| “ | As you wish. As absurd as your request is, I shall grant it. In return, I reserve the right to challenge the winner myself. Or another of my choosing. In a place designated by me for the final battle of the tournament. | „ |
| ~ Shang Tsung to Johnny Cage. |
| “ | Your brother's soul is mine! | „ |
| ~ Shang Tsung to Liu Kang. |
Shang Tsung is the main antagonist of New Line Cinema's 1995 live-action film Mortal Kombat, which is based on the Mortal Kombat video game franchise of the same name.
He is a sorcerer from Outworld who hosts the Mortal Kombat tournament so he can destroy humanity.
He was portrayed by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who later reprised his role for Shang Tsung's mainstream counterpart in Mortal Kombat 11.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- Shang Tsung regularly drains and enslaves the souls of defeated fighters, which is a fate worse than death. It is implied that he has done this more than a thousand times.
- He killed Liu Kang's brother and drained his soul.
- He tricked several fighters into joining the Mortal Kombat tournament, so he could win and to help Shao Kahn and his armies into Earthrealm so they could destroy humanity.
- When he realizes he might lose the tournament, Tsung proves to be a coward when he tries to challenge a weaker fighter in Sonya Blade in Liu Kang's place and kidnaps her and imprisons Sonya in the Black Tower.
- During their fight, Tsung psychologically torments Liu Kang by turning into his brother.
- While his death was horrible as he got impaled and later exploded, it is not played for sympathy as he completely deserved it for all his crimes.
- Despite working for Shao Kahn, it is completely for pragmatic reasons as it's only to get more power, plus, he only cares about himself. It's also possible he absorbed Goro's soul as a punishment for failing to kill Johnny Cage, putting Goro in a fate worse than death.
- While Shinnok and Shao Kahn did worse, Shang Tsung has less resources than them and he still passes the heinous standards because of his crimes.
- While he does have a few comedic moments, he is still taken completely seriously.
Trivia[]
- Shang Tsung is, alongside Shinnok (1997) and Sub-Zero (2021), one of the three live-action Mortal Kombat villains to be Pure Evil.
External Links[]
- Shang Tsung on the Villains Wiki.
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