Akuma, Street Fighter’s Master of the Fist.

Shao Kahn, Konqueror of Outworld from Mortal Kombat.

When it comes to the journey of combat, nothing makes for a more satisfying end than a confrontation with an epic final boss. Whether they’re a wandering pugilist hell-bent on being the strongest there is, or a warlord on his konquest for dominion over everything, one thing is for certain: they will stop at nothing for ultimate power. Also, they’re just cheap as all hell.

They’ve appeared on the show before, making quick work of another villain from the other’s series. But today, these two ruthless titans of fighting games meet head-to-head in a battle sure to rupture the world. There will be bloodshed, there will be destruction, and you know damn well there’s gonna be a whole lot of taunting. Can Akuma once again prove himself as an unstoppable force of nature, or will Shao Kahn reign supreme in kombat? Only one can go undefeated in DEATH BATTLE!

Before We Begin…

For sources on both ends, we’ll be using the mainline game canon for both characters as main evidence (For Shao Kahn he’ll get both timelines for Mortal Kombat, and Akuma will be getting his appearances in the mainline Street Fighter games that he appears in, as well as ones that contain feats he scales to), and things like the UDON comics, Mortal Kombat animated movie, any Street Fighter anime, Malibu comics, Shaolin Monks, and other appearances that remain consistent with their official game canons. We won’t be cross-continuity scaling between different versions of the characters in separate canons, but these alternate versions will be considered as supporting evidence / secondary sources that we can pull things from.

More unusual versions like Capcom Fighting Evolution and certain crossovers will be mentioned, but may not be considered in every verdict for obvious reasons. Feats from Final Fight spin-offs will also be mentioned but considered questionable, due to contradicting both verses’ lore. Additionally, regarding Akuma’s appearance in Asura’s Wrath, this is a non-canon crossover with feats massively out of scale with what Akuma does in primary Street Fighter media, so it shall not be included… bummer.

Anyway, time for a Death Battle (for real this time). 

Background

Akuma

“Listen to the screams of all who have fallen before me!”

The world of Street Fighter is filled with some of the greatest martial artists in history. But even the most experienced and disciplined among them are forced to respectfully heed the darkness. For when the shadows take over, a new nightmarish foe pops up. A karate killing machine nothing short of a demon, this… is Akuma.

But while this darkened soul may be a revolutionary opponent, his corruption is not unique. Akuma is one of the many tainted by the Ansatsuken fighting style; a martial art spanning generations of masters and students, and quite literally meaning the “Assassination Fist”, the Ansatsuken’s lethality is unmatched by any practised in the world. And deep within Japan, a young Akuma, and his brother Gouken, were instructed in this martial art by their master, Goutetsu.

Orphans though they may have been, Goutetsu took them under his wing, and sought to mold them into the finest warriors to ever utilize the Ansatsuken. But the techniques taught were not simply deadly; they were downright demonic. The Satsui no Hado, or “Surge of Murderous Intent” is a dark energy descended from the noble Aensland family of Makai, and it overwhelms the user with a near-uncontrollable urge to fight, destroy and kill. Gouken was a talented fighter, but never was it his intention to end lives.

Akuma on the other hand, had no reservations about the power whatsoever. As Goutetsu continued to train them, Akuma would soon come to surpass his master, eventually challenging him in a duel to the death, with Akuma emerging the victor, and true successor to the Ansatsuken fighting style. With Gouken wanting to bury the Ansatsuken’s bloody history and turn it non-lethal, Akuma did not stick around to watch his brother desecrate their martial art’s legacy. All he wanted to do was fight.

And fight he would. Travelling across the planet, Akuma challenged and defeated all who stood in his path, though he could not stay away forever. The dark power sleeping within one of Gouken’s new students, Ryu, was exactly what Akuma was looking for. Another warrior who wielded the Ansatsuken and used the dark power of the Satsui no Hado; someone who could finally give him the fight of his life. But as Akuma arrived, there was no one to be seen. No one but Gouken, who had sent his pupils away.

