Shang Tsung

Shang Tsung is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. He debuted as the final boss in the original 1992 game and has remained one of the franchise's primary villains. A powerful sorcerer, he is principally defined by his abilities to shapeshift into other characters and to absorb the souls of defeated warriors. Shang Tsung is usually portrayed as the right-hand man of Outworld emperor Shao Kahn and the archenemy of Shaolin monk Liu Kang. He also appeared as the main villain of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002), alongside Quan Chi as the eponymous Deadly Alliance, as well as in Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath (2020) and Mortal Kombat 1 (2023).

The character has appeared in various media outside of the games, including as the main villain of the 1995 film and the 2021 film. He has received a positive reception for his design, abilities, and role in the series.

Creation
Shang Tsung (originally named "Shang Lao") was based on a "Chinese sorcerer" archetype from martial arts films, including but not limited to the character Lo Pan from the film Big Trouble in Little China. He was originally envisioned as the one who would behead the losing fighter, prior to the concept of character-specific Shang Fatalities. A cut character named "Kitsune", which was later developed into Kitana, "was going to fit into the story as Shang Lao's (Tsung's) princess daughter - the spoil of victory for winning the tournament", who would betray her father after she fell for Liu Kang. However, mid-development, Boon and the team thought it would be fun to put the finishing power in the player's hands, and started coming up with gruesome ways we could finish off their enemies rather than just Shang Tsung. So it was going to be just the boss, but just "goofing around one time" they made Johnny Cage duck down and uppercut the sorcerer. Following this test, the staff decided to turn everybody into finishers. The original idea was that Shang Tsung was a human traitor who had sold his soul. Mortal Kombat art director Herman Sanchez said that as the series progressed he decided to emphasize Tsung's air of "sinister regality."

Shang Tsung's design varies throughout the series. The initial history of the character was explained in the 1992 Midway-produced comic book based on the original MK game, in which he was the first-ever Mortal Kombat (then the Shaolin Tournament) champion over 500 years ago from the date of the then-current tournament depicted in the actual game, yet he was stricken with a curse that forced him to consume the souls of his defeated opponents in order to keep his youth. The book cited his "failure to appease the gods" as the reason for his premature aging to a withered old man, but he was noticeably younger in Mortal Kombat II, in which Shao Kahn had restored Shang Tsung's youth and powers as part of his plan to take over Earthrealm by luring Liu Kang and his fellow Earth warriors into Outworld for the next MK tournament. His actor in the sequel changed to Phillip Ahn, turning from the original game's Ho-Sung Pak.

According to GamePro magazine in 1993, the MKII version of Shang Tsung was nineteen years old, and an article about the game also included a rough sketch by Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias of Tsung's "true form," a twisted demon, which has never actually appeared in the video games. Tobias wanted Shang Tsung's long hair to hang loose in Mortal Kombat 3 (in which his actor was John Turk), but potential problems with it flopping about whenever he jumped resulted in it being tied back into a ponytail. Responding to player queries about how Shang Tsung's last name is pronounced, Acclaim Entertainment stated in 1994 that there is no one definitively correct way of pronouncing the character's name.

In the original Mortal Kombat game Shang Tsung is a computer-controlled boss that launches fireball projectiles (consisting of a flaming skull, in contrast to Liu Kang's fireball which is shaped like a Chinese dragon) and can morph into other characters at will; this gives him access to all of the Kombatants' signature moves. The character was originally given the morphing ability due to technical limitations as the arcade machines for the game had no memory left for his images. As a player character in MKII, he retains his morphing ability, but can only transform into playable characters (although he can transform into the non-playable sub-boss Kintaro for a fatality). His flaming skull projectile's versatility is also expanded: he can summon skulls from above or below the opponent as well as shoot multiple skulls from his hands. Tsung's shapeshifting went mostly unused in Deadly Alliance, Deception, Armageddon, and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Ed Boon explained this was due to a lack of sufficient memory. After the ending of Mortal Kombat 11, Ed Boon decided to cast Tagawa as Shang Tsung for Aftermath as he believes several gamers often visualize him when seeing the character. Despite being presented as an anti-hero, Boon acknowledges that everybody knows he is the actual villain instead and they look forward to the obvious revelation. Tagawa himself said that Mortal Kombat in general was one of the biggest experiences in his career, having enjoyed both films and gaming citing the franchise's length in general. For Mortal Kombat 1, Shang Tsung is returning as a major villain but according to Boon he will not be final one.

