Kabal (Mortal Kombat)

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Kabal
Mortal Kombat character
Kabal MK11.png
Kabal in Mortal Kombat 11 (2019)
First appearanceMortal Kombat 3 (1995)
Created byEd Boon
John Tobias
Designed byJohn Tobias (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK:SF, MK:SM)
Atomhawk Design (MK9)[1]
Lynell Forestall (MK:DotR)
Voiced byKevin Michael Richardson (MK:DotR)
Shaun Hemmerick (MK:SM)
Jarod Pranno (MK:A)
David Lodge (MK9)
Jonathan Cahill (MK11)[2]
Damon Herriman (2021 film)
Motion captureRichard Divizio (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MKA)
Carlos Pesina (MK:D, MK:A)
In-universe information
SpeciesRevenant/Human
GenderMale
WeaponHookswords (All appearances)
Sawblades (MK3, UMK3, MKT, MK9, MK11)
OriginEarthrealm
Fighting stylesSun Bin (MK:D, MK:U, MK:A)
Goju Ryu (MK:D, MK:U)

Kabal is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. He debuted in Mortal Kombat 3 (1995) as a former member of the Black Dragon criminal organization. Chosen by the thunder god Raiden to help defend Earthrealm, he pursues redemption by battling invading forces from Outworld. Subsequent installments, however, give Kabal a more villainous depiction as the leader of a new Black Dragon clan in the original timeline and an undead revenant in the reboot. Due to injuries suffered against Outworld's warriors, the character wears a specialized helmet with a built-in life-support system. He possesses superhuman speed and uses a pair of hookswords as his primary weapon.

Reception to Kabal has been mostly positive, with him regarded as one of the franchise's most powerful fighters, although his Fatality finishing moves have been more scrutinized. He has also appeared in various media outside of the games.

Appearances[]

Mortal Kombat games[]

Making his debut in 1995's Mortal Kombat 3, Kabal was a member of the Black Dragon crime syndicate alongside Kano until Outworld emperor Shao Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm. After the thunder god Raiden chose him to help defend Earthrealm, Kabal became a target of the Kahn's extermination squads, who subjected him to a vicious attack that left him badly maimed and scarred; forcing him thereafter to rely on artificial respirators for survival and a mask to hide his now disfigured face. However, the assault had also resulted in Kabal abandoning his life of crime in order to fight alongside the Earthrealm warriors and successfully thwart Shao Kahn and his forces.[3]

As was the case with the debuting characters from MK3 onward, Kabal is not playable in Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance (2002), though he has a significant role in the game's storyline when he is killed in battle and has his hook swords stolen by Mavado, a leading member of the Black Dragon's rival, the Red Dragon clan.[4] This storyline briefly continues in Mortal Kombat: Deception (2004), when Kabal hunts and defeats Mavado and takes back his swords. Beforehand, a cleric of the otherworldly dimension Chaosrealm, Havik, brought Kabal back from the brink of death and instructed him to restore the same Black Dragon that he had long tried to disassociate himself from.[5] Kabal complies, recruiting Kira, who had impressed him by being able to do business with extremist terrorist organizations despite her gender,[6] and martial artist turned killer Kobra after freeing him from police custody.[7] At Havik's request, Kabal brings his recruits to Outworld and, as depicted in his ending, assigns them to distract the Earthrealm heroes while Havik slays the Dragon King Onaga and takes his heart, which has the power to raise the dead. However, Kabal kills Havik and takes the organ for himself.[5]

In 2005 beat 'em up title Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, a retelling of the events leading up to Mortal Kombat II, a non-playable Kabal was the subject of an optional mission, during which he left the player his hook swords to use.[8]

Due to never receiving an official biography in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (2006), Kabal and his recruits do not play a significant role in the game's plot,[9] though, in his ending, he confronts Mavado for a third and final time in order to end their rivalry once and for all. Kabal emerges victorious in battle, resulting in Mavado killing himself before Kabal raises his rival's disembodied head as a symbol of the Black Dragon's superiority.[10][note 1] Kabal does make an appearance with Kira and Kobra in the game's Konquest Mode when he confronts the demigod Taven after the latter defeats Kobra and several fellow Black Dragon thugs. Impressed, Kabal offers him a chance to join the Black Dragon, but Taven refuses. Kabal challenges him to combat in response, but is defeated.[12]

