I have nothing really against Liu Kang, but I agree, he either needs to retire or change. The standard hero thing has been done. I think it's time someone else becomes the "hero" for a while. Ideally Kung Lao or Sub-Zero.
Honestly, I like the idea of him being dead. It adds to Kung Lao, Kitana, and a few other characters.

As for Scorpion, for one thing: he only died once. Also, as Boon's favorite character, and the designated "most popular character" its highly unlikely he's going anywhere anytime soon.
And in the unlikely event Scorpion is killed off, it ain't going to be Dairou who does it.

Amen, Scorpion will never be killed off, especially with his new "Champion of the Elder Gods" status.

As for Liu Kang, i dunno. I dont mind seeing him back but at the same time, i wouldn't care if he wasn't there.

When they killed of Liu Kang in Deadly Allience , it just felt to empty with out him in the game. Its like the X-men without wolverine, or Streetfighter with out Ryu. I like the idea of Kangs body being consumed with an evil entity though. But as far as the actual gameplay style of Liu Kang. I couldnt live with out it. Maybe have Kitanna got pregnant when liu died, and they give birth to a female liu kang clone, with some updates. Kung Lao isnt an interesting enough character to be "the" hero. And no one else really fits as lead hero. Scorpion can and will never die. When Scorpion is missing from an MK game, it will no longer be a MK game.

I would have to second the general opinion here. To me, Liu Kang is old news, very overrated, and should definately be replaced by Kung Lao. Of course, Kung Lao has had his fair share of MK games where his popularity has been key, like Deadly Alliance and MK Gold.

As for Scorpion. He has always been a big player in the MK franchise. Alot of people will say it isnt MK without Scorpion, and they may be right. However, I could definately use a break from him for at least one game. But its not likely that Scorpion will completely vanish from the MK universe as long as the series is still going strong.
The main reasons are: 1-Scorpion is a NINJA SPECTRE, a dead guy, who even tho is always hangin out it hell, comes back for some reason or another. Since he can't really be "killed", there will always be the possibility that he could return about any time he wanted.
2-Like I said before, the games have used the Scorpion character so much, that if they took him out theres a chance that it would kill the series, in some peoples eyes. Me on the other hand believes that MK could very well do just fine without many of their popular faces that they keep recycling.

The Only Character I Wish DEATH Upon Is MOKAP, i love every other character i dont mind if they miss a game but they better come back in the next one , u get what im sayin?

I agree with Liu Kang, but I don't think they should kill off Scorpion. He is a lot of people's favourite character. Although a lot of people don't like him, I don't think they'll kill him off, especially now he is the Elder Gods chamion.

Liu Kang cons:
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-Liu Kang is a notoriously stereotyped character, though his looks "slightly" differ from Bruce Lee, but not from other traditional chinese Jeet kune Do/Jun Fan style stereotypical warriors.

-nothing ever happened with Liu Kang, save perhaps for MK2 where his shaolin temple is desecrated by the invading forces of Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn.

-as most protagonists, they need a reflection or a motivation. I don't see anything about Liu that would make him unique or necessary for the plotli-ne. Also, liu Kang bears nothing unique in characteristics, or outlooks, whereas Kung Lao may be very well defined as a lead character.

-bland character. Even elemental goodness can be detailed (X series for instance, Gandalf, Boromir and Aragorn in LOTR books) but LIu Kangs acting in MK4 ending is just like of a lamb.

-Liu Kang IS. Nothing happens, he is just IN the MK surroundings. Nothing makes him stand out. HIs fatalities had nice touch to them, but the Dra-gon Morph is easily perceivable and cliche, and the cartwheel rush upper-cut is mostly judicated by fans who didn't really apreciate or understand that Liu Kang is a shaolin monk who doesn't necessarily kills.

