Mortal Kombat II ending explained: is Liu Kang dead?

A revived Kung Lao (Max Huang) cuts Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) down with his bladed hat. The sorcerers Shang Tsung (Chin Han) and Quan Chi (Damon Herriman) drain the Thunder God’s power into the Amulet of Shinnok, which gives Shao Kahn his protection.

While the amulet works, Shao Kahn can recover from wounds that should kill him. Raiden is left too weak to fight. Destroying the amulet becomes as important as winning in the arena.

Cole Young (Lewis Tan), the lead of the 2021 film, faces Shao Kahn in his first tournament fight. He cuts Kahn’s throat, but the wound heals. Kahn kills Cole with his hammer and sends his body into a pool of acid.

For the creative decision behind that death, read what happens to Cole Young in Mortal Kombat II.

Liu Kang also has to fight the revived Kung Lao, his closest friend, and kills him again. Jax (Mehcad Brooks) dies when the heroes break into Shao Kahn’s palace. Kahn then captures Liu Kang and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee).

In the final confrontation, Shao Kahn impales Liu Kang with his hammer. Liu Kang accepts that he is not the one who will finish Kahn and says his journey is to bring Kung Lao back. Then he burns away into fire.

Jeremy Slater told Variety that the team deliberately changed this moment to leave open whether Liu Kang died or ascended to another plane. He also said the plan was to bring Liu Kang back in some capacity in a third film. GamesRadar reproduces the relevant interview comments.

So the film leaves his fate open. He is gone, but nobody says he is dead. The scene doesn’t confirm that he has become the Fire God version of Liu Kang from the games, either.

Kano (Josh Lawson) switches sides. He tells the heroes that the revived Bi-Han (Joe Taslim), now Noob Saibot, is holding the amulet in the Netherrealm. Raiden sends Kano and Johnny Cage (Karl Urban) after it, and Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) fights alongside them.

Jade (Tati Gabrielle) joins them too. She smashes Shao Kahn’s emblem on her staff and turns against him.

Johnny destroys the amulet with a glowing green kick, drawing on his shadow kick from the games. Shao Kahn loses his protection, and Raiden’s power returns. Raiden uses it to defeat Shang Tsung, who had come to finish him off.

After Liu Kang falls and Sonya is knocked out, Shao Kahn appears to have secured Outworld’s victory. Sonya has freed Kitana from her chains, however, and Kitana turns on him before he can claim Earthrealm.

She has been working against him all along. Kahn killed her father when she was a child and raised her as his own daughter, while she secretly passed information to Raiden. Now she rejects him in front of his people and takes up Earthrealm’s fight.

With the amulet gone, Kahn is vulnerable. Kitana removes his helmet and uses her spinning fans to destroy his head. The crowd hails her as queen of Edenia.

Kitana’s kill is what saves Earthrealm. Her revenge and the tournament are settled in the same fight.

In the last scene, Kano arrives with Quan Chi as his prisoner. The heroes intend to use the necromancer to bring their fallen friends back.

Jax and Kung Lao are the obvious candidates, but the film doesn’t name names. Having Quan Chi means the dead can come back. It doesn’t mean all of them will. Cole looks least likely, given what Slater has said about retiring the character.

The film also finds time for a joke. Johnny tells Baraka (CJ Bloomfield) and his people a much bigger version of the battle than the one that happened.

No. There is no scene during or after the credits. Slater told ComicBook.com that two possibilities were written but never filmed. The Quan Chi scene is the film’s final setup for what could come next.