In the 2011 Mortal Kombat reboot, an alternate-timeline retelling of the first three games, Kabal is a member of the NYPD's riot-control division alongside Kurtis Stryker, though his history as a reformed Black Dragon defector remains intact. Amidst the chaos of Shao Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm, they confront and defeat Outworld warriors Reptile and Mileena, but Kabal is severely burned by the Shokan Kintaro and kidnapped by Kano while Stryker is preoccupied.[13] Despite Kabal leaving the Black Dragon, Kano restores his health with the sorcerer Shang Tsung's help, though his lungs are damaged beyond repair and Kano outfits him with respirators and a mask. Kabal is left horrified by his condition and irate with Kano for supporting Outworld. After defeating him, he demands his former leader take him to Shao Kahn, where they witness the emperor promote his wife Sindel to general of his armies before Kabal knocks Kano unconscious and escapes back to Earthrealm.[14] Following this, Raiden invites him to join his band of Earthrealm warriors, but while he and his ally Liu Kang commune with the Elder Gods, Sindel and the Lin Kuei ninja clan ambush the Earthrealm defenders, killing them all. They are all subsequently resurrected by the necromancer Quan Chi as undead revenant slaves. The undead Kabal returns in Mortal Kombat X (2015), albeit as a silent NPC character with a negligible role in the story's plot.

Kabal returned as a playable character in Mortal Kombat 11 (2019).[15] In the game's story mode, the present Kabal remains a revenant and serves the keeper of time Kronika.[16][17] After she causes a time anomaly as part of her plan to eliminate Raiden from history, she brings a past version of Kabal who was still aligned with the Black Dragon to the present. He subsequently joins Kano, who manipulates him into fighting Sonya Blade by claiming she was responsible for scarring him in the future.[18]

Character design and gameplay[]

A concept sketch of pre-injury Kabal by John Tobias, originally for Mortal Kombat: Special Forces (2000). This design was carried over into 2005's Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, in which Kabal appeared as a non-player character

Kabal was nicknamed "Sandman" during the production of Mortal Kombat 3 before his actual name was determined.[19] According to Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias, Kabal's overall design was inspired by the Tusken Raiders from Star Wars, while the circular lenses of his mask were inspired by 1940s-style aviator goggles. Series co-creator and programmer Ed Boon described such character concepts like Kabal as being "very off the cuff."[20] The developers had also been interested at the possibility of introducing a character with a disability into the series. Both of Kabal's Fatalities poked fun at his handicap with him exposing his scarred face and literally scaring his opponents to death, in addition to inflating his opponents' head like a balloon with an air tube from his respirator, causing them to float upward before exploding off-screen.

One of only two characters in MK3 featured with a weapon (the other being Stryker), Kabal was originally given wrist-mounted buzzsaw blades as his primary weapon before his familiar hookswords, while Boon cited his favorite comic book character as a youth, Flash, as the inspiration for Kabal's "Tornado" move, which dizzied opponents and set them up for a free hit. The swords were first included with one of several early concept designs for Baraka during pre-production of Mortal Kombat II,[21] and were also used as generic weapons that were packaged with select characters in a line of 4" MK action figures produced by Hasbro in December 1994.[22] According to Boon, Kabal was overpowered enough in MK3 in regards to his special moves that the developers had to tone him down in future updates.[23] In Deception and onward, Kabal is seen with a long, sleeveless trenchcoat and a backpack (with antenna) that supported his breathing apparatus,[5] the former which Midway had been forced to omit from MK3 due to memory limitations and the potential problem of the flapping of the coat interfering with gameplay,[23] a similar issue also faced with Shang Tsung's long hair hanging loose in the game.

