NetherRealm Studios' Mortal Kombat 11 has put Warner Brothers' extensive list of intellectual properties to good use for their DLC characters, and the latest to join MK11's roster is First Blood star, John Rambo. The character is a natural fit alongside the other 80's action stars who have already been added to MK11, like RoboCop and The Terminator. One of the most exciting aspects of these guest characters is seeing their Mortal Kombat arcade mode story ending. Each one is unique and ties in the plots of the characters' films with the story of MK11. Rambo's ending, unlike the other action stars in the game, is surprisingly poignant and shows a real understanding of the character and the film First Blood.
After defeating Kronika, the main antagonist of MK11, a sullen John Rambo rests beside her dead body. He acknowledges that she's the strongest enemy he's every had to face. His training meant nothing against her, and in the end it was the battle of wills. Rambo simply sought to put an end to the fighting that was taking place in MK11, so it hadn't even occurred to him he would receive Kronika's hourglass after killing her. His initial plans were to right all of the wrongs throughout history, but then he realized the weight that comes with such responsibility.
Despite his wish to fix history's mistakes, it soon occurred to Rambo that he would be deciding the fates of billions of people throughout all of history. Mortal Kombat 11's Rambo says that deciding who will live and who will die for all of eternity would kill his soul. He'd be no better than the men who sent him and so many others off to war without a concern as to whether they come back alive. Eventually, he decides that the power is too great and he leaves it behind. In Rambo's MK11 ending, he chooses to live in a cabin in the woods by himself for some much deserved peace.
Rambo's MK 11 Ending Is a Perfect Portrayal of the Character
The film First Blood often gets boiled down to a simple 80's action movie, but it's actually much deeper. It explores the difficulties soldiers faced when trying to acclimatize to life after the Vietnam war. John Rambo is just a veteran who wanders into a town, but gets labeled a vagrant by the local police. He originally went to visit a former comrade, but learns they'd recently passed away due to cancer from Agent Orange exposure in Vietnam. He wishes to just go on his own way, but the cops force him into a fight he didn't start, similar to the Vietnam war, and similar to his role in MK11. They torture him and trigger his PTSD. Eventually, he has no choice but to use what he learned at war to finish something he didn't want any part of. And he does so using non-lethal force because he doesn't want to kill any of the police.
Rambo's ending in MK11 does an incredible job of capturing the true, heartbreaking spirit of First Blood. This ending looks past all the action in the film and touches on its heartfelt theme. The entire reason Rambo defeats Kronika is to finish another person's fight so that he might finally find peace. Rambo never even considered he'd receive her power after defeating her because he's just a simple man. He even looks remorseful after killing Kronika, which shows he never wanted to fight. He considers fixing all of histories mistakes, but realizes one man can't decide the fates of others. Picking who lives and who dies would make him no better than the people who sent him to fight a meaningless war in Vietnam. The story ends with Rambo wandering to a cabin in the woods for the peace he'd long been searching for but was never able to find.
Seeing such an honest and touching ending in a Mortal Kombat game is unexpected, but it is warranted with a tragic character such as John Rambo. NetherRealm hit the nail on the head perfectly with this ending. Mortal Kombat 11 fans itching to see John Rambo's arcade ending firsthand can do so by downloading the game's latest DLC bundle.