Age 24 (as of MK 1)
Height 5' 10" (178 cm)
Weight 185 lb. (85 kg)
Place of Origin China, Earthrealm
Appearances Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat 3
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Mortal Kombat 4
Mortal Kombat Gold
Mortal Kombat Advance
MK: Deception
MK: Shaolin Monks
MK: Unchained
MK: Armageddon
Species Human
Allies Kung Lao
Johnny Cage
Raiden
Sonya Blade
Sindel
Kai
Kitana
Enemies Shao Kahn
Shang Tsung
Quan Chi
Shinnok
Onaga
Tanya
Goro
Fighting styles Jun Fan
Pao Chui
Jeet Kune Do
Choy Lay Fut
Monkey
Dragon
Weapons Dragon Sword (MK4)
Nunchaku (MK)
Alignment Good
Portrayers Ho Sung Pak (MK, MKII)
Eddie Wong (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
Robin Shou (both films)
Carmichael Simon (Mortal Kombat: The Live Tour)
Liu Kang is a stereotypical character in fighting games, a fusion of both Eastern and Western traditions in martial arts movies. Although in name a Shaolin fighting monk, his style and manners are more westernised. He moves quickly and possesses formidable fighting skills. Liu Kang is one of the best warriors of earthrealm and has beaten many to prove his valor. Throughout the series, Liu Kang has been gradually portrayed as the main hero, becoming Champion after the first Mortal Kombat tournament and then follow whatever quest Raiden has in mind for him. His romantic interest is princess Kitana, but he is unable to commit himself to a relationship due to him being a Shaolin monk.
In a shocking move that altered the course of the Mortal Kombat series, Liu Kang was brutally murdered by Shang Tsung (who had Quan Chi's assistance) in the prelude of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, his soul consumed by Tsung. He did return in Mortal Kombat: Deception, albeit as an undead corpse. He also co-stars alongside Kung Lao, Sub-Zero, Scorpion and others in his latest adventure game: Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, and will return again in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
Storyline
Liu Kang follows the teachings of the shaolin White Lotus Society and was sent by the Temple of Light to defeat Shang Tsung. He desired to defeat Shang Tsung and bring the tournament back to its Shaolin owners. Liu Kang was trained by Master Bo' Rai Cho, who taught him the Flying Kick. As he made his way to the tournament, he met and became friends with Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. At the time of Liu Kang's entry, Outworld had won nine Mortal Kombat tournaments in a row. Eventually, Liu Kang earned the right to challenge Goro to Mortal Kombat. By exploiting the Shokan's overconfidence, Liu Kang defeated Goro and became the new Champion of Mortal Kombat. Upon hearing of Goro's defeat, Shang Tsung challenged Liu Kang. After an epic battle, Liu Kang defeated Shang Tsung with his Flying Kick, emerging as the new champion of Mortal Kombat.
Coming home from Tsung's Island, he found many of his Shaolin killed in a vicious attack by a Tarkatan horde. Enraged, Liu Kang decided to travel to Outworld by himself, backed by his friend Johnny Cage and fellow White Lotus member and spiritual brother Kung Lao, to seek revenge. At the Outworld tournament he met Kitana, and began to fall in love with her. He learned the true nature of the Outworld tournament but competed anyway. While it is unclear as to what matches took place, it is known that Liu Kang fought Shao Kahn himself, eventually overpowering the emperor. (It is also likely that before facing Kahn, Liu Kang had a rematch with Shang Tsung in front of Kahn himself. Despite having his youth back Shang Tsung was defeated by Liu Kang after a long brutal fight between the pair.) Near defeat, Kahn ordered his forces to destroy the earth fighters, forcing Earth's heroes to return home and to begin preparing for the coming invasion.
After returning to Earthrealm, Liu Kang along with Kung Lao, began training a new generation of Shaolin Warriors, but was interrupted when the invasion began. As Kahn's extermination squads were sent to kill Earth's chosen warriors, Liu Kang found himself the primary target. Kung Lao who went against Shao Kahn was nearly beaten to death. Enraged, Liu Kang challenged the Emperor to Mortal Kombat, and after the epic final battle, he defeated Shao Kahn causing him and his forces to retreat back to Outworld. The souls that Khan had trapped were set free and, just before the portal closed, Liu Kang was thanked by Kitana for his part in saving both Earth and her realm from Shao Kahn.
