The Mortal Kombat series has been a staple of the fighting game genre since its debut in 1992. The series is filled with in-depth lore and has collaborated with several companies to incorporate guest fighters. These include Mortal Kombat 11 's RoboCop and Terminator T-800, but perhaps the series' most prominent collaborator is DC Comics - and MK11 reveals the franchises' most direct crossover, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, is actually canon.
Not only has NetherRealm included DC characters in multiple Mortal Kombat games as guest DLC characters, including Spawn in Mortal Kombat 11, its work with Warner Bros has also led to games such as Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Injustice: Gods Among Us, and Injustice 2. While Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is considered one of the MK franchise's worst games by many fans and seemed like it was just a one-off fanservice crossover, Mortal Kombat 11’s Aftermath DLC reveals it is actually canon.
In the Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath DLC, there is a scene where Raiden and Liu Kang argue about whether they should trust Shang Tsung. This scene is eerily similar to a scene in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Speaking to Ars Technica, Dominic Cianciolo, story and voice over director at NetherRealm Studios, revealed the callback to this scene was purposely done to indicate that the events in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe are canon. Cianciolo said developers assume the events that took place in the crossover "happened in one of Kronika’s many previous timelines," and that "clearly, she thought it was a mistake because she rolled it back and got rid of it."
The callback in Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath isn’t the only thing that makes Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe canon. The Aftermath DLC also came with DC villain The Joker. Joker was a character included in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. In Mortal Kombat 11, Joker has various dialogue interactions with several MK fighters, including Scorpion, Kabal, Shang Tsung, and Cassie Cage, that reference the older crossover game. All but Cassie Cage know and remember Joker from Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, further proving the game’s inclusion in Mortal Kombat lore.
There’s no doubt NetherRealm will continue to work with DC and other popular series to add more guest characters to Mortal Kombat 11 and beyond. In fact, a guest character (or perhaps even characters) could be included in the next Mortal Kombat 11 DLC, along with returning Mortal Kombat characters who were not included in Mortal Kombat 11 at launch or in Aftermath.
Source: Ars Technica