Mortal Kombat: Sub-Zero And Scorpion's Rivalry Explained

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Mortal Kombat Timeline: The Complete Story Explained

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Sub-Zero is Reborn as Noob Saibot

Since resurrection is kind of his thing, Quan Chi decides to bring Bi-Han back to life (kind of) and turn him into the soulless warrior known as Noob Saibot. Initially, Noob Saibot was mostly interested in taking his ruthless aggression out on the residents and rulers of the Netherrealm. He quickly established himself as one of the underworld’s most fearsome forces.

Interestingly, the entire Noob Saibot character was created as a joke by Ed Boon who wanted to add another secret character to MK2 that even Tobias didn’t know existed until the development of MK3 was underway. That’s particularly hilarious when you realize that Noob Saibot’s name is a reverse play on Boon and Tobias’ names.

Saibot would become a bigger player in MK lore later on, but he certainly wasn’t initially intended to be the reincarnation of Bi-Han, and Scorpion’s rivalry with Sub-Zero didn’t immediately detour into battles against Noob Saibot. Instead, the Scorpion/Sub-Zero rivalry would properly continue with the emergence of Bai-Han’s brother, Kuai Liang.

Scorpion and Kuai Liang’s Feud and Alliance

After Scorpion murdered Sub-Zero in the MK tournament, Bi-Han’s brother Kuai Liang decided to abandon his own codename (the admittedly awesome “Tundra”) and assume the Sub-Zero moniker as he searched for his brother’s killer.

Scorpion sees the new Sub-Zero during the MK2 tournament, thinks “new Sub-Zero, who dis?” and proceeds to battle the frozen warrior in the usual manner. Scorpion gets the upper hand, but he soon realizes that this isn’t the same Sub-Zero that he still believes killed his family. We’ll dive into the difficult job of reporting what happens next in a bit, but for the moment, let’s just say that the two actually form a kind of bond that grows into an alliance.

Quan Chi is having approximately none of that and (in one version of this story) works his magic to make Scorpion believe that Kuai Liang was involved in the massacre of Scorpion’s family as well. Scorpion nearly kills Kuai Liang, but Quan Chi steps in to finish the job himself. In the process, he can’t help but do a full James Bond villain monologue by revealing that he was responsible for the pair’s rivalry this whole time. While he tries to banish Scorpion before killing Sub-Zero, Scorpion is able to overcome Quan Chi and manages to drag him into the Netherrealm before the sorcerer is able to murder Sub-Zero.