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133-566: Liu Kang (Chinese: 刘康) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios . Depicted as Earthrealm's greatest warrior and champion, he debuted in the original 1992 game as a Shaolin monk with special moves, which were intended to be the easiest for players to perform. Since his introduction, Liu Kang has appeared as playable in every main installment except Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002). He

266-408: A Mortal Kombat arcade machine onto his opponent, crushing them. Liu Kang is introduced in the original Mortal Kombat game as a Chinese Shaolin kung fu monk. He enters the tournament in order to represent his fellow Shaolin and defeat the tournament host, nefarious sorcerer Shang Tsung . He defeats the grand champion Goro and Shang Tsung, making him the new Mortal Kombat champion and enabling

399-574: A butterfly kick (often mistaken for a cartwheel ) on his opponent before connecting with an uppercut that knocks them offscreen, and then landing. According to Tobias, the background not darkening during the finisher was a glitch that was kept in and rationalized as symbolizing Liu Kang's noble motivations. The "Shaolin Uppercut" appeared only once more in Mortal Kombat II , as Liu Kang was given more graphic Fatalities thereafter because he

532-413: A zombie is a dead body reanimated through various methods, most commonly magical practices in religions like Vodou . Modern media depictions of the reanimation of the dead often do not involve magic but rather science fictional methods such as fungi , radiation , gases , diseases , plants , bacteria , viruses , etc. The English word "zombie" was first recorded in 1819 in a history of Brazil by

665-509: A Zombie (1943) and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). Frankenstein by Mary Shelley , while not a zombie novel per se , foreshadows many 20th century ideas about zombies in that the resurrection of the dead is portrayed as a scientific process rather than a mystical one and that the resurrected dead are degraded and more violent than their living selves. Frankenstein , published in 1818, has its roots in European folklore, whose tales of

798-597: A background fight of him in his original attire defeating old Shang Tsung while in the foreground he is shown in his updated costume. Mortal Kombat 3 contained minor changes to the character's depiction, with longer hair and thin black leg strips wrapped above his ankles in order to give him a "sleeker" look. In a 1995 interview, lead series programmer Ed Boon , discussing the development team's immediate decision to include Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat 3 , said: "It'd be like doing part three of Star Wars and not having Luke Skywalker in there. You don't do that." This design

931-463: A dead person can be zombified by a small child. It is said that the spell can be broken by a powerful enough sangoma . It is also believed in some areas of South Africa that witches can zombify a person by killing and possessing the victim's body to force it into slave labor. After rail lines were built to transport migrant workers, stories emerged about "witch trains". These trains appeared ordinary, but were staffed by zombified workers controlled by

1064-423: A game without [Liu Kang]". Den of Geek favorably reviewed Liu Kang's darker characterization starting with Deception and the reboot. Both Den of Geek and Hardcore Gamer also found Liu Kang's possible role in the series after the reboot to be shrouded in mystery, due to his possible revival as a villain as well as how he is not available to face Shinnok. The character was highly praised for his role of being

1197-473: A girl and his love for human flesh, and Michele Soavi's Dellamorte Dellamore (1994) (released as Cemetery Man in the U.S.). In 1980s Hong Kong cinema , the Chinese jiangshi , a zombie-like creature dating back to Qing dynasty era jiangshi fiction of the 18th and 19th centuries, were featured in a wave of jiangshi films , popularised by Mr. Vampire (1985). Hong Kong jiangshi films were popular in

1330-423: A martial artist/kung fu guy. I wanted someone with a lot more depth and a lot more feeling and character struggle." Upon reading the script, Tee was surprised by its take on the character as an anti-hero, especially his rivalry with Kung Lao. Tee did a majority of stunts with the help of stunt coordinator Garrett Warren, choreographer Larnell Stovall, and his stunt double, Kim Do. Liu Kang was played by Ludi Lin in

1463-470: A modest success, nearly outstripping Romero's Day of the Dead for box office returns. After the mid-1980s, the subgenre was mostly relegated to the underground. Notable entries include director Peter Jackson 's ultra-gory film Braindead (1992) (released as Dead Alive in the U.S.), Bob Balaban 's comic 1993 film My Boyfriend's Back , where a self-aware high-school boy returns to profess his love for

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1596-478: A more heroic figure. Original concept sketches for a proposed Midway Games fighting title by artist and lead game designer John Tobias featured a Japanese character named Minamoto Yoshitsune . However, according to Tobias, during production of what would become Mortal Kombat , the Midway staff "just couldn't deal with the name". The character was renamed Liu Kang as a nod to actor Gordon Liu , who starred in

1729-562: A murderous rampage, leaving his spirit to attempt to regain control. After Kitana and his fellow Earthrealm allies— Johnny Cage , Jax , Sonya Blade , and Kung Lao —are killed by the Deadly Alliance and then resurrected and controlled by the game's main boss character, the Dragon King Onaga , Liu Kang's spirit enlists the reformed ninja Ermac to save his friends, a mission in which they are successful. His undead form

1862-410: A pacifist, he believes the character also finds the moment needed to execute violence and will always fight back. In preparing for his role, he studied most of Bruce Lee's works. During production, Ludi Lin was concerned that he would receive death threats if the character did not wear his signature red bandana; he eventually convinced the director to pick the red bandana from Kung Lao's hat and wear it in

1995-701: A playable character in Shaolin Monks because of his "intuitive fighting moves", adding that his shouts were "annoying" yet "strangely pleasing". GamesRadar+ wrote that "the strange squeals he emits during his trademark Bicycle Kick move are unforgettable". In Mortal Kombat: Games of Death , David Church wrote that Liu Kang and Shang Tsung were obvious references to Lee and Han from Enter the Dragon , noting Liu Kang's high-pitched vocalizations, Fatality moves, usage of Jeet Kune Do , and exaggerated kung fu style. Liu Kang's dragon Fatality has been described as one of

2128-506: A powerful and frequently fatal neurotoxin found in the flesh of the pufferfish (family Tetraodontidae). The second powder consists of deliriant drugs such as datura . Together these powders were said to induce a deathlike state, in which the will of the victim would be entirely subjected to that of the bokor. Davis also popularized the story of Clairvius Narcisse , who was claimed to have succumbed to this practice. The most ethically questioned and least scientifically explored ingredient of