-No episodes in his path, Liu kang swims through the sagas plotline without ever having a stop. This is bad, becouse this doesn't give pause to the overall character development, and traps Liu kang in a preevolutionary state, unable to shake down his designs ever since MK2. hat is, untill he was killed (champaigne's up everybody! something reasonable hapened with him. Helped Liu kang as a character waay to much!)

-the yelling. No way someone could fight through a battle if he constantly stresses his breathing. Not even Bruce himself yelled that much.

-costumary changes: Liu is literaly rotting in the red striped black pants and under the red headband in MKD. Change that please. he doesn't even look shaolin, ever since MK2.

-relationship with Kitana: aside from fanfic, and the overall badly executed MK4/gold ending, nothing even hints at his relationship with Kitana. Very bad move, ever since his ending in MK3 I was expeting something to happen, but no.

-Liu Kang was never ever truly crucial as a champion. Plus, they never exploited both him and Shang tsung that way, what is IMHO was a major failure by Tobias (tokens for the Lius soul devoured by Tsung animation whoever did that was a genius).

should I name even more reasons? You get the picture: Kangs overall weakness is his empty role through MK games an his stale design.

Liu Kang pros:
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-MKD styles: good thing to have the originated Jun Fan instead of the jeet kune do standards, even though they are pretty much the same (there are minor but strong differences between them, depends on wether Johnny is a core Bruce Lee style character or goes with the recent Jeet Kune Do).

Pao Chui: best pick ever. LIu kang would have been a very dry character if both of his styles would have been the same. Pao "Cannon Hand" Chui is agood pick for several reasons:
-balances the character, and doesn't make him loko like you just swapped the styles and nothing really changes.
-shaolin use "strong" techniques. The linear and power based(?) styles of karate have much to thank to the shaolin methods and thinking. Shotokan for example has influences from shaolin cloisters.
-makes him feel different, what is crucial for the already drying out concept.

-He is killed. Bringing him back, wether good or bad is another thing. he concept was good untill they fused him together to live again. preferred the dead and mindlessly recess Liu Kang Carcass.

-could be considered as a minor staple character, but he has already outstayed his velcome. Doesn't really matters.

-Liu Kang doesn't reflect the charisma nor the seeming ability to be a champion (his faces design is what somekind of higher level). Liu has always seemed to me as a cold well after MK2-3. MK4 was frigin' horrible.

I will get into Scorpion later. What the point is in this thread, is that Liu fanboys doesn't realize that their character is not so necessary as they make him out to be, and don't really reflect on the fact, that:

-everyone is in danger in MK, so was Liu who succumbed to the combined might of the Deadly Alliance. Shang Tsung s suggestion to take out Liu and Kahn was the best tactical maouver ever made in his life.
-there is no point of having villains if the good guys can harvest victory and face danger without consequences (VERY IMPORTANT! MKD intro was the perfect show to prove us otherwise. Both Quan Chi and Shang Tsung are feared and dangerous opponents -one is a dethroned MK champion who held his status much much longer than Liu Kang, but eventualy overstep-ped his own boundaries and his prime, and the other is the most powerful-lest sorcerer in MK)
-one who acts so woodenly, and lambish should have perished to Shang, Kahn, Quan, Shinnok long ago. A meek person in heart is not a warrior.

How about this idea:

Rather than make Scorpion be dead forever. They use his new status to make him a mini boss. That way he would be glorified and honored, but we'd get a break from him as a regular charector. Since hes a boss now you could make him super high AI. Ive said before that I would really like to see the BOSS be a really smart average charector rather than a cheap MONSTER with special abilities. Also Im sick of the :I HAVE EVERYONES MOVES CHARECTORS. These guys are retarded and have very very poor balancing. If MK is going to be online then when need to say goodbye to these types of charectors and restore a balanced roster. You could also make him a special charector like Reptile was in MK1.

Shang Tsung-actuall Illy give Them this one. Shang was pretty well balanced.

Shinnok-Absolute garbage possibly the crappiest charector in the MK series. He was actually worse than the other ppl in his games.

