Top 5 Costumes: Liu Kang



We know we are not the only ones completely dying to play Mortal Kombat X. The game is looking to be the best yet with more characters, more bone crushing X-ray moves, more fatalities, and most importantly for our purposes now, more costumes. That’s right, in honor of Mortal Kombat we are doing our very first ever Game Closet! Mortal Kombat has so many characters to choose from, but we decided to go with the “hero” of the series, Liu Kang. Perhaps we like him so much because of his bicycle kick. Perhaps it’s the Dragon Bite. Most likely its the image of Robin Shou that comes to mind with the blaring Mortal Kombat theme song stuck in our head. Regardless, Liu Kang has seen much combat over the years and has to shift to a new costume in each subsequent game release. Some were upgrades over their predecessors, some were not. We looked at all of his costumes over the years, including his latest in Mortal Kombat X, to choose what we found were the top five of his brutal career. Not only that, but we decided on his single worst as our dishonorable mention. Check them all out below and let us know your favorites in the comment section. Mortal Kombat! (Cue techno beat…)

5. Mortal Kombat 4: Nothing says Mortal Kombat quite like a red wife beater. Wait, that doesn’t sound right… The tanktop was almost enough to make us leave this off the list, but it wasn’t a deal breaker. This is mostly a take on his costume that came before it otherwise, but has a feel of the movie to it which we appreciate. We’re fans of his now traditional red and black pants, but the straps going up from his shoes is a bit out of place. Not his best, but not his worst.

4. Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe: Liu Kang’s attire for beating down Batman is a fairly simple take. We like the minimal but spiky gauntlets he wears here. His boots are easily our favorites compared to any other shoes he’s worn, before or after. The only thing we wish could be different is his belt. The gold and size makes him look more like a WWE champion than a Mortal Kombat one. It does, however, make us want to see him vs the Rock in a Mortal Kombat. Do you smell what the Rock’s cookin’ Liu Kang?

3. Mortal Kombat II: In his second outing in Mortal Kombat, his costume got an upgrade, but it still stayed fairly simple. His original, all black pants added the red stripes to the sides for the better, ever so slightly adding some contrast to his style. Not only that, but he gained his now trademark rad bandanna for the first time and added basic, but deadly spiked gauntlets. This is really where Liu Kang jumped from being a Bruce Lee lookalike to being his own man.

2. Mortal Kombat X: An older, wiser, eviler Liu Kang. His latest costume does a lot to change up his normal wear, but still retains his feel. It has the headband so we’re already happy there. The biggest addition is his new red vest which they made well. We like that it incorporates the dragon by splitting in down the middle. His new gauntlets leave out the spikes, but let’s face it, it has a more monk feel without them. We’re not in love with his new shoes and straps, but we do like that they match the gauntlets.

1. Mortal Kombat 9: The top spot in our minds easily went to his last costume worn. It takes aspects of all of his previous costumes but improves upon it while maintaining a clean cut. His gauntlets are taken right from Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe, which were our favorites. His pants go back to being plain black, but his long red fabric belt really makes up for it and reallt pops from that contrast. While the straps going up his shins typically bug us, we really like that they made them red to match his belt and headband this time. You really don’t need much when you’re a badass shoalin monk who can turn into a dragon. This costume looks great while personifying that.

Dishonorable Mention

Mortal Kombat Deception: Liu Kang should not be that pale. No one should be, that’s just not a very flattering color. Combine that with his chains and who does he think he is, Kratos? At least we performed plenty of Kratos’ Blade of Olympus fatality on Liu Kang to make up for it. Not only does he look a little to much like our favorite God of War, but he has at least two doctor visits before he’s back in fighting shape. First, how about checking with an optometrist about that eye, it just isn’t right. Next he really needs a dermatologist to check out that nasty skin rash where he’s missing chunks of flesh. Being an undead zombie is no excuse to look so ratty. We’re pretty sure Katana would even agree, with this look, finish him with the worst fatality possible.