworld
Reboot:
-Resurrected Sindel (MK9 only)
-Prompted the entire conflict against Shao Kahn (MK9 only)
Took control of Earthrealm's dead heroes, forming an extremely powerful Brotherhood of Shadow
-Resurrected Shinnok
-Brought Shinnok back in Earthrealm

You know what, though? This is all beside the point. Almost every single character has some accomplishments to their name, and I'm not here to debate "who's the better sorcerer" like you seem to be intent on doing, or to stack details. I only brought up what I did about Shang to prove to you he's important to MK far after MK1, and show why he has fans. I've done that.

The point is, interesting characters have peaks and valleys. They rise and fall, and come back better for it.

Quan Chi came out on top all the time, and it got stale. The writers have tried to portray him as the mastermind of almost everything ever since Deadly Alliance, and it got old, to the point where seeing him showing up at the end of a game to gloat has became kind of a joke. They shoehorned him into events he never originally had anything to do with to beef him up. It was cool when he was revealed as the mastermind behind Scorpion's family being killed, but everything after that? Just rehashing Scorpion's MK4 ending.

Seriously: The stupid ending scene in Shaolin Monks where he picks up the amulet from Kahn's remains and laughs? That made no sense. MK9's ending scene where gloats with Shinnok about how everything's happening like they've planned? Gloating to Raiden over how he already has control of his warriors? Gloating became basically all he ever did.

It sucks, because Quan started off as a really, really good character in MK4 and Mythologies. I liked him all the way up to DA, but after that, the bad writing took hold, and suddenly he's basically responsible for everything down to how many flavors of ninja you have in the series, made worse because so much of it was shit he was never involved with originally. Over the years his entire character was just artificially padded out.

Think about it. Nobody wants to read a comic about a superhero who wins all the time, without fail. You need struggle, you need them to fail so they come back better next time. It doesn't matter who's "more evil" or how cool he looks doing it - to anyone with appreciation of character depth he's become awful and predictable.

You need high and low points in a character's arc to give them development; without it, you get stagnation. Shang did always lose, but when he finally snapped Liu's neck, it was the best moment in the character's history, and that was 10 years down the line from the start.

Reasonable audiences seek a decent story, where characters rise and fall. Peaks and valleys. Quan's entire character after Deadly Alliance is all peaks, no valleys: "Mwahaha, it was me all along! I'm responsible for (insert event here)!" This is why you have so many people who are happy he finally got killed off in X, because we were sick of him being the number 1 mastermind of everything, and always coming out on top, every goddamn time.

I'm not saying this out of spite, but getting killed off might be the best thing to happen to Quan Chi in years. He needs a holiday, and maybe he'll come back improved for it.

I was trying to vote for Shang Thsung but my hand slipped and voted for Havik.

I agree with just about everything said. Tsung > Qaun Chi lol I hope Tsung comes back and stays for a while. As for Qaun Chi, I hope he stays dead for at least a game or two lol

Incase you didn't know, putting a shitload of those emojis is actually spam, which is against the rules... and it makes you look like a noob... so you should stop doing that.

Voted for Shang. Never saw why people liked Havik.

Oh and Shang Tsung > Quan Chi.

Shang Tsung >>>>>>> Quan Chi

Fuck Quan Chi.

And I missed the Reiko vote, but glad to see he's moving on <3

All I am saying is that between MK1-10 Quan Chi was the better villain. Look how long it took him to die. He manipulated everything. You are absolutely right, Shadaloo. I love Quan Chi, but I also am glad he is dead. Its good to finally see him lose. I WANT Shang Tsung to return in MK11 and really stir up trouble. Tbh I am actually kinda excited to see what they do with him and i dont really like him too much. There is a lot they can do with him and i hope they change up his moveset and give him an outfit closer to his DA costume. The MKvsDC/MK9 is hideous. I was just trying to say that Shang was important in MK1 and DA but he felt like a jobber too many times ans a character like him should not. So I will stick with my opinion and say Quan Chi is the better character, but Shang has the potential to return to his glory.

A battle in the depths of Hell! Smoke was once a Lin Kuei warrior with the powers of an enenra. Fighting to defend Earthrealm from Outworld invasion, he was cut down in battle, dooming his soul to be enslaved by Quan Chi in the Netherrealm. Drahmin lived his mortal existence as a cruel warlord, his tainted soul claimed upon death by the Netherrealm. There; he was reborn a brutal demon of the 5th plane, dubbed the "Oni Tormentor". He too once served Quan Chi, but is the iron club of an oni tormentor enough to tame a smokey revenant? Choose their destiny!... FIGHT!

See Also: Shang Tsung versus Quan Chi

Drahmin is a very cool character concept, but his execution was just awful. I voted for Smoke.

Smoke isn't a cyborg anymore, so Drahmin.

I love both of them, BUT Drahmin will always get my vote regardless of who he is up against.

Ew Shang Tsung won.

Smoke totes

I think Drahmin has a really strong character concept and he's one of my favorite newcomers from Deadly Alliance. He stood out due to his abnormal fighting style and design. It's a shame he didn't catch on with more people, including the devs. I really wanted to see him in MKX, but I don't know if we'll ever see him again.

The only time I've ever been a fan of Smoke was when he was a cyborg in MK3. I'm not a fan of human Smoke in MK9.

I'm completely indifferent to Smoke at this point, but Drahmin is at the top of my list of characters I'd like to see return, however unlikely it may be. Drahmin gets my vote.

Foregone conclusion, next

Im voting Smoke. I never was a huge Smoke fan but I love his redesign in MK9. The long hair really stands out.

Drahmin failed. His concept was cool though. If he ever returns, I want them to make him scary, like a horror movie. His mask is creepy and they should play on that.

I voted for Drahmin.

Drahmin all the way!

Smoke is kind of boring.

I prefer a story about an ancient Outworld warlord who slaughtered his family and went to Hell, where he was tormented for 500 years (!!!) before he found the Mask of Kun-Lao to the story of a mysterious specie whose members can turn themselves into vapor. We have enough mysterious species.

Unit LK-7T2.

Smoke's potential is now throught the roof... but so is Drahmin's. There's so much they could do with the concept of an oni / cursed mask, etc.

But he will never be back.

But he gets my vote anyway. It won't prevent Smoke from winning.