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TheMortal Kombatseries has always had a unique approach to storytelling. From time travel retcons, magic amulet mulligans, and returns to the canon through resurrection, it can be tough at times to pin down a coherent story, especially the further back you go.
In an attempt to bring all those tangled threads into a singular strain, the series has decided to once again hit the big reset button by rewriting the entire timeline through the events that transpire in Mortal Kombat 11. It’s tied up in a neat little bow through the base game and the Aftermath DLC as it leads neatly into the next game. Here are the endings of Mortal Kombat 11 explained.
Updated June 09, 2025 By Matthew Mckeown:Say what you will about Mortal Kombat 11, like its predecessors it at least helped to reboot the series, and despite how bonkers the plot was, the DLC was interesting and it was at least nice to see Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa reprising his role as Shang Tsung whilst being even more duplicitous than he was the first time around in the MK Movie.
MK11 though is now firmly in the rear-view mirror as the timelines now under Liu Kang’s guidance, but it’s worth coming back to MK11 to remind ourselves how we got here. So here’s an updated look at the Mortal Kombat 11 endings and how it all ties into the new timeline.
How Many Endings Are There?
It wouldn’t be a Mortal Kombat game unless there was hidden stuff to find, and in MK11’s case, it’smultiple endingsinstead of just a big boss fight or sequel bait.
These finales areunlocked based on how you perform in a final fight,and if you weren’t aware, it can leave you with different thoughts on the ending and where the next game could go as they featuretwo separate support characters, withonly one of them being featuredin the DLC follow-up.
There are technicallyfive endingsin total. There arethree in the base gameandtwo in the DLC, with the first three referred to by the Mortal Kombat Community as thebest, good, and bad endings. They’re unlockedduring the final fight with Kronika,which one you get depends on how the fight goes.
The Bad ending involveslosing two matches in a row. The Good requireslosing the first fightbut winning the rest, and for the Best ending, you need tobeat each round without a loss.
Warning: Spoilers for the plot and endings of Mortal Kombat 11 and the Aftermath DLC are below.
Base Game Ending, Explained
First off, it’s worth briefly going over how where the plot goes in MK11 as intypical Mortal Kombat fashion,it goes in some pretty bizarre directions. We’re introduced to Kronika, theKeeper of Time,and her cronies.
Her goal is toremove Raiden from the timelineas a way torestore balanceafter he continually messes things up by trying torewrite the timeline himselfin previous games. However, doing so would causeendless chaos and warbetween the realms.
The usualcast of heroes from MK10is called up and sent out against her, whilstKronika pulls in characters, includingyounger versions of the cast, out of their timelines to help her.
In the finale, after getting their butts continually handed to them,Raiden combines his soul with Liu Kangtoturn him into a god, essentially putting his power level on the same tier as Kronikas and givinghim more of a fighting chance.
It’s from there the last showdown commences between the two deities astime begins to rewind, thoughLiu is rendered immunebecause of his joining with Raiden. The two fight afterLiu deals with KronikasRevenant bodyguardsof Jade, Kitana, Kung Lao, and finally, her daughter Cetrion, who alsosacrifices herself to give Kronika a power boost. Thenone of three endings kicks inafter the last bout as the pair fight throughout different eras of time.
Best Ending
In what’s considered the ‘Best Ending,’ Liu Kang mops the floor with Kronika after getting his god powers.Raiden is now a mortal, andKang decides torewrite the entire timeline of the universewith the help of Kitana after Liurecovers her from another timeline.
The reason is that Raiden says thedestinies of the two were always intertwinedand that Liu needs someone toshare the eons with.
Raiden tells Liu he looks forward toseeing him in the next timelineas the scene shifts to the last stage of the fight with Liu Kang standing alone for a moment beforeKitana enters the scene from off camerasuddenly.
Kitana tells Liu thatevil is never truly goneand that it will still crop up in this new timeline. But our new fire god Liu Kang says that each realm mustchoose its own destiny,and the two will face it together. The twohold hands and share a loving lookas they gaze into the formless space that’sripe and ready for a new timeline.
An interesting tidbit is that the Kitana from this endingbriefly appears in Mortal Kombat 1 to help Liu Kangfight the other evil alternate-universe Titans.
Good Ending
The “Good Ending” issimilar to the above onein that Liu Kang still gets god powers, beats Kronika, and after Raiden tells him he hasproven himself worthy of becoming the new Protector of Earthrealm, he decides toreset the entire timeline.
However, this time around, hetakes the mortal Raiden with himinstead of Kitana. Raiden tells Liu Kang that he willadvise him for as long as his mortality allows, implying that he’ll one day die of old age. It’s not a massive change, and it’s nearly identical to the ‘Best Ending,’ but it’s arguably the canon-ending as itleads into Aftermathand then Mk1.
The ‘Bad Ending’ is non-canon, so don’t worry too much about trying to unlock this one. In this ending,Kronika wins the battle and kills Liu Kang by decapitation.
