Mortal Kombat 11: 5 picks for the DLC character roster

It's been a busy couple of weeks for Mortal Kombat, specifically from the esports front. But with the Summit of Time and Combo Breaker now in the rear-view mirror, NetherRealm is ready to get back into the business of what's next for Mortal Kombat 11 as a whole. Just minutes before Combo Breaker's Top 8, creator Ed Boon had some news for the game's fanbase.

Fingers Krossed.... if all goes well, next week we will be announcing the fighters that will be joining Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat 11’s DLC !! pic.twitter.com/ewaRTZFUji

— Ed Boon (@noobde) May 27, 2019

Rather than keep the fans in suspense, it looks like NetherRealm will unveil the full Mortal Kombat 11 DLC roster in one go. With that announcement out there, the doors have opened once more for speculation as to who will join the MK11 lineup. For today, Shacknews puts on our thinking kaps to ponder who will be next to engage in kombat. So before we go any further, a few parameters:

1. The primary mindset here is what fits the MK11 motif of honoring the past and present. Shang Tsung, for example, fits that motif, showing up here as an old man (just like in the original Mortal Kombat) after having spent years with his restored youth.
2. We are not basing this off of any leaked lists. These are our own educated guesses.
3. There have to be at least a few guest characters and there's no hint as to what those could be, so yeah, we're totally spitballing on those.

With that, let's begin.

Reptile

Few characters have seen a multitude of changes across time quite like Reptile. Reptile began his life disguised as one of the human ninjas, thanks mostly to the charm of hardware limitations. He has slowly evolved (devolved?) over time, shifting more and more into a reptilian form. Now he has embraced his reptilian features on the outside to go along with his lizard-like offense.

The fun here would be in how Kronika would reimagine Reptile. Sure, NetherRealm could simply offer a few extra bells and whistles to the character's Mortal Kombat X design, but imagine Kronika going the extra mile and giving him an appearance similar to the Scorpion palette swap from way back in the day. A Reptile with unsettling human features could double as a fresh design, while also honoring the character's origins.

Triborg

Both Sektor and Cyrax have major presences in the Mortal Kombat 11 Story Mode, but it's unlikely that NetherRealm will want to dedicate multiple slots to the machine fighters. The easy solution is to once again give rise to the amalgamation known as Triborg. Back in Mortal Kombat X, NetherRealm released this character as a combination of Sektor, Cyrax, and Smoke (with a hidden Cyber Sub-Zero setting), with players able to access each individual character's move set by selecting their specific variation. While there are only two fighter variants for each character this time around, the move may be to default the two settings to Sektor and Cyrax, while making Smoke's moves optional add-ons.

The cyber ninjas are not only a big part of the MK11 story, but their place in MK lore as a whole is undisputed. They're among the most popular characters in the franchise, outside of the human ninjas, and it's unthinkable to picture a Mortal Kombat game without them in any capacity. Triborg will prove to be the easiest way to make fans of both Sektor and Cyrax happy.

Mileena

Mileena is not seen at all in the Mortal Kombat 11 story, but is mentioned more than once. That's mainly because she died during the events of Mortal Kombat X's Story Mode. But if characters like Baraka proved anything, it's that dead characters can get better.

The presence of Shao Kahn and the past version of her sister Kitana means there's room for Mileena to make her presence felt. That's without even mentioning the continued presence of her killers, Kotal Kahn and D'Vorah. Kronika could bring Mileena in from the past and offer her a chance at pre-emptive vengeance. That'll be good news to anyone who has regularly played with the character since her debut in Mortal Kombat II, as Mileena brings in her own move set that's entirely separate from Kitana. And while Kitana does implement some of it in her MK11 incarnation, there's just no replacing the original Mileena.

Joker

This is a bit of a double dip for me, as I originally recommended Joker for our 5 announcer packs we want to see. This pick comes from NetherRealm's continued use of Mortal Kombat cameo characters as DLC fighters for the Injustice franchise. Injustice 2 used two characters, debuting Sub-Zero and Raiden into the superhero fighter. And while both characters can get downright bloody when they want to, they can still hold back for Injustice's more curbed style of violence.

So what about the other side of the coin? What happens when an Injustice character wants to unleash untold hell without limits? That's where you get Joker. Batman's greatest nemesis isn't afraid to take advantage of the M-rating and, in fact, would welcome the opportunity to shoot opponents in the head or melt their faces with an acid-spitting flower from his lapel. Joker fits the Mortal Kombat level of violence perfectly and would be a brilliant pick for an Injustice cameo.

It also helps that this character has a movie coming out in October. Perhaps you've seen the trailer.

Pennywise

What? You want an even more evil clown in this game? Alright, fine. How about this guy? The demonic "It" takes on many forms, but is most familiar to moviegoing audiences as Pennywise the Clown. Pennywise looks like a jolly dancing clown on the surface, but will just as quickly strike from the sewers and viciously murder its victims. Pennywise's clown-like appearance opens the door for clown-like offense, maybe even some moves revolving around its red balloons. Picture it dancing around and building anticipation for an eventual Fatality.

With It: Chapter Two set to release in September, Pennywise fits a number of criteria for Mortal Kombat guest characters. It's under the umbrella of parent company Warner Bros.; it can act as the latest horror franchise cameo to grace the Mortal Kombat series after Freddy Krueger, Jason, and Leatherface; and it'll certainly be a character that few expect to grace a NetherRealm fighter.

The odds of Pennywise showing up are slim, but with the previous two Mortal Kombat games setting the bar higher for WB-owned character cameos, this would be the coolest surprise to cap off the Mortal Kombat 11 DLC roster.

Those are our guesses. What have you got? Join the conversation and let us know who you think will join the MK11 roster.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?