2261-522: A protagonist are found in Ancient Greece . At first, dramatic performances involved merely dancing and recitation by the chorus. Then in Poetics , Aristotle describes how a poet named Thespis introduced the idea of one actor stepping out and engaging in a dialogue with the chorus. This was the invention of tragedy, and occurred about 536 B.C. Then the poet Aeschylus , in his plays, introduced

2394-462: A reanimated corpse in the former and an undead revenant who rules Netherrealm in the latter. He returns to his heroic role in Mortal Kombat 11 (2019), in which he becomes the god of fire. The creators of the game also mentioned that after becoming a god, Liu Kang became more interested in Kung Lao than a friend. Liu Kang has appeared in various media outside of the games, including as the hero of

2527-408: A second actor, inventing the idea of dialogue between two characters. Sophocles then wrote plays that included a third actor. A description of the protagonist's origin cited that during the early period of Greek drama, the protagonist served as the author, the director, and the actor and that these roles were only separated and allocated to different individuals later. There is also a claim that

2660-427: A slave after death, as a zombie. A zombie could also be saved by feeding them salt . English professor Amy Wilentz has written that the modern concept of Zombies was strongly influenced by Haitian slavery . Slave drivers on the plantations, who were usually slaves themselves and sometimes voodoo priests, used the fear of zombification to discourage slaves from committing suicide. While most scholars have associated

2793-511: A soul-infused Sindel . When Raiden eventually figures out that they must allow Kahn to merge the two realms for the Elder Gods to intervene, Liu Kang ignores his pleas and fights him so he can face Kahn himself. Raiden accidentally murders Liu Kang in self-defense, but successfully prevents Shao Kahn from merging the two realms. Liu Kang returns in Mortal Kombat X as Quan Chi's undead revenant, serving Shinnok to enact revenge on Raiden and

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2926-721: A state of catatonia . Roland Littlewood , professor of anthropology and psychiatry, published a study supporting a social explanation of the zombie phenomenon in the medical journal The Lancet in 1997. The social explanation sees observed cases of people identified as zombies as a culture-bound syndrome , with a particular cultural form of adoption practiced in Haiti that unites the homeless and mentally ill with grieving families who see them as their "returned" lost loved ones, as Littlewood summarizes his findings in an article in Times Higher Education : I came to

3059-422: A state of pharmacologically induced trance for many years. Symptoms of TTX poisoning range from numbness and nausea to paralysis — particularly of the muscles of the diaphragm — unconsciousness, and death, but do not include a stiffened gait or a deathlike trance. According to psychologist Terence Hines , the scientific community dismisses tetrodotoxin as the cause of this state, and Davis' assessment of

3192-503: A stereotype of gaming heroes who reveal an evil alter ego that ruins the character's appealing traits, and considered him to be "a little like the Shaolin version of Goku , in that he's saved his world countless times and come back from the dead even more frequently". Meanwhile, Jesse Schedeen of IGN said, with regard to the DC universe crossover game, that "it just wouldn't be right having

3325-499: A tenuous alliance with Outworld under the auspices of continuing the Mortal Kombat tournaments and attempts to prevent Shang Tsung and Quan Chi's rise to villainy by giving them meaningless lives. For the upcoming tournament with Outworld, Raiden, now a young mortal like Liu Kang himself used to be in the previous timeline, is ultimately selected as champion. Following his success, Liu Kang receives word from Geras that Shang Tsung

3458-517: A vampire story, had a great impact on the zombie genre by way of George A. Romero . The novel and its 1964 film adaptation, The Last Man on Earth , which concern a lone human survivor waging war against a world of vampires, would by Romero's own admission greatly influence his 1968 low-budget film Night of the Living Dead , a work that was more influential on the concept of zombies than any literary or cinematic work before it. The monsters in

3591-467: A war. Though many people equate protagonists with the term hero and possessing heroic qualities, it is not necessary, as even villainous characters can be protagonists. For example Michael Corleone from The Godfather (1972–1990) film series (1978–1983). In some cases, the protagonist is not a human: in Richard Adams ' novel Watership Down , a group of anthropomorphised rabbits, led by

3724-454: A way to reunite his body and soul. Along with Kung Lao, Liu Kang is the lead character in the 2005 spin-off action-adventure game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks , which serves as a retelling of the events leading up to Mortal Kombat II and features the two Shaolin monks traveling to Outworld to find and defeat Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn while rescuing Kitana along the way. Liu Kang is among

3857-476: A witch. The trains would abduct a person boarding at night, and the person would then either be zombified or beaten and thrown from the train a distance away from the original location. Several decades after Hurston's work, Wade Davis , a Harvard ethnobotanist , presented a pharmacological case for zombies in a 1983 article in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology , and later in two popular books: The Serpent and

3990-447: A zombie astral to enhance his spiritual power. A zombie astral can also be sealed inside a specially decorated bottle by a bokor and sold to a client to bring luck, healing, or business success. It is believed that God eventually will reclaim the zombie's soul, so the zombie is a temporary spiritual entity. The two types of zombie reflect soul dualism , a belief of Bakongo religion and Haitian voodoo . Each type of legendary zombie

4123-488: A zombie, since they "knew" that they were dead and had no other role to play in the Haitian society. Societal reinforcement of the belief was hypothesized by Davis to confirm for the zombie individual the zombie state, and such individuals were known to hang around in graveyards, exhibiting attitudes of low affect . Davis's claim has been criticized, particularly the suggestion that Haitian witch doctors can keep "zombies" in

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4256-413: Is also one of the protagonists of the action-adventure spin-off Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks (2005). The character's storyline sees him win the eponymous Mortal Kombat tournament in the first and second games , saving Earthrealm from being conquered by the opposing forces of Outworld. During both the original and rebooted timelines, Liu Kang receives a more villainous depiction by Raiden appearing as

4389-482: Is an animated corpse raised by magical means, such as witchcraft . The English word "zombie" is first recorded in 1819, in a history of Brazil by the poet Robert Southey , in the form of "zombi", actually referring to the Afro-Brazilian rebel leader named Zumbi and the etymology of his name in "nzambi". The Oxford English Dictionary gives the origin of the word as Central African and compares it to

4522-489: Is more, if science ever gets to the bottom of Vodou in Haiti and Africa, it will be found that some important medical secrets, still unknown to medical science, give it its power, rather than gestures of ceremony." A Central African origin for the Haitian zombie has been postulated based on two etymologies in the Kongo language , nzambi ("god") and zumbi ("fetish"). This root helps form the names of several deities, including

