Mirror Match

The Mirror Match is a special match battle introduced in Mortal Kombat. The player has to face the character that they are playing as in kombat. The difference between each identical character is distinguished by the color of their clothes or of their skin.

Overview[]

In the original Mortal Kombat tournament, kombatants had to not only face their enemies in battle, but themselves. Facing a doppelganger, players had to defeat a warrior who shared their own strengths and weaknesses. Essentially, it is a duel where one must overcome themselves if they are to face the likes of Shang Tsung as they become truly aware of their own strengths as well as the weaknesses they can conquer.

In Mortal Kombat X, mirror matches are a topic of interest thanks to the unique interactions that each kombatant has before a fight. In one instance with Reptile, his double is Shang Tsung himself when Reptile assumed he was Chameleon. Other instances heavily imply the convergence of different timelines as Raiden must fight against an alternate version of himself who fights for Chaosrealm instead of Earthrealm while the Scorpion of the new timeline is faced against his original counterpart during his time as the Elder Gods' champion, with Lt. Sonya Blade meeting her future Gen. Sonya Blade self. Also, Shinnok faces his double who [he] "didn't kill at the pyramid".

This level of intrigue would later return to play a big role in the story of Mortal Kombat 11 where characters are be faced with past versions of themselves, particularly Liu Kang and Kung Lao confronting their future Revenant counterparts. In one Mirror Match, the Scorpion from Mortal Kombat X is seen acknowledging and defending Kuai Liang's sincerity in their newfound alliance while the opposing version believes Sub-Zero to be treacherous. Interactions between future and past selves also come with immense risks as damage inflicted on the past self will be reflected on the future self such as the younger Johnny Cage being shot in the face with the exact same scar being reflected on the older version as well as feeling their pain. In other cases, characters are faced with family members with identical visages such as Bi-Han in his human form, Sub-Zero's Grandfather, Liu Kang's ancestor Cheh Kang, or Shang Tsung's brother Shang Lao.

Mortal Kombat 1 would take the concept to its logical extreme in the latter half of the Story with the introduction of parallel timelines following the previous game's final battle for control of the Keep. This would introduce not only Titan versions of Liu Kang's old allies, but evil versions of them working for Titan Shang Tsung. This eventually culminates in another Armageddon-style battle between the Forces of Light and Darkness, Liu Kang assembling not only his own chosen warriors, but kombatants across parallel timelines, including heroic versions of his old enemies to match Shang Tsung's. Due to being able to choose the final warrior to accompany Liu Kang, they have the chance to fight characters from other endings of previous games and timelines such as Smoke facing off against his cyberized version from MK3 or Shao fighting a fleshbound version of the merger between him and Sub-Zero.

Appearance in Other Media[]

A similar mirror match is also featured in the Mortal Kombat comic published by Malibu Comics when Sonya battles her doppelganger as the beaten Johnny Cage watched them fight in confusion.