Shujinko-Can you say OVERPOWERED

DAI 4 NEW CHAMP!!! KILL SCORPION!!!

I'm a longtime fan of Liu Kang. Whenever I thought of Mortal Kombat, Liu Kang was the hero, the champion, the man,etc.

With that being said, I think Liu Kang should have stayed dead. Lets face it. His story has been the same the last few games. I wished they would have fleshed out his budding romance with Kitana. I like how his death affected her and some of the other characters, such as Kung Lao. The other problem I have with Liu Kang is no character growth. Other characters, especially Sub-zero, have grown and evolved so much. I wouldn't be surprised if he becomes an elemental or god in the next two games. I'm just so amazed at Sub-zero it's not even funny. I just don't feel the same about Liu Kang anymore.

*Ashamed, I confess that I'm more interested in Kung Lao and Shang Tsung.*

I hate how he was brought back the next game. Couldn't they have waited one or two more games before resurrecting his body, soul, or both. I feel the same way about Shao Kahn. I will admit that I'm interested as to what happened to his body (not understanding the whole zombie thing).

At least he died fighting Shang Tsung and Quan chi, even if it wasn't fair. He did not commit suicide or break his neck falling down some stairs. He wasn't killed by a character beneath him.

The one thing that will piss me off is that he and the others (Kitana, Kung Lao,etc.) die and are brought back as if nothing ever happened. Their deaths and being turned evil against their wills should have some consequence and effect them in some way.

Isn't Scorpion already dead? I don't want him gone just yet. I want to see how his new role as the Elder Gods' Champion plays out. I originally thought Sub-zero would have been perfect for the role, but he has entirely too much to deal with right now. I also hopes this takes Scorpion's storyline in a different direction.

Stupid question coming up: Could it be possible that Shujinko is another ancestor of both Kung Lao and Lui Kang? Maybe that's the reason why he's considered the next Liu Kang. Why is that anyway?

As for who the next hero could be...

OK, I will start out with saying that I am a rather "old-school" MK fan. When you say Mortal Kombat to me, the original characters come to mind; Liu, Sonya, Cage, Kano, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, and Raiden. Even Reptile, Goro, and Shang Tsung can be included in this catagory, although you were not able to play as those characters. To me, eliminating any of those original ten characters completely from the storyline is near blasphemy. I do like, however, how they are pushing those characters forward in development (unlike, as was stated earlier, Liu, who stayed the same... always, nothing ever happened to him. Finally he gets back into the story through death)

In my opinion, Liu Kang and Scorpion should not (and from the looks of things, will not) go away. Liu Kang is Mortal Kombat, I dont see Midway moving away from that. They almost did, when they killed him, but then they brought him back. And, as was stated earlier, Scorpion is Ed Boon's favorite character. So as long as Boon has control, Scorpion isn't going to leave.

OPTION i agree that liu kang should go but scorpion is one of the coolest guys in MK

Both characters need to evolve to stay in the game. Face it, LK is and always should be part of MK, because every game needs a typical bland hero character to judge the anti-hero characters and villains against, and LK plays that perfectly. I am sure that everybody has been irritated by his constant whining during the matches. Takes away from the suppsoedly sombre mood of the fights. No one in his right mind would expend so much energy and distract himself by doing two things at once. Sounds are always pert, and are meant to complement the release of energy by contraction of the abdominal muscles. What LK is doing is ridiculous.

Scorp is a different prospect. No one will disagree with the fact that MK wil not be the same without him around. He is cool all round, and has an antihero approach to boot. Not to mention the small matter of having one of the most identifiable lines in the gaming world. However, what happened to scorpion's vendetta, his rage? Since MK1 and his killing of sub zero, how often have we seen him actually actively hunting quanchi and co? Ok, he only found out about quan in mk4, but the fact of the matter is that scorpion should not meddle with the main tournament, and work in the shadows instead. Becoming the champion of the gods does not help his image at all. I say change his direction, possibly make him human again. Issues must be settled in mk7, and subzero, scorp, noob and quan all have some settling to do.

