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However, for every mighty character in Mortal Kombat, there is one that doesn’t quite fit in the rest, one whose strength pales in comparison to the literal gods and warrior princes they are up against. In-game most characters are fairly balanced to play. In the series’ lore, though, it’s a different story.

Updated August 16, 2021 by Erik Petrovich: There are nearly 100 characters throughout the Mortal Kombat franchise, ranging in strength from regular human Police Officer to multi-dimensional god-like entity. While the series is home to some of the most intimidating and powerful characters in video gaming, it’s also offered up some lackluster playable choices throughout the years.

Even some of the series’ most iconic characters, like Johnny Cage, aren’t nearly as powerful as most think – at least canonically. Similarly, many of the least memorable characters end up being weak, either because of a lack of originality or because they were only included to stuff the large rosters of games like Mortal Kombat 4.

13 Dairou

Premiered in  Mortal Kombat: Deception Known for his forehead tattoo and mullet hairstyle

Dairou made his premiere in Mortal Kombat: Deception and returned for two later games in the main series, being Armageddon and Mortal Kombat 11. There’s not much that stands out about Dairou, except of course the tattoo on his forehead and his disastrous hair.

He is a Seidan, a realm of order, and once served as a guard for his world. When he enacted revenge on the man who killed his family, he was imprisoned – but he eventually escaped and began work as a mercenary. All things considered, he isn’t a terrible fighter, but he’s certainly not anywhere near the levels of Mortal Kombat’s best.

12 Jarek

Premiered in  Mortal Kombat 4 Known for effectively being Kano’s weaker doppelganger

Jarek was the replacement for Kano in Mortal Kombat 4, essentially serving as a carbon copy of that iconic villain for the fourth entry. In later games he gained his own unique moveset, but ultimately the character is as uninspired as he is hilariously over-acted.

There’s a famous scene at the end of Sonya Blade’s storyline in Mortal Kombat 4. Without going into too much detail, the scene makes absolutely no sense, involves multiple people falling off the same cliff, and has become one of the most infamously iconic examples of terrible voice acting in video games.

11 Hsu Hao

Premiered in  Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Known for his chest laser and questionable clothing choices

Hsu Hao made his debut in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance as a member of the Red Dragon clan. He has no heart, which has been replaced with a bionic implant that also enhances his natural abilities. If one were to take Iron Man and paste his origin story onto a leather-clad Mongolian man without nearly as much personality or power, Hsu Hao would be the result.

His only playable appearance in a mainline Mortal Kombat game was in Deadly Alliance, though he made a few cameos in later entries over the years. In fact, Mortal Kombat co-creator John Vogel despised the character so much that he considers his death at the end of Jax’s Deadly Alliance campaign to be canon.

10 Johnny Cage

Premiered in the original  Mortal Kombat Known for his bombastic personality and superhuman abilities

Johnny Cage is one of the most recognizable characters from the Mortal Kombat franchise. He’s been in just about every game, he was in the original 90’s movie, and his one-liners and Hollywood attitude set him apart from the rest.

RELATED: Mortal Kombat: Best Versions Of Johnny Cage (& Worst)

Until he discovers his latent abilities, though, he is no better than a very skilled martial artist in the lore. Before the events of the Mortal Kombat series, Johnny Cage was basically just an actor in fighting movies who actuallyknew what he was doing.

9 Bo Rai Cho

Premiered in  Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Known for being a flatulent, nauseating master of the Drunken Fist

Bo Rai Cho is an Outworldian master of drunken martial arts, and his abilities in-game show this to every degree possible. His attacks in the games he made appearances in usually included his trademark puke puddle and belly flop.

Bo Rai Cho in the lore is a capable fighter in the drunken fist style, but being from Outworld means his victory in Mortal Kombat would count for his home realm, not Earth. His weakness mostly comes from both his alcoholic behavior and, simply, his age.

8 Sonya Blade / Kano

Premiered in the original  Mortal Kombat Known for being one another’s nemesis, and for being normal people in a metaphysical world

Sonya and Kano couldn’t be more different in terms of personality, but their fighting prowess is right about the same. Kano and Sonya have a feud going back to the first Mortal Kombat, but both have the advantages of tech and guns.