A pre-scarred Kabal was to be included in the 2000 spin-off title Mortal Kombat: Special Forces as a boss character, but he was cut from the game after it underwent many last-minute changes due to time constraints exacerbated by the sudden departure of Tobias from Midway. A character concept sketch was made public and the model that later appeared in Shaolin Monks can still be seen in Special Forces, though he was unnamed and was of no special significance to the game's storyline.

His masked face was the only telltale sign of his wounds in his series appearances up until the reboot, which now conspicuously featured the grotesque imagery of his charred skin.[24] In an interview with Spike TV in March 2011 that revealed the first look at the character for the game, Boon explained that he wanted to keep all of Kabal's classic offensive moves while coming up with graphic Fatalities that the developers felt would be "crossing the line."[25] Tobias, however, expressed his dissatisfaction with his original designs of Kabal and Stryker in a 2012 interview with The On Blast Show: "If I could go back and redo Kabal and Stryker, I would. I don't know if I'd design them differently or just come up with new characters [in their place]."[26]

Other media[]

Kabal appeared in the eleventh episode ("Amends") of the 1996 animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, which followed his MK3 storyline of his betraying Kano and the Black Dragon, as well as his injuries suffered at the hands of Kahn's forces and the resulting aftermath. In a subplot original to the show, he rescues Sonya after she is injured in battle inside an old theater, and takes her to safety inside an abandoned subway, where he unmasks and she is shocked at seeing his mutilated face. Their friendship deepens after she expresses disgust over the prejudice he faces due to his disfigurement and is saddened at Raiden's explanation of Kabal's ordeal. After he helps the Earth defenders to victory over the Black Dragon, Kabal is extended the opportunity of a permanent position with the Earthrealmers but respectfully turns down the offer, opting to continue his battle against evil alone. He was voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.[27]

In the 1997 film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Kabal is mentioned along with Stryker as "two of Earth's best warriors" who were captured by Rain, but neither actually appeared onscreen. Rain is then promptly killed by Kahn after he admits to sparing their lives.[28] Kabal and Stryker both feature in more detailed roles in the first draft of the script, in which they are prisoners slaving away in an Outworld cobalt mine that is overseen by Baraka and where Kitana is being held captive. After Liu Kang later infiltrates the prison and rescues Kitana after killing Baraka in battle, Kabal and Stryker organize the revolting prisoners in fighting off the guards. This subplot was omitted from future drafts and was not included in the novelization.[29]

In a September 2013 interview with Fearnet, director Kevin Tancharoen revealed that he had wanted to include Kabal in his Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series, but was hampered by budget limitations coupled with the complexities of the character's backstory and physical appearance.[30] In June 2012, he posted on Twitter two snippets from his production-draft script of the reboot film, one of which featured Kabal addressing Jax as "Captain Briggs."[31] Matt Mullins, who portrayed Johnny Cage in the first season, told Kamidogu in 2011 that he would have liked to play Kabal had he not been cast as Cage. "He has been influenced by both good and evil and we have not seen a lot of him in different storylines."[32]

Kabal appears in the 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot film, portrayed by Australian stuntman Daniel Nelson and voiced by Damon Herriman. This version of Kabal used to be Kano's rival and also carries a police badge belonging to Stryker, hinting that he may have encountered or possibly killed the latter.

Merchandise and promotion[]

Kabal has featured very little in official Mortal Kombat merchandise, only appearing alongside Scorpion, Quan Chi, and Shao Kahn in a collection of 2.5" chibi figures released by Jazwares in 2012.[33]

Reception[]