Lashing out, Akuma dueled his brother to the death as he had Goutetsu years ago, and left a wicked finger painting at the scene of their conflict. Tracking down Ryu, Akuma would find the wandering warrior about to fight a decisive battle against Master Bison, commander of the crime syndicate Shadaloo. Caring not for such titles, Akuma appeared in a flash and made short work of the dictator’s life, seeing only Ryu for combat. He would get a worthy challenge out of him, but could tell that Ryu was holding back, and refused to give in to the true power of the Satsui no Hado.

Trying to goad Ryu into realizing his full potential, he and Akuma would clash many times, with each fight getting more and more destructive than the last. However, when all was said and done, the World Warrior triumphed over the Master of the Fist, his victory accomplished by pure skill in their martial art. This loss would teach Akuma that there was still more he could do, still more to learn, and so he set out in order to better himself to the point of absolute mastery. However long that quest may be, Akuma will not rest until he has achieved his goal, and surpassed the greatest warriors the world has to offer. But should a worthy challenger appear, they must beware the overwhelming might of the Master of the Fist, for he is Akuma, and he will teach you the meaning of pain!

Shao Kahn

“I am Shao Kahn! Konqueror of worlds! You will taste no victory!”

Since the universe’s creation, there have been numerous threats endangering the well-being of the realms. However, very few can claim to have matched the power, sheer brutality, and evil as the konqueror of Outworld, Shao Kahn.

As the protector of Outworld, Kahn was the aide to Outworld’s then-ruler, the Dragon King Onaga. Onaga planned to merge every realm together to create the once full universe and achieve the state of the One Being in order to obtain ultimate power. Out of insatiable lust for power, Kahn poisoned the Dragon King and usurped his throne in order to continue his plan to merge every realm together. Except this time, with the Emperor Shao Kahn at the helm.

In fear of his continued invasions, the gods from the other realms and the Elder Gods devised a system to impede his expansion: the tournament of Mortal Kombat. If Outworld were to win ten victories against a realm, Shao Kahn would be allowed to merge them together.

With an abundance of power at his fingertips, Kahn’s forces would win 9 out of the 10 required tournaments to merge Earthrealm with Outworld, but was stopped thanks to the great Kung Lao. Having to repeat the 10 consecutive victories, history repeated itself as the shaolin monk Liu Kang defeated Shang Tsung in a later Mortal Kombat tournament.

With the next Mortal Kombat tournament taking place in Outworld, Shao Kahn directly participated this time, and Outworld… was defeated again by Liu Kang. After his defeat, Shao Kahn decided to directly attack Earthrealm and absorb the souls of everyone on Earth. The few who survived were protected by Raiden to fight in the next Mortal Kombat tournament, where Liu Kang would yet again defeat Shao Kahn.

After his defeat, a weakened Shao Kahn would fake his death and hide in the wilds until he would regain his strength. When Armageddon began, Shao Kahn created a temporary alliance with Shang Tsung, Quan Chi and Onaga to defeat the forces of light before Kahn himself would betray them and defeat Blaze, absorbing his strength and finally claiming the ultimate power that he had sought for so long.

Although Raiden sent a message to himself in the past and thus changed the timeline, Kahn’s lust for power and dominion over everything would stretch beyond history itself as he would continue to be a present threat to Earthrealm and the universe no matter the time or place. Eventually, everyone and every realm will feel the wrath of Shao Kahn.

Equipment

Akuma

Prayer Beads

A set of prayer beads decked around Akuma’s shoulders like a necklace, taken from his former master after defeating him in battle. They don’t have any function, but they ARE merchandisable!

Shao Kahn

Armor

Coming in various shapes is Shao Kahn’s iconic set of armor. Most consistently composed of a metal helmet with a skull mask, massive spiked shoulder pads, tassets, as well as wrist and shin guards.

Wrath Hammer

Shao Kahn’s trademark warhammer is the Wrath Hammer, the usage of which he is very experienced with. It is a magic construct which Shao Kahn can materialize in his hands whenever he wants. He also possesses a plethora of other war hammers to use.

Lance

Shao Kahn also possesses several lances he is proficient with, as a ranged option against his opponents. Similarly to his Wrath Hammer, Kahn is able to materialize his lances and spears whenever he wants. Much like his Wrath Hammer, Shao Kahn has a kollection of varying types.

