A recent leak suggests that MK 4 villain Reiko might be included in Mortal Kombat 12, and that the highly-anticipated sequel could be coming out next year. Ever since NetherRealm announced that it was finished adding DLC to Mortal Kombat 11, fighting game fans have been speculating on what the studio’s next bone-crunching project will be. While Injustice 3 and a hypothetical NetherRealm Marvel game are popular possibilities, most signs point to NetherRealm working on Mortal Kombat 12 - as hinted by some job listings and cryptic social media posts.
As is the case with most future fighting games, the discussion surrounding Mortal Kombat 12 inevitably turns to its potential roster, especially given the status quo-shattering events of MK 11 and its Aftermath DLC. This includes special guest characters, with some fans even making wild suggestions like wrestling legends Mick Foley and Kane. However, recent rumors appear to indicate that while Mortal Kombat 12 could feature a massive roster of playable Kombatants, the game is basically a remastered version of the last three MK games with no new characters and none of the special guests that have turned up to challenge Liu Kang and company over the years.
Or not, as a recent leak by reliable Mortal Kombat 11 rumor hunter r00000r suggests that Mortal Kombat 4’s Reiko could appear as a playable fighter in the upcoming Mortal Kombat 12. Reddit user MistahJ17 shared a couple of screenshots of r00000r’s GameFAQs forum claims on r/Mortalkombatleaks (via The Gamer), which contains a single cryptic message: “ah. reiko's back. see u next year.” A second screenshotted comment from user Shin-Kong points out r00000r’s many correct Mortal Kombat 11 predictions, such as Frost and Shang Tsung returning and the debut of new Mortal Kombat 11 characters like Kollector and Geras - proving that there might be some truth to their claims of Reiko appearing in MK 12. Also, r00000r’s message seems to suggest that Mortal Kombat 12 could be released sometime next year, but there has been no official word by NetherRealm at this time.
Reiko made his first appearance in 1997’s Mortal Kombat 4 as a loyal general of Shao Khan’s Outworld Army and has made many appearances in later titles like the massively populated Mortal Kombat Armageddon. Although he was created as a separate character with a similar appearance to Shao Khan, his character ending in Mortal Kombat 4 sparked a debate among fans who believed that he was actually Outworld’s former ruler in disguise. Later installments and official word from Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon himself would disprove this theory, though John Tobias later claimed that he intended to have Reiko be a reincarnation of Shao Khan and have him reclaim his old mantle in a storyline that never came to be.
Reiko has yet to appear in the rebooted timeline that began in 2011’s Mortal Kombat 9 save for a brief cameo in that particular title, meaning that his appearance in MK 12 could be a sign that the game isn’t going to be a mere remix of the previous games after all. Story-wise, Reiko could appear as a new enemy looking to avenge the fallen Shao Khan and take his place as the ruler of Outworld, or NetherRealm could play on old MK fan theories surrounding the character and have him actually be Shao Khan reborn. In any case, nothing has been confirmed about Mortal Kombat 12 as of this writing, so fighting game fans should keep their eyes and ears open from any official word from NetherRealm.
Source: MistahJ17/Reddit, r00000r/GameFAQs, Shin-Kong/GameFAQs (via The Gamer)