Mortal Kombat sets up a sequel which will bring in plenty of other champions from the games to compete in the tournament that will decide the fate of Earthrealm. The 2021 movie reboot is set in the lead-up to a new round of Mortal Kombat, after Outworld has won the last nine consecutive tournaments. If Outworld wins the upcoming tenth tournament as well, it will have earned the right to invade and conquer Earthrealm without the Elder Gods intervening. Needless to say, there's a lot of pressure on Earth's current champions.
At the end of Mortal Kombat, Earth still has Cole Young, Sonya Blade, Liu Kang and Jax Briggs fighting in its corner. After some brutal eliminations, Shang Tsung is left without any of his initial stable of champions. However, the Outworld sorcerer ominously warns that "death is only another portal" as Sub-Zero's body disappears, implying that any of his dead kombatants could return as revenants (like Hanzo Hasashi returned as Scorpion). In short, don't assume that anyone is completely out of the picture just yet.
Regardless of any possible returns from the dead, Mortal Kombat 2 is going to need some fresh blood to fill out its ranks of kombatants, and the first movie already teased some champions who could appear. Here are the characters from the games who are most likely to appear in a Mortal Kombat sequel.
Johnny Cage
One champion virtually guaranteed to appear in Mortal Kombat 2 is Johnny Cage, a Hollywood action star out to prove his martial arts skills are legitimate. Johnny is one of the most prominent and charismatic characters in the Mortal Kombat games, so his absence from the lineup of the 2021 movie was surprising. However, Mortal Kombat was actually saving Johnny Cage to be the big sequel hook; when Cole leaves his life as a low-rent MMA fighter behind to go and track down Earth's champions, he tells the fight organizer that he's heading to Hollywood first. A movie poster for Citizen Cage clinches it: Johnny Cage will be one of the new recruits.
Kitana
Though Kitana's appearance in a Mortal Kombat sequel isn't as clear-cut as Johnny Cage's, there is a pretty heavy bit of foreshadowing via one of her bladed fans, which is on display in Raiden's temple and featured prominently in several shots. If Kitana does appear in a sequel, though, it's uncertain which side she'll be fighting for. In the Mortal Kombat games Kitana is the adopted daughter of Outworld emperor Shao Kahn, and is initially aligned with him against Earthrealm before rebelling against him. The fact that her fan is displayed alongside the Amulet of Shinnok (which belongs to a major villain) suggests that it may have been taken from her as a trophy during battle. Mortal Kombat had a fun betrayal arc through Kano, who switches sides to support Outworld, so a sequel could mirror that with a redemption arc for Kitana - starting out as a lethal fighter on Outworld's side but tipping the scales by fighting for Earthrealm instead.
Nightwolf
Another character heavily foreshadowed in Mortal Kombat is Nightwolf, a Native American shaman warrior whose portrait is featured in a clipping on Sonya Blade's research board. The accompanying text uses lore introduced in Mortal Kombat 11, which established that "Nightwolf" is actually a title passed down among the Matoka people, with one shaman warrior chosen in each generation and gifted with special abilities. Using the 2021 movie reboot's reinvention of how magic works in the Mortal Kombat universe, these powers could be Nightwolf's Arcana and the dragon brand may appear on the new warrior's skin when the previous Nightwolf dies. This passing of the torch also opens up the possibilities for who the current Nightwolf could be; for example, the movie could introduce a female version of the character.
Kenshi
Kenshi Takahashi isn't from the original Mortal Kombat lineup, nor is he explicitly teased in Mortal Kombat like Nightwolf and Kitana are. Nonetheless, he's a popular character who would fit well with the storyline that's been set up for the sequel. A champion of Earthrealm, Kenshi's backstory is that he was blinded by Shang Tsung and now carries a burning hatred for him - literally. Kenshi has pyrokinetic powers, like Liu Kang, but is armed with a katana and couples his fire-throwing powers with broader telekinetic abilities. This blindfolded, fire-wielding swordsman could make for an epic addition to Mortal Kombat 2's lineup, and the sequel could perhaps even make the fan-casting dream of Keanu Reeves as Kenshi come true.