Cloning Artifact

Via a powerful magical item, Shao Kahn is able to create clones of himself. Their effectiveness in kombat is unknown, however, Shinnok has been known to be capable of creating his own doppelgangers that are capable of fighting comparably to himself.

Abilities

Akuma

Ansatsuken

One of the most unique fighting styles in Street Fighter and one of the most famous fictional martial arts in fighting games: Ansatsuken, or Assassination Fist. As the name implies, it is rooted in assassination techniques centered around killing the opponent. This art is used by characters such as Ryu, Ken, and Gouken, who use the nicer side of the cake. But Akuma, master of the Ansatsuken, takes this style and gives it his own spin. With Akuma’s, each attack he makes serves a purpose to kill, being able to shoot Hadokens from both the air or ground. He has used this fighting style to survive and counter Gen, who uses ki-based pressure point attacks .

The fighting style that Akuma uses has also been described as Shotokan or Shotokan Karate in some media. Shotokan Karate revolves around stopping an opponent’s attacks with powerful punches and kicks, while achieving as little damage as possible. In training, it is divided into three basic parts known as kihon (basics), kata (form or pattern of movements), and kumite (sparring). Techniques in kihon and kata are characterized by deep, stable stances and strikes, evolving from a power-based style to a fluid and dynamic style. While this is all from more questionable sources and doesn’t really reflect Akuma, it is interesting to note that Kata is a performance or a demonstration, with every technique being a potential killing blow while paying attention to form and timing. 

Satsui no Hado

The Satsui no Hado (literally meaning “Killing Intent” or “Surge of Murderous Intent”) is a dark, murderous, and above all corrupting power in the Street Fighter universe. While it has never been fully explored in the verse, it’s been shown as a form of spiritual energy – a desire to win, seeking unrestrained violence and battle no matter what, while driving the person mad. Its main purpose is to kill the opponent to the extreme as it transforms into physical power. In the UDON comics, it represents vast amounts of dark energy that permeates all things, which can be bent to the user’s will.

Ansatsuken has been very intertwined with this form of power. Even experienced users can still succumb to the Hado if they lose focus, inducing a rage-like state where all they think about is the urge to fight with no care for anything around them.

The Hado’s power takes many forms, but it’s mainly shown when a fighter is driven to a corner and becomes overtaken by their drive to win. A user of the Satsui no Hado gains techniques such as teleportation, limited telekinesis and levitation, sensing the Hado and absorbing it from other users, and the power to use the Shun Goku Satsu.

Akuma, being the badass that he is, is a master of the Satsui no Hado, fully embracing it over the course of years. While many characters go insane if they succumb to it, Akuma has managed to keep his sanity while using it, retaining his intelligence and skill, and having years of practice with the unique powers it gives him. It may not look like it, but the Satsui no Hado may not be inherently evil; Akuma’s own master, Goutetsu, was able to tap into it without losing his morality (likely because he used it sparingly and wisely), and in UDON continuity, Ryu was able to master it and combine it with the Power of Nothingness (the antithesis to the Satsui No Hadoo) to reach a higher state than Akuma himself.

Moveset

Gohadoken

The Gohadoken is in essence a stronger variation of the Hadoken. While normally a ball of energy hurled at a target, when the Satsui no Hado is embraced, its power rises in response.

Zanku Hadoken

The Zanku Hadoken is an alternate way of using Gohadoken. Its usage is the same and is an iconic aerial used by Akuma.

Tenma Gozanku

Tenma Gozanku is when Akuma goes to shoot a larger Hadoken in the air, hitting the opponent eight times.

Shakunetsu Hadoken

The Shakunetsu Hadoken is a special variation of the Hadoken that utilizes thermal energy to set the target ablaze on contact.

Goshoryuken

The Goshoryuken is a rising uppercut similar to the Shoryuken. However, in fashion with most of Akuma’s techniques, this variation is used in a stronger and deadlier way than its counterpart.

Tatsumaki Zankukyaku

The Tatsumaki Zankukyaku is a stronger version of the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. Similar to the Senpukyaku variation, this version is a continuous cycle of helicopter kicks flying towards the target.

Hyakkishu

The Hyakkishu is a flipping move used by Akuma that has different variations for all around offense and defense. The different variations of this move range from high and low kicks along with blocking attacks mid-air.

