Mortal Kombat is home to many different villains that the heroes must defeat, but who are the biggest threats in all the realms?

With eleven main entries in the franchise, Mortal Kombat has always introduced new characters with each title. What began as a roster of seven characters ended up becoming the mythology of dozens of heroes, with even newer titles introduce new characters such as Cassie Cage and Kotal Kahn.

In order to have all these characters fighting, there must be villains that pose a threat to the realms. From the beginning all the way to Mortal Kombat 11, the developers have always pushed the envelope when it comes to the villains. Some are so powerful that they seem like gods, while others are actual gods.

10 Quan Chi

One look at this pale-skinned sorcerer who serves Lord Shinnok in the Netherrealm, and any player would expect an intimidating foe. Unfortunately, Quan Chi has always been a bit of a joke since he rarely does anything spectacular. The best thing about Quan Chi is his ties to Scorpion and Sub-Zero's origin story.

Other than that, he acts as the punching bag for the heroes. He's always failing, and despite a cold and sinister voice, Quan Chi is not imposing. However, he does boast power by being able to create powerful undead warriors known as Revenants, which include Scorpion and other famous characters.

9 Sindel

The Queen of Edenia, Sindel was already a powerful warrior in life. When brought back to life, Sindel with her banshee's spirit was capable of laying waste to several Earthrealm fighters. This included Jax, Cyber Sub-Zero, Stryker, Smoke, Kitana, and Jade. Sindel even killed Nightwolf, who took her down with him.

Sindel is also a cunning and evil woman, who when combined with her husband Shao Kahn, nearly led to the end of the realms in Mortal Kombat 11. Sindel possesses powerful magical screams and the ability to manipulate her hair in any way, which enhances her fighting skills.

8 Onaga

Who was in charge before Shao Kahn? That would be Onaga, the Dragon King. He was the true ruler of Outworld with the most powerful necromancy skills in the Mortal Kombat lore. Onaga was killed by one of his chief advisors, Shao Kahn, who became the new Emperor.

Though he looks and sounds powerful, he's only that in terms of a boss fight. His role in Mortal Kombat: Deception's story is weak and comes across as tacked on. As a result, there is no full grasp of how powerful he is.

7 Revenant Liu Kang

What happens when you mix Liu Kang, Shang Tsung, and Quan Chi? It results in a very angry, evil, and powerful Liu Kang. Due to meddling with the timeline, Liu Kang is accidentally killed in a fight with Raiden. In many ways, he is even deadlier than the most famous Revenant, Scorpion.

Quan Chi and Shinnok revived him as a Revenant. Unlike others, Liu Kang and Kitana relished in their new evil forms. They even helped when Kronika plotted to restart time. Liu Kang was able to fight Raiden, master dark magics like Shang Tsung's, and his relentlessness made him nearly unstoppable.

6 Dark Raiden

Not a Revenant, Dark Raiden is a corrupted version of Earthrealm's protector. In the first timeline, he became sick of Earthrealm's failures and it drove him down a dark path. In the second timeline, his own guilt combined with Shinnok's amulet turned him into a tyrant on a warpath.

Dark Raiden wields immense powers, capable of holding off Netherrealm armies even when he wasn't at full strength. Earthrealm's heroes all feared him, especially since he was capable of torturing and decapitating a fallen Elder God.

5 Shinnok

For all intents and purposes, Shinnok is the devil of the Mortal Kombat universe. He was the Elder God of Death who was cast down to the Netherrealm for trying to rise against them. In the second timeline, Shinnok was defeated thanks to the hidden power of the Cage family. First, he was defeated by Johnny Cage, then by Johnny's prodigal daughter Cassie.

Shinnok can corrupt anyone to fight for him, create Revenants, control armies of demons, and can summon constructs made from bones to use as attacks. Unfortunately, Shinnok cannot be killed, but Dark Raiden shows him that there are worse things than death by leaving him as a decapitated head.

4 Cetrion

One of the almighty Elder Gods and the sister of Shinnok, Cetrion is the goddess of light and virtue to balance out Shinnok. For ages, Cetrion stood as a paragon of virtue but was a blind servant to her mother Kronika. As a result, she turned on her fellow Elder Gods and helped wipe them from existence.

Being an Elder God, Cetrion is obviously quite powerful. She can control and manipulate any of the main elements like earth, air, fire, or water. She can use these to create flaming rocks or dagger-like rain. In the story, only those powered by Kronika's crown or Liu Kang in his Fire God form could defeat her.

3 Shang Tsung

Everyone's favorite sorcerer who originally served as Shao Kahn's puppet, Shang Tsung did fear the power of his Emperor but he was smarter than Shao Kahn. As shown in Mortal Kombat 11, he bided his time and waited for the right moment to overpower Shao Kahn and betray him.

Shang Tsung has been Shao Kahn's right hand for a reason: his necromancy skills are the best, he is relentless, and he is a deadly fighter, hence why he was the final challenge of the Mortal Kombat tournament. In Mortal Kombat 11, he became godlike when he wore Kronika's crown to defeat her and become a Keeper Of Time until Fire God Liu Kang interfered.

2 Shao Kahn

There is a reason why both Shinnok and Shang Tsung originally feared Shao Kahn in the beginning. He is a being capable of killing gods like Raiden and Shinnok. With his war hammer, heavy magic armor, and cheap attacks that have plagued gamers since Mortal Kombat II, Shao Kahn has earned the fear of others. He is definitely not the immortal with daddy issues shown in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation.

Those who have played Mortal Kombat (2011) will know the nightmare of facing him. He is purposefully designed to be one of the most aggravating bosses of all time. Even in Mortal Kombat 11, Shao Kahn can be deadly in the right player's hands.

1 Kronika

It was revealed with Mortal Kombat 11 that Elder Gods are the spawn of Titans, the beings that created and manipulate existence. Kronika is the Keeper of Time, able to manipulate the flow of time to her design. Being the mother of Shinnok, she despises Raiden and the inevitable result of her son's death, so she plots to restart time.

When she is given her crown filled with legions of souls, Kronika becomes a powerful boss that uses different forms of sand and time manipulation to overpower the player. In the story, she is actually so powerful that it takes even more time travel to completely defeat her.

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