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Kano is one of the secondary antagonists of the Mortal Kombat franchise.
Kano was portrayed by Richard Divizio in the first three Mortal Kombat games, who also portrayed Baraka, Kabal, Shang Tsung and Quan Chi throughout the same games. He was voiced by David Allen from Mortal Kombat: Special Forces to Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.
Biography[]
Backstory[]
Kano is the ruthless, but cowardly leader of the Black Dragon Clan. The clan's involvement with criminality would be opposed by the U.S. Special Forces, and during a confrontation with Jackson Briggs, he lost his right eye, though he would mend his injuries and was equipped with a new bionic eye. At some point, he would also kill Sonya Blade's partner.
Mortal Kombat: Special Forces[]
Kano chronologically first appears in the debatably canon game Mortal Kombat: Special Forces. He freed fellow Black Dragon cohorts No Face, Tasia, Jarek and Tremor from a U.S. Special Forces security facility, under the pretense that they would reform the Black Dragon organization. Kano had no plans of reforming the organization, however, and only planned to use this as a way to slow down the Special Forces agents, killing a group of them during the prison break.
Kano headed to Outworld where he planned to get the Eye of Chitian. He eventually got the item but was stopped by Jackson Briggs, who had caught up to Kano and his accomplices so the two fought, and Kano was defeated. Jax then used the Eye to transport them back to Earthrealm and proceeded to bring Kano into custody, though Kano escaped soon after.
Mortal Kombat[]
Kano had somehow learned of Shang Tsung's tournament as well as rumors that his palace was filled with untold levels of gold and riches. Kano was also being pursued by Sonya Blade and as seen in the prequel comic managed to get aboard the barge heading to the tournament. He met the movie star Johnny Cage, and picked a fight with him, but it was broken by the Shaolin monk Liu Kang.
While Kano was free to take part in the tournament of his own free will Sonya and her team were captured by Shang Tsung's minions. Shang Tsung told Sonya that she would either participate in the tournament or her and her squad would be executed.
Both Kano and Sonya were able to survive and after Liu Kang won the tournament Shang Tsung's island started collapsing Kano also teamed up with Sonya and Johnny Cage to fight Goro. Due to Shang Tsung island collapsing, Kano and Sonya would find themselves stranded in Outworld where they would be found be Shang Tsung and taken to Shao Kahn.
Mortal Kombat II[]
Both Kano and Sonya spent the entirety of the second tournament chained up in Shao Kahn's arena (where they can be seen if you are playing on the stage). Near the end of the tournament, they are both freed by Jax who uses this opportunity to arrest Kano. Kano, however, escapes into Outworld and is presumed dead by Earthrealm.
Mortal Kombat 3[]
Kano, however, was able to survive by convincing Shao Kahn to make him a weapons instructor for his army for the upcoming invasion of Earthrealm. As a man with knowledge of Earthrealm weaponry, he was the most suitable candidate. Kano participated in the invasion of Earthrealm on Outworld's side, where he faced his former Realm's chosen warriors, which included Sonya, Jax, Liu Kang and former Black Dragon Kabal. In Kano's non canon ending, he betrayed Outworld by luring them on a false mission and used a stolen nuclear bomb to devastate the army. After killing the survivors and Shao Kahn himself, Kano attempted to take over the souls that Kahn had harvested, but was ironically killed by those same spirits, unintentionally saving Earthrealm
In the main version of events, as revealed in Deadly Alliance, in a confrontation with Sonya on a rooftop, Kano was thrown off the building by her, seemingly killing him for good. The dying Kano was found by Motaro who imprisoned him. Kano was freed, however, when Sheeva killed Motaro. The two hatched a plan to have Shao Kahn killed, but Kano seizing the opportunity turned on Sheeva and took her to Shao Kahn. For these actions, Kano was promoted to general of Shao Kahn's army, which had been weakened significantly after Shao Kahn's failed invasion of Earthrealm.
Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance[]
Promoting Kano turned out to be a good choice from Shao Kahn as Kano proved to be an effective general. Despite the massive advantage the forces of Edenia had over Outworld Kano was able to push them back long enough which was made better for him when Goro was killed in battle. However, once Kano returned to Shao Kahn's throne room, he witnessed Quan Chi and Shang Tsung killing Shao Kahn. Kano, to save himself, pledged his loyalty to them. Quan Chi and Shang Tsung would have Kano oversee the enslavement of an Outworld village called Sun Do. During the construction of the Deadly Alliance's Palace, Kano was attacked by Li Mei though Quan Chi stopped her.
However, the Alliance had made a deal with the Red Dragon member Mavado the deal was that he would eliminate the swordsman Kenshi Takahashi in exchange for the opportunity to fight and defeat Kano. Mavado attacked and left Kenshi for dead, earning his battle. According to Mavado's ending, Kano was killed by the Red Dragon.
In his own ending, after stealing Shinnok's Amulet on behalf of Shang Tsung, Kano realized that he could use the Amulet to put the Dragon King's Army under his control, rather than the Deadly Alliance. Taking control of the army, he first used it to confront and kill Sonya.
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon[]
As it turned out, in the canon version of events, while Mavado won the battle with Kano, he simply imprisoned him in the Red Dragon base. After being held in Red Dragon captivity for a long time, Kano is found by Taven in the Konquest mode. Kano explains to Taven that the Red Dragon had been experimenting on him, as well as their clan members, to create real-life genetically engineered Dragons and Human-Dragon Hybrids. The two are also eventually able to escape the facility.
The next time Kano is seen is during the Battle of Armageddon, when he is on the Forces of Darkness he is seen climbing the pyramid where he kills Stryker with his eye laser and throws a knife at Bo' Rai Cho though fails to kill him and falls when Bo' Rai Cho throws up on the ground. He attempts to climb back up, but is once again knocked to the ground this time by Shao Kahn. In his non canon ending, Kano is the one to defeat Blaze, but unfortunately for him it restarts the Red Dragon's experiments on him, ironically turning him into a black dragon/human hybrid. In the canon version of events, Kano is ultimately one of the many killed during the bloody Battle of Armageddon.
Relations[]
Allies[]
- Black Dragon
- Shang Tsung
- Shao Kahn
- Tremor
- Jarek
- No Face
- Tasia
- Noob Saibot
- Quan Chi
- Forces of Darkness
Enemies[]
- Sonya Blade
- Special Forces
- Jax Briggs
- Johnny Cage
- Kitana
- Raiden
- Kabal
- Kurtis Stryker
- Nightwolf
- Sub-Zero
- Cyrax
- Smoke
- Motaro
- Sheeva
- Red Dragon Clan
- Kenshi Takahashi
- Li Mei
- Bo' Rai Cho
- Mavado
- Forces of Light
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- In the games, Kano was originally intended to be Asian, but Trevor Goddard's portrayal of Kano in the Mortal Kombat movie was well liked by the developers, who incorporated aspects of it into subsequent games.
- In Quan Chi's Deadly Alliance ending, Kano is ordered to betray Shang Tsung after his usefulness comes to an end, but is killed by the necromancer after realising Kano's capability for treachery. However, his body ends up being possessed by the soul of Liu Kang.
