Reptile

Reptile is a reptilian warrior from a destroyed realm called Zaterra and a villain from the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games.

Life before Mortal Kombat
Reptile is of a reptilian race known as Saurians. Long ago, when Earth was ravaged by a battle of the gods, his ancestors, a race of raptors, escaped into a new realm, Zaterra. It was later invaded by Shao Kahn and bonded with Outworld, resulting in the deaths of most of the Saurians in the process. Unlike most of the other survivors, who were trained as slaves, Reptile was trained as a warrior and servant for Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung.

Mortal Kombat
Reptile joined Goro and Shang Tsung in Earthrealm as they attempted to win the Mortal Kombat Tournament and allow Shao Kahn to enter the realm. He remained in the shadows and returned to Outworld, along with Shang Tsung after the tournament.

Mortal Kombat 2
Reptile was assigned to protect his master from harm and began performing special missions for Shao Kahn, since he had been promised that his race would be freed from slavery if he did as Kahn commanded without question.

Mortal Kombat 3
Reptile got another chance to bring back the strength of his race after Kitana left Shao Kahn during his invasion of the Earthrealm. Kahn promised the Saurian he would resurrect his race, if he found and, if need be, eliminated Kitana. Reptile failed after his accomplice, Jade, found out he planned to kill Kitana and stopped him. When the conflict ended, the Saurian was brought as a prisoner to Edenia where he was tried for genocide, ironic considering this is what happened to his own race, and banished to Netherrealm.

Mortal Kombat 4
When Shinnok made his return, Reptile joined him in the hopes that the god would repay his services by resurrecting his now almost extinct race. Upon finding himself on the losing side yet again, Reptile returned to Outworld and his old master, Shao Kahn.

Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance
However Reptile had begun to devolve, since he had been away from his race and his matriarch for so long. He had masked his reptilian appearance before by pretending to be human, but this was no longer possible. Because of the great conflict going on between Edenia and Outworld, Kahn sent Reptile to retrieve Shang Tsung. However, Reptile arrived to overhear Shang Tsung and Quan Chi forming their Deadly Alliance and planning to kill Shao Kahn. Reptile raced back to his master, only to be distracted by Nitara, a vampiress who revealed knowledge she had of his destroyed race, proving it by giving him the Kirehashi sword, an artifact of the Zaterrans. After receiving the location of Kitana's camps from the vampiress, Reptile rushed to give his master the information, only to find him slain.

Desperate and without purpose, Reptile wandered Outworld, until he encountered Nitara once again. Desperate, he swore allegiance to her, never knowing that he was but a pawn in the vmapiress's plan to free her realm from Outworld. Her first step had been to distract Reptile, so as to ensure Kahn's death, next she tricked the Saurian into battling the cyber ninja, Cyrax. He succeeded in damaging the cyborg, forcing him to cooperate with Nitara as well. However Reptile eventually realized that Nitara had manipulated him and caused the death of his master. He tracked the vampire and Cyrax to a cave in rage, but they were both gone by the time he got there. However Reptile did find the almost incubated dragon egg of the Dragon King, which broke and sent out a beam of light that struck Reptile, making the vessel for the reincarnated Onaga.

Mortal Kombat Armageddon
Reptile was freed from the Dragon King after his defeat and was encountered by Taven in the Red Dragon Fortress during the Konquest mode, demanding that Daegon's dragon, Caro, close the portal he had just opened. There is not explanation as to why he was there, but is is possible that his DNA was utilized along with that of Caro to create the Red Dragon Hybrids, since they do bear some resemblance to Reptile. The Saurian fought Taven and was beaten.

In his Armageddon ending, Reptile defeated Blaze, causing the Pyramid of Argus to crumble. Within, he found a tomb containing a female Zaterran as he slowly reverted to his humanoid form. With this female, Reptile brought the Zaterran race back to its former glory.

Powers
Reptile's abilities are mainly derived from those of several different reptiles. In his human form, he can remove his mask to reveal his monstrous lizard face, so as fire some of his saliva at his opponent, which is highly corrosive or use his tongue to pull off various parts of his opponent's body, which he then devours. Reptile can also fire energy spheres called force balls, but his most well-known ability is his ability to turn invisible by blending into his surroundings. His claws and fangs have also demonstrated that they are extremely sharp as he is seen using them to tear apart his opponent's face.

Trivia

 * At one point, the writers attempted to add more story to Reptile's origins by introducing Khameleon, a character said to be the last female of Reptile's race. However she later came to have more in common with Chameleon, another ninja who looked like a male version of Khameleon.


 * In Deadly Alliance, Reptile appeared in what is considered to be his most animalistic form. However in Sindel's Deception ending, after she seals Onaga back in his corpse, Reptile is seen on the floor in his more humanoid form. It is unknown if this is an indication that he regained this form or simply an error.


 * In his first two appearances, his blood was shown to be red, but in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3/Trilogy, it was changed to green, which is presumed to be because of his reptilian nature. However in Mortal Kombat 4 and Shaolin Monks he bled red blood. He did have green blood again in Deadly Alliance and Armageddon, but in Deadly Alliance, body stubs broken off were red and in Armageddon, his blood was red if he fell victim to a death trap.


 * Although Reptile is commonly considered an evil character, his goals seem dedicated to the well being of his race. Also as time has gone by, Reptile has come to be considered neutral.


 * On the back of Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks cases in Blockbuster, he is accidentally referred to as Lizard.


 * Out of all the characters who made appearances in Deadly Alliance and Deception, Reptile was the only one who received a new costume and character model for Armageddon, since fans liked his Shaolin Monks outfit so much.
 * Reptile's fatality in MK4 where he gnawed off the opponents' face with his fangs, was voted number 10 on Screwattacks' list of Top 10 Mortal Kombat Fatalities. His Animality in UMK3, where he turned into a chimpanzee and chased the opponent off the screen, was listed as number 4 on their list of Top 10 Worst Mortal Kombat Fatalities.
 * Reptile was voted 9th on Screwattack's list of Top 10 Mortal Kombat Kharacters.