Liu Kang traveled to America to look for a new generation of Shaolin warriors to train. While there in America, he met his old friend Kai. The two then travelled back to China, where Liu Kang trained Kai to be a Shaolin Warrior. However, the peace was not to last, as the fallen Elder God Shinnok had escaped from the Netherrealm through a portal to Edenia. Upon learning that Kitana had been captured, Liu Kang set out on his own to save her, but he was unsuccessful. Liu Kang returned to Earth, where he began gathering Earth's warriors to save Earth and assist his mentor, Raiden.
Eventually, the battle with Shinnok came, and once the ninja specter Scorpion trapped the sorcerer Quan Chi in the Netherrealm, Shinnok's source of power (his amulet) was cut off, allowing Liu Kang to defeat him. Liu Kang returned to the Shaolin Temples. But the cost was high: he had lost Kitana forever. However, the Edenian Princess appeared through a portal from Edenia and thanked Liu Kang for all he had done. She offered him a chance to join her at the throne of Edenia. However, due to the responsiblities as a Mortal Kombat Champion, Liu Kang was forced to decline her offer.
Liu Kang as a zombie in DeceptionFor some years, Liu Kang went on to enjoy relative peace. However, the Deadly Alliance would make itself known on Earth by its successful assassination attempt of Liu Kang. Shang Tsung posed as Kung Lao and snuck up on the champion as he was practicing his katas. Shang Tsung's helped by the assistance of Quan Chi, who caught Liu Kang in the back unawares with a projectile. Shang Tsung used this distraction to gain the upper hand and snapped Liu Kang's neck. He then consumed his soul. Liu Kang's mutilated body was discovered by his friend Kung Lao, and he was laid to rest at the Wu Shi Academy, where a shrine was built to honor him.
Almost immediately after however, some unknown force reanimated Liu Kang's body and set it on a rampage, slaughtering many of Liu Kang's fellow Shaolin monks. Liu Kang's soul was trapped within Shang Tsung, who was in Outworld. In the culmination of the events of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Raiden released his godlike essence in order to destroy Onaga, presumably killing both Quan Chi and Shang Tsung in the process. While it is unknown whether or not Quan Chi and Shang Tsung are truly dead, it has been established that the thousands of souls that Tsung consumed in the past were released, including that of Liu Kang. Liu Kang's spirit decided to stay in Outworld to assist in the war against Onaga, but he soon discovered his body's "resurrection" and was stricken by what he had done. Although Liu Kang wasn't technically responsible, he couldn't help but feel responsibility for the actions committed by his corporeal form. He also learned about his comrades and how they had been enslaved by Onaga. From there, Liu Kang enlisted the mysterious ninja Ermac as an ally and had two missions to complete. The first was to try and save his friends from Onaga with Ermac, the second to defeat and stop his body from doing further harm.
Possible future
While the fate of all the characters at this point is unknown, it is shown in Ermac's ending that he and Liu Kang were successful in freeing Liu Kang's friends from Onaga's control. Also, Liu Kang's ending shows that his body and spirit had been merged back together by Raiden. If these Mortal Kombat: Deception endings are indeed canon, Liu Kang will once again be among the living, and his friends will be restored back to their normal selves. Whether they will shall become known in the upcoming Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, where Liu Kang will make an appearance. A promotional photo of the game which features the entire Mortal Kombat cast depicts Liu Kang in his undead form (although in the teaser trailer released by Midway, he can be seen alive when the renders flash by) however no backstory information on the character's fate after Deception has been given at this time. A recently released video shows what may be a clip of the Mortal Kombat intro, in which (in his undead form) he starts to attack Shang Tsung. On Liu Kang's trading card, he states he now "exists as a living corpse, fueled by vengeance."[1]
Fighting styles
Liu Kang has adopted Jun Fan as his primary fighting style. His other fighting style is Pao Chui, which loosely translates to "Cannon Fist", and his weapon of choice is the nunchaku, (though he used a sword in Mortal Kombat 4) another trait inherent In the Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks instruction manual, Liu Kang is also described to be a practitioner of various animal styles in Shaolin Kung Fu in particular. He also has been trained in the style of Choy Lay Fut. He is regarded as a high-tier character because of the speed and advantage of his Jun Fan style, as well as his flying kick.In a recently realesed video it showed that lui kangs fighting styles will be Jun Fan and his weapons are heavily debated that they are his chain hooks.
Trademarks
Has long hair (he started the series out with short hair).
He has worn a red headband since MKII. It was believed that he wore this to mock Street Fighter character Ryu, although that is simply an assumption by many fans.
