One word about that... Blaze.

Exactly. He was an unlockable in DA as a normal sized character, then becomes this monstrous beast in MKA out of know where.

So, Reiko could have a chance, but as I had said, I would like him playable so I can fling them Shriukens.

Lmao, very true.

Reiko and Havik are very similar. Both were in only 1 MK game, then Armageddon. Both made cameos in MK9. Both have a big fan following (which probably prompted their mk9 cameos). Reiko is in the comic. Havik is... Kinda/sorta/possibly in the comic, maybe? LoL.

I can dig Reiko being the new boss, but I'd much rather him be a regular playable character. Hopefully he uses Kahns warhammer as one of his variations.

With his original account, milaana, he said he was a girl.
His second account, D'Vorah, was supposedly a boy.
Now he's back to being a girl. lol.

I touched on Blaze a bit in my original post, but I admit the comparison occurred to me and I mostly danced around it.

BUT to break it down in more wordy details...

The distinction I'd draw is that Blaze was pretty much a blank slate going into MKA. We knew he existed... he'd been imprisoned by Onaga for years... and he had some grand quest we knew nothing about. We knew next to nothing about him beyond that.

And the team had clearly already planned to make him the boss of MKA during MKD's development life, because they set him up for it when they included him in MK Unchained. (Much like they began setting up Shinnok in some of the later UMK3 endings)

Reiko however, has an established story as a minion. With nothing that really distinguishes him from all the other countless bad guy minions beyond putting on Kahn's helmet sometimes. Living in another big villain's shadow is not a good first step toward getting established as a big villain in your own right, imo. Furthermore while he, Blaze and Havik may all have only had one appearance before MKA... Reiko's came first. Meaning he has a longer history of nothing, and more games than all of them in which he hasn't grown at all.

He didn't break out in MKDA. He didn't break out in MKD. There's nothing to suggest he'll breakout now.

I can let Armageddon slide because that game wasn't very long on plot. It's hard for anyone who isn't a focal point like Taven or Blaze to breakout in a cast of 60+ ... BUT that's also why I think Havik has all the room in the world NOW. Because Armageddon can't be held against him either. He was introduced in MKD... MKA came right after that, followed by the reboot, and MK9 had a universe to re-establish, so no room there either.

So he never even got a chance to grow into something more prominent after his introductory game.

This game here and now is Havik's chance. This is the turning point that could make or break him. He could make a return appearance now, and be cemented in MK history (like Quan Chi did in his direct followup) or be left behind and forgotten... (Like... well... Reiko).

If Reiko was going to break out, he'd have done it three or four games ago, is what I'm saying. Havik really hasn't had that opportunity, because the two games that followed his introduction were two that didn't present much room for advancement for anyone. MKA was all about tearing the house down. MK9 was all about rebuilding the foundation. There wasn't a lot of new direction between the two.

BUT, now that the foundation is built... Havik needs to build his own room, or risk living in the shed out back.

Reiko has been living in the shed for years already.

Now, someone mentioned comparable popularity between Reiko and Havik, but I frankly don't think Reiko has the same amount of popularity as Havik. Relative to their respective game casts at least. He has his own little fan niche, sure, but what character doesn't? They pretty much all have a niche following, with few exceptions. Even Chameleon has one. But Havik was THE most popular addition of MKD. Pretty much universally. Wheras Reiko wasn't the worst addition to MK4... but he wasn't the best. Quan Chi was. By far. And Tanya and Shinnok are probably also ahead of him. Maybe even Fujin. But he's at least ahead of Kai and Jarek.

As for his comic appearance... that basically amounted to arm candy for Mileena. She had a new costume and he looked identical to MKA. She's been mentioned as a rival to Kotal Kahn, wheras he hasn't been mentioned at all. That all speaks volumes. The things that haven't been said about Havik in the comic, I'd argue, speak more about his inclusion than Reiko's being slapped front and center on Mileena's arm for a single panel. Hsu Hao, Frost and Jarek all got slapped front and center too... and I doubt any of them are poised to be stars in MKX.

But the comic has made little mentions of things from the MKD era. Kamidogu. Chaos. Order. If those things were going to be swept under the rug and forgotten, they wouldn't be sprinkling them into the comic so liberally. And those little crumbs are a trail that lead to the suggestion they're going to dabble in plot established by MKD... and MKD's most popular new character is? The character who was the standout character of the whole order/chaos story? The character who was the ONLY MKD character to get a nod in MK9. The character who would love to pull Scorpion's strings JUST for the sake of pulling them? The character who would LOVE to see Civil War breakout in Outworld, or any other realm, because his only motivation is for things to be in dissaray? Is? Say it with me: Who? Havik!

IF the "demon" voice is indeed Havik, which I admit, it may not be. I'm certainly not psychic. Not infallible. The possibility exists that I'm barking up the wrong tree. At the end of the day... it's all just speculation on my part.

But the demon voice, whoever it is... Havik or not, is most certainly more important than Reiko. And I'd argue the hints suggest it's Havik.