4655-489: Is not used in Night of the Living Dead , but was applied later by fans. Following the release of such zombie films as Dawn of the Dead (1978) and The Return of the Living Dead (1985)—the latter of which introduced the concept of zombies that eat brains—as well as Michael Jackson 's music video Thriller (1983), the genre waned for some years. The mid-1990s saw the introduction of Resident Evil and The House of

4788-408: Is now an advisor to Outworld's Empress Sindel. In response, he sends his allies to investigate. Though their attempts increase the tension between Earthrealm and Outworld, they receive assistance from Baraka, Reptile, and Ashrah and inform Liu Kang of Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, and General Shao's plans to overthrow Sindel and wage war on Earthrealm. With Li Mei's help, Liu Kang is able to convince Sindel and

4921-769: Is playable but as a secret character unlocked by players only during a specific time and date in the game's training mode. Liu Kang has not fully regained control of his body in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (2006), where he is playable along with the entire series roster. In the game, it is revealed that his superior, the Thunder God Raiden , had revived Liu Kang's corpse in Deception . Liu Kang's bond with Kitana had succeeded in keeping his power in check, with Nightwolf then assuming her position as Liu Kang's "spiritual anchor" in an attempt to find

5054-449: Is successful, he discovers that Liu Kang has manipulated events to ensure his victory. Liu Kang erases Shang Tsung from history and, in the process of forging his New Era, visits Kung Lao's ancestor to give him special training for his future battles. In Mortal Kombat 1 , after recreating the universe with Kronika's Hourglass, Liu Kang relinquishes control of it to Geras to take on Raiden's previous role of Earthrealm's protector. He forms

5187-508: Is the main protagonist of the 1995 Mortal Kombat film , in which he is played by Robin Shou . Director Paul W. S. Anderson wanted Liu Kang's character to be "really engaging" and cast Shou, noting his skill in martial arts. Anderson compared Shou with Jackie Chan , noting that he started his career in Hong Kong working as a stuntman, including with Chan. In the film, Liu Kang takes part in

5320-543: Is therefore missing one half of its soul (the flesh or the spirit). The zombie belief has its roots in traditions brought to Haiti by enslaved Africans and their subsequent experiences in the New World. It was thought that the voodoo deity Baron Samedi would gather them from their grave to bring them to a heavenly afterlife in Africa (" Guinea "), unless they had offended him in some way, in which case they would be forever

5453-601: Is unable to commit to a relationship due to his duty as Earthrealm's champion. Liu Kang becomes unplayable for the first and only time in the Mortal Kombat series in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002), when the titular partnership of Shang Tsung and fellow sorcerer Quan Chi join forces to kill him in the game's opening cinematic sequence. In Mortal Kombat: Deception (2004), an unknown party reanimates Liu Kang's corpse and sends it on

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5586-477: The Chicago Sun-Times chided theater owners and parents who allowed children access to the film. "I don't think the younger kids really knew what hit them", complained Ebert, "They were used to going to movies, sure, and they'd seen some horror movies before, sure, but this was something else." According to Ebert, the film affected the audience immediately: The kids in the audience were stunned. There

5719-644: The Epic of Gilgamesh . One of the first books to expose Western culture to the concept of the voodoo zombie was The Magic Island (1929) by W. B. Seabrook . This is the sensationalized account of a narrator who encounters voodoo cults in Haiti and their resurrected thralls. Time commented that the book "introduced 'zombi' into U.S. speech". Zombies have a complex literary heritage, with antecedents ranging from Richard Matheson and H. P. Lovecraft to Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein drawing on European folklore of

5852-423: The 1995 film adaptation and its 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat Annihilation . Reception of the character has been mainly favorable for his special moves and gameplay, although criticism has been directed towards his Bruce Lee -inspired yells. His characterization in the reboot games received negative response for his death at Raiden's hands but his resurrection in Mortal Kombat 11 earned better response for becoming

5985-648: The English-speaking Caribbean , considered to be of the same etymology; in the French West Indies also, local "zombies" are recognized, but these are of a more general spirit nature. The idea of physical zombie-like creatures is present in some South African cultures, where they are called xidachane in Sotho / Tsonga and maduxwane in Venda . In some communities, it is believed that

6118-417: The Kongo words " nzambi " (god) and " zumbi " (fetish). A Kimbundu -to-Portuguese dictionary from 1903 defines the related word nzumbi as soul, while a later Kimbundu–Portuguese dictionary defines it as being a "spirit that is supposed to wander the earth to torment the living". How the creatures in contemporary zombie films came to be called "zombies" is not fully clear. The film Night of

6251-623: The Mortal Kombat reboot (2011), which is a retelling of the first three games, Liu Kang reprises his role from the first three tournaments as one of Raiden's chosen warriors. Raiden begins to have visions, sent to him by his future self, of Shao Kahn killing everybody, and attempts to alter events to prevent Shao Kahn's victory. Liu Kang's faith in Raiden and the Elder Gods is shattered when Raiden's actions result in Shao Kahn killing Kung Lao, as well as Kitana and most of their allies being killed by

6384-483: The United States occupation of Haiti (1915–1934), when a number of case histories of purported "zombies" began to emerge. The first popular book covering the topic was William Seabrook 's The Magic Island (1929). Seabrooke cited Article 246 of the Haitian criminal code , which was passed in 1864, asserting that it was an official recognition of zombies. This passage was later used in promotional materials for

6517-486: The "good guys" of the narrative. Examples include DC Comics' Superman (hero) and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games (heroine). An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who lacks conventional heroic qualities and attributes such as idealism, courage, and morality. Examples include Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye , Scarlett O'Hara from Gone With

6650-457: The 1920s and early 1930s, Lovecraft wrote several novellae that explored the undead theme. " Cool Air ", " In the Vault " and " The Outsider " all deal with the undead, but Lovecraft's " Herbert West–Reanimator " (1921) "helped define zombies in popular culture". This series of short stories featured Herbert West , a mad scientist , who attempts to revive human corpses, with mixed results. Notably,

6783-445: The 1932 film White Zombie . Also shall be qualified as attempted murder the employment which may be made by any person of substances which, without causing actual death, produce a lethargic coma more or less prolonged. If, after the administering of such substances, the person has been buried, the act shall be considered murder no matter what result follows. In 1937, while researching folklore in Haiti, Zora Neale Hurston encountered