Mortal Kombat games
According to the first Mortal Kombat comic, Shang Tsung was cursed by his gods to steal souls lest he age rapidly and die prematurely. However, stealing souls allowed him to absorb his victims' knowledge and fighting skills as well. He entered the Mortal Kombat tournament, overcoming all competition and becoming the Grand Champion. After his victory, he became the tournament's coordinator, unfairly tipping the scales in Outworld's favor for nine tournaments so that Shao Kahn could conquer Earth. However, he and his protege and champion Goro are defeated by the Shaolin Monk Liu Kang in the tenth tournament during the events of the first Mortal Kombat game.

In Mortal Kombat II, Shao Kahn restores Shang Tsung's youth and tries to lure Earth's warriors into Outworld to give himself an advantage. While Shang Tsung and his master are defeated, this plot is merely a distraction while Shang Tsung resurrects Shao Kahn's wife Sindel in Earthrealm. Shao Kahn crosses the dimensional boundaries to claim her, which merges Earthrealm with Outworld and enslaves the souls of billions of people. Shang Tsung is assigned to hunt down survivors, but is defeated by Liu Kang once more.

In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Shang Tsung joins forces with fellow sorcerer Quan Chi in a bid to conquer the realms by resurrecting Onaga the Dragon King's undead army. However, their plan goes awry when Onaga himself returns from the dead, reclaiming his army. When Raiden releases his godly essence in a last-ditch effort to defeat the Dragon King, Shang Tsung dies as well, but he is revived in Mortal Kombat Armageddon before the final battle between good and evil.

Shang Tsung appears as a playable character in the Mortal Kombat reboot game (2011), which serves as a reboot of the first three titles in the series. In this new timeline, his role is mostly consistent with these games. However, near the story's end, Shao Kahn steals Shang Tsung's soul and uses it to empower Sindel before sending her to kill the Earthrealm defenders.

While Shang Tsung was not included in Mortal Kombat X (2015), he does appear in Ermac's arcade ending, stealing the latter's souls to reconstitute himself, and in a flashback during Erron Black's ending that sees him slowing Black's aging process in exchange for him assassinating an Earthrealm warrior.

Shang Tsung returns in Mortal Kombat 11 as both a DLC character and the central character of the DLC story expansion Aftermath. In the game's story mode, his now abandoned island is the site of several battles as opposing factions fight over the countless souls that he has stored there. Shang Tsung also appears as the guardian of the Krypt, also based on his island, narrating the player's progress. In Aftermath, the goddess Kronika imprisoned Shang Tsung in the Void once his purpose was served, during which he formulated a plan to get revenge. Following her death, the sorcerer emerged alongside Fujin and Nightwolf to stop Liu Kang from using Kronika's hourglass without the Crown of Souls. As Liu Kang had destroyed his version, Shang Tsung convinced the Fire God to send him, Fujin, and Nightwolf back in time to retrieve a past version of the Crown. While in the past, the sorcerer orchestrates events to ensure that he could gain the Crown with little to no opposition from Earthrealm, Outworld, and Kronika's forces. Once they are all defeated, Shang Tsung attempts to restart history for himself, only to discover that Liu Kang had manipulated events to ensure the sorcerer's victory over Kronika. The player can then choose to finish as either Liu Kang or Shang Tsung. If Liu Kang wins, he erases Shang Tsung from existence before restarting the timeline. If Shang Tsung wins, he absorbs Liu Kang's soul and becomes a Titan, intent on conquering the realms.