Liu Kang really needs to go...i've never cared for him that much...i find it very ironic that everyone was getting sick of Scorpion's revenge plot line and yet seemed to love getting spoon fed that Champion of mortal kombat crap for what, like 7 games?....

scorpion on the other hand imo is just starting to reach his potential in story wise....honestly, Who saw the meeting with the elder gods coming... it was a huge plot twist for scorpion and did wonders for his story...i mean let's face it....the spector is officially universal now.... he can tie into almost any storyline now....for instance, havik is causing chaos...ressurecting old threats from the past...whispering in people's ear, turning them against one another....this one man could lead to the realms imploding....the elder god's send in scorpion...who knows havik could have information about his past...another plot could be the heavily rumored Raiden vs. Scorpion storyline....**Raiden goes on a rampage..."protecting" earth realm with his own new brand of intolerance for humans and those who put earth realm in harms way....scorpion is sent to stop him....and who knows where it could go from there...scorpion could destroy the thunder god....maybe raiden could convince scorpion to join him on his quest...who knows...

liu kang=stale...i was glad to see him die

scorpion=new found interest...new storylines could take him anywhere...i say keep him around

So nobody likes my mini-boss idea? (SCROLL UP)

Scorpion doesn't have the charisma to be a miniboss.

Unless they go with a story mode, where each character has to face both his nemesis and antithesis as bosses (IMO, for example Sub-Zero has Hotaru and Noob Saibot)

YES!!! LIU KAG SHOULD NOT BE HERO FOR THE NEXT LIKE 10 GAMES!!!! Kung Lao should get with Kitana. Jax should be the new hero.

No I don't think Kung Lao should start dating Kitana. That's just lame. And for the fanboys out there why just make Kitana single for a while?....

Anyway I think Liu kang should be gone. I have found him annoying since playing MK and seems to have somewhat gotten stale. His MK: D ending is terrible and lame. Here we go again for MK7. Liu Kang is the hero, kills off the main villian blah blah blah.....

Scorpion is MK and he will be around unless something happens to Boon and his replacement happens to hate Scorpion. But I dunno about the whole champion of the elder gods thing. Isn't that supposed to be Shujinko? And if it is Scorpion he will just ask the elder gods for them to get his family back. That is bad because then that will be the end for him. He needs a totally new storyline. Get rid of the whole stupid family revenge shit. How about giving him a feud wiht Noob Saibot or something like that?

And there is no way Dairou will ever be a hero. Plus he's neutral anyway, not good.

Liu Kang should never leave ,but I agree he needs lose the Hero stats for a few games.Scorpion should leave,but should'nt Sub-Zero too?He's been in every single MK game!!!Don't get me wrong though,I love the freeze move but he still needs to go.

~Ryan Pierce~

Liu Kang should definitely stay. I agree that he needs an updated wardrobe and that his character needs to evolve, but I've always liked him and I think he should stay. To me, MK:DA felt sort of empty without him. And with the way John Vogel has been writing the stories, I don't think we'll go back to the "Bad guy appears, Liu Kang kills him, another bad guy appears, Liu Kang kills him" routine, even if he does return as the main hero.

And Scorpion (and Sub-Zero for that matter) should NEVER leave. End of discussion. I personally don't like the way Scorpion's storyline is going, but not having him around would just be weird.

By the way, this is my first post. I'm glad I finally got around to creating an account.

"You can never get rid of me, tiny mortal. Burn in MY hell." - Scorpion

Just becouse you like LIu Kang doesn't automaticly makes him good. and thats where the problem lies. Liu Kang should have stayed permanently dead, becouse there is no point having him killed if he is already dragged back into life. Plus, his storyline is very bland and has no worthwhile conti-nuity .

Scorpion's elder god champion thing does not further his character in any way. If anything, it detracts from his vindictive nature. It is not in-character for him to do anything for the greater good, especially since quanchi is still debatably alive. He needs a new storyline. getting involved in the netherealm fracas would be the perfect tonic for him.