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6916-479: The 1973 film Enter the Dragon in developing Liu Kang's backstory. Liu Kang's design in the first game had him shirtless with short hair, while wearing only black pants and white shoes. Starting with Mortal Kombat II , his outfit incorporated a red palette by way of single vertical stripes on his pants and a matching headband, in addition to black shoes and studded wrist guards; the MKII introduction cutscene shows

7049-469: The 1978 film The 36th Chamber of Shaolin . His ethnicity was subsequently changed to Chinese and he "was originally going to be a traditional monk – bald and in robes". Liu Kang was played by Korean actor and martial artist Ho-Sung Pak in the first two games, but Pak's refusal to shave his head resulted in the character instead being modeled after Bruce Lee and depicted as "a renegade monk [who] grew his hair back". Tobias additionally drew inspiration from

7182-485: The 1995 film was also the subject of analysis in the book The Deathly Embrace: Orientalism and Asian American Identity , which discusses the character's attempt to face his fears and accept that he is not responsible for his brother's death, as well as the film's themes of individualism. Bloody Disgusting praised the fight choreography in Liu Kang's fight against Reptile, while Den of Geek praised Ludi Lin's acting in

7315-430: The 2021 film. [REDACTED] Media related to Liu Kang at Wikimedia Commons Main protagonist The protagonist is the character whose fate is most closely followed by the reader or audience, and who is opposed by the antagonist . The antagonist provides obstacles and complications and creates conflicts that test the protagonist, revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the protagonist's character, and having

7448-500: The 2021 reboot film Mortal Kombat . An orphaned street child now living as a warrior monk and protege of Raiden, Liu Kang guides Earthrealm's warriors towards discovering their abilities. After his friend and senior kung fu student ( Chinese : 師兄 ; pinyin : shīxiōng ) Kung Lao is murdered by Shang Tsung, he avenges him by killing Kabal . Ludi Lin regards Liu Kang as a lone wolf archetype of character but still "alpha male" who cares about his allies. While finding Liu Kang as

7581-617: The Dead (1978), including once in dialog. According to Romero, film critics were influential in associating the term "zombie" to his creatures, and especially the French magazine Cahiers du Cinéma . He eventually accepted this linkage, even though he remained convinced at the time that "zombies" corresponded to the undead slaves of Haitian voodoo as depicted in White Zombie with Bela Lugosi . Zombies are featured widely in Haitian rural folklore as dead persons physically revived by

7714-532: The Dead films and the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake. These films also adopted an action approach to the zombie concept, which was also influenced by the Resident Evil and House of the Dead video games. Films featuring zombies have been a part of cinema since the 1930s. White Zombie (directed by Victor Halperin in 1932) and I Walked with a Zombie (directed by Jacques Tourneur ; 1943) were early examples. With George A. Romero 's Night of

7847-457: The Dead films, the 2004 Dawn of the Dead remake , and the British zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead (2004). The " zombie apocalypse " concept, in which the civilized world is brought low by a global zombie infestation, has since become a staple of modern zombie media, seen in such media as The Walking Dead franchise . The late 2000s and 2010s saw the humanization and romanticization of

7980-478: The Dead , two break-out successes of video games featuring zombie enemies which would later go on to become highly influential and well-known. These games were initially followed by a wave of low-budget Asian zombie films such as the zombie comedy Bio Zombie (1998) and action film Versus (2000), and then a new wave of popular Western zombie films in the early 2000s, the Resident Evil and House of

8113-523: The Elder Gods. Following Quan Chi's death and Shinnok's defeat, he and Kitana become the new rulers of Netherrealm. They are visited by Raiden, who brings them Shinnok's disembodied head as a warning for them not to attack Earthrealm. In Mortal Kombat 11 , Liu Kang plans to invade Earthrealm. After Raiden and the Special Forces destroy his castle in Netherrealm, Liu Kang and his allies join

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8246-556: The Far East from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. Prior to the 1990s, there were not many Japanese films related to what may be considered in the West as a zombie film. Early films such as The Discarnates (1988) feature little gore and no cannibalism, but it is about the dead returning to life looking for love rather than a story of apocalyptic destruction. One of the earliest Japanese zombie films with considerable gore and violence

8379-540: The God of Fire and Lightning. In a 2019 feature published on Polygon , MK11 writer Shawn Kittelsen stated that both Liu Kang and Raiden "fell from grace" in the 2000s, and that MK11 provided the last opportunity to redeem the two characters. Among new events in Mortal Kombat 1 , Liu Kang was noted for his role reversal with Raiden as the Shaolin monk was now the new leader of the cast and proper relationships with characters from other worlds. Robin Shou's take on Liu Kang in

8512-470: The Haitian zombie with African cultures, a connection has also been suggested to the island's indigenous Taíno people , partly based on an early account of native shamanist practices written by Ramón Pané  [ es ] , a monk of the Hieronymite religious order and companion of Christopher Columbus . The Haitian zombie phenomenon first attracted widespread international attention during

8645-641: The Kongo creator deity Nzambi Mpungu and the Louisiana serpent deity Li Grand Zombi (a local version of the Haitian Damballa ), but it is in fact a generic word for a divine spirit. The common African conception of beings under these names is more similar to the incorporeal "zombie astral", as in the Kongo Nkisi spirits. A related, but also often incorporeal, undead being is the jumbee of

8778-412: The Living Dead (1968) made no spoken reference to its undead antagonists as "zombies", describing them instead as " ghouls " (though ghouls, which derive from Arabic folklore, are demons, not undead). Although George A. Romero used the term "ghoul" in his original scripts, in later interviews he used the term "zombie". The word "zombie" is used exclusively by Romero in his script for his sequel Dawn of

8911-403: The Living Dead (1968), the zombie trope began to be increasingly linked to consumerism and consumer culture. Today, zombie films are released with such regularity (at least 50 films were released in 2014 alone) that they constitute a separate subgenre of horror film. Voodoo-related zombie themes have also appeared in espionage or adventure-themed works outside the horror genre. For example,

9044-456: The Living Dead began the shift away from Haitian dark magic, though did not give scientific explanations for zombie origins. A more decisive shift towards scientific themes came with the Resident Evil video game series in the late 1990s, which gave more realistic scientific explanations for zombie origins while drawing on modern science and technology, such as biological weaponry , genetic manipulation , and parasitic symbiosis . This became

