Mortal Kombat fans have some pretty mixed feelings about Kuai Liang being Scorpion in Mortal Kombat 1's new timeline, with some waiting to see how the story handles it and others already mourning Hanzo Hazashi.
Ever since Mortal Kombat 1 was revealed as a timeline reset, one of the biggest theories that has been going around is regarding the identity of Scorpion. While he's always been Hanzo Hazashi in every other game, the fact that he's related to Bi-Han and seems to have a close bond with Smoke made many think that he was actually Kuai Liang, the second Sub-Zero in the original timeline.
After months of speculation, including some fans even thinking that Smoke might be Hanzo Hazashi this time around, the theory about Kuai Liang was seemingly confirmed by Mortal Kombat 1's story director, Dominic Cianciolo, during an interview with IGN. It's possible it was just a slip of the tongue, but until Warner Bros. says otherwise, it looks like the theory has been true all along.
Now that we seemingly know the truth and that Scorpion is going to be a completely different character in this timeline, Mortal Kombat fans are reacting to the news and seem to have some pretty mixed opinions. Over on the Mortal Kombat subreddit, Redditor Raz0712 asked the community how they feel about the change and if they think they can accept it.
The highest-rated comment on the thread is one that seems to represent the feelings of a lot of fans. PowerPamaja says that they don't like it, but that they're not going to go on a "tirade" about it, noting that it seems like an unnecessary change that has some potential considering what we saw of Smoke, Sub-Zero, and Scorpion in the Lin Kuei trailer. On the point of being unnecessary, another fan says that it's going to be confusing for new fans and that it's like "a new Batman was now Clark Kent", which is something I now want to see.
Meanwhile, Redditor rickmundooo is also somewhere in the middle of it all, with his popular comment noting that he's not going to judge the decision until he's seen where the story goes and specifically what's done with Hanzo Hazashi. Hanzo's fate is unsurprisingly what a lot of players are focusing on as they're worried it means he's not in the game or universe at all, which is understandable considering how important the character is.
For a more positive take, Redditor EntrancedForever says that they don't mind the change as it means that Hanzo has been freed from "MK's endless cycles of dead wives and children". They also note that it's nice to see Kuai Liang with something other than ice powers and that it might mean Bi-Han sticking around as Sub-Zero.
The thread discussing the change has more than 600 comments and it's not easy to see where the fandom currently lies on the change, although it does seem to skew slightly more negatively than positively. For my money, it's pretty clear that Hanzo Hazashi is going to play some role in the game, so it's worth waiting to see how the change is actually implemented.