Mortal Kombat 2 Is Doomed: How Wokeness Killed the Franchise
Once upon a time (not that long ago), Mortal Kombat 1 (2023) looked like it had a chance to reinvent the franchise in all the right ways.
A full reboot. A clean slate.
A chance to create a new golden age of fighting games that could compete with Street Fighter, Tekken, and whatever else the FGC is clinging to.
But what did we get instead? A fatality…and not the fun kind.
Image: NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros Nuking the Fun out of Mortal Kombat | ReportAFK
A franchise face-plant into a pit of DEI checklists, sterilized character designs, and creatively bankrupt “reimaginings.” And now, with Mortal Kombat 2 looming on the horizon, it’s looking less like a triumphant sequel and more like a bloated corpse twitching on the mat.
Still twitching, sure…but stone cold dead all the same.
Did Sweet Baby Inc. Kill Mortal Kombat 1?
Let’s get one thing straight – because it just needs to be said.
Despite the internet conspiracy theories, Sweet Baby Inc. (the studio behind DEI-stroying game franchises like Spider-Man 2, Gotham Knights, and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League) was not likely involved in Mortal Kombat 1.
Not from a single confirmed source that anyone was ever able to find online at least.
Image: Was Sweet Baby Inc Involved in MK1? No, They Ruined That Themselves | ReportAFK
They’re not credited, not named, and not anywhere near the game. But it almost doesn’t matter. Because MK1 managed to cram in enough bafflingly tone-deaf decisions all on its own to make it feel like Sweet Baby’s fingerprints were all over it.
Think about that real hard though: Mortal Kombat 1 was so drenched in wokeness, so overflowing with intentional ideology, that the public was absolutely sure that SBI was involved, despite not having any receipts.
You can think otherwise, but show me a single piece of concrete proof.
I’m not saying the game was good or that SBI doesn’t destroy every game it graces with its reverse Midas Touch – I’m just saying that this particular game doesn’t seem to be linked with them being terrible and that NetherRealm Studios and Warner Bros did that all on their own.
Gender Swaps and the Great Cyborg Crisis
Let’s talk about Cyrax and Sektor. Once-iconic male cyberninjas, now inexplicably gender-swapped in the Khaos Reigns DLC…was anyone without blue hair and a nose ring asking for that? Did fans rally together demanding Female Sektor with a tragic backstory and a quota-fueled voice line?
No. They didn’t. But we got it anyway.
“They gender-swapped and ruined beloved characters. This is the most glaring example of forced DEI.” — BoundingIntoComics
It didn’t stop there either.
Rumors of “Janet Cage” being a real thing floated through the community like a fart in an elevator. And while Ed Boon tried to play it off with the usual “new timeline = new possibilities” excuse, most longtime fans smelled exactly what was cooking, and it stunk something nasty.
No Sex Please, We’re Kombatants
Once upon a time, Mortal Kombat characters were unapologetically sexy. Kitana, Mileena, Sonya – hell, even the men had a raw, edgy, hyper-masculine energy that matched the funderful mountains of violence.
But in MK1, it’s all armor plating, muted colors, and the vague feeling that someone at the studio watched a TED Talk titled “Why Your Game Characters Should Dress Like 3rd Grade Math Teachers.”
Image: The Rumored Fable X Mortal Kombat Crossover | ReportAFK
It’s not just the women, either. Even the guys look like they were designed by a marketing committee terrified of Twitter. This is Mortal Kombat, not LinkedIn Kombat.
If I wanted neutered designs and flat charisma, I’d play a Ubisoft game – not the game that was characterized in the 90’s for overwhelmingly awesome violence and exaggerated physiques.
Dialogue Drenched in Cringe
The writing in MK1 feels like it was run through a “modern inclusivity filter” set to MAX. Between the awkward banter, identity-first introductions, and forced emotional arcs, the game felt more like a CW drama directed by Jellywig than a brutal arcade fighter.
It’s not clever. It’s not cool. And it sure as hell isn’t Kombat. It’s sanitized, studio-polished, algorithmically approved storytelling. The type that tries so hard to not offend anyone that it ends up pleasing no one.
More Like MK 2 the garbage fire
Now we’ve got Mortal Kombat 2 on the way (both the game and the movie), and things are already off to a rocky, disheartening start.
Let’s start with the Jade situation. Yes, that Jade. Fan-favorite character, usually depicted as a fierce, stylish warrior with a signature green badass look. In the upcoming MK2 movie, she’s been reimagined… as bald. That’s right. Shaved head Jade. Because apparently, edgy now means stripping characters of all personality, individuality, and hair.
Image: Woke Garbage Jade Looks Like a Copy/Paste of DEI Intergalactic by Naughty Dog
The producers say “there’s a reason” (but don’t worry, they’ll get back to us after the box office flop).
As for the game itself? Rumors are already swirling that more reimagined versions of legacy characters are coming. And at this point, nobody is even pretending they’re excited. When your fanbase is bracing for the next wave of identity-fueled reboots instead of cheering for gameplay reveals, you’ve got a problem.
Sales, Steam Stats, and Soul Loss
Let’s not pretend all this went unnoticed. Mortal Kombat 1 had a strong launch window, but within a few months, the numbers told the real story. Steam player count tanked. DLC engagement dropped. And across forums and reviews, the same sentiment kept bubbling up: this isn’t the Mortal Kombat we loved.
When players are checking out faster than Scorpion can yell “Get over here!”, you don’t need a marketing degree to know your brand is bleeding out.
MK2 Is Dead on Arrival
Mortal Kombat 2 isn’t just looking like a misfire. It’s looking like a straight-up execution of the franchise’s core identity. What made MK great – its boldness, its edge, its raw unapologetic violence and over-the-top and insane characters – is being replaced with gender-flipped bots, neutered aesthetics, and hairless redesigns that scream “we care more about optics than fans.”
So yeah. I’m calling it now. Mortal Kombat 2 is Dead on Arrival. Finish Him? Nah. The franchise already finished itself.
This was a commentary article based on publicly available information and personal opinion. Readers are encouraged to form their own conclusions based on the sources cited.
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