However,the game doesn’t end there,as it does let youretry the entire fightimmediately afterward. So it’s a handy way to reset things if you didn’t manage to win the first fightand want to try unlocking the ‘Best Ending’ again. It’s also a fun fake-out that can catch you off guard if you think that it’s the real ending.
Aftermath Endings Explained
Once the ending of the main game has wrapped up, the story in Aftermath kicks into high gear as just before Liu Kang can start tinkering with time,Shang Tsung, Night Wolf, and Fujinemerge from Kronikas Hourglass. According to Shang, they werelocked away in a realm outside time within the Hourglassknown as “The Void” forrefusing to join heron her crusade to rewrite history.
Shang Tsun warns thatthe Hourglass cant be usedto change history anymore because when Liu Kang defeated Kronika, he also unwittinglydestroyed her fancy hat,which was the key to it all. Known as theCrown of Souls, this elaborate headpieceallows the wearer to control the Hourglass, and with it, thetimeline of the universe.
So our heroes set out toretrieve a non-broken crown from the pastbefore Kronika can get her hands on it. What follows is atime-hopping tourof familiar and fan-service style events from the previous games as old characters areretconned back into existence, issues like the Revenants are dealt with, and the entire timeline becomes a bit chaotic.
It all culminates in afinal showdown between Liu Kang and Shang Tsung, where Shang has predictablybetrayed everyonefor ultimate power. Though Liu reveals heknew this was comingand wasusing Shang Tsungthis entire time as he was the only onestrong enough to defeat Kronika, especially sinceit was Shang that made the Crown of Soulsin the first place.
The Aftermath DLC is free, but we’ll provide a brief rundown of the endings for those that are still curious about how things play out or are looking for someprimer notes for the start of MK1.
You canchoose which endingyou’ll get as MK11 gives you a choice tofight as Liu Kang or Shang Tsungin the final bout.
Liu Kang’s Ending
IfLiu wins the fight,Shang Tsunggets brutallyerased from historyas he crumbles into dust. Power over the Hourglass goes to Liu, whouses it to create an entirely new era under his watch. As the cutscene closes out, Liu Kangvisits the ancestor of Kung Lao, the Great Kung Lao, tobegin training him to become his new championfor the upcomingMortal Kombat tournament.
Liu Kang’s ending should beconsidered the canon finale,as it leads directly into the next game with some sequel baiting. Plus,Fire God Liu Kang turns up in MK1, and the entire timeline looks to have beensuccessfully rewritten by him.It’sstill close to the original, but with a few significant changes here and there to the origins of iconic characters.
Shang Tsung’s Ending
IfShang Tsung wins, Liu Kang is defeated in combat, andShang absorbs his soul. Since Liu contained Raiden and was a god, hisdeific powers are transferred to Kangand essentially superchargers him,leaving Liu’s body as a mummified skeletonon the ground.
With his new terrifying godhood achieved,Shang then uses the Hourglass to rewrite the entire timelineas he pleases. He thenconquers all the realmsand establishes himself as the ruler of all, with acorrupted Raiden and Fujinserving him. As the game ends, Kang, now a giant, sits on an equally large throne before them in a very Thanos-esque scene.
There are also specialunlockable character endings in The Tower of Time. However, these arenon-canonand are essentiallyfun endings for the arcade mode.
Warning: Spoilers For The Plot Of Mortal Kombat 1 Are Below
What Happened Next?
As mentioned already, the ending withLiu Kang winning the final bout with Shang Tsung and restarting the universe is the canon one. And there are definitely some questions that need to be asked about Liu Kang’s decision-making skills. After spending eonstrying to make the universe again and again, eventually, according to Liu Kang, he got it right.
By “right”, he meansbringing everyone back and doing it all again the same wayplus a few tweaks here and there. Includingreviving small niche characters from the series, removing others like Jax, Sonya, and Cyrax,changing the rules of the Tournament to be non-lethal,and depowering the two villains of the previous universe.
NamelyShang Tsung and Quan Chi, who now have no magic and are resigned topathetic existences where their schemes always immediately failand they’re routinely mocked by others.
However, that doesn’t last for long as things go off the rails fast and the Lius rules start to get rewritten. As it turns out,Mortal Kombat exists within a multiverse, and alternate-universe villains led by alternate-universe Titans and theTitan Shang Tsung from the bad ending of the Aftermath DLC, start crashing onto the scene as the fate of all reality hangs in the balance once more.
To stop them, Liu Kang will have torally the heroes and “good Titans” of other universes for a climactic showdownthat looks messy and is pretty underwhelming. Plus, a mid-credits scene sets up a future showdown between the core cast of heroes and a group of alternate-timeline warriors led by Titan Havik.
Whilst Mortal Kombat 1’s story starts off strong, it unfortunatelyunravels fast into nonsense.