Ashura Senku

Ashura Senku is a move utilized by users of the Satsui no Hado. It allows them to quickly cover a short distance to get behind or away from their opponent.

Focus Attack

A cast wide attack introduced in Street Fighter 4, Akuma focuses his body, ignoring any attack, before punching forward and causing the opponent to collapse.

Super Moves:

Messatsu Gou Hadou

The Messatsu Gou Hadou is a stronger variation of the Shinku Hadoken, being a beam variation of Akuma’s Gohadoken.

Tenma Gou Zankuu

The Tenma Gou Zankuu is similar to the Zanku Hadoken, as it is the aerial variation of the Messatsu Gou Hadou. Much like its grounded variation, it is a straight-moving beam and a stronger version of the Shinku Hadoken.

Messatsu Goshoryu

The Messatsu Goshoryu is a series of triple uppercuts that move across a small distance, similar to the Shoryureppa. In some appearances, the move can be charged with flaming energy. 

Messatsu Gorasen

Messatsu Gorasen is a powerful variation of Akuma’s Tatsumaki Zankukayu. Akuma rises vertically, pulling the opponent in with a vacuum of kicks. In the end, the user finishes it off with a final swift spin kick. There’s also an aerial variant of the move called Messatsu Gou Senpuu, which is the same attack, but in the air.

Sekia Kuretsuha

Akuma goes to channel the Hado into his palm and then punches the ground, striking the opponent with an exploding pillar of fierce energy. This was the move that destroyed a forest and breached space back in Super Street Fighter 4. This move is used in the UDON comics to allow interdimensional teleportation.

Kongou Kokuretsuzan

The Kongou Kokuretsuzan is an attack where Akuma gathers energy into his fist, before slamming it into the ground as an omnidirectional wave. This was the same move used for Akuma’s famous island busting feat.

Demon Armageddon

Akuma turns away before delivering a high-speed kick that sends the opponent into the air. Akuma starts using a powerful Tatsumaki Zankukyaku (or Akumacopter) in a whirlwind. As he hits his opponent, a giant red kanji symbol is shown as the opponent is pinned which Akuma flies right through them, shattering the kanji as the opponent tumbles down.

Teleportation

With the power of the Sasui No Hado, Akuma can teleport at will, which is used to dodge blows at will before they land. Other users of the Hado such as Ryu have even used this before to teleport to other parts of the world. In a similar vein, Akuma can use the Satsui no Hado to ferry himself and others through separate dimensions with the proper gateways.

Ki Sensing

Akuma has an ability to sense the power of other beings, including detecting surges of the Hado from other users. Some, like Ryu, have even shown the ability to absorb the Satsui no Hado from others into themselves. 

Ki Deflection

With his own Ki, Akuma can stop incoming enemy Ki projectiles in their tracks, and reflect them back to sender.

V-System

Introduced in Street Fighter 5, Akuma gets a mechanic called the V-System. With it, he gains a variety of additional moves.

• V-Skill 1: Rakan – With great timing, Akuma parries an incoming attack, and can counter with a palm strike (Rakan Gosho) or an upwards kick (Rakan Gokuyaku)
• V-Skill 2: Kial – Akuma creates a shockwave around him as he charges his energy.
• V-Trigger 1: Dohatsu Shoten – Akuma charges up his body with energy from the V-Gauge, giving his specials and attacks certain properties. Examples such as firing two Zanku Hadokens and his Goshoryuken ends with him driving his opponents to the ground.
• V-Trigger 2: Shiretsu Hassai – Akuma now is able to cancel his special attacks into other EX moves.
• V-Reversal: Gosenkyaku – Using some meter, Akuma moves out of the way of any attack that he is blocking, countering it with a roundhouse kick.
• V-Shift Break: Rasen Shuto Uchi – Akuma uses his meter from the V-Gauge to do a V-Shift, dodging the attack before countering with a chop.

The Raging Demon

More properly known as the Shun Goku Satsu or “Instant Prison Murder”, this is Akuma’s most deadly and well-known technique, known for taking out his victims in a stream of very rapid punches, moving so quickly (and displayed in such dark lighting), we don’t even get to see the full extent of this devastating move.

