As if all the theories about Scorpion being Kuai Liang weren't enough, fans now think that Smoke could be Hanzo Hazashi in the new timeline, thanks to some details from his character bio.
Ever since was officially revealed as a timeline reset, one of the things about the game that has got fans talking the most is the identities of the characters. Although it might seem as simple as Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, and Kung Lao being who they have always been, Liu Kang's new universe seems to have changed things up quite a bit, and it already appears tꦫhat some characters are completely different. Take Scorpion, for example, who appears 🍌to be Kuai Liang (the second Suꦬb-Zero) in this timeline.
Well, I hope you weren't sick of character theories, because the Mortal Kombat community has a new one that's a lot of fun to consider. Smoke was just revealed to be part of the game's launch roster, sporting a new look and seemingly a new twist on his powers, as it's implied that he can't actually control smoke naturally. , which was shared shortly after the character was announced for the game.
This lack of natural ability is already interesting considering his ending in Mortal Kombat 9 implied that his , but the character bio has sparked even more interesting discussions. Over on Twitter, . That's an interesting theory, but one that seems less certain considering all the evidence that Scorpion is Kuai this time.
However, , better known as Scorpion in the original timeline. The reasoning behind this is the character bio that was shared for Smoke, which gives some striking similarities to Hanzo Hazashi's original background.
It reads, "As a boy, Smoke lived to hunt with his family. Their final hunt, however, ended in tragedy. Having accidentally trespassed onto Lin Kuei lands, they were attacked. Smoke was orphaned. Ashamed by his warriors' actions, the Lin Kuei's Grandmaster adopted Smoke. He raised him alongside his sons, Sub-Zero and Scorpion."
This background is completely new for Smoke, who had never really been given one for his human form🌃 (save for the Enenra thing from MK9), and it sounds an awful lot like what happened to Hanzo Hazashi and the Shirai Ryu in the original timeline. As pointed out by jimeemij, "one man has his whole family slaughtered by the lin Kuei… sub and scorp are already the brothers… IS HE HANZ﷽O????"
Combine that with the Enenra background seemingly being removed and it certainly seems like this version of Smoke is unlike any that we've seen before. If Mortal Kombat 1 is really changing around character backgrounds as much as we think it is (such as with Scorpion), then it's a theory that suddenly makes a lot of sense.