The Mortal Kombat series has been around since the ’90s and is one of the biggest, most successful fighting game franchises in history. A lot of this success is a direct result of consistent gameplay improvements, popular characters, and some truly wild lore. But it also can’t be ignored that Mortal Kombat’s deadly and famous fatalities, which players can pull off at the end of some matches if they input a tricky series of button presses quickly, are a big reason it is still around decades later.
These deadly moves sparked a lot of controversy when MK first exploded onto the scene, and also got a lot of people talking about and eventually playing the series. In 2026, these finishers remain popular on YouTube and TikTok. People love watching their favorite characters kill (or be killed) in all sorts of horrific ways. Developer NetherRealm knows this, which is why it will take you over an hour and a half to watch this compilation of all of the fatalities from just the last four games.
But not all fatalities are good. Many are meh. Fewer still are great, and even fewer than that are truly memorable moments of bloodshed and viscera. So, in honor of the new live-action Mortal Kombat movie, let’s take a look at the 12 best fatalities across the entire franchise.
12. Kitana – Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance – Kiss of Doom
Let’s start the list off with a finisher from the PS2-era Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. I remember this one freaking me out as a child. It’s funny to think that people getting slashed, gutted, burned, and chopped up didn’t really register as particularly unsettling with young Zack. But I, and looking around online, it seems many others, found Kitana’s Kiss of Doom fatality disturbing and creepy. I think it’s the way the model expands and contracts in a way that doesn’t look real at all. Just a strange, bloody mess that lingers in my brain all these years later.
11. Mileena – Mortal Kombat X – Crawling Away
I think the best fatalities in Mortal Kombat aren’t the elaborate cinematic ones that involve multiple steps and location changes. Instead, the most memorable are often the simple ones that feature characters truly panicking or reacting with fear. Case in point, the Mileena fatality from Mortal Kombat X that has her ripping a character’s guts apart as they desperately crawl away from their own lower half. Ouch.
10. Quan Chi – Mortal Kombat 4 – Leg Beating
Sometimes a good Mortal Kombat fatality involves a lot of gore and blood. And then sometimes, a dude just rips another person’s leg off and quickly pummels them to death with their own disconnected limb. This is the latter. Simple, funny, brutal, and memorable as heck.
9. Noob Saibot – Mortal Kombat (2011) – Make A Wish
This is one of those MK9 fatalities that I don’t see talked about as often as some others on this list, and maybe that’s because it’s just so damn brutal to watch that people have blocked it out of their minds. Getting ripped apart somewhat slowly from the crotch by two warriors is uh, not the way I’d want to go. Those moments at the start, when the victim begins to separate, are excruciating to watch. I’m happy this was made during the Xbox 360 era of the franchise because this one in 4K with photorealistic models might be too much.
8. Liu Kang – Mortal Kombat II – Dragon Bite
A true classic. The first time you saw this, you probably reacted with a lot of excitement and confusion. A classic kill that has popped up in other entries since, but the original and simple version found back in MK2 is still the best version, I think.
7. Kenshi – Mortal Kombat X – Tele-Copter
Mortal Kombat X is one of my favorite sequels in the series, and when I was playing it nearly every day, I was usually playing as Kenshi. I got pretty damn good with the blind swordfighter and eventually learned how to do this fatality. Something about it just feels so damn gruesome. And that first slice to the face is a heck of a moment. I’ve seen this one a lot over the years and still wince a bit when that first blade strikes flesh.
6. Liu Kang – Mortal Kombat 3 – Arcade Machine Drop
Liu Kang returns for a second time on this list. But this time around, he just drops a Mortal Kombat arcade machine on his opponent. That’s it. Is it dumb? Yes. Is it funny? Yes. Is it one of the best finishers in the series? Well, it’s on this list, so what do you think?
5. Cassie Cage – Mortal Kombat X – Selfie
This fatality from Mortal Kombat X nearly goes on too long and becomes annoying, but the moment she snaps that selfie and posts it to social media, and fake comments start flooding the screen, I’m 100-percent back on board with this over-the-top kill.
4. Scorpion – Mortal Kombat II – Toasty!
The franchise’s second-most-iconic finisher was also the official face reveal of Mortal Kombat‘s Scorpion, the popular rope-dart-tossing ninja. Turns out he’s, like, a skeleton dude with flame who can shoot out fire and blow you into bloody bones? Now ain’t that neat! This finisher has since appeared in basically every main entry in the series, but I think MK2‘s is the best version of this spicy kill.
3. Kung Lao – Mortal Kombat (2011) – Razor’s Edge
The fact that Kung Lao drags his victim through the spinning saw-blade hat feet-first means that the loser has to feel every moment of the brutal slice before getting their head cut in half vertically. That probably explains the flailing and screaming.
2. Smoke – Mortal Kombat 3 – Boom
Dude blows up the entire planet, killing himself in the process, just to prove to everyone he won. Impressive.
1. Sub-Zero – Mortal Kombat – Spine Pull
You probably saw this one coming. Yes, Sub-Zero’s spine pull from the very first game is still the best and most famous fatality in the franchise’s history. Arguably, this iconic move helped kick-start the creation of the ESRB, made Sub-Zero famous, sent the Mortal Kombat franchise into the stratosphere, and in the process inspired plenty of violent knock-off fighting games. Not bad for such a simple, short kill that has returned to the franchise time and time again in sequels and spin-offs. Turns out people can’t get enough of Sub-Zero ripping someone’s entire spine out of their body by the neck. And, I mean, who can blame them?