9177-520: The Rainbow (1985) and Passage of Darkness: The Ethnobiology of the Haitian Zombie (1988). Davis traveled to Haiti in 1982 and, as a result of his investigations, claimed that a living person can be turned into a zombie by two special powders being introduced into the bloodstream (usually through a wound). The first, French: coup de poudre ("powder strike"), includes tetrodotoxin (TTX),

9310-476: The Realms as the film's central protagonist. For this film, the cas and crew sought to convey the father-son relationship between Raiden and Liu Kang, as Liu Kang's parents are revealed to have been killed during the protagonist's early days. The depth Raiden is given helps Liu Kang to surpass his own doubts and become the champion. Rodrigues stated that Liu Kang's patience paid off and the trauma only added "fuel to

9443-475: The Shaolin to regain control of the tournament. In the sequel Mortal Kombat II (1993), Liu Kang finds that many of his Shaolin brethren were slain in a vicious attack by a horde of Outworld warriors led by Baraka under orders from Shao Kahn , emperor of the otherworldly realm of Outworld and Shang Tsung's master. Enraged, Liu Kang travels to Outworld to seek revenge, backed by friend and fellow Shaolin monk Kung Lao . Though Liu Kang defeats Shao Kahn and wins

9576-480: The Wind , Jay Gatsby from The Great Gatsby , and Walter White from Breaking Bad . A tragic hero is the protagonist of a tragedy. Examples include Oedipus from Oedipus Rex and Prince Hamlet from Shakespeare's Hamlet . The protagonist is not always conventionally good. Contrasting the hero protagonist, a villain protagonist is a protagonist who is a villain , driving the story forward regardless of

9709-596: The Zombies (1966). Romero was also inspired by Richard Matheson 's novel I Am Legend (1954), along with its film adaptation, The Last Man on Earth (1964). The modern conception of the zombie owes itself almost entirely to George A. Romero 's 1968 film Night of the Living Dead . In his films, Romero "bred the zombie with the vampire, and what he got was the hybrid vigour of a ghoulish plague monster". This entailed an apocalyptic vision of monsters that have come to be known as Romero zombies . Roger Ebert of

9842-421: The act of necromancy of a bokor , a sorcerer or witch. The bokor is opposed by the houngan (priest) and the mambo (priestess) of the formal voodoo religion. A zombie remains under the control of the bokor as a personal slave, having no will of its own. The Haitian tradition also includes an incorporeal type of zombie, the "zombie astral ", which is a part of the human soul . A bokor can capture

9975-433: The audience is invested in that story. Tybalt, as an antagonist, opposes Romeo and attempts to thwart the relationship. In Shakespeare's play Hamlet , Prince Hamlet, who seeks revenge for the murder of his father, is the protagonist. The antagonist is the character who most opposes Hamlet, Claudius (though, in many ways, Hamlet is his own antagonist). Sometimes, a work will have a false protagonist , who may seem to be

10108-476: The best Fatalities in the series, while the arcade throw has been criticized as a failed attempt at meta-humor. They have also praised his wormhole fatality in the 2023 Mortal Kombat 1 , with some even calling it their favourite Fatality in the game, according to TheGamer , due to the notable gore performed on the enemy. Upon his death in Deadly Alliance , IGN ' s Jeremy Dunham noted that Liu Kang

10241-478: The case of a woman who appeared in a village. A family claimed that she was Felicia Felix-Mentor, a relative, who had died and been buried in 1907 at the age of 29. The woman was examined by a doctor; X-rays indicated that she did not have a leg fracture that Felix-Mentor was known to have had. Hurston pursued rumors that affected persons were given a powerful psychoactive drug , but she was unable to locate individuals willing to offer much information. She wrote: "What

10374-430: The character in the past had intentionally avoided. Liu Kang was designed as a character that both casual and experienced gamers could play with little difficulty. He specializes in kicks, with his most common being a straight flying kick that launches him across the screen to connect with his opponent's torso. Mortal Kombat II introduced another of his signature special moves, the "Bicycle Kick", which propels him across

10507-743: The comics. After they are killed by Goro in the third issue, Liu Kang becomes the Shaolin's only hope in defeating Shang Tsung. The following miniseries, Battlewave, has Liu Kang win the first tournament after defeating Goro. He then returns to his normal life as an architect in Chicago , having left the Order of Light before the events of the first series. However, he suffers constant attacks by an unknown force of ninjas and later receives help from Johnny Cage 's bodyguard Bo when Goro ambushes him in an office building. Eventually, he decides to travel to Outworld, realizing that he cannot avoid Mortal Kombat. Liu Kang

10640-505: The conclusion that although it is unlikely that there is a single explanation for all cases where zombies are recognised by locals in Haiti, the mistaken identification of a wandering mentally ill stranger by bereaved relatives is the most likely explanation in many cases. People with a chronic schizophrenic illness, brain damage or learning disability are not uncommon in rural Haiti, and they would be particularly likely to be identified as zombies. Pulliam and Fonseca (2014) and Walz (2006) trace

10773-544: The early 1950s EC Comics , which George A. Romero would later claim as an influence. The comics, including Tales from the Crypt , The Vault of Horror and Weird Science , featured avenging undead in the Gothic tradition quite regularly, including adaptations of Lovecraft's stories, which included "In the Vault", "Cool Air" and "Herbert West–Reanimator". Richard Matheson 's 1954 novel I Am Legend , although classified as

10906-521: The eleven characters representing the Mortal Kombat franchise in the title Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (2008), which features fights between characters from the Mortal Kombat and DC Comics universes. In this game, Liu Kang appears as the protagonist of the first chapter of the Mortal Kombat story mode. Tobias said he wanted to see the fight between Liu Kang and Batman , as he noted their backstories are very similar because both had attempted to help their respective leaders regain their senses. In

11039-490: The events of the story and are not as involved within the "main action" of the plot. The supporting protagonist may be telling the story while viewing another character as the main influence of the plot. One example is Nick in The Great Gatsby . Euripides ' play Hippolytus may be considered to have two protagonists, though one at a time. Phaedra is the protagonist of the first half, who dies partway through

11172-471: The evil qualities the main character has. These traits can include being cruel, malicious, and wicked. Examples include Humbert Humbert in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and Richard III in the eponymous play by William Shakespeare . When a supporting protagonist appears, the story is told from the perspective of a character who appears to be minor. This character may be more peripheral from