This technique is amped up by the amount of sins the target has committed, directly attacking someone’s “life force” in the game canon. In the UDON comics however, the move functions differently, with it attacking someone’s spirit and body and sending their soul to Hell. Literally. Spirits in Hell are, well, spirits, but they do seem to retain their powers and physical form in the realm. However, the move will be completely ineffective if there’s no “conscious soul” in the opponent’s body to target.

Shin Akuma

(Look how happy he is!)

When Akuma wants to get serious, he taps deeper into the Hado, becoming Shin Akuma. Shin Akuma receives an increase to his speed and power, giving him the ability to do more threatening combos and attacks.

In the UDON comics, it’s suggested that this form depicts his most powerful state, even stronger than his Oni transformation. With this transformation he gains two new moves:

Misogi

Charging his fist, Shin Akuma teleports above his target and cuts them down with a vertical chop that releases a slash of energy.

Tenma Shurettou

A weaker version of the Misogi, where Shin Akuma teleports above his enemy and gives a swift downwards chop to stun opponents for a moment.

Oni

Now here is the form that you’ve been waiting for, Oni! This form for Akuma is when he is at his absolute most demonic, and no longer even human. As expected, his strength increases to its highest, even replacing certain moves with more powerful versions as well having new techniques such as hovering, or the ability to heat up his limbs for even more damage.

While it’s possible that this would be Akuma’s permanent transformation in the future, UDON depicted it as a form that Akuma can transform into at will, if the situation calls for it.

Attacks that are unique to Oni include:

(Credit to PokeSega64 and DrewTony’Z for the GIFs)

Gorai Hadoken

This move functions similarly to Akuma’s standard fireball, but has an electrical effect as opposed to a burning one, shocking the opponent on contact.

Zanku Hadosho

Oni launches himself in a number of different directions with a burst of energy from his palm.

Sekisei Jiraiken

Oni leaps upward and crashes down on the opponent with his palm, with the EX version hitting twice.

Mu

Oni strikes the opponent in the chest and uppercuts them, before slamming them back down to the ground.

Tenmarakuseikyaku

Oni leaps up into the air and does a dive kick against his opponent. 

Rakan Dantojin

Oni slides across the ground and attacks with a swipe of his palm. The EX version allows Oni to slide past the opponent and attack on the second hit for cross-ups.

Super Moves

Meido Gohado

Oni charges up a Gorai Hadoken and fires it into his opponent. Upon contact, Oni will unleash a stronger one onto them which blows up into the shape of Oni’s kanji.

Tenchi Sokaigen

Oni powers up his fist and slams it into the ground performing a Sekisei Jiraiken, launching the target through the air as he leaps up to follow. He ends the move by driving his fist into his opponent’s back with a Goshoryuken

Shao Kahn

Immortal God Physiology

Shao Kahn is stated to have the same role to Outworld as Raiden does to Earthrealm, and has been referred to as the same species as him, making him an immortal god. Gods in Mortal Kombat have unique features to them, one of which being that they will eventually reform their bodies after death, with no memory of their past life. 

However, Shao Kahn does not appear to have the same weakness, as he has been destroyed before in Mortal Kombat 2 and 3 and returned with all his memories intact. In addition, immortal gods are immune to the soul rending effects of the Netherrealm, although some of them do have their powers weakened by it regardless.

Martial Arts

Even though it may not look like it, he is also experienced in hand-to-hand martial arts. His styles consist of:

• Tai Tzu (meaning Long Fist/Changquan) is a style that emphasizes extended kicks and striking techniques. Its motto is “the best defense is a good offense”, and involves the user launching a preemptive attack that is so aggressive, the opponent can’t retaliate. 
• Lui Hei was likely based off of Xing Yi Quan, which is characterised by its aggressive linear movements and explosive power that is used in short range. By using this coordinated movement to generate bursts of power, the user intends to overwhelm the opponent, simultaneously attacking and defending. Many methods vary, but it always includes bare-handed fighting and the training of weapon usage with similar mechanics. The basic notions and body mechanics were influenced by the use of staves and spears.