Scorpion should not be eliminated just because he has been in every single mk game, besides that single screw up they made. Neither should subzero, for that matter. The difference is that I can see where subzero's story is going, and that his power-ups are more realistic, and that he has definite enemies and such. Scorpion is still a ninja spectre, but I do not like the champion of the elder gods thing, and we need to see scorpion hunting down his foes, not just chill and play the hero.

I liked Liu Kang based on his story and the decisions he made in the past.

Liu Kang had a rivalry with Kung Lao during the days of Mortal Kombat 2 due to Liu Kang's success at the Mortal Kombat tournament. Think of it this way, Kung Lao had claimed the birth name of his ancestor who was killed by Goro five hundred years ago, and Liu Kang stole his birth right in becoming Mortal Kombat champion and avenger of Kung Lao's death. Liu Kang had many internal problems not only with himself but with other characters aswell.

So Liu Kang was the underdog in the first game, but it was him who was given the chance to be the chosen one because he desired it and the Shaolin Monks seen that in him. Like Ed Boon said, Liu Kang has an interesting past but we don't know about it. All I do know is that he lived in America for some time before the Mortal Kombat tournament.

In Mortal Kombat 2, Liu Kang comes back home and sees him home in ruins, thanks to Shang Tsung who is baiting Liu Kang out for a rematch now that his youth is restored. All of Liu Kang's monks are basically dead, and if you were in his shoes you would want revenge too, so he goes into Outworld with Kung Lao who has a grudge against him and wants to avenge the death of his Shaolin brothers. Over time Liu Kang and Kung Lao develop a friendship and forget about their birthrights and their achievements due to their will to survive in Outworld because they had each other to rely on. Thus making them best friends and closest allys.

Mortal Kombat 3 happened after Liu Kang and his friends escaped Outworld and returned to Earthrealm to prepare for an attack. The attack was so incredible it left Earthrealm in ruins. Liu Kang was alive with Kung Lao and his only chance to return his home back to normal was to fight the one responsible for all of this, Shao Kahn. So in MK3 Kung Lao and Liu Kang fight Shao Kahn towards the end of it all and Kung Lao gets seriously hurt. That enrages Liu Kang and he finds the strength to beat Shao Kahn in battle. Shao Kahn looses his grip on Earthrealm and retreats back to Outworld which is twice as small now that he lost control over Edenia aswell. During Mortal Kombat 3 that is where Liu Kang developed a romance for Kitana.

Mortal Kombat 4 starts of with Liu Kang in Edenia with Kitana, And Shinnok invades Edenia. Liu Kang fought but was unable to protect Kitana and she was taken away with Sindel. Liu Kang escaped Edenia and back to Earthrealm to help free Edenia from Shinnoks rule and rescue Kitana. Raiden was the main character in Mortal Kombat 4, but Liu Kang was right up there in making decisions and he defeated Shinnok who was not the main threat of Mortal Kombat 4. Sub-Zero was the one who knew the real threat that was in Quan Chi. After that Kitana proposed her love for Liu Kang but he coulden't accept it, he felt that he had much to do and he wouldent be able to be a King of another realm when he knows that his home realm could be in danger. A very noble decision.

This right here shows that Liu Kang is not the stalwart hero that everyone claims him to be. Liu Kang is put into these events and he comes out on top. Liu Kang started off as a humble fisherman and shaolin monk who become the champion of Mortal Kombat and defender of his realm because of the decision he made way back in Mortal Kombat 1, and that was to enter the tournament. After that Liu Kang was a target for everyone.

I would want to see Liu Kang come back in his human form, he is one of my favorite characters due to his fun gameplay style and his story. I hope that after playing Shaolin Monks most people would change their opinion on Liu Kang.

i think the whole liu kang thing is getting pretty tried

as for scorpion i hope he will never go away