To everyone saying it won't be Liu Kang because that would be too predictable, let me remind you what Boon said before MK9 came out: "A character that was a cyborg in the previous timeline might escape now and another character might become a cyborg". You remember what everybody said back then? "Sub Zero would be too obvious! I has to be -insert name of random fighter here-"

Just throwing that out there...

Who wouldn't we really expect that's really a possibility?

Any female character cuz it hasn't been done?
Meat(given a story)?
Scorpion or Sub-Zero?
A returning character that's only been mentioned by name like Tremor or Lucifer?
Shujinko?

It will most likely be Liu Kang, simply because it *is* predictable, at least from our perspective. From the casual player's perspective, however, Liu Kang would be a shock to see as the villain. And that's mostly who's Boon's talking to. Not our little minority here on the forums that knows every little MK detail out there, but the kid on the street who has only a passing knowledge of MK. To that kid, Liu Kang is a "fun, returning character" that's recognizable as the traditional hero, thought to be dead, and thus his return and shift towards a villain *would* be a surprise.

My $0.02.

I could just be reading too much into it, but I'd like to think the "casual" player has at least played a handful of other MK games prior to MKX. If so, that would mean they most likely have seen Liu Kang go from Earthrealm Champ, to malicious spirit, to vengeful malicious zombie. That covers...oh...ALL the games. 3 of which (that are also best-selling prior to next-gen, if I remember correctly) had Liu Kang as either "dead" or he wasn't his "normal" self.

I know it's a hard question to ask on here, lol, but would anyone really be surprised?

It would be nice to know what Ed's definition of "fun" and "surprise" are.

The only person I know who enjoys playing as Liu that I know is my daddy. That's because he's the only character my daddy knows how to play.

I'm still saying it's Shang Tsung.

It'll be a surprise because 1.) Many still thinks he's dead. 2.) He's fun to play.

Boom.

Oh, you're right, I'm sure even casual fans of MK have played most of the installments and know about Liu Kang's fall in Deception. I'm just saying the majority of said fans probably don't remember many of the secret characters or one-shot characters. They likely only know well the core cast of MK, like Liu Kang, Shang Tsung, Kano, Scorpion, Subby, Sonya, Kitana, Mileena ("that slutty/hawt chick from Deception"), Goro ("that four-armed dude"), ect. The likes of Meat, Shujinko, Tanya, even Shinnok, are likely lost on these fans. Not because they're lesser fans, mind you, but they just don't go that deep into the lore and since many of these characters are obscure and only featured in one or two games, they're easily forgotten by the mainstream. Thus, why I believe Liu Kang will be the boss and not someone who *might* surprise *us*. Everyone knows him as the hero, and he's never been the boss before, and he has a good reason to be one this timw around.

Could be wrong. We'll see come April (or maybe sooner!).

I'm one of those who don't think Shang died, because he didn't. His powers were drained and he just disappeared into thin air, believing that he was just banned somewhere like Outworld.

He would certainly be a surprise, considering he was only the main boss (single) once which was in MK1. Then he arose to boss status in MKDA along with Chi.

Playing as Shang in MK9 was a mess, in my opinion. He also didn't have his "trademark" Soul Steal Fatality, which made me dislike him even more.

Main Boss Status:

1. Shang Tsung
2. Liu Kang
3. Shujinko
4. Daegon

Certainly my final picks.

I'd kill for it to be Shang. Him or Onaga are the ones I'd CHOOSE if I could do so.

I wonder if it could be Rain? It would definitely be a surprise since we fans are of the impression (for good reason) that NRS doesn't care for him much. It would be "fun" given Rain's origin as a joke character and now main villain. Maybe in 25 years Rain has discovered his godly parentage and untapped hidden powers.

Okay okay, nevermind.

I'd choose Rain.

Sorry, but a joke character who started out as a palette swap ninja named after a Prince song as suddenly the new main villain is going to be next to impossible to take seriously.

"Everything's impossible. 'Till it ain't."

So we have a character who has the potential to be the Loki of MK but you have a problem with him because he started out just like Noob Saibot and Ermac and was inspired by a Prince song....dude...god damn it.

How is Rain's origin of how he came to be preventing him from being a serious character? I actually thought he was pretty serious in 2011, and i'm not really a fan of this character at all.

Every character can be created into a serious character, even the joke ones.

It's not that I don't want Liu Kang getting another gold star. I just feel like he's played out and has run his course. Which doesn't have to suggest "kill him", but a smooth slide onto the backburner would do him (as well as other characters) a bit of good, imo.