Reptile is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.
About Reptile
Reptile embodies the archetype of the unhappy underling. He is physically hideous and repulsive, but he is renowned for his great stealth and unquestioning loyalty. Unlike many other henchmen of the lords he has served, Reptile does not strive for power. Rather, he is caught in a delusional state of mind, an obsession about finding the last remaining member of his race, the Saurions, or freeing his homeworld from Outworld's grasp. This obsession is so important to him that it causes temporary fits of insanity.
It is not quite clear how old Reptile is. Estimates run in the tens of thousands of years, or even millions. What is known, however, is that his homeworld, Zattera, was at one point invaded and annexed by Outworld's emperor, Shao Kahn. As was the usual process for Kahn conquering another world, most of the Zaterrans were killed in the ensuing battles, only leaving a handful of people left. Among those, or among those descended from these survivors, was Reptile. Unlike the others of his kind, who were forced into slavery, Reptile was trained to be a servant of both Kahn and Shang Tsung.
In the events between the death of the Great Kung Lao and Liu Kang's victory in the first Mortal Kombat game, Reptile joined Shang Tsung and Goro on Earthrealm. Naturally, when Tsung returned to Outworld, so did Reptile. He protected his master from harm during the events of Mortal Kombat II, and then went on to receive special missions from Shao Kahn himself, who had promised to release the remaining members of his race from slavery if he would unquestioningly do his bidding. Such an opportunity arose when Kitana had escaped into the unknown regions of Earthrealm during Kahn's invasion of that world. Reptile was sent to find and, if necessary, kill Kitana. He did not succeed.
After the war was over, with Kahn defeated and both Earth and Edenia free, Reptile was brought back as a prisoner to Edenia, and tried there for genocide, a bitter irony since his own race once was the victim of the very same act. When the Fallen Elder God Shinnok invaded Edenia, Reptile grasped the opportunity to join Shinnok's Army of Darkness as a commander, hoping to convince Shinnok to revive his near extinct race. After being on the losing side once more, he escaped into Outworld again and rejoined his old masters, in spite of the fact that neither had ever kept their promises towards him.
Because of his state of separation from the other members of his race, and especially his matriarch, Reptile had begun to show signs of devolution. Where he used to mask his hideous appearance by posing as a human, this proved to be no longer possible. By the events of Deadly Alliance, Reptile had nearly gone insane and had a significantly changed appearance, including a tail. When Kahn was apparently killed in a surprise attack by the Deadly Alliance, Reptile quickly found a new mistress, the vampiress Nitara. She also cleverly manipulated him into doing her bidding by dropping hints at her knowledge of his lost civilization. She gave him the Kirehashi blade, which was an artifact of the Zaterran civilization, as proof. This led to a series of events where Reptile ended up accidentally discovering the almost fully incubated dragon egg of Onaga the Dragon King. The egg hatched, and Reptile became the vessel for the reincarnated Dragon King.
Place Of Origin
It was believed that Reptile originated from Zaterra; however, according to Mortal Kombat: Deception's Konquest mode, Reptile's race did live in Earthrealm millions of years ago, even before the existence of the dinosaurs. Reptile belongs to a race known as the Saurions or Raptors.
Allies And Enemies
Allies- Shao Khan, Shinnok, Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Nitara and Mileena
Enemies- Kitana, Liu Kang, Raiden, and Edenia's forces.
Fighting styles
- Hung gar
- Crab
- Reptile's weapon of choice in Mortal Kombat 4 was a standard axe, but later he was given the Kirehashi from Nitara, which appears to be an artifact of his race.
Official Debut
Despite officially appearing in the first Mortal Kombat game in 1992 as a secret character to fight, Reptile then was simply a green version of Scorpion and had Sub-Zero and Scorpion's abilities. To many fans, Reptile truly made his official appearence in Mortal Kombat II in 1993 as he had his own character identity and was not a rip off of Sub-Zero and Scorpion.
Movie Appearances
Reptile appeared in Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. In the first movie, he was a horrid lizard creature with some humanoid features, like being bipedal. Initially disguised as a statue, Reptile received orders from Shang Tsung to keep Liu Kang and the other humans away from Kitana. During Liu Kang and Johnny Cage's journey to rescue Sonya from Shang Tsung, Liu Kang encounters the reptilian creature and throws it into another statue of Outworld which consumed Reptile. The statue changes into a human ninja form and, after an extended fight, is defeated by Liu Kang, who then kills Reptile as he squirms out of the wrecked statue. The nature of the Reptile's consumption is not explained.
In Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Reptile (or something like him) returns, crawling out of some ancient ruins of the Kingdom of Edenia (initially camouflaged, they seem to have no interest in a sneak attack). This time, two ninjas with reptilian features join Reptile in this fight (though only two of those reptilian creatures fight, instead of three). Reptile and his reptilian friends are easily defeated and killed by Raiden.
TV Appearances
Reptile appeared several times on Mortal Kombat: Conquest. Here, it was explained that all the members of his race call themselves Reptile (at least, in English or whatever it is the characters purport to be speaking). Though never mentioned by the name Zaterra, their homeworld appeared several times. They had humanoid shapes, but could be seen reverting to their reptilian ones as they would turn invisible. They could also spit acid as in the games; in one episode, a friendly character (and possible love interest for the character Taja) was killed by an acid attack in the face.
Trivia
- Reptile was hidden in the original Mortal Kombat but unlockable by executing a Fatality after fighting on The Pit stage without taking any damage or pressing the block button in the winning round. Reptile is a merge between the Sub-Zero and Scorpion characters. Later, in Mortal Kombat II, Reptile was developed into a full character with his own special moves and would be available from the outset.
- Although claimed by most fans to be 'devolving' into a more primal state since Mortal Kombat Trilogy, there is very little evidence to support that this change is anything but physical. It is described in an unlockable photo of Reptile's home realm Zaterra, that members of his race can lose their humanoid appearance when separated for long periods of time from their monarchal leader, given the fact that this authority figure - like most of his people - were most likely wiped out centuries ago by Shao Kahn, the fact that Reptile did not start to 'devolve' until after he assumed his master killed at the end of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and his race's natural camouflage ability to look like normal humans, it's most likely that Reptile's 'devolution' was a result of his increasingly maddening state overriding what mental capacity was required to maintain his human guise instead of a physical metamorphosis into a prior state of evolution.
- Mortal Kombat co-creators John Tobias and Ed Boon admitted in a interview that the "birth" of Reptile was when they took Sub Zero and Scorpion and fused the two into one and coloured him green (yellow + blue = green). They christened this character "Reptile" due to his green colour and their reference to lizards. While he wasn't given a lot of character depth at the time, he was worked on more (character wise) and was given the lizard persona that fans known him of today.
- Reptile appears in the latest game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks. He is an unlockable character in versus mode and an enemy in single player mode. He enters the game's storyline as a lizard-like creature, but his alternate outfit makes him look more human.
- It is believed that Reptile was placed in the first Mortal Kombat game as a method to keep the fans interested in the game.
- Before battles with an opponent on the first game, Reptile make his appearance and jump in the middle of the screen in a Sub-Zero win pose. Above his head would be clues on how to find him. This concept was then copied for Smoke and Jadein Mortal Kombat II.
- A previous attempt for the game writers to expand on Reptile's Saurion origins brought the creation of the character Khameleon in Mortal Kombat Trilogy. She was said to be the other last remnant of Reptile's race. Her only similarity to Reptile was that she was a palette swapped ninja, although she was a female ninja.
Fatalities
- He uses Scorpion and Sub-Zero's Fatalities in Mortal Kombat.
- Tasty Meal: Reptile takes off his mask, revealing a reptilian face. He then opens his mouth and stretches out his long tongue, sticking it to his victim's head, then quickly retracts it, ripping off the head and eating it. Reptile then rubs his stomach, giving a satisfied "Mmmm..." noise. (MK II)
- Invisible Slice: Reptile turns invisible, then rips or cuts off his opponent's torso before reappearing. How this is done is not precisely explained. (MK II)
- Body Snacker: Reptile repeats his head-eating fatality, but continues to lance out his tongue and eats the victim's torso and upper legs, distorting his head grotesquely as he swallows them. The lower legs and feet remain. (UMK3)
- Upset Stomach: Reptile takes off his mask, then vomits acid over his victim. The body is instantly reduced to a greenish skeleton, which further collapses into a puddle of goo. (UMK3)
- Face Snack: Reptile jumps onto his victim, then chews off his/her face. The chewing part is mostly concealed by copious amounts of blood, but when he pulls away (wiping the excess blood from his mouth), the victim's skinless face is clearly shown. (MK4)
- Acid Shower: Here, Reptile shows some skill at levitating (probably only for the purposes of the camera angle), and then vomits acid in a continuous fountain over the victim, dissolving their skin and much of their flesh. (MK4)
- Hybrid: Reptile jumps onto his enemy and vomits acid over their head. He then jumps back, revealing that the enemy has left only a skull lightly covered in acid. He then flicks out his tongue and eats that skull. (MK: DA)