His Bicycle Kick and his Flying Kick are two main household Mortal Kombat moves in which fans remember Liu Kang by. The Flying Kick however was placed upon Sonya Blade in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and Kung Lao had a move that somewhat emulated Liu Kang's trademark Bicycle Kick. His bicycle kick was also given to Sonya in MK3 in the form of the rising bicycle kick in which Sonya would repeatedly kick a character in the face while pushing the character off their feet and into the air at an angle.
He is well known for his Dragon Fatality, the first fatality in which he actually killed his opponent. (Previously, he executed a flying windmill kick to get closer to his opponent and simply uppercut them, ending the match while still getting a 'Fatality' bonus.)
His voice can grow curiously high-pitched in battle, his trademark 'kiais' being affectionately known by fans as his 'turkey call'. He still talks normally, though, in his Mortal Kombat 4 ending. Another reason was that Liu Kang's character was inspired by Bruce Lee.
Memorable moves
Flying Kick: Liu Kang would fly across the screen and connect with a kick to the opponent's torso. This is the move that won the original MK Tournament. (MK, MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MK Gold, MKD, MK:SM)
Standing Fireball: Liu Kang would send a fiery flame across the screen out of his hands at his opponent. (MK, MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MK Gold, MKD, MK:SM)
Air Fireball: Liu Kang could perform his Fireball in the air. (MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MK Gold, MK:SM)
Crouching Fireball: Kneeling down, Liu Kang would send the same fireball at his opponent's feet. (MKII, MK3, UMK3, MK4, MK Gold, MKD, MK:SM)
Bicycle Kick: Liu Kang would fly across the screen with a series of multiple kicks to the opponent's torso. (MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MK Gold, MKD, MK:SM)
Shadowed Bicycle Kick: Appearing in only one game, this increased the move's speed. (MKT)
Flaming Inferno: After sending out two different fireballs, Liu Kang would summon enough power to send a huge fireball as well. (MK:SM)
Fatalities
Ultimate 360 – Liu Kang simply does a butterfly kick and uppercuts his opponent. The opponent isn't explicitly murdered (unless it is used as a stage fatality), and was created to show Kang's faith in the Shaolin way. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, there were two versions one where the victim explodes to pieces upon impact and the original one. (MK, MKII MK:SM)
Dragon – Liu Kang's signature fatality sees him morphing into a large dragon and consuming the upper body of his opponent. This later became his Animality.(MKII, MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK4, MK:SM)
Funeral Pyre – Liu Kang disappears and sets his opponent alight, burning him or her to death. Liu Kang then reappears. (MK3)
Arcade drop – Liu Kang disappears and a large Mortal Kombat arcade machine drops on top of his opponent, crushing him/her to death. (MK3)
Toss and burn – Liu Kang throws his opponent in the air and launches a fireball which tears apart his opponent's body. (MK4)
Body Invader – Liu Kang dissipates and takes control of his enemy's body. Then the manipulated foe rips his/her own head off, revealing Liu Kang underneath. ('MK)
Champion Fireball – Liu Kang charges his hands with fire, stealing some energy from his opponent in the process, and the opponent becomes unable to move. He then fires the fireball at his opponent and they explode. (MK)
Shaolin Soccer – A fatality which spoofs the movie of the same name, Liu Kang charges his hand with flames, rolls forward, uppercuts his opponent's head into the air, and then jumps forward with an athletic soccer kick and kicks the head into his opponent's body. Upon impact with the body, the opponent and the opponent's head explode. (MK:SM)
Bonebreak Combo – With a series of martial arts maneuvers, Liu Kang snaps his opponent's arms, legs, and finally his/her neck. (MK:SM)
Fire/Kick Combo – Liu Kang throws a fireball at his opponent which lights them ablaze. Liu then jumps forward and in slow motion does a flying kick through his opponent's flaming body which rips them into fiery chunks. (MK:SM)
Head Clap – Similar to Jax's fatality, Liu Kang charges his hands with fire, and claps them together onto his opponent's head, shattering it into tiny skull fragments. (MK:SM)
Giant Stomp – Liu Kang kicks his opponent onto his back, then in slow motion jumps above his opponent's body and stomps on their mid-section. Up to this point, this Fatality is most likely an homage to a similar move Bruce Lee performed in Enter the Dragon. However, Liu takes it a step further by continuing to grind his feet into the victim's torso until he separates them in two. (MK:SM)
Arm Rip – Once again borrowing from Jax, Liu Kang rips both of his opponent's arms off. However, he goes a step further by beating them to death with their own severed limbs. (MK:SM)
Other finishers
Disco Liu (Friendship): A Disco ball would drop from the sky and disco music would play. Liu Kang would then dance a little disco. (MKII)
MK Shadows (Friendship): Liu Kang would create a shadow puppet that resembled the MK Dragon logo. He then appears to be making it laugh. (MK3, UMK3, MKT)
Brutality: Liu brutalizes the opponent using all his combos in a great speed, and then finally executing an uppercut to make his opponent explode. (MKT)
Hara-Kiri – Liu Kang charges his hands with green energy. The energy then engulfs his entire body and he falls to pieces. (MK)
Movie appearance
Liu Kang in the first moviePortrayed by Robin Shou, Liu Kang is the main hero in both Mortal Kombat movies (Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation), and it's there that his love interest with Kitana develops, and was later ported to the games. He does not use the "turkey voice" in the movies. In the first movie, Liu's brother is named Chan (not Chow as specified in the video game), and he was killed by Shang Tsung. Liu Kang is also very critical of both Nightwolf and Raiden.
