Key Highlights:
- Ed Boon played a selection of songs during a Twitter Spaces session in April 2023.
- Fans connected titles and lyrics with characters including Rain, Smoke, Sindel and Stryker.
- Several of the theories proved accurate when Mortal Kombat 1’s roster was revealed.
Ed Boon sparked Mortal Kombat 1 roster speculation in April 2023 by playing a selection of songs during a live Twitter Spaces session.
Listeners believed some of the tracks contained clues about characters in NetherRealm Studios’ then-unannounced game. Popular predictions included Rain, Smoke, Sindel, Mileena, Scorpion and Stryker.
Boon did not confirm that the playlist represented the roster. The character connections were theories created by listeners examining song titles, artists and lyrics.
The clearest example was Prince’s Purple Rain. Rain was originally conceived as a purple-clad ninja whose name referenced Prince’s song and film, making the track an obvious source of speculation.
That prediction proved accurate. Rain returned as a playable Main Fighter in Mortal Kombat 1, although Liu Kang’s New Era reimagined him as an Outworld sorcerer rather than a demigod.
Fans also connected Snoop Dogg’s Gin and Juice with Smoke because of the artist’s name and the song’s references to smoking. Smoke ultimately returned as a Main Fighter after being absent from the playable roster in Mortal Kombat 11.
Pink Floyd’s Mother prompted theories involving Sindel, Sonya Blade and other maternal characters. Sindel later joined Mortal Kombat 1’s playable roster as the Empress of Outworld and the mother of Kitana and Mileena.
Other tracks produced less certain interpretations. Fans linked Every Breath You Take with Stryker or Kabal, while Bohemian Rhapsody generated theories involving Raiden, the coloured ninjas and several gun-using characters.
Stryker did return, but NetherRealm included him as a Kameo Fighter rather than a playable Main Fighter. Kameo Fighters assist during matches through Summon and Ambush attacks and have separate Fatalities and Brutalities.
Scorpion and Mileena were also among the characters connected with the playlist theories. Both were later confirmed for Mortal Kombat 1’s launch roster.
I viewed Purple Rain as the only especially persuasive clue at the time because the relationship between the song and Rain’s creation was already well established. The other selections could be connected with multiple characters depending on which lyrics or artist names listeners chose to emphasise.
The playlist appeared during a period of growing Mortal Kombat speculation. Boon had previously posted the word “tick” 12 times, while NetherRealm released an Hourglass teaser showing an individual grain of sand exploding.
Warner Bros. Games officially announced Mortal Kombat 1 on 18 May 2023. Subsequent trailers confirmed that Rain, Smoke, Sindel, Mileena and Scorpion would appear as Main Fighters, while Stryker formed part of the Kameo roster.
The playlist was never confirmed as a coded roster announcement. However, several of its most prominent fan interpretations matched characters that eventually appeared in Mortal Kombat 1.