In Mortal Kombat 1, Shang Tsung appears as a preorder bonus and as the game's main antagonist. The game focuses on Liu Kang's new timeline, where Shang Tsung is depicted as a snake oil salesman struggling to make ends meet in Outworld. He later meets Kronika, calling herself "Damashi" from the previous timeline, who offers him the chance to become the powerful sorcerer he was before. Working together with Quan Chi and General Shao, he works his way up to Empress Sindel's court on the promise of curing her daughter Mileena from her Tarkat disease. When Fire God Liu Kang sends Earthrealm warriors to capture him for interrogation, he frames them for treason to convince Sindel to turn against Earthrealm. He later convinces Bi-Han to turn the Lin Kuei against Earthrealm by revealing his access to Emperor Ying's Dragon Army. When Liu Kang reveals his treachery to Sindel and the rest of the royal court and they confront him, they meet Damashi, who is revealed to be the Titan Shang Tsung from the second ending in Aftermath. His true intention is to kill all life in Liu Kang's timeline and merge it into his own. Liu Kang's Shang Tsung agrees to work with him to stop his Titan counterpart and manages to shut down his portals with help from Quan Chi and Raiden. Liu Kang recruits Titans from other timelines to successfully prevent Titan Shang Tsung from destroying his hourglass. Liu Kang and the other Titans build armies across multiple timelines to confront Titan Shang Tsung in his, resulting in a massive battle on the Pyramid of Argus where Titan Shang Tsung teams up with a Titan Quan Chi. Liu Kang and another character the player selects ultimately defeat them and end their threats across all timelines. In Liu Kang's timeline, his version of Shang Tsung escapes prison and discovers the island he hosted the tournament on in the previous timeline, where he plans to use the well of souls to make himself more powerful.

Other media
Shang Tsung plays his original role of the main antagonist in the first series of the Malibu Comics' Blood & Thunder miniseries, with his backstory mostly unchanged as an old man serving Shao Kahn to open the portal through 10 consecutive Mortal Kombat wins. He and Raiden share a bitter relationship, usually ending in either verbal assaults or draw fights. While Shang Tsung hosted the tenth tournament, he secretly planned to gain the powers of the mystical book Tao Te Zhan, which granted immense strength to whoever resolves its seven riddles. Shang Tsung and Raiden later join forces to stop Goro after he took the power of the book, since he cannot be trusted with such strength. During the Battlewave miniseries, it is implied that Shang Tsung resumed the tournament after his plans were foiled and lost it alongside Goro at the hands of Liu Kang. He is seen in the first pages of issue #1 being pursued and punished by Shao Kahn, Kintaro, and Gorbak (Goro's father). Even though Shao Kahn supposedly punished him, he later appears in the last page of issue #5 completely rejuvenated and still under Shao Kahn's servitude. Shang Tsung would later serve as the leader of Shao Kahn's team during the tournament he prepared in the last issue of the series, Tournament Edition II. Shang Tsung's last appearance is during the 1995 Kung Lao one-shot comic, in which he serves as the antagonist, attempting to kill Kung Lao through deceptive tricks using his shapeshifting abilities.

Shang Tsung is the main antagonist in Mortal Kombat, where he is played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. He sporadically resorts to intimidation and trickery to manipulate the outcome of the tournament. He is defeated and killed by Liu Kang in the final battle as revenge for killing his brother Chan.

Shang Tsung is also the villain of the animated film Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins, voiced by Jim Cummings. In this version, he is portrayed as having the ability to read his opponent's thoughts during the battle (an ability that was not present in the game series), allowing him to predict their attacks and adapt his own strategy to exploit the opponent's greatest weakness.

Shang Tsung appeared in several episodes of the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, voiced by Neil Ross. In the 2015 Mortal Kombat X prequel comics published by DC Comics, in which he has not appeared, his island is described as having been taken over by Reiko and Havik following his death.

In the Mortal Kombat: Konquest TV series, Shang Tsung was portrayed by Bruce Locke as a sorcerer eager to take revenge on the Great Kung Lao, who had defeated him in Mortal Kombat. For most of the series, he is confined to Shao Kahn's cobalt mines for his failure in the Mortal Kombat tournament, although he occasionally escapes, since his powers are unaffected by the cobalt in the mines due to his human heritage. While in the mines, he keeps Kreeyan princess Vorpax as his personal slave and generally mistreats her until she receives her mother's powers. As with the other characters, Tsung is defeated in the finale by Kahn's Shadow Priests.

