DC Entertainment/WB Animation, 2021

Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms is the second entry to the Legends series and continues the story from Scorpion’s Revenge. Battle of the Realms tells the story of the second tournament in Outworld where the Earthrealm heroes have to fight the impending invasion of Shao Kahn and his forces. During these events, we also witness a back-and-forth tale of Scorpion dealing with the consequences of his actions and Sub-Zero’s younger brother seeking the same thing Scorpion sought in the first film: Vengeance. They’re also being tracked by the Cyber Lin Kuei, who are trying to track down the Kamidogu to resurrect the One Being, unbeknownst to them.

If this seems like a lot to cover in a 90-minute timeframe, it is. The film suffers from breakneck coverage of a tournament that included the likes of Li Mei, Jade, Jax, Stryker, Shang Tsung, Kintaro, Sonya, Liu Kang, Raiden, and Shao Kahn among others all while covering a back-and-forth battle/chase and epic ending kaiju battle (spoilers)!

While there are great elements to Battle of the Realms, it is definitely among the weakest of offerings in the Legends films as it just tries to do way too much in too little time. Had it ended 30 minutes sooner, as writer Jeremy Adams intended (noted in the commentary), then they probably would have been able to let much of these things breathe and expand. This isn’t even counting the Mileena storyline that was cut during production. – Myke