In Mortal Kombat 2021, god of thunder and protector of Earthrealm Lord Raiden gathers together super-powered champions to compete in the next Mortal Kombat tournament - and Raiden has a few powers of his own. Though the thunder god himself cannot compete in Mortal Kombat or directly attack any of Outworld's champions before the tournament, he can still use his abilities to guide and protect Earth's kombatants.
Raiden is a god, so one of the basic powers he has is potentially eternal life - as seen when he rescues Hanzo Hasashi's infant daughter in Mortal Kombat's opening scene, several centuries before the rest of the movie takes place. His appearance in the movie is not his true form, but rather a human-like form that he uses while spending time on mortal planes. Because this flesh-and-blood form is entirely optional, one of Raiden's powers is the ability to teleport not only across space but also from realm to realm, and even hidden places like the Void, where he hides Earthrealm's champions after an attack by Shang Tsung's forces.
As the god of thunder, Raiden is best known for his mastery of electricity, which he can use as a weapon and also deploy to create a forcefield like the one that he uses to protect his temple. He can call down lightning from the sky, and also generate electricity from within himself as he is both the master of the living embodiment of thunder. Raiden's primary weapon is his lightning staff, which he can use to amplify his powers and also sustain effects like the forcefield around his temple. Unfortunately, the lightning staff proves to be weak to attacks by Kano's laser eye.
Raiden's abilities make him immensely powerful and lethal in battle, but as a god and protector of Earthrealm he is forbidden from directly taking part in Mortal Kombat. In the game lore, there are several different levels of deities: gods like Raiden are linked to one particular realm, and the Elder Gods watch over all the realms and (in theory) are supposed to ensure that the sacred rules of Mortal Kombat are followed. However, the Elder Gods have become lazy and indifferent, and fail to interfere when Shang Tsung tries to cheat ahead of the tournament and even directly kills one of Earthrealm's champions. After this, Raiden is persuaded that Earthrealm's champions should play a little dirty as well, and uses his powers to teleport Outworld's kombatants to different fighting arenas so that they can be defeated in isolation.
Mortal Kombat 2021 hasn't yet shown the full awesome scope of Raiden's powers, in large part because his status as a god means he's more of a mentor than a warrior. However, in the games he has fought powerful enemies like Shang Tsung, using a mortal form to circumvent the rules against gods taking part in the tournament. Perhaps if there's a sequel to the latest movie reboot, we'll get to see what happens when Raiden really lets loose.