Moveset

Magic

The primary focus of his powerset, Shao Kahn is one of the strongest and most advanced magic users in the series. He has a plethora of magical abilities at his disposal (the most prominent of which are elaborated on below) that he can use as he wishes.

Shoulder Charge

Shao Kahn’s most infamous move. By coating his body with magic, the emperor performs a shoulder tackle, becoming a one-man battering ram, staggering and knocking the opponent back with immense force. Can also be aimed diagonally, to hit the opponent out of the air, as well as perform a rising knee kick for similar results.

Weapon Creation

Giving his green energy a solid form, Shao Kahn is capable of manifesting his favorite tools of war out of thin air. Namely throwing spears and massive hammers. He can also channel this energy through his already-existing weapons, creating shockwaves, and amplifying the damage dealt with every hit.

Emperor’s Shield

Shao Kahn can create a force field that will send any projectile back to its sender, which can also become an offensive tool when used up close, packing enough punch to knock the opponent off their feet. 

Fireball

An additional use of his green energy, giving him another ranged option in the form of a star-shaped explosive projectile that he shoots from his… face.

Eye Lasers

If that wasn’t enough, Shao Kahn has also been shown to be capable of shooting devastating lasers from his eyes, potent enough to send people flying and knock them out cold in a single blast.

Shadow Priest Summon

Shao Kahn is at all times able to summon a Dark Priest from the ranks of his royal sorcerers, which can enhance the damage dealt with his hammer, and also assist him in kombat by mutilating the opponent.

Soul Manipulation 

One of Shao Kahn’s primary abilities is to manipulate souls freely with magic. This isn’t simply limited to absorbing souls (as shown above), Shao Kahn also has the ability to fuse them together (as shown in the creation of Ermac), blocking souls from reaching the afterlife, and even creating life links with people that can passively summon them from the grave. The soul absorption itself is so powerful that he was able to absorb the souls of almost everyone on Earth, on top of countless others.

Portals

Shao Kahn is able to create portals that allow him to travel into other realms and dimensions. He often does this so he can start the process of merging realms.

Telekinesis

Similarly to Ermac, Shao Kahn is capable of pushing, lifting and ragdolling his opponents from afar without any physical contact.

Mind Manipulation

Kahn has shown the capability to burn away Kitana’s memories and replace them with false ones, making her believe Shao Kahn was her father. He has bent thousands of souls to his will to form Ermac, and also should scale to the latter resisting the mind reading of Takeda, due to having a great number of souls inside of him.

Blood Magic

Creating characters like Skarlet from blood, as well as Shao Kahn being her primary instructor, indicates he should likely have access to at least some of her blood-manipulating abilities.

Explosion Manipulation 

One of many rather odd abilities that Shao Kahn possesses is the power to make people inexplicably explode at will, something he once did to Raiden.

Resurrection 

Being the master of souls that he is, Shao Kahn is capable of bringing recently deceased people back to life.

Soul Tethering

Perhaps one of Shao Kahn’s more frightening powers is his ability to tether his soul to someone else’s, and control them on a spiritual level. This will eventually transform them into a new form. He did this to Nightwolf’s spiritual animal, even though Nightwolf can survive in the Netherrealm, which can corrupt and tear apart your soul.

Taunting

(Is that your best?)

Be prepared for an avalanche of insults when fighting Shao Kahn. His sheer charisma, imposing stature, and overwhelmingly powerful presence can have a real effect on his opponents. By humiliating them with a sharp remark and a pointed finger he halves the amount of damage they can dish out. And by ridiculing their worthless efforts with a laugh, he can increase the amount of damage they take.

Realm Merging

One of Shao Kahn’s most important abilities, the power to merge entire realms with each other. As Shinnok has shown, this power is not just limited to realms, but can also be used on people to merge them into the realms as well, suggesting it may have some kombat application.

The process for Shao Kahn merging realms requires that he goes from one realm to the next via portal to force the two together (note, however, that this does not mean that the portal itself is responsible for merging realms, otherwise all realm travelling done by characters through portals would lead to a realm merge). The act of merging realms itself is performed through Kahn’s own power, akin to tethering himself to the realm he starts in, before pulling it behind him through the portal and forcing the two together.

