Mortal Kombat 11 Roster Adds Jax, Liu Kang, And Kung Lao As Playable Characters

Upcoming fight game Mortal Kombat 11 capped off Sony's first-ever State of Play livestream earlier this week. The Nintendo Direct-style broadcast ran for about 20 minutes and brought a mixture of news and trailers, with a new look at MK11 closing things out. While characters are often revealed one by one, this event brought confirmation of three more playable characters joining Mortal Kombat 11's roster: Jax, Liu Kang, and Kung Lao.

We had previously seen both Liu Kang and Kung Lao in previous videos from the game, but that didn't necessarily mean they would be playable; they could just show up in cinematics. But fans of the two two needn't worry, as both will be in the base roster along with another long-time MK fighter, Jax. There wasn't much in the way of gameplay to show off what these three can do, though we did get a glimpse of Jackson "Jax" Briggs in action. In the new trailer, Jacqui Briggs is perplexed at the sight of seeing her dad...twice. Shortly afterward you can see a bit of Jax fighting himself in game.

The video for NetherRealm Studio's upcoming fighting game revealed some new story elements, like young Johnny Cage of the past rustling the old Johnny Cage of the present. It leaned heavily into the time travel elements that had been teased in previous trailers and announcements and showed off more of its goofy moments. The trailer, titled Old Skool Vs. New Skool, is a perfect showcase of what series creator Ed Boon has been talking about in terms of characters fighting against or teaming up with their past selves in an all-out wacky plotline. It's also fitting that the trailer featured music from both rappers Ice Cube and Vince Staples. You can check it out in the video above.

We've been covering the lead up to Mortal Kombat 11's April 23 release date; be sure to read up on why you should be excited for the single-player campaign. Recently, NetherRealm also revealed Noob Saibot as a playable character in the latest Kombat Kast livestream, and it's been announced that Shang Tsung will be the first DLC character. In Tsung's case, he'll be played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa--the actor who portrayed him in the original Mortal Kombat movie. Tagawa will also serve as a narrator in the game's Vault.