Reptile Has Been Treated Terribly In Mortal Kombat Games And Lore

Unlocking the fight against Reptile in the first Mortal Kombat game was a badge of honor. Back then there were no guides, no YouTube videos – just pure luck, and skill. You had to get two ‘Flawless victories’ without blocking and perform a fatality on the pit stage. Also, a silhouette had to fly across the moon – which it did every 50 matches.

The developers were very respectful to the reptilian humanoid at first. Though he is among the last of his kind – Zaterran Saurian – Reptile was made Shang Tsung’s personal protector in Mortal Kombat 2. They gave him his own move set, which he didn’t have in the first game, and made him a playable character. His ending in the game is very respectable too.

He discovers the sorcerer he was protecting had a devious plan to enslave the rest of the Zaterran Saurians, enters the tournament, defeats Shao Khan, and turns on Shang Tsung so the rest of his species can live in peace. In the beginning, Reptile was a badass bodyguard and secret boss fight whose legend echoed in arcades everywhere. Reptile’s story in the second and third games involves him defeating and killing Shao Khan. The second time was due to Shao Khan disrespecting and shunning Reptile after he followed through on the emperor’s request to kill Kitana in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.

Killing Shao Khan twice should give the warrior some proper cred and respect in the subsequent sequels, but it doesn’t. Reptile’s ending in Mortal Kombat 4 undoes all of that and regulates him to be a servant – again. In his chambers, Reptile takes a knee in front of Quan Chi and begs for Shinnok to transport him back in time so he can live with his clan. He just defeated Shinnok – the game’s main boss. Surely that makes him worthy of a better fate?

But instead, Reptile is denied the request, becomes angry, and has his head exploded by Shinnok who shows up and cancels the deal between them because he views Reptile as someone who is in no position to demand anything despite the fact he [Reptile] just kicked his ass in hand-to-hand combat. Other characters do die in their own endings, but none have the fighting history of tournament lore like Reptile does. In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Reptile’s ending involved him becoming a vessel for the Dragon King Onaga. Instead of being infused with Onaga’s powers and becoming more powerful, Reptile is used as a possessed host and is replaced by Onaga.

The mountain of disrespect kept growing in Mortal Kombat 9. Reptile has zero speaking lines in the game’s story and is just regulated to henchmen as he is in Mortal Kombat 10. Against all odds, this reptilian humanoid survived extinction and won multiple tournaments only to not be given a proper place in Outworld. He’s not a general, he’s not a leader of any kind, and in Mortal Kombat 11 he’s not even a playable character in the game.

He is instead a character you kill in the Krypt for currency and it only takes one hit to do so. Reptile went from being a secret boss to a servant-henchman, to a giant piñata. Meanwhile, the ever-generic Liu Kang was killed off in Deadly Alliance but he’s now a god after the events of Mortal Kombat 11. The developers should have given Reptile a better standing in Outworld, but instead, they decided to give him the biggest fall of any character in the franchise.

So let’s heap some respect on Reptile – the most maltreated, unsung hero in Mortal Kombat history.