Sonya is a special forces officer, while Kano is a criminal mastermind. Aside from these traits, though, they are just ordinary people who know how to shoot. They are both also capable martial artists too, though.

7 Kurtis Stryker

Premiered in  Mortal Kombat 3 Known for being a Police Officer. . . and that’s about it

Stryker is, quite literally, just a cop from New York City who finds himself thrust into the middle of all the Mortal Kombat shenanigans. Technically, he’s a riot control officer, and he also had experience in the Marines.

RELATED: Best Fighters In Mortal Kombat 11

Stryker discovers he was chosen by the gods in Mortal Kombat 3 but otherwise doesn’t know why he was chosen amongst all the other people on Earth. He’s just a cop doing his job, after all.

6 Tanya

Premiered in  Mortal Kombat 4 Known for golden armor, glaive weapons, and glowing white eyes

Tanya is one of the more forgettable antagonists from the Mortal Kombat series, having appeared as a major villain in two of the lowest-rated games in the series, Armageddon and Mortal Kombat 4 (the latter of which she was one of the major antagonists).

She’s almost always shown as a close ally of Mileena, but in just about every way Mileena is a stronger character in the game’s lore. She’s kind of like the sidekick to a much stronger, much cooler superhero who takes all the spotlight.

5 Kira

Premiered in  Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance Known for her red color scheme, including her hair, as well as her affinity for knives

Kira is one of the characters in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance who Kabal recruits into the Black Dragon. She is good with knives, but aside from that, her backstory doesn’t exactly create an intimidating image of the newly formed Black Dragon’s newest recruit.

Take away her knives, and she’s not much more than a common street mugger. She doesn’t even have original moves, most of her moves being based on Kano’s move set directly.

4 Kai

Premiered in  Mortal Kombat 4 Known for being a slight rip-off of Liu Kang

Kai is a character in Mortal Kombat 4 who is training as a Shaolin Monk, just like Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Kai, just like Liu Kang, has the ability to command fire in battle, but in just about every way both Kang and Lao are stronger fighters.

RELATED: Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do In Mortal Kombat 11

There’s nothing particularly wrong with Kai, it’s just that his character was done better with his two similar predecessors. Aside from that, he only appears in Mortal Kombat 4 and Armageddon.

3 Kobra

Premiered in  Mortal Kombat: Deception Known for being  Mortal Kombat ’s uninspired take on Ken from  Street Fighter

Kobra, like Kira, is one of the new recruits that Kabal brings into the newly reformed Black Dragon in Mortal Kombat: Deception. He looks like a Street Fighter character, has a name like a Street Fighter character, and his codename in development was literally Ken Masters.

He’s an unoriginal, forgettable character, mostly because of the fact that he looks like a knock-off character from one of Mortal Kombat’s primary competitors. If they wanted to put a Street Fighter reference in the game, maybe he should have been an actual martial arts master and not a Karate trainee looking to prove himself for the first time.

2 Mokap

Premiered in  Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance Known for, well, wearing a motion capture suit

Mokap is one of the most referenced joke characters in the series, having made his debut in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and making cameos in several later games in the series. He’s funny to play as, and his story in-game is hilarious too, but he’s not strong.

Mokap is just a guy in a motion-capture suit. No special abilities, no fighting prowess, no nothing. If put against Shao Kahn in a fight, Mokap would likely (canonically speaking) run as fast as he possibly could in the opposite direction.

1 Meat

Premiered in  Mortal Kombat 4 Known for somehow being able to fight despite having no skin, no notable abilities, and being in constant pain

Meat is the mutilated result of one of Shang Tsung’s failed experiments on people, who escaped before the ritual was finished. Meat is an unlockable character in several Mortal Kombat games, starting in Mortal Kombat 4, he’s usually a secret character, and he makes cameos in many others.

Meat, though, is bar-none the weakest character in Mortal Kombat lore. It’s a person without any skin. They don’t have any special abilities, they just don’t have skin and their body is incredibly mutilated. They probably experience a lot of pain constantly, which probably makes it hard to land punches.

NEXT: Mortal Kombat: The Best DLC Characters In The Series (& Some That Fell Flat)