After a strong two years of tournaments and updates, the blood-stained curtain has finally closed on Mortal Kombat 11. The game has received its expected two years of support, and NetherRealm Studios has officially announced that it is moving on to its next project. Fans who are ready to move on are already anticipating the next game, which rumor has it may have something to do with Marvel properties. The thought of Marvel heroes fighting the Earthrealm defenders is very enticing to some, while others are hoping for the Avengers to throw down with the Justice League. Another school of thought is just interested to see a standalone Marvel game from Netherrealm, and there are some fans who just want NetherRealm to be let loose to do it's own thing.
Whatever one's hopes or opinions are on NetherRealm's murky future, there's no denying that it's an exciting prospect. It's also generally agreed upon that Mortal Kombat 11 has been left in a fairly good state, with plenty of custom variation options for players to experiment with and a good balance present throughout the cast. The roster also feels pretty much complete, though any fan would tell you that it felt like there could be more fighters. If choice leaks are true, then at some point, NetherRealm and WB Games felt the same way. A Kombat Pack 3 was supposedly in the works at one point, but was either cancelled or never got off the ground. As such, there is a surprising number of characters that were constantly pointed to as leaked fighters, but never materialized for one reason or another.
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The primary leak concerning Kombat Pack 3 comes from near the end of 2020. Initially leaked on a Mortal Kombat subreddit, it appeared to be the contents of an internal email at NetherRealm Studios. The email described a DLC reveal trailer with four characters, the first being Deathstroke. Deathstroke is a popular DC character who NetherRealm adapted for its MK vs. DC and Injustice fighting games. This stylish sword and gun user may have been part of the impetus for Erron Black's creation in Mortal Kombat X. While it's unfortunate that Deathstroke couldn't join the Joker in this round of combat, there's a good chance they'll face each other again if NetherRealm returns to the Injustice series.
Another baddie who unfortunately won't be able to join the Joker in MK11 is Havik. Last seen in the Clown Prince of Crime's arcade ending in Mortal Kombat 11, Havik is a Cleric of Chaos and the only playable Chaosrealmer. Although he was only ever playable in the PS2-era Mortal Kombat games, Havik built up a devoted following due to his silly special moves and uniquely humorous reaction to being knocked off a certain stage. According to dialogue in Mortal Kombat 11 Aftermath, Havik is still alive, so there's still a chance that this chaotic fan favorite will show up to fight another day.
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A character with less of a chance is Sareena. She has an extremely interesting history in and out of the Mortal Kombat games. First introduced as an antagonist in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, she was one of Quan-Chi's demonic servants. Sub-Zero talked her into switching sides, which didn't amount to much when she wasn't playable in the next few games. Sareena's first playable appearance was in the GameBoy Advance Mortal Kombat: Tournament Edition, and her next, and last, playable role was in Armageddon. She did show up as an ally in Mortal Kombat X's story mode, but she's still suffering from the same problem she always has: whether it's through cuts or substitutions, NetherRealm just can't fit Sareena into any of its games.
The next leaked fighter, and the last one referenced in the late 2020 leak, is the Lin Kuei ninja Smoke. Smoke, in both his human and cyborg forms, is a very popular legacy character from the original 2D Mortal Kombat games. Growing out of Scorpion's moveset into his own unique movement-control style, Smoke is one of the three color ninjas, alongside Reptile and Ermac, that are still missing from Mortal Kombat 11. His running plotline about being reanimated by a demon named Enenra has yet to be resolved, so fans are hoping to see him again some day.
The next two rumored fighters come as a package deal. The yellow Cyrax and red Sektor are Smoke's seniors in the Cyber Lin Kuei program, and are also series mainstays. Often appearing quite strong, their last appearance in MKX as part of Triborg wasn't as impressive, but it was still full of fanservice that their players adored. Sektor and Cyrax have been rumored to be DLC characters since the launch of Mortal Kombat 11 due to both of them being NPC opponents in the story mode. A "story mode pack" had been discussed to death, literally so now that Aftermath and Ultimate have come and gone. Unfortunately, it seems the robots will have to miss this entry, but they're likely to show up again.
The next leak originated on 4chan, and surfaced during the beginning of 2020. Kombat Pack 2, which is now known to be the MK11 Ultimate content, was not yet announced, but speculation and rumors were flying wildly. The anonymous leak claimed that Mortal Kombat 11 Kombat Pack 2 would consist of six characters like the first, with those being: Fujin, Sheeva, Ash Williams from Evil Dead, Takeda, Havik, and Halloween's Michael Myers. This leak is interesting, as Fujin and Shiva actually did make it into the Aftermath pack alongside Robocop. Michael Myers would have been a perfect counterpart to MKX's old horror icons, but sadly, this was not to be.
Takeda is another missing fan favorite, and it feels odd that he didn't make it into the latest roster. Takeda Takahashi is a student of Shirai Ryu leader Hanzo Hasashi (aka Scorpion's living self), and is Kenshi's son. He was a member of the "Kombat Kids" introduced in Mortal Kombat X's comic prequel, and Cassie Cage and Jacqui Briggs have already made it into MK11. Takeda was probably the most popular member of the group, with his spiked whips and plasma swords proving quite popular. For now, though, he's be relegated to the bench alongside Kung Jin.
Evil Dead's lead hero and Bruce Campbell's most famous role is also Mortal Kombat 11's most baffling exclusion. Ash Williams was datamined alongside Fujin and Sheeva, which left him as a popular guess for DLC up until the last few months of update support. There were so many leaks concerning him that it actually took a dataminer saying that Ash wasn't coming, coupled with a statement from Campbell that he wasn't aware of any MK deal, to make people stop asking where he was. Judging by the fact that a couple of the leaks came from a Google advertisement and from a notification within MK11 itself, it seems like a deal for him was on the table, but fell through at the last minute. While it is unfortunate, it did take Spawn years of rumors to make it into MK, so there's still hope for Ash's appearance to come later on.
Mortal Kombat 11 is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.