11305-472: The film and its sequels, such as Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985), as well as the many zombie films it inspired, such as The Return of the Living Dead (1985) and Zombi 2 (1979), are usually hungry for human flesh, although Return of the Living Dead introduced the popular concept of zombies eating human brains. There has been an evolution in the zombie archetype from supernatural to scientific themes. I Am Legend and Night of

11438-453: The film's climax. When Liu Kang incinerates Kabal in the climax, the team originally intended to include a game reference known as "toasty" where a character is incinerated by a fire attack but it was removed due to the team finding it "cringe". Liu Kang is one of the lead characters in the 1996 animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm , and was voiced by Brian Tochi . He is not

11571-517: The fire to Liu Kang's burning heart". The character has received mostly mixed positive response by gaming publications. Digital Spy compared him with Street Fighter character Ryu , stating that while both are "kind of dull", they develop appealing techniques across their respective series. GamesRadar+ referred to him as one of gaming's various "kickass Bruce Lee clones", citing his similarities with Bruce Lee and noting his shouts. The A.V. Club compared Liu Kang's relationship with Kitana to

11704-463: The game as playable, GameRevolution compared it with Ryu's evil persona. Shacknews enjoyed the actions Liu Kang makes as a god due to the major direction the narrative takes in the DLC Aftermath as he aims to restart the generation. Den of Geek commented that Liu Kang's role as a protagonist in Mortal Kombat 11 was well handled as he fit the heroic role through his transformation into

11837-591: The games was a mistake." Tobias has said that although "there have been deviations in different media to serve their purposes, ... the truth of Liu's hero's journey and the root of the character's inspiration usually seemed to find their way." Actor Tom Choi voiced Liu Kang from MK vs.DC Universe to Mortal Kombat X , and explained in 2021 that Boon wanted the character to rapidly speak nonsensical lines for his special moves in MK 2011 . Choi stated that while he enjoyed playing an "iconic" and "archetypal" character and Liu Kang

11970-490: The keeper of time, Kronika . While making preparations, Kronika brings a younger version of Liu Kang to the present. Despite learning of what happens to him in the future, Liu Kang continues to trust Raiden and aligns himself with Earthrealm's warriors to combat Kronika. When he clashes with Raiden after the latter uses Shinnok's amulet to strengthen himself, the thunder god discovers that Kronika has manipulated them into fighting each other in multiple timelines. Raiden merges with

12103-514: The late 1970s. The mid-1980s produced few zombie films of note. Perhaps the most notable entry, the Evil Dead trilogy, while highly influential, are not technically zombie films, but films about demonic possession , despite the presence of the undead. 1985's Re-Animator , loosely based on the Lovecraft story, stood out in the genre, achieving nearly unanimous critical acclaim and becoming

12236-436: The light novel Is This a Zombie? In this context, zombies are often seen as stand-ins for discriminated groups struggling for equality, and the human–zombie romantic relationship is interpreted as a metaphor for sexual liberation and taboo breaking (given that zombies are subject to wild desires and free from social conventions). In Haitian folklore , a zombie ( Haitian French : zombi , Haitian Creole : zonbi )

12369-415: The nature of the reports of Haitian zombies is viewed as overly credulous. Scottish psychiatrist R. D. Laing highlighted the link between social and cultural expectations and compulsion, in the context of schizophrenia and other mental illness, suggesting that schizogenesis may account for some of the psychological aspects of zombification. Particularly, this suggests cases where schizophrenia manifests

12502-496: The original Jonny Quest series (1964) and the James Bond novel Live and Let Die as well as its film adaptation both feature Caribbean villains who falsely claim the voodoo power of zombification to keep others in fear of them. Romero's modern zombie archetype in Night of the Living Dead was influenced by several earlier zombie-themed films, including White Zombie , Revolt of the Zombies (1936) and The Plague of

12635-436: The play. Her stepson, the titular Hippolytus, assumes the dominant role in the second half of the play. In Henrik Ibsen 's play The Master Builder , the protagonist is the architect Halvard Solness. The young woman, Hilda Wangel, whose actions lead to the death of Solness, is the antagonist. In Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet , Romeo is the protagonist. He is actively in pursuit of his relationship with Juliet, and

12768-490: The player. Later the same year, Sega 's arcade shooter The House of the Dead introduced running human zombies, who run towards the player and can also jump and swim. The running human zombies introduced in The House of the Dead video games became the basis for the "fast zombies" that became popular in zombie films during the early 21st century, starting with 28 Days Later (2002), the Resident Evil and House of

12901-417: The poet Robert Southey , in the form of "zombi". Dictionaries trace the word's origin to African languages, relating to words connected to gods, ghosts and souls. One of the first books to expose Western culture to the concept of the voodoo zombie was W. B. Seabrook 's The Magic Island (1929), the account of a narrator who encounters voodoo cults in Haiti and their resurrected thralls. A new version of

13034-409: The poet did not assign or create the protagonist as well as other terms for actors such as deuteragonist and tritagonist primarily because he only gave actors their appropriate part. However, these actors were assigned their specific areas at the stage with the protagonist always entering from the middle door or that the dwelling of the deuteragonist (second most important character) should be on

13167-441: The powders is part of a recently buried child's brain. The process described by Davis was an initial state of deathlike suspended animation , followed by re-awakening — typically after being buried — into a psychotic state. The psychosis induced by the drug and psychological trauma was hypothesised by Davis to reinforce culturally learned beliefs and to cause the individual to reconstruct their identity as that of

13300-427: The present-day chosen one and the other as a reflection of a failed past, with their sense of righteous purpose bonding their friendship. The producers of the 1995 Mortal Kombat film chose to combine Liu and Kung Lao's characters, making Liu the descendant of The Great Kung Lao, which, according to Tobias, "caus[ed] confusion in our games for years to follow. Any mention of Liu Kang as descendent of The Great Kung Lao in

13433-479: The protagonist Hazel, escape their warren after seeing a vision of its destruction, starting a perilous journey to find a new home. Zombie A zombie ( Haitian French : zombi ; Haitian Creole : zonbi ; Kikongo : zumbi ) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse . In modern popular culture, zombies are most commonly found in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore , in which

