Who Forgot to Invite Chun-Li to the Mortal Kombat?

Cinema is back baby and in a big way! Forget the auteur films of award season where two people stand at the edge of a cliff somewhere in Great Britain pining for each other but never finding a way to make their relationship work, there is a new Mortal Kombat hitting HBO Max and life is fucking good. Scorsese is shaking in his oversized spectacles watching, probably for the fifteenth time, the trailer for the latest film version that brings to life the gore of the original video game. The trailer itself is worthy of at least two Oscars for its special effects and stunt coordination—specifically for the preview of a scene where Sub-Zero turns his enemy’s blood into a knife! What!?

But being the astute film critic that I am I immediately clocked a glaring error in the film. Where in all the realms is Chun-Li? If there is a battle for the fate of Earth then don’t we need all of the greatest warriors gathered, which would include Chun-Li and her spinning bird kick that can knock a man’s head clean off? Sounds like a pretty big plot hole to me that the ultimate street fight is supposed to be won by a ragtag team helmed by Sonya Blade, no offense to the Sonya stans.

Absence of Chun-Li aside, the trailer is the dog’s bollocks (a term I learned from watching The Bridge also on HBO Max if you’re into competition shows) and the extremely bloody, action-packed film, which is a super realistic study on the cross-section of kung-fu and elemental magic will premiere on April 16th. Choose your fighter wisely.

Update, 4:39 p.m.: Jezebel has discovered the answer to our question about Chun Li’s erasure, and it is that Chun Li is not part of the Mortal Kombat megaverse. Wow!