Shao Kahn stands as one of the most iconic, feared, and loathed bosses in video game history. Debuting in Mortal Kombat II as the game’s final boss, the imposing Emperor has remained a series mainstay for over 20 years. His popularity as an antagonist has been proven by the revolving door of villains to take his place following his downfall in Mortal Kombat 3. Despite the number of new, impressive adversaries, Kahn is still viewed by many fans, myself included, to be Mortal Kombat’s one true ultimate evil.
You don’t earn that title without making a few corpses along the way. Th🔯e skull-wearing tyrant has committed an unfathomable amount of terrible deeds. Like some of the baddest of bad guys, he possess no redeeming qualities, making him the ideal adversary ღto want to punch continually in the face. Kahn is far from a push-over though. His capacity for evil is only matched by his extraordinary combat prowess. Putting an end to his reign is much easier said than done. In that way, he’s the perfect video game boss: easy to hate and incredibly challenging to defeat.
A guy with his track-record made it quite easy to compile a list of 20 mind-blowing deeds. Fishing the most worthy ones out of the ocean of blood he’s left was where the challenge lied. But whether it's forced marriages, killing fan favorite characters, or boasting seemingly insurmountable difficulty, here are 20 of the most eye-brow raising acts Outworld’s infamous ruler has eveജr committed.
20 Poisoning Onaga, The Dragon King
Believe it or not, Shao Kahn didn’t always have an iron grip on Outworld. He himself once answered to an overlord in the form of Onaga, the Dragon King, who reigned o🎶ver Outworld long before it became fashionable. During this time, Shao Kahn served as an adviser to Onaga. Secretly, however, the budding ruler plotted his ascension to the throne because that’s what evil runner-ups do when their e𓆏vil masters aren’t paying attention.
Shao Kahn knew he wouldn’t fare well against Onaga in a straight-up battle, so he opted to poison him instead. An underhanded tactic for sure, but just look at Onaga in the image above. Would you want to spar against tha🎶t? 💮The plan worked, and with the Dragon King out of the picture (for a good while, at least), Shao Kahn took the throne and began his conquest to merge all of the realms under his rule. Nothing like a good old fashioned back-stabbing to kick off a reign of terror.
19 Conquering Edenia And Merging It with Outworld
Shao Kahn gets his jollies from conquering other realms and merging them with Outworld. He’s the walking definition of a hostile takeover. Kahn has absorbed numerous worlds, but his most famous victory came when he took over the paradise-like realm of Edenia. Outworld won ten consecutive victories in Mortal Kombat which granted Shao Kahn the deed to the Kitana family doorstep. Now when takeovers of this sort occur, most people automatically assume it’ll be for the worse. But did Shao Kahn really ruin things?
Sure, he would enslave the Edenians, a 🍸culturally rich and generally peace-loving race. Then he ousted King Jerrod by killing him before the eyes of his wife, Queen Sindel. Kahn would also cause the overall deterioration of one of the most beautiful and prosperous realms in the history of, like, ever. Okay, so maybe things took🎐 a slight turn for the worse. Edenia would become remain pressed under Kahn's thumb for 10,000 years until Liu Kang came along and helped free the realm due to his triumph in Mortal Kombat.
18 Forcefully Wedding Sindel (Then Drive Her To Suicide)
Shao Kahn wed Queen Sindel in order to help legitimize his hold on Edenia. By that, I mean Sindel was forced into marriage with a ceremony that likely saw the “I do’s” replaced with the Emper🌱or shouting at her to “FEEL THEꦓ POWER OF SHAO KAHN!”
Sindel was...less than pleased with this arrangement, to say the least. Between the loss of her realm, witnessing her husband’s demise, and the adoption her infant daughter by a tyrant, life became too much to bear. Soon after the marriage, Sindel took her own life. But like any good husband-by-force, Shao Kahn wouldn’t allow Sindel to escape him, even in death. He used his black magic to trap Sindel’s soul, preventing it from passing into the afterlife. Husband of the Year, ladies and gentlemen. Turns out he would have some grand schemes in store for the soul of his “b꧂eloved”. We’ll touch on that a bit later.
17 Kidnapping Kitana And Raising Her As His Daughter
Child abduction is generally frowned upon, but😼 that didn’t stop Shao Kahn from stealing the infant princess of Edenia. H🌄e did so to further strengthen his claim of Edenia, but I like to think that he just has a soft spot for cute babies. Regardless, positioning yourself as the father of a child whose real pops you slaughtered is pretty bad form.
As Kitana very slowly grew older, she was increasingly brainwashed to view and adore Shao Kahn as her real father.🧜 As you would expect, Kahn withheld the information regarding the fate of her actual family. He would spend countless years manipulating Kitana, using her as his own personal assassin and protector. One can only imagine the vile acts he made the princess perform during numerous centuries. Despite her overwhelming loyalty, Shao Kahn still treated Kitana like the world's most attractive garbage pile whenever she didn't perform at a satisfactory level.
16 Green-lighting The Creation Of Mileena
So that horrifying visage of death you see above? You can thank Shao Kahn for that nightmare. Dissatisfied with his own adopted daughter, the Emperor opted to simply make a better ♍one. If you can’t beat ‘em, clone ‘em! Shao Kahn gave his right-hand sorcerer Shang Tsung the go-ahead to create Mileena, a near-perfect clone of Kitana, but without that pesky conscious of hers.
