MK Kountdown: Who Should Be Next?

This is a much later [in the day] post than I actually wanted it to be, but nevertheless, the Kountdown to the release of Mortal Kombat X continues.

Mortal Kombat has been adding and subtracting playable characters to its roster since MK II came out in 1993. In recent years, not only have they continued that tradition, but they've added to it - as other game franchises had - by including guest characters such as Freddy Krueger, Kratos, and this year's additions of Predator and Jason Voorhees.

Here is a list of some characters that would make fairly interesting additions as characters in the future. Let me know your thoughts and who you would add in the comment section below.

I'll start off my list with Leonidas because that's the image I used at the top of the page. Besides, this list is in no particular order.

Leonidas was a warrior, flat-out. There's no debating it. All you need to know to draw that conclusion is that he was a king.....in Sparta. Sparta defined the "when men were men" saying before it was even a thing. And Leonidas led 300 of those men against the largest army in the world. The earth would quake at that army's approach and Leonidas still decided to take them on.

Points for bravery. Points for ability. Points for making a god bleed.

If you've played the Mass Effect series, you know that the Reapers disdain humanity. So much so that they wait in stasis for 50,000 years at a time so that they can come back and wipe out all sentient life en masse.

To be fair, the Reapers don't exclusively despise humans. They just don't like living things.

They've been around longer than the Mortal Kombat tournament and could "realistically" challenged even the most powerful of the Elder Gods, which would make the synthetic race the most daunting boss characters the franchise have experienced.

Before you lose your shit, I know. Resident Evil is a Capcom property and Albert Wesker would absolutely appear in a Street Fighter title before any NetherRealm Studios presentation. But suspend your disbelief for a moment because the story would be great.

The former S.T.A.R.S. leader loves power and what would be more tempting for the cruel bastard. He's good with firearms, physical confrontation and .... oh, yeah ... he can mutate like none other thanks to his T-Virus infection.

Speaking of "T-things"....

Terminator 2: Judgement Day was probably the biggest thing I remember from my youth, outside of all things Star Wars. It had cutting edge technology, dove into the possibilities of a still-early technology boom going haywire and it had the T-1000. Sent back in time to snuff out John Connor before he could end the rise of the machines, the T-1000 was a heartless killer and that's what would make him great.

Mortal Kombat? His hot liquid reforming self would be all over that business.

There's been a recurring horror-movie theme the past two installments with MK's guest characters and I would definitely continue this trend by introducing Pinhead. I can't take credit for this idea popping into my head, though. The idea actually came from my Often-Co-Host of Toons Game Time, Ryan Noble.

But just think about it. He's the embodiment of evil. And like MK alumni Scarlet, blood, especially that of the (mostly) innocent only serves to strengthen him.

Let's not get lost in all the evil characters, though. We need a hero....or two...on this list. Enter the Dragon. Rather, enter the Double Dragons, Billy and Jimmy Lee.

These 8-bit throwbacks are among the more iconic characters from video-game generations gone by and, given their martial arts backgrounds, they could hold their own as a formidable Noob/Smoke-like duo that could harness the power of the Double Dragon medallion in their quest to free Marian from the clutches of Quan Chi?

Whatever. 10 year old me just wants to play as them once more.

Honorable Mentions

I didn't include a number of characters on my list because, frankly, my writing time was reduced by necessary birthday shopping for my son. Here are some of the names I still had on my list. Remember to add your own in the comment section below.

• Tifa Lockhart (Final Fantasy VII)
• Selene (Underworld)
• Neo (The Matrix)
• Casey Jones (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
• Imhotep (The Mummy)
• The Borg (Star Trek)
• Space Ghost.....BECAUSE HE'S SPACE GHOST!!!!!!