Rain
The purple ninja prince of Edenia, Rain was actually supposed to appear in Mortal Kombat 2021 but ended up being cut from the script because his presence failed to move the story forward. Speaking to Screen Rant, director Simon McQuoid explained, "It wasn't that anyone didn't like him, it was just that how he was being brought about in that particular moment was just not buying enough bang for the buck." Rain may have been a difficult character to place in the story because there's little to make him stand out in the way that, for example, Scorpion and Sub-Zero's feud or Liu Kang's homeless orphan-turned-warrior monk backstory make those characters stand up. Rain didn't even initially have a backstory, being simply another palette-swapped version of Mortal Kombat's male ninja character model, and the backstories he's been given since have inconsistent. But with the tournament now set up to take place in Mortal Kombat 2, the sequel may find a better opportunity to make it rain.
Shao Kahn
While Mortal Kombat 2 could simply bring back Shang Tsung as its main villain once again, it only feels appropriate to step things up once the real tournament gets underway. The arrival of Shao Kahn would be complicated somewhat by the fact that Mortal Kombat 2021's official synopsis described Shang Tsung as the emperor of Outworld, whereas in the games Shao Kahn is emperor and Shang Tsung is his second-in-command. Still, this could easily be explained away - whether by a throwaway line about Shao Kahn leaving Shang Tsung to rule in his stead while he went about other business, or by Shao Kahn overthrowing Shang Tsung. Shao Kahn not only has important story ties to characters like Kitana, he's also sorely in need of a worthy live-action portrayal. The ending of 1995's Mortal Kombat set up an epic fight against Shao Kahn, but his appearance in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation left a lot to be desired.
Erron Black
Josh Lawson's wise-cracking laser-eyed Australian mercenary Kano was a major highlight of Mortal Kombat, but due to his unfortunate demise via Sonya's garden gnome, it's unclear whether he'll return for the sequel. Whether he does or doesn't, Kano's fellow gun-for-hire Erron Black would be a natural fit for Mortal Kombat 2. Once a fellow member of the Black Dragon mercenary clan, Erron Black ends up chasing adventure and profit by fighting on behalf of Outworld in the games. Since Earthrealm's champions have whittled Outworld's ranks down a bit by the end of Mortal Kombat, Outworld may need to recruit another unscrupulous fighter from Earth to fill out its ranks for the tournament. With his Texas drawl and twin revolvers, Erron would definitely be a cool addition to the lineup - and what movie can't be made better by adding a cowboy into the mix?
Noob Saibot
The undead revenant form of Sub-Zero, Noob Saibot made his first appearance in Mortal Kombat II. His name was concocted by spelling the surnames of Mortal Kombat creators Ed Boon and John Tobias backwards, and it wasn't until much later that "n00b" became derogatory gamer slang and Noob's name became rather unfortunate. Noob Saibot has a different set of powers (or Arcana, as they're called in the new Mortal Kombat movie) than he once did as Sub-Zero. As a ninja wraith he can teleport, create a shadow clone of himself, vanish into the darkness, and wields death-themed weapons like a scythe and sickle. Mortal Kombat directly sets up the return of Bi-Han/Sub-Zero in another form with its "death is only another portal" line, so the odds of seeing Noob Saibot in a sequel are high.
Baraka
If Outworld brings out the big guns in Mortal Kombat 2, one of those guns should definitely be Baraka. Goro was disemboweled and then impaled through the eye by Cole, but this Tarkatan general could take his place as the savage, heavy-hitting muscle on Team Outworld. Though he may only have two arms instead of four, Baraka's arms come with built-in blades that he can use to slice and dice his opponents, and he also has a pretty mean bite. The half-Tarkatan warrior Mileena, to whom Baraka is very loyal in the games, was killed by Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat, so Baraka could use the upcoming tournament as a way to avenge her death.
Sindel
If Shao Kahn and Kitana are introduced in the Mortal Kombat sequel, which seems likely, it would only be natural for the movie to also include Sindel - wife to Outworld's emperor and mother to Kitana. Musetta Vander's fun portrayal of the character was one of the few highlights of Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, and Sindel's striking appearance and super-sonic scream could make her stand out even in a crowded roster. Sisi Stringer's Mileena and Mel Jarnson's Nitara unfortunately weren't given much to do in Mortal Kombat 2021, but a sequel could offer a more fleshed-out female villain role for the right actress to sink her teeth her into.