I've been giving the timeline a lot of thought, taking Sub-Zero's (very revealing) flashbacks into account, and I've come away with the conclusion that the timeline - even in the comic - is completely fuxxed. [MENTION=18507]Harpoon[/MENTION] pls halp
This is what I have so far.
MK9
+2 years - Shinnok is defeated by Johnny Cage. The earliest possible time Cassie Cage could have been conceived.
+unknown - Sonya and Johnny assault Quan Chi's fortress. Scorpion, Jax, and Kuai Liang are returned to life.
+unknown - Kenshi helps Scorpion become a functional member of society.
+"months later" from the assault - Kuai Liang wakes up in the Sky Temple.
+"a few days later" - Kuai Liang departs from the Sky Temple looking for Raiden's lost Kamidogu.
+unknown - Kuai Liang fights Kano for Raiden's lost Kamidogu. Kenshi and Scorpion kill Hsu Hao. Takeda is at least 6 years old.
Kenshi says that Hanzo conquered Scorpion "years ago."
MK9+17 - the earliest possible time Cassie Cage could be 15 years old, which is the youngest possible age she could be in the main timeline.
-issue #11 eventually happens, in which Raiden tells Scorpion to go save Sub-Zero to save everyone. Scorpion finds Sub-Zero in a matter of days.
So this is
messed up for a number of reasons, not just in terms of chronology but also in what that chronology implies.
Being as generous to Kittelsen's timeline as humanly possible, let's say that Kenshi found Scorpion a few days/weeks after Scorpion's resurrection, so we get the recovery out of the way as quickly as possible.
Being generous again, let's say that the "months later" in Kuai Liang's recovery means 11, the most months "months" can be before turning into "a year later."
For Kenshi's statement that "Scorpion conquered his demons years ago" to be true,
at the bare minimum another 13 months must have passed. The only place those 13 months can come from is Kuai Liang's search for Raiden's lost Kamidogu. But... really? I mean... really? Over a year of his life Kuai Liang devoted entirely to the search for the Kamidogu Raiden lost? A year is a very long time. Later, Scorpion will track Kuai Liang down within days of being asked to do so.
And then, all because Raiden forgot to mention "don't get cut," Kuai Liang was enslaved by Havik?
And then, all because Raiden apparently couldn't care enough to send someone or go looking himself (this despite the fact that Scorpion finds Kuai Liang with a bare minimum of effort), Kuai Liang ends up serving Havik for
FIVE TO TEN YEARS?
And then, in MKX, Sub-Zero is... still... a good guy? Is he like the most heroic hero who ever lived, to put up with this bullshit despite the fact that he potentially lost over ten years of his life to Raiden's carelessness?
So to sum up, for Kenshi's statement that Hanzo conquered Scorpion "years ago" to be true in the weakest possible sense - "years" being taken to mean the least possible, 2, instead of the implied more than 2 - Kenshi's redemption of Scorpion
must have happened within like the first month of Scorpion coming back to life and Kuai Liang
must have completely screwed the pooch on tracking down the Kamidogu Raiden lost, for over a year.
At which point Kuai Liang must have gone into hiding for 5-10 years, sitting around with the Kamidogu, not actually killing anyone so as not to draw attention to himself -- or else Raiden would have found him as easily as Scorpion did, years ago... because even if we buy that Raiden doesn't care about Kuai Liang and is happy to let him rot for 5-10 years, he wouldn't be so careless with a Kamidogu.
P.S. In issue #2, Raiden warns Scorpion that before he could repair the barriers that protect Earthrealm from the realms beyond (i.e. Chaosrealm), a powerful demon (i.e. Havik) slipped through. But when did Havik slip through? He was already able to control Kuai Liang through the dagger 5-10 years ago, so if he slipped through right after the NRW, either Raiden took 5-10 years to catch on, or he decided not to warn the people Havik would come after (Scorpion, Jax) for years because... reasons. Neither scenario seems likely. Or does Raiden mean that Havik slipped through
just now, in person? Because we're 16 issues in and Havik hasn't stepped foot on Earthrealm, on-screen, once. Why did he slip through if he could just send Reiko in his stead, as he did in issue #15, without triggering any alarms? Or just use Sub-Zero? Does Havik need to slip through temporarily to amplify the daggers' power - e.g. to corrupt Forrest Fox from a distance? And why doesn't he just amplify the power of Jax's Kamidogu to make it corrupt Vera or someone else nearby (I assume powerful champions must be corrupted directly)?
Hmm. Hmm hmm hmm. This plot.
But these are not the only inconsistencies.
Like [MENTION=18507]Harpoon[/MENTION] said, the Kotal thing isn't an inconsistency
at all. The problem in that scene IS NOT Kotal Kahn, the problem in that scene is the fact that Shinnok comes down with a serious case of "I'm a villain in the third act, so it's time I got beat" syndrome. If the next chapter of the game had Cassie's group run into the Sky Temple and Shinnok just kills them all instantly because that's how powerful he is, then Kotal Kahn's behavior would have made 100% perfect sense. As with the Outworld/Netherrealm time frame, the source of the confusion is the game itself, not the comic.
Don't be such a Nitpicking Nancy.