The character has received a mainly positive fan and critical response, gaining attention in some instances for being overpowered in Mortal Kombat 3. While discussing Sektor's "Compactor" Fatality in a 2011 feature on the series' most gruesome finishers, Fearnet described MK3 as featuring well-balanced characters, "except for that jerk Kabal."[34] Bryan Dawson of Prima Games named Kabal one of the "cheapest" Mortal Kombat characters: "Kabal was that one character [in MK3] that all of the novice players used to try to get easy wins."[35] He placed nineteenth on UGO's 2012 list of the top 50 Mortal Kombat characters,[36] and Complex ranked Kabal as the sixteenth-most brutal character in the series. "The fact that he was once a member of the Black Dragon clan; his superhuman speed and his fatalities, all contribute to his ruthlessness."[37] He was also ranked twelfth on Den of Geek's ranking of the best Mortal Kombat characters in the series saying that "he was the absolute definition of anti-hero who had the striking appearance filled with mystique, the many scars, the sweet hookswords, and the evil-turned-good backstory."[38] In 2010, Game Informer's Dan Ryckert named Kabal as a character that he wanted in the Mortal Kombat reboot.[39] Armando Rodriguez of 411mania.com included Kabal fifth among his ten favorite MK characters due to the recreation of his origins in the 2011 reboot.[40]

Kabal has also gained attention for what were considered among the worst Fatalities in Mortal Kombat 3. Both of his finishers from the game were ranked together as such by Game Informer (who wrote that his "Scary Face" finisher "cements Kabal as the Master Of The Crappy Fatality"),[41] as well as by David Saldana of 1UP.com[42] Reception to the "Scary Face" on its own has proven more mixed; ScrewAttack included it among their top ten worst Fatalities in the series (ninth), while similarly opining that his MK3 finishers "pretty much blew" and were "a tradeoff" for his being "one of the most broken characters" in the game.[43] However, Prima Games included the "Head Inflation" 25th in their 2014 compilation of the series' top fifty Fatalities,[44] UGO ranked it sixth in their 2012 list of the top eleven Fatalities while describing Kabal as "a reject from The Road Warrior."[45] Rodriguez called the finisher "one of the funniest things in the entire series."[40] Kabal's "It Takes Guts" Fatality from MK2011, in which he uses his hookswords to rip out his opponent's intestines, has been well-received; it was rated by We Got This Covered as one of the game's top finishers[46] and was included on the International Business Times' list of the top ten MK9 Fatalities.[47] GameRant placed it sixth in their 2011 list of the game's best finishers.[48]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Despite Kabal having regained his swords back in Deception, Mavado, who did not appear in that title, is seen with them in his Armageddon versus-screen render.[11]

References[]

