The new Mortal Kombat movie will feature ice ninja Sub-Zero as one of its main antagonists, and a number of his classic moves have already been confirmed for the film. The new movie features an ensemble cast of characters from the popular video game series, including Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax Briggs (Mehcad Brooks), Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim). The reboot is scheduled to release in theaters and will also stream on HBO Max from April 16.
According to director Simon McQuoid, Sub-Zero will be one of the primary villains of the Mortal Kombat reboot. He’s always been a rival of Scorpion in the games, but their origin story has been moved back to feudal Japan for the new film. That means that both Scorpion and Sub-Zero have already been resurrected from the dead or otherwise supernaturally kept alive, with hundreds of years of hate brewing up by the time of their inevitable onscreen confrontation.
Because the Sub-Zero in the new Mortal Kombat is confirmed to be Bi-Han, the elder of two brothers from the games who've donned the mantle, it’s also possible he could turn into the shadow ninja Noob Saibot by the end of the movie. Bi-Han has usually been a villainous force in the franchise, previously turning from Sub-Zero into Noob Saibot after giving up the last remnants of his humanity. However, from what’s been shown so far, it seems like Bi-Han will be Sub-Zero for at least the majority of the story, and lots of his classic ice fatalities and special moves have already been confirmed. Here’s every move confirmed so far.
Ice Freeze
The ice freeze, also known as the ice ball, is Sub-Zero’s most basic and essential move from the game series. There have been many variations of the move over the years, but the gist has remained the same – Sub-Zero launches a small, directed ice projectile at his opponent, freezing them and/or dealing damage on impact. The ice freeze doesn’t appear in the Mortal Kombat trailer in quite its traditional form, but the character does show projectile ice and freezing abilities at different points, such as when he shoots ice into the barrel of Jax’s shotgun to freeze it from the inside out. It seems certain he’ll throw at least one or two proper ice balls by the time the end credits roll, as the ice freeze still seems to be the basis for all of Sub-Zero’s cryomancy powers.
Ground Ice
Another one of Sub-Zero oldest and most basic abilities is his ground ice power, which lays a thin frozen layer beneath an opponent to trap them or freeze them in place. It’s typically been a more defensive move, used to create space and set up an attack. In the Mortal Kombat trailer, however, Sub-Zero uses the move in a much more aggressive way, freezing the ground and shaping it up into an ice wall, then throwing Scorpion down along the ground ice and smashing him through the wall. In some ways, the movie version seems like a fusion of the classic ground ice and the games’ ice clone technique, which creates a frozen double of Sub-Zero as an obstacle. Maybe a proper ice clone will be used in the final film too.
Ice Sword
Sub-Zero’s ice sword is one of his most stylish and iconic moves and a tool that’s taken many shapes throughout different Mortal Kombat games. Some entries, like Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, show the villain sporting a more permanent ice sword dubbed the Kori Blade. Others, like Mortal Kombat 9, show him briefly conjuring and subsequently shattering different ice blades as part of longer combos. That second method appears a couple of times in the trailer footage – once when Sub-Zero conjures a broadsword out of ice and again when he stabs blood out of Scorpion and freezes it into a dagger in midair. Since Scorpion sports his own trademark blades in the new film, Bi-Han will probably be using his own ice swords a good bit.
Ice Shower
A less common Sub-Zero move, the ice shower, appears in the Mortal Kombat trailer, albeit in altered form. Typically, the ice shower sees Sub-Zero launch a concentrated ice blast into the air, which then comes back down as an overhead blow. The video game version is tight and targeted, like an ice ball that’s lobbed instead of fired straight ahead.
In the trailer, Sub-Zero shows off a much more powerful version of the ice shower attack. The scene shows him walking down a dimly lit street at night, raising his hands to channel a cloud of frozen shards over his head. With one swift strike, he brings them all down, carpeting the whole street in a swathe of icy blades. It’s unclear who Bi-Han is attacking during this moment but hopefully, they packed a very durable umbrella.
Ice Shatter
In addition to his various famous moves, Sub-Zero shows one fatality in the Mortal Kombat trailer – his brutal ice shatter. In fairness, the version seen in the preview isn’t technically a fatality, as Jax clearly survives the ordeal. However, the attack itself is still very in line with one of Sub-Zero’s classic finishers. The ice shatter and similar fatalities with different names have appeared in many entries in the MK franchise. Past versions include one where Sub-Zero freezes and shatters the legs out from under his opponent or another where he freezes the bottom half of their body and rips the top half off.
The version of the ice shatter seen in the trailer is particularly brutal because it’s part of Jax’s backstory. In the games, Ermac is the one who rips off Jax’s arms, but that role has been put on Sub-Zero instead. Jax is even more formidable with his cybernetic arms, however, so it should be interesting to see what happens when the two meet again later in the story. Hopefully Sub-Zero has plenty more classic moves in store for when Mortal Kombat arrives in April 2021.