Some of the princess’ good looks were left on the table as well. Mileena’s mix of Edenian genes with that of the grotesque Tarkatan (the race Baraka belongs to) resulted in her signature Street Shark-esque smile and mental instability. That sounds like a disaster, but Mileena was exactly what Khan desired: a loyal and ruthless killing ma𝔍chine that could pass as the princess– as long as someone wasn’t curious enough to ask what the deal with her veil is. Kahn spitting in the face of nature by commissioning the creation of his own monster mostly paid off. Mileena would prove to be a disturbing and formidable thorn in the heroes’ sides for many years.
15 Killing Johnny Cage
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation i꧟s a terrible, terrible film. On♎e of the myriad reasons for its sucktitude stems from the mind-boggling decision to murder Johnny Cage, i.e. the most entertaining personality from the previous film.
If you’ve never watched the movie (lucky), the opening minutes see Liu Kang and pals confront the newly arrived Shao Kahn. Cage, the Rhodes Scholar that he is, decides that charging at this new foe alone is the key to victory. That earns him 🔯a prompt (and heartbreaking) neck-snap from the disappointi♕ngly under-sized, live-action Emperor.
My world fell apart watching this scene as an MK-obsessed child. This would be like Darth Vader offing Han Solo at the start of The Empire Strikes Back. Just like that, the super cool guy is gone, and we’re left with a party of stoic sad sacks plus a weak comic-relief replacement in Jax.ꦗ All thanks to that stupid jerk, Shao Kahn.
14 Relentlessly Taunting Players During Battle
“YOU WILL NEVER WIN!” “BOW TO ME!” “And who could forget the classic “It’s official…YOU SUCK!” Sometimes plain old mocking laughter gets the job done too. Before cyber-trolling became commonplace, Shao Kahn established himself as the king (or, I guess, Emperor) of spewing verbal abuse. He would easily rule 🦩the roost of many online multiplayer lobbies.
Some say the only thing wors🔯e than getting beat up is having to endure the insults of the person delivering the beating. Shao Kahn proves that statement accurate by making his excruciating bouts (oh, we’ll get to that) more unbearable with well-placed, demoralizing verbal jabs. He’s basically the jacked-up💖 version of that arrogant friend you play fighting games with. You know, the ones who can’t stop filling your ears with tales of their supposed greatness. But unlike that friend, who you can silence with a swift punch to the shoulder, Shao Kahn can’t be quelled as easily. And yes, Kahn, I AM still trying to win.
13 Driving Players To Insanity With His Super Cheapness
Defeating Shao Kahn is hard. Like, really hard. Like, trying to dodge rain in a thunderstorm hard. In Mortal Kombat II and 3, the insufferable jerk spams those punishing Shadow Charges like no tomorrow. He also seems to possess an annoying precognition, knowing exactly when players will jump to immediately counter with the aerial variation of 💦said Shadow Charge.
You’d think pitting two opponents against this beast would ease things. The two-player Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks debunked that theory by featuring what's arguably the most challenging Kahn fight ever. Other may point to the aneurysm-inducing ordeal that is facing Kahn in 2011’s Mortal Kombat as giving Shaolin Monks a run for its money.
Video game final bosses should absolutely bring the fight. Shao Kahn regularly crꦍosses the line from “tough but fair” over to “GOD HELP ME, WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?” Any t𝄹orture artists out there should strongly consider adding never-ending Shao Kahn boss battles to their arsenal.
12 Trying To Marry Sonya Blade
I had to do a double-take when I discovered this. So Mortal Kombat had a series of comics in the 90s published by Malibu Comics. 🗹In one story, Shao Kahn devises a new method to in𓆉vade Earthrealm. In other words, the sky is blue. Although this time, his plan was to abduct staple Earthrealm defender Sonya Blade and marry her. The union would erase the borders separating Outworld from Earthrealm, giving Kahn an express ticket into our world.
This idea worked with Sindel to♓ a degree, so I guess I can’t fault Kahn’s logic there. And unlike the late Edenian queen, who was basically told to just deal with her situation, Kahn opted to hypnotize Sonya into willingly giving herself up to him. Kahn clearly learned from his mistakes after what happened to his last wife. Of course, the entire ceremony devolves into a chaotic free-for-all before the marriage could be made official. But it's an odd little nugget of MK lore.
11 Providing Commentary For Every Battle
While not a WTF moment in the traditional context, discovering that Shao Kahn was the person announcing all of the fights blew my mind as a kid. Reaching him at the end of MK II and hearing him declare “You will die!” rather than the traditional fight intro was a combination of cool, creepy, and intimidating. I rౠemember wondering if he would declare himself the winner during our confrontation. Turns out he preferred a hearty laugh instead. Figures.
Shao Kahn’s commentary is one of the neatest little toucﷺhes of the older games that actually helped make him more threatening, at least to me. I had so many questions. How is he witnessing all of my matches if he’s not physically present? How could he know I was “superb?” Is he omnipresent? What if he’s watching me know, making snide comments about my actual shortcomings? Fighting him felt like facing the narrator of a story who decided to enter the tale himself at the last minute. It’s definitely one of the most surprising aspects of Shao Kahn’s character.