13566-432: The protagonist develop as a result. The term protagonist comes from Ancient Greek πρωταγωνιστής ( prōtagōnistḗs )  'actor who plays the chief or first part', combined of πρῶτος ( prôtos , 'first') and ἀγωνιστής ( agōnistḗs , 'actor, competitor'), which stems from ἀγών ( agṓn , 'contest') via ἀγωνίζομαι ( agōnízomai , 'I contend for a prize'). The earliest known examples of

13699-407: The protagonist in Mortal Kombat 11 . GameRevolution enjoyed Liu Kang's ending in Mortal Kombat 11 and wondered which of his two endings – where he allies with either Raiden or Kitana – would be taken as canonical. PCGamesN praised the handling of his characterization and noting that players had looked forward to his best ending, which was difficult to achieve. Upon God Liu Kang's inclusion in

13832-510: The protagonist, but then may disappear unexpectedly. The character Marion in Alfred Hitchcock 's film Psycho (1960) is an example. A novel may contain a number of narratives, each with its own protagonist. Alexander Solzhenitsyn 's The First Circle , for example, depicts a variety of characters imprisoned and living in a gulag camp. Leo Tolstoy 's War and Peace depicts fifteen major characters involved in or affected by

13965-875: The rest of Outworld's Royal Court of Shang Tsung's treachery. Shang Tsung's benefactor is revealed to be himself from an alternate timeline depicted in Aftermath where he became a Titan after defeating Kronika and Liu Kang, who intends to kill everyone in Liu Kang's timeline and absorb it. After the Shang Tsung from Liu Kang's timeline proposes there may be other timelines who could assist them in defending against his Titan counterpart, Geras reveals he had stored Liu Kang's powers as Keeper of Time in case of an emergency and grants it to him, allowing him to recruit Titan allies from other timelines and ultimately erase Titan Shang Tsung from existence. However, reclaiming his Keeper of Time powers had cost Liu Kang his immortality. Liu Kang

14098-430: The resurrected dead are uncontrollable, mostly mute, primitive and extremely violent; though they are not referred to as zombies, their portrayal was prescient, anticipating the modern conception of zombies by several decades. Edgar Rice Burroughs similarly depicted animated corpses in the second book of his Venus series , again without using the terms "zombie" or "undead". Avenging zombies would feature prominently in

14231-529: The revenant and the younger Liu Kang, transforming them into "Fire God Liu Kang". With Raiden's godly powers and his revenant counterpart's knowledge of Kronika's plan, he storms Kronika's keep and kills her in battle. Liu Kang is either joined by a mortal Raiden or Kitana in shaping a new timeline. In the DLC story expansion Aftermath , Liu Kang and Raiden find Shang Tsung who inform them that they need Kronika's Crown of Souls to properly restore time. While Shang Tsung

14364-480: The right hand, and the tritagonist (third most important character), the left. In Ancient Greece, the protagonist is distinguished from the term "hero", which was used to refer to a human who became a semi-divine being in the narrative. In literary terms, a hero (masculine) or heroine (feminine) protagonist is typically admired for their achievements and noble qualities. Heroes are lauded for their strength, courage, virtuousness, and honor, and are considered to be

14497-441: The screen with a flurry of kicks that resemble the pedaling of a bicycle and again target the opponent's midsection. His projectile attack sends a fireball, in the shape of a Chinese dragon shooting from his hands toward his opponent. This move was adapted in future games to allow use of it while crouching or jumping. His first Fatality (a finishing move that executes defeated opponents), titled "Shaolin Uppercut", has him perform

14630-535: The second tournament, Kahn invades Earthrealm through illegal means in Mortal Kombat 3 (1995), forcing Liu Kang to combat Kahn's forces once more as one of Raiden 's designated Earthrealm champions chosen to stop the invasion. In Mortal Kombat 4 (1997), Liu Kang discovers that his lover, Princess Kitana , has been captured by the disgraced Elder God Shinnok 's forces, and begins gathering Earth's warriors to defeat him. Liu Kang confronts Shinnok and emerges victorious. Kitana then invites Liu Kang to Edenia, but he

14763-524: The sequel, Liu Kang joins the Earthrealm warriors to stop Shao Kahn. Shou stated that he felt pressure while filming to trying to find a style between American and Hong Kong artist, such as Jet Li and Steven Seagal . According to Chris Conrad , who played Cage, "Robin and Talisa were very, very cool. It's a fun, well developed franchise. Robin and Talisa and the entire cast was just so pleasant and fun to be around." Thai actor and martial artist Tony Jaa

14896-404: The sole protagonist, instead sharing that role with several other Earthrealm heroes. Jordan Rodrigues voiced the role of Liu Kang in the 2020 animated movie Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge , in which Liu Kang, Cage, and Sonya Blade reprised their roles from the first Mortal Kombat game with Scorpion's aid. Rodrigues reprised his role in the sequel Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of

15029-555: The standard approach for explaining zombie origins in popular fiction that followed Resident Evil . There has also been shift towards an action approach, which has led to another evolution of the zombie archietype, the "fast zombie" or running zombie. In contrast to Romero's classic slow zombies, "fast zombies" can run, are more aggressive and are often more intelligent. This type of zombie has origins in 1990s Japanese horror video games. In 1996, Capcom 's survival horror video game Resident Evil featured zombie dogs that run towards

15162-410: The titular characters in the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), noting how the games often give them proper scenes despite the franchise being focused on violent battles. There was also commentary about Liu Kang's moves. GameDaily complained about the character's voice, saying that "Liu Kang screams out like a chicken"; IGN ' s Douglas Perry wrote that he preferred Liu Kang over Kung Lao as

15295-413: The tournament out of guilt over his brother's death at the hands of Shang Tsung. Raiden recruits Liu Kang on the journey to Shang Tsung's island, where he helps him get over his brother's death and defeat the sorcerer. The relationship between Liu Kang and Kitana is portrayed as more metaphysical than romantic. Shou said that in the original script he "was supposed to fall in love with Talisa Soto [Kitana]. I

15428-405: The undead. Victor Halperin directed White Zombie (1932), a horror film starring Bela Lugosi . Here zombies are depicted as mindless, unthinking henchmen under the spell of an evil magician. Zombies, often still using this voodoo-inspired rationale, were initially uncommon in cinema, but their appearances continued sporadically through the 1930s to the 1960s, with films including I Walked with

15561-540: The vengeful dead also informed the evolution of the modern conception of the vampire . Later notable 19th century stories about the avenging undead included Ambrose Bierce 's " The Death of Halpin Frayser " and various Gothic Romanticism tales by Edgar Allan Poe . Though their works could not be properly considered zombie fiction, the supernatural tales of Bierce and Poe would prove influential on later writers such as H. P. Lovecraft , by Lovecraft's own admission. In

