Fans believe that they know the identity of Smoke in Mortal Kombat 1, and it’s someone we already know.
For those who still aren’t caught up on the news, the newest game in the Mortal Kombat franchise is a complete storyline reboot, and fittingly named Mortal Kombat 1. This is a world created after Mortal Kombat 11, when Liu Kang gets the powers of the Fire God and Kronika. Liu promptly recreates the world in his image, which leads to many changes to the franchise’s characters.
In this new world, many characters are coming back, but in a different form from how we remember them. As they have already revealed, Mileena is the unquestioned rule of Outworld, and Kitana, her sister, also works under her service.
Even more radical than that are the changes made to Scorpion and Sub-Zero. In the original timeline, Scorpion is Hanzo Hasashi, an undead ninja who died in battle against Scorpion, and is manipulated by the sorcerer Quan Chi, who orchestrated his death and those of his family.
Sub-Zero, subsequently, was originally Bi-Han, and later Kuai Liang. The two are brothers and demonstrate similar, though not entirely identical, ice powers. When Bi-Han dies under Scorpion’s hands, Kuai Liang takes over as the new Sub-Zero. Bi-Han would later resurface as an undead warrior himself, in the original timeline as Noob Saibot.
Finally, Smoke is Tomas Vrbada. Smoke is a Lin Kuei, the same as Bi-Han and Kuai Liang, though he demonstrates different powers. He is one of several Lin Kuei who is forcibly turned into a cyborg by his clan.
So, let’s talk the Mortal Kombat 1 reboot now. While NetherRealm Studios have not yet revealed every detail, we know that the new Scorpion and Sub-Zero are genetic brothers. Many fans have concluded that they must be Bi-Han and Kuai Liang. Again, we haven’t gotten confirmation of this, but it would fall in line with Liu Kang trying to remake the world to make it better.
And now we get to Smoke in the reboot. In the latest introduction trailer for Smoke, we see him to be very mortal and human, albeit using fog like powers. He is a Lin Kuei again, and joins Scorpion and Sub-Zero in his mission.
As reported by The Gamer, fans have concluded from his new biography that this new Smoke is Hanzo Hasashi, the man who was the original Scorpion.
This would change so many things in the timeline, because this would suggest Hanzo didn’t die in this timeline, or for that matter, join the Lin Kuei’s rival clan, the Shirai Ryu. Subsequently, it also implies that Liu decided to bring Hanzo together with the brothers so that there would be no more enmity between them.
In the thirty years since the original Mortal Kombat, NetherRealm’s team have had a lot of time to tweak and refine what was originally a campy sendoff of martial arts b-movies. This stuff isn’t Citizen Kane, but it helped bring the Mortal Kombat franchise back to the forefront of the fighting game scene. This compelling new story and its possibilities will drive fans to check out Mortal Kombat 1 as well for sure.
Mortal Kombat 1 will be releasing on September 19, 2023,` on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam. You can watch Smoke’s introduction trailer below.