  1. ^ "Mortal Kombat Characters & Concept Artwork". CreativeUncut.com. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  2. ^ @domcianciolo (23 April 2019). "@SNaGPhD Cyrax: @AfricanWrdsmith, Sektor & Geras: @davebmitchell, Kabal: Jonathan Cahill" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. ^ Mortal Kombat 3: Kabal - Mortal Kombat Online. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  4. ^ Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance: Mavado - Mortal Kombat Online. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c Kabal Deception bio - Mortal Kombat Warehouse. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  6. ^ Mortal Kombat Deception: Kira - Mortal Kombat Warehouse. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  7. ^ Mortal Kombat Deception: Kobra - Mortal Kombat Warehouse. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  8. ^ Kabal in Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks - YouTube, October 26, 2009. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  9. ^ "Mortal Kombat Armageddon - Bios". MKSecrets.net. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  10. ^ Kabal Mortal Kombat: Armageddon ending - Mortal Kombat Warehouse. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  11. ^ Mortal Kombat Armageddon: Mavado - Mortal Kombat Warehouse. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  12. ^ Mortal Kombat: Armageddon Konquest Guide Part 1 - Kamidogu. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  13. ^ MK9 Chapter 12: Stryker - YouTube, April 23, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  14. ^ MK9 Chapter 14: Kabal - YouTube, April 23, 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  15. ^ EDT, Phillip Martinez On 4/15/19 at 7:46 PM (2019-04-15). "Every playable fighter in 'Mortal Kombat 11'". Newsweek. Retrieved 2019-04-18.
  16. ^ NetherRealm Studios (2019). Mortal Kombat 11. Warner Bros. Level/area: Chapter 1: Next of Kin (Cassie Cage).
  17. ^ NetherRealm Studios (2019). Mortal Kombat 11. Warner Bros. Level/area: Chapter 9: All in the Family (Jacqui & Jax).
  18. ^ NetherRealm Studios (2019). Mortal Kombat 11. Warner Bros. Level/area: Chapter 8: Fight Club (Sonya Blade).
  19. ^ Video Games The Ultimate Gaming Magazine 75 (April 1995) page 48;
  20. ^ "Ed Boon & John Tobias Interview". Official MK3 Kollector's Book. Electronic Gaming Monthly. 1995.
  21. ^ GamePro 58 (May 1994), p.29, 31.
  22. ^ "Smoke - Mortal Kombat - Hasbro Action Figure". FigureRealm.com. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b Kabal's Bio Card - YouTube, October 24, 2006. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  24. ^ Kabal full MK2011 render - NetherRealm Studios; posted on Mortal Kombat Warehouse. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  25. ^ The Reveal of Kabal - YouTube, March 17, 2011. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  26. ^ The On Blast Show (November 7, 2012). "2012 John Tobias interview, part 1". EventHubs.com. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
  27. ^ Amends - Rage Quitter 87's Cartoon Coverage. Retrieved December 15, 2013.
  28. ^ MK Annihilation: Poor Prince Rain - YouTube. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  29. ^ Brent V. Friedman and Bryce Zabel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation first draft (May 22, 1996), p. 60-63, 80-81.
  30. ^ Lyon, Carl (September 26, 2013). "'Mortal Kombat Legacy' Director Kevin Tancharoen Talks Feature Films and Ninja Turtles". Fearnet. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  31. ^ "Director Teases Script from Upcoming Movie". Mortal Kombat Online. June 29, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  32. ^ Matt Mullins Interview - Kamidogu, May 21, 2011. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  33. ^ "Exclusive First-Look: Jazwares Super Deformed Preview - Kabal!". Mortal Kombat Online. August 1, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
  34. ^ Lyon, Carl (April 15, 2011). "Most Gruesome Mortal Kombat Fatalities". Fearnet.com. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  35. ^ Dawson, Bryan (September 24, 2014). "Cheapest Characters in Mortal Kombat History, Part 4". Prima Games. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
  36. ^ UGO Staff (February 28, 2012). "Top 50 Mortal Kombat Characters". Archived from the original on September 29, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  37. ^ Watson, Elijah (July 11, 2013). "The Most Brutal Fighters in Mortal Kombat". Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  38. ^ "Mortal Kombat Characters Ranked".
  39. ^ Ryckert, Dan (June 21, 2010). "Who We Want (and Don't Want) in the New Mortal Kombat". Game Informer. Retrieved February 23, 2014.
  40. ^ Jump up to: a b Rodriguez, Armando (April 22, 2011). "The 10th Hour: Favorite Mortal Kombat Characters". 411Mania.com. Archived from the original on April 27, 2011. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  41. ^ Ryckert, Dan (May 3, 2010). "Mortal Kombat's Best and Worst Fatalities". Game Informer. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  42. ^ Saldana, David (July 7, 2011). "The Worst 15 Fatalities in Mortal Kombat History". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  43. ^ Skistimas, Craig (August 15, 2011). "Top 10 Worst Mortal Kombat Fatalities". ScrewAttack's Top 10. ScrewAttack.com. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  44. ^ Workman, Robert (April 2014). "The Top 50 Mortal Kombat Fatalities of All Time: 30-21". Prima Games. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  45. ^ Top 11 Mortal Kombat Fatalities Archived 2013-04-01 at the Wayback Machine - UGO.com, April 22, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  46. ^ Colautti, Benjo (April 20, 2011). "Mortal Kombat's Best Fatalities". We Got This Covered. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  47. ^ Maity, Prarthito (June 18, 2011). "Top 10 Mortal Kombat 9 Fatalities". International Business Times. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
  48. ^ Smillie, C.J. (April 22, 2011). "Top 10 Fatalities Of Mortal Kombat 9 (2011)". Game Rant. Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2014.
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