15694-428: The zombie archetype , with the zombies increasingly portrayed as friends and love interests for humans. Notable examples of the latter include movies Warm Bodies and Zombies , novels American Gods by Neil Gaiman , Generation Dead by Daniel Waters, and Bone Song by John Meaney , animated movie Corpse Bride , TV series iZombie and Santa Clarita Diet , manga series Sankarea: Undying Love , and

15827-479: The zombie lineage back to ancient Mesopotamia . In the Descent of Ishtar , the goddess Ishtar threatens: If you do not open the gate for me to come in, I shall smash the door and shatter the bolt, I shall smash the doorpost and overturn the doors, I shall raise up the dead and they shall eat the living: And the dead shall outnumber the living! She repeats this same threat in a slightly modified form in

15960-451: The zombie revival of the 2000s. The 1981 film Hell of the Living Dead referenced a mutagenic gas as a source of zombie contagion: an idea also used in Dan O'Bannon 's 1985 film Return of the Living Dead . Return of the Living Dead featured zombies that hungered specifically for human brains. Zombie films in the 1980s and 1990s were not as commercially successful as Dawn of the Dead in

16093-422: The zombie, distinct from that described in Haitian folklore, emerged in popular culture during the latter half of the 20th century. This interpretation of the zombie, as an undead person that attacks and eats the flesh of living people, is drawn largely from George A. Romero 's film Night of the Living Dead (1968), which was partly inspired by Richard Matheson 's novel I Am Legend (1954). The word zombie

16226-497: Was Battle Girl: The Living Dead in Tokyo Bay (1991). According to Kim Newman in the book Nightmare Movies (2011), the "zombie revival began in the Far East" during the late 1990s, largely inspired by two Japanese zombie games released in 1996: Capcom 's Resident Evil , which started the Resident Evil video game series that went on to sell 24 million copies worldwide by 2006, and Sega 's arcade shooter House of

16359-476: Was a stunt double for Shou. Brian Tee played Liu Kang in the 2013 second season of director Kevin Tancharoen 's web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy . Tee was initially not fond of the character; he said that he would have preferred to portray Sub-Zero and that there were more actors who were more suited to depicte Liu Kang's Bruce Lee-like persona. He elaborated that Liu Kang "was this one note caricature of

16492-412: Was accentuated with a championship belt adorned with the Mortal Kombat dragon emblem. In May 2023, Boon stated he had decided to put Liu Kang on the cover of Mortal Kombat 1 to signify a new story arc, in turn diverting from Scorpion and Sub-Zero, who were regularly chosen for the games' covers. Liu Kang and fellow fighter Kung Lao , according to Tobias, were meant to complement each other: one as

16625-568: Was almost complete silence. The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying. There was a little girl across the aisle from me, maybe nine years old, who was sitting very still in her seat and crying. Romero's reinvention of zombies is notable in terms of its thematics; he used zombies not just for their own sake, but as a vehicle "to criticize real-world social ills—such as government ineptitude, bioengineering, slavery, greed and exploitation—while indulging our post-apocalyptic fantasies". Night

16758-442: Was carried over into Mortal Kombat: Deception and Mortal Kombat: Armageddon , but due to his resurrection as a zombie , his skin was ash gray and he wore hooked chains around his wrists; his alternate costume featured him as a living person. The character's death in the previous game, Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance , inspired the composition of a "funeral song" by series music composer Dan Forden, titled "Liu Kang's Tomb", and

16891-604: Was depicted by Midway as having "strong Shaolin beliefs, but was no longer a part of the Shaolin monks". In contrast to the "Shaolin Uppercut", the "Dragon" Fatality was designed to instantly kill the opponent in order to convey the character's sense of revenge against his nemesis Shang Tsung , who had killed his fellow Shaolin monks in the storyline of Mortal Kombat II , and has become his signature finisher. Series co-designer John Vogel called it his favorite Fatality because of how it changed Liu Kang's appearance. His second Fatality in Mortal Kombat 3 has him vanishing and then dropping

17024-533: Was included in Deception in the arena containing his tomb. After the developers had received feedback that unlocking him in Deception had proved difficult, Liu Kang became a regular playable character in the PlayStation Portable port Unchained . Like the other characters chosen for the 2008 crossover game Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe , Liu Kang was added to the game's roster because of his popularity. He retained his Mortal Kombat 3 design that

17157-511: Was killed as part of the series' "'starting over' mentality". Complex remarked that the Mortal Kombat developers "finally found their groove again with Deadly Alliance , which began by snapping Liu Kang's neck". Game Informer described his death as a "shock". His redesign in Mortal Kombat: Deception earned mixed responses, with praise being given to his berserker combat style. GamesRadar used Liu Kang as an example of

17290-514: Was looking forward to it, but they thought we have so much action, we don't want to add romance to it. They cut it out." Randy Hamilton voiced Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins , a straight-to-video animated prequel released four months prior to the film. Shou and Talisa Soto (Kitana) were the only two actors to reprise their roles from the first film in the 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat Annihilation . In

17423-477: Was notable for being a non-stereotypical Asian lead, he noticed the creative teams change leading decisions involving changes in the story such as Liu taking a lesser role in several games. Matthew Yang King , who replaced Choi in MK11 , compared Liu Kang and Kung Lao to brothers with a competitive friendship, and opted to voice Liu Kang in MK11 as an "ode" to Bruce Lee, which he opined that Caucasian actors who voiced

17556-453: Was the first of six films in Romero's Living Dead series . Its first sequel, Dawn of the Dead , was released in 1978. Lucio Fulci 's Zombi 2 was released just months after Dawn of the Dead as an ersatz sequel ( Dawn of the Dead was released in several other countries as Zombi or Zombie ). Dawn of the Dead was the most commercially successful zombie film for decades, up until

17689-465: Was the hero of the comic book adaptation of the Mortal Kombat series by Malibu Comics . In the first miniseries, Blood and Thunder, his backstory was mostly kept intact as a Shaolin monk attempting to restore the tournament to its rightful owners. The miniseries dirverged from the videogames in not making Liu Kang the chosen one to defeat Goro, which instead fell on twin monk brothers named Sing and Sang, two original characters created specifically for

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