Look, I may be biased, but I believe that Mortal Kombat has many great characters. The development team has way more hits than it does misses. Nonetheless, those misses are pretty notable, but that’s bound to happen when the franchise is 30 years old.
Although Mortal Kombat has some bad characters, I believe that they could be made better with a little (or a lot of) revamping. I would love to see some of these characters reimagined and brought back into the fold. As it stands, however, these are the 5 worst Mortal Kombat characters in the franchise’s history.
5 Worst Mortal Kombat Characters
- Jarek
- Mavado
- Meat
- Mokap
- Dairou
1. Jarek
A member of the Black Dragon clan, Jarek was introduced in Mortal Kombat 4 as an adversary of Sonya Blade. Oh, does that sound familiar? You’re right, that kind of sounds like Kano’s story. But that’s alright, that doesn’t automatically make him a copy of Kano. No, what sealed his fate as a copy was when they gave Jarek a ton of Kano’s moves, right down to the fatalities.
Kano’s iconic heart fatality (which he has had since the first Mortal Kombat) was given to Jarek, and he was also given a fatality where he shoots lasers out of his eyes; which made no sense. Jarek doesn’t have a cybernetic eye like Kano, so how could he shoot lasers? All of this combined just made Jarek a watered-down version of Kano.
Jarek was doomed from the start, however, I have to give the development team props. They realized they needed to set him apart, so they gave him his own personality when he returned in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. Jarek isn’t a lost cause, but he does need some changes before he makes it into another Mortal Kombat game.
With all that being said, Jarek will forever be remembered fondly by Mortal Kombat fans for being a part of this incredible video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNkRvcUn6VM
2. Mavado
Mavado isn’t a copy like Jarek, he was at least somewhat original. But he never stood out amongst the roster of Mortal Kombat characters. The only thing that set him apart was his weapons, two hook swords. Unfortunately for Mavado, those swords belonged to someone else. Yep, that’s right; the best part of Mavado was borrowed from another character, Kabal.
Take away his weapons and Mavado stands out even less. A positive thing about this character is that he has quite a bit of potential. Mavado is a member of the Red Dragon clan, which we don’t see too often in the games. With some tweaking, Mavado could transform from a bland character to a character that must be included in the next Mortal Kombat game.
3. Meat
Mortal Kombat has had some strange-looking characters, but Meat might take the cake. He was an easter egg in Mortal Kombat 4, and he wouldn’t make his official debut until Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. And because he was an easter egg, his story isn’t super fleshed out (ha). At the end of the day, he’s just a person who’s meaty; that’s all there is to this character.
I can’t be too hard on Meat; it’s not like the Mortal Kombat team was trying to make a serious character that would be the staple of the franchise for years to come. He was just a fun little secret character. And the special moves they gave him in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon were pretty unique, like his head roll and his body mutilation moves.
The reason he’s bad is because we just don’t know enough about him to get invested. If they were to add more to him, Meat could be an interesting character. As of right now though, Meat is one of the worst Mortal Kombat characters.
4. Mokap
No, I didn’t accidentally add the wrong image. And yes, you are looking at that correctly. In the Mortal Kombat universe, there is a fighter who is just a guy wearing a mocap suit. Like Meat, he was a hidden character. This means his backstory was also not as fleshed out. So, for the most part, all we know about Mokap is that he is an actor and that he’s wearing a mocap suit.
Again, I can’t be too hard on this character, considering he was just an interesting easter egg. And according to Giantbomb.com, he was added to the game as a tribute to Mortal Kombat actor Carlos Pesina. So, that raises the cool factor of Mokap by a lot. But even with all that said, I think we would all be better off if Mokap doesn’t return as a playable character.
Could he return as a background character? Sure. As an easter egg? Yes. As an alternative skin for Johnny Cage? Absolutely. However, Mokap should not take up any roster slots in any future Mortal Kombat game. Sorry to all the Mokap fans out there.
5. Dairou
So far, we’ve seen a carbon copy, a generic character, a meat man, and a literal actor in a mocap suit; who could be worse than all of them? The answer is simple, it’s Dairou. Introduced in Mortal Kombat: Deception, Dairou has very few redeeming qualities. His backstory is forgettable, his appearance is forgettable, and his special moves are forgettable; he’s just a forgettable character.
What makes Dairou the worst Mortal Kombat character is that he’s not bad enough to be entertaining like Mokap or Meat, he’s just bland.
At least Jarek stood out because he was an unapologetic copy of Kano, Mavado stood out because of the hook swords, Meat stood out because he’s Meat, and Mokap stood out because he’s a fish out of water. None of that applies to Dairou. Like I said in the beginning, I believe that most bad characters just need a second chance, and that goes for Dairou as well.
However, if Dairou were to make it into another game, his character would need the most revamping because he’s one of the worst Mortal Kombat characters in the series.