Shang Tsung appears briefly in the short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, portrayed by James Lew, and in the third episode of the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy, played by Johnson Phan. Tagawa reprised his role from the first movie for the second season as successfully luring a distraught Liu Kang over to Outworld's side against Raiden. Shang Tsung also starred in the Death Battle! episode "Akuma vs. Shang Tsung" from Rooster Teeth, in which he faced off against Akuma from the Street Fighter franchise, defeating him in the series' titular duel to the death.

Shang Tsung appears in the animated film Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge and the sequel Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms. Voice actor Artt Butler compared Shang Tsung with the Star Wars villain Darth Vader due to how powerful he is yet he is still serving Shao Khan. He claims that in Scorpion's Revenge he saw all his enemies as insignificant due to his arrogance wheareas in Battle of the Realms he is more interested in killing Liu Kang as he acknowledges the power the protagonist has and will take advantage of any act of mercy the Shaolin Monk shows in combat. In retrospect, Butler enjoyed the fight between Shang Tsung and Liu Kang, praising Jordan Rodrigues's performance of the character.

Chin Han portrays Shang Tsung in the 2021 reboot film Mortal Kombat. He resorts to cheating before the tournament by attacking Raiden's forces with allies like Prince Goro and Sub-Zero. He threatens Raiden with retaliation after the death of his minions but is teleported away by the Thunder God.

Reception
The character was met with a positive critical reception. Shang Tsung was ranked 17th on GameDaily's 2009 list of top evil masterminds of all time, which noted his attack style and goals while stating he is "one twisted freak." That same year, GamesRadar listed him as one of the top villains who will never stay dead. He was also sixth on GamesRadar's list of most misunderstood videogame villains. GamesRadar also listed his Fatality where he morphs into Kintaro from Mortal Kombat II as one of "ten greatest things about Mortal Kombat". In 2010, Shang Tsung was ranked 97th in IGN's list of top video game villains, with a comment that "considering Shang Tsung's devious powers and his cruel methods, his status as a reputable villain of the series is well deserved." Den of Geek said that while he never looked as menacing as the sub-boss Goro, his shapeshifting powers would surprise the player while his personality surprised the audience, making him one of the best bosses in fighting game history. In Game of Death, David Church found Liu Kang and Shang Tsung as obvious references Lee and Han from Enter the Dragon.

He was also ranked as third in Game Revolution's list of top old school Mortal Kombat characters for his ability to morph into other fighters during battles. Game Rant ranked Shang Tsung at number five on their list of "most awesome" Mortal Kombat characters, praising his ability to transform into other characters and adding "despite Shang Tsung's limited arsenal of unique special attacks, the character still provides experienced players with a stylish way to dispatch opponents." In UGO's 2012 list of top Mortal Kombat characters, Shang Tsung placed at 15th. Complex placed this "cold-blooded mastermind" at the top of their lists of the greatest wizards in games in 2012, calling him the "coolest video game wizard ever, by far," and of the most brutal fighters in Mortal Kombat in 2013. In 2013, Complex also included his transformation into Kintaro and his "Soul Purge" in MK3 among the best finishing moves in the series. Shang Tsung also became famous in the Deadly Alliance intro cutscene for killing the hero Liu Kang which surprised game journalist for the impact such dark twist had on the main narrative.

Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa's take on Shang Tsung is now regarded as the ideal portrayal of the sorcerer. JoBlo.com noted that every actor who has taken the role since have been compared to Tagawa, commenting that his delivery "has all the cadence and embellished style like he's on Broadway, but he holds himself physically like he's just casually laying down the law. Tagawa is Shang Tsung." Screen Rant reported that while they felt all the main cast members were equally outstanding, Tagawa was "the best casting of the movie to many". While reviewing Legacy, IGN said "the most noteworthy bit of recasting involves Shang Tsung" due to Tagawa's appeal on the character especially with his age despite there not being connections to the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie.

Tagawa's portrayal of Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath was praised by HobbyConsolas for often being the center of attention in his scenes. The Washington Post praised the handling of Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat 11 in general to the point he is a more enjoyable than the already striking DLC RoboCop due to his charismatic and manipulative characterization when working alongside Raiden's forces to obtain the power he wanted. In retrospect, the site said "Tagawa gave the most memorable performance of the movie." which further proves the reason to why the Aftermath storyline is so appealing despite being an obvious villain working with the heroes.