Grossest And Most Gruesome Mortal Kombat Fatalities

Gruesome and sometimes gross, Mortal Kombat fatalities are artistic displays of gore that have only become more elaborate with each passing entry. Mortal Kombat’s fatalities have always shocking, but improvements in graphics and more realistic visuals have allowed the signature, match-ending moves to reach new heights of brutality in the two most recent games: Mortal Kombat X and 11. Chances are the newly announced Mortal Kombat 1 will find new and shocking ways to end matches in even more stylistic forms of bloodshed when it launches September 18.

We've rounded up the grossest and most gruesome Mortal Kombat fatalities across the franchise. All of our picks can be found in Mortal Kombat X or Mortal Kombat 11. To be fair, all fatalities are unsettling in their own unique ways, but we picked the finishers most likely to trigger gag reflexes. However, everyone has different, er, tastes so be sure to comment below with your picks for the grossest Mortal Kombat fatalities if we didn’t include it here.

Shop Mortal Kombat games:

• Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate (console)
• Mortal Kombat XL (console)
• Mortal Kombat series (PC)

Let’s start things off with the series’ beloved cyborg, Jax. Jax’s T-Wrecks fatality displays the character's creative side: Instead of ripping his opponent’s arms off, Jax shoves those upper extremities into their torso so they resemble a T-Rex. To really sell the dinosaur effect, Jax then rips their jaw open, leaving just enough of the upper half attached so they now have a much wider smile. The whole thing ends with Jax extinguishing his cigar on the now very dead challenger’s tongue while blood gurgles from their exposed throat.

Following in her father’s footsteps, Jacqui Briggs--daughter of Jax Briggs--joined the series in Mortal Kombat X. Despite being a relatively new character in the series, Jacqui already has some truly brutal finisher moves, but her Mortal Kombat 11 fatality “Nothin’ But Neck” is arguably the gnarliest in her repertoire.

After punching her enemy’s head into their body and blasting a hole in their stomach, Jacqui casually turns around, lobs a device over her shoulder and into the opponent’s open neck. The device activates and a blue energy shield bisects the limp body, with the still-beating heart visible through the transparent energy wall.

Fatalities from Mortal Kombat’s drunken master, Bo Rai Cho, are often more comical or slapstick, but “Bottom’s Up” from Mortal Kombat X showcases the character’s brutality. Bo Rai Cho shoves the neck of his trusty booze jug into his opponent’s mouth--probably breaking teeth and facial bones in the process--who then have no choice but to drink down the liquid. But like all ill-advised chugging, the opponent then vomits the drink back up… and keeps vomiting until their entrails spill out. They collapse to the ground, and Bo Rai Cho stomps on their stomach, sending even more of their intestines bursting forth from their mouth.

Takeda’s “Whip it Good” is yet another literal gut-wrenching fatality. Takeda opens the assault by quickly severing the enemy’s arms with his bladed whip, then launches the whip into their throat with the blades retracted. Even if you’ve never seen a Mortal Kombat fatality before, you can guess what’s coming next: The whip’s blades extend and pierce the opponent’s innards, then Takeda jerks the whip back and their insides become outsides. It’s an unpleasant display, but this fatality is actually a decent tutorial on how to gut a fish!

Geras is a powerful fighter with the ability to manipulate the very sands of time, and--as his Mortal Kombat 11 fatality “Peeling Back” clearly displays--the strength to rip a person in half like he’s peeling a banana.

Geras punches the losing character into a pillar of sand, walks up, grabs their hand and rips off the front half of their body. What really seals the brutality of this attack is the yelp of pain Geras’ unfortunate target lets out after the first yank splits their arm--and the effortless smile on Geras’ face as he rips them in half, their heart, lungs, and other organs trailing behind.

Baraka is arguably one of the most violent characters in the Mortal Kombat franchise (which is saying something), so it’s no surprise he makes our list. I mean, the dude has retractable bone blades embedded in his forearms, after all. However, despite his violent notoriety, Baraka’s most unpleasant fatality is surprisingly uncomplicated.

While other fatalities are more elaborate, "Food For Thought’s" simplicity lets the grossest details standout--like the sinewy “cheese pull” of the facial tissue as Baraka removes it; the wet plop the flesh makes when it hits the ground; or the final slow-motion shot of Baraka biting into his victim’s skewered brain matter.

As one of the series’ long-running antagonists and the host of the original Mortal Kombat tournament, Shang Tsung’s fatalities are always appropriately evil, but “Kondemned To The Damned” from Mortal Kombat 11 is particularly cruel. Shang Tsung manifests magical chains that suspend his opponent over a fiery portal through which a duo of zombies appear. The zombies tear open the challenger’s stomach and greedily desmbowl them by the fistful while they cry out in pain--until the ghastly torturers tear off the opponent’s face, reach into their body cavity, and wrench out their skeleton whole.

You might’ve noticed a pattern by now, but we find it pretty gross when someone’s guts come out of their mouth. Of all the fatalities to feature organ upchucking, Ermac’s “Inner Workings” is one of the most extreme. Ermac magically levitates the other fighter in the air, then twists and crushes their body. As if mangling their limbs and breaking every bone in their body wasn’t enough, the telekinetic ninja then unspools his enemy’s digestive system out through their mouth, and crushes it on the ground. In case you weren’t convinced Ermac’s opponent is dead by this point, the final shot of them suspended in air with their remaining intestines dangling from their mouth makes it pretty clear.

We chose most of the fatalities on this because of what happens to the losing fighter, but we picked Sindel’s “Hair Today Gone Tomorrow” fatality from Mortal Kombat 11 because of how gross it is for the winner. Sindel’s long hair isn’t just for show, it’s also a deadly weapon. She can extend her silver locks and pierce her enemy’s flesh--which is exactly what she does in this fatality. First, her hair travel’s down the enemy’s throat, out the stomach, and weaves and coils in and out of her opponent’s body until it pierces the back of their head and exits through their eye sockets. Then, of course, the hair strands constrict and slice Sindel’s foe to pieces.

The evisceration is brutal, sure, but what makes this one extra unsettling to us is how messy it must be for Sindel to get all that blood, bile, and bone out of her hair…

Lastly, we have Triborg’s “Death Machine” from Mortal Kombat X. To wrap up the fight, Triborg transforms into a giant meat processing machine that reels the opponent in with harpoon cables, then tears open their guts with a giant saw blade while platform slowly crushes down on them. The platform finally slams down in a burst of blood--and out pops a pulsating cube of meat. Somehow, the enemy character’s face managed to stay intact through the process.

Death Machine is admittedly one of Mortal Kombat’s more outlandish--and comical--fatalities, but it’s still pretty gross when you think about the engineering involved to get all that flesh compacted into such a neat--albeit squishy--little cube.