Trivia
The famous "bicycle kick" is a possible reference to the shadowless kick from by Wong Fei Hung from Once Upon a Time in China.
Liu Kang's original name was going to be Yoshitsune Minamoto.
Liu Kang's MK4 face model is based on Midway´s video artist Josh Tsui.
Is Mortal Kombat's current and undisputed champion. He is referred to as "The immortal champion of Mortal Kombat" in later games, and his ending in Mortal Kombateception has him again assuming the role upon his restoration to life.
Some believe that Liu Kang is a descendant of the Great Kung Lao. A trading card available during the first game's arcade run states this, as does the first movie. However, it was never officially confirmed canon. Kung Lao's Mortal Kombat II bio also states that Lao is the last descendant. The matter is made even more confusing because of the Dreamcast exclusive release of Mortal Kombat Gold. Although Goro's bio mentions it, it misuses the word "ancestor" in place of "descendant", thus reading as "only to have it won from him [Goro] by Lao's ancestor, Liu Kang." It is possible that Kang and Lao are cousins.
Liu Kang deals double damage upon Onaga in Mortal Kombat: Deception.
A victorious round against Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat II does not lead to Kahn's usual voice declaring that the player's character wins. If Liu Kang is the chosen fighter, he will utter a small war cry upon winning the round.
He was the first Shaolin warrior to be crowned as the champion since the Great Kung Lao, Kung Lao's ancestor.
Was the only Mortal Kombat character who had a fatality in which the opponent was not explicitly murdered (save for the Pit Fatality). His finishing move was also the only one in the original MK game that was performed without the background dimming. This was because Liu Kang was depicted as a Shaolin monk, and, in general, Shaolin monks have strict beliefs on committing murder. However, starting with Mortal Kombat II, he was given gory fatalities as he was depicted as a renegade monk who had "strong Shaolin beliefs, but was no longer a part of the Shaolin monks."
MK co-creator Ed Boon has openly compared Liu Kang to Luke Skywalker from the original Star Wars trilogy.
Liu Kang's signature Dragon Fatality, which debuted in Mortal Kombat II, was turned into an animality in MK3 and back into a normal fatality in MK4.
He is the fifth Mortal Kombat character to have a game based around him (Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks). He and Kung Lao are the game's two protagonists.
He is often compared to Bruce Lee's character, Lee, from Enter the Dragon, the movie on which Mortal Kombat was based as well.
Ho Sung Pak, who played Liu Kang in the first two games, also appeared as Shang Tsung in the first game as well.
Liu Kang's background is quite different than other Bruce Lee inspired characters. While characters from other series are usually business men (such as a movie star, bouncer, or a restaurant owner), Liu Kang's background seems to be more serious as being as Shaolin monk. Because of this, he's often compared to Bruce Lee's character, Lee, from Enter the Dragon.
In the first trailer of Mortal Kombat Armageddon, his Shaolin Monks render was shown, indicating that he may not return in his zombie form.
Liu Kang's life ended when Shang Tsung snapped his neck. Ironically, in Shaolin Monks, Liu Kang kicks Shang Tsung to one knee and proceeds to snap his neck. The canonicity of this occurrence is in question, since Shaolin Monks has introduced many controversial situations in regards to the actual Mortal Kombat mythology.
Liu Kang and Kung Lao had a cameo in the comic [[Ctrl+Alt+Del]].
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10-15-2006 04:16 AM