Shao Kahn also has Orbs that contain the energy needed to maintain a merge for him, should anything ever happen to him. An example would be how in Mortal Kombat 3 and Mortal Kombat 9, his death resulted in the unmerging of Earthrealm and Edenia from Outworld as he could no longer provide the energy to maintain the merger.

X-Ray/Fatal Blows

When Shao Kahn wants to inflict a significant amount of damage onto his opponent, he will bust out an X-Ray in Mortal Kombat 9 or a Fatal Blow in MK11 to inflict brutal amounts of damage onto who ever he is facing:

• It’s Official: Shao Kahn leaps into the air to deliver a devastating blow with the Wrath Hammer to his unfortunate opponent, slamming them into the ground, smashing their intestines and shattering their spine as well as the ribcage. After that he grabs them by the arm and stomps on their head, fracturing the skull, then picks them up by said arm to deliver a powerful headbutt, further destroying their skull, with the impact sending the opponent flying.
• You Suck: Shao Kahn impales the opponent with his spear and slices them twice across the chest before launching them upwards with a vertical slash. He then performs an Upward Shoulder before grabbing the opponent’s leg and throwing them down to the ground and nailing them to the ground with his spear. Finally, he spawns his Wrath Hammer and slams it down hard on the opponent’s head.

Fatalities

When Shao Kahn really wants to finish off his opponents in a brutal fashion, he will perform what is known as a Fatality: a brutal action that is designed to kill an opponent while inflicting as much pain and misery as possible. While Shao Kahn doesn’t have a lot of fatalities due to the fact that he’s rarely been a playable character, the ones that he does have are nothing short of overkill.

• Head Crusher: Shao Kahn hammers his opponent into the ground, leaving only their upper torso exposed. He then laughs before hammering his opponent into a bloody explosion.
• Home Run: Shao Kahn uppercuts/chucks his opponent into the air, and smashes them to pieces with his hammer as they fall.
• Fore: Shao Kahn hammers his opponent into the ground and then, when they are buried up to their torso, smashes their head off with a golf swing.
• Emperor’s Bash: Shao Kahn boasts out to the crowd, then pounds his opponent with his hammer several times, eventually breaking their neck.
• Double Down: Shao Kahn jabs his hands into the middle of his foe’s torso and slowly rips their body in half down the middle.
• Back Blown Out: Shao Kahn hits the opponent in the stomach with his hammer, then smashes them over the back of their head, bringing them down on all fours. Finally Shao Kahn delivers a golf swing with his hammer, crushing the opponent’s head inward with it flying through and out of the back with their entrails of their downed body with the spine attached due to the force of the blow delivered.
• Kahn-Sequences: Shao Kahn slams his hammer over the opponent’s head, crushing their neck inward and forcing the opponent to their knees. He then replaces his hammer with his spear, stabbing the opponent in the stomach and lifting them up into the air. Shao Kahn slams their body on the ground, cutting the opponent vertically in half with his spear, with their head falling through their severed body into a pile of their organs underneath their upright but collapsing body. 

Feats

Akuma

Overall

• Destroyed Torrent of Power Necalli from the inside
• Killed Gen and Goutetsu
• Matched Oro in combat
• Killed a black bear as a child in UDON
• Defeated Ryu, Ken, Necalli, M. Bison, Gouken, Kage and Gill
• In UDON, defeated Jedah with the help of various Street Fighter and Darkstalkers heroes

Power

• Split Ayer’s Rock with one punch (1.05 megatons of TNT)
• Tore up a ship while underwater 
• His Sekia Kuretsuha destroyed a forest and breached into space (18.32 gigatons of TNT)
• Shattered an entire island that he was standing on with a single punch (415 megatons of TNT)
• As Oni, erupted a volcano with a single strike, using its propulsion to jump incredibly high (41.76 gigatons of TNT)
• Comparable to Ryu, whose Hadoken destroyed a chunk of a skyscraper and whose energy provided the Psycho Drive Cannon enough power to destroy an entire city (12.5 megatons – 1.055 gigatons of TNT) 
• Comparable to Oro, who caused a volcanic eruption
• Possibly comparable to Gill, who destroyed multiple apocalyptic meteors in UDON and split an entire ocean (21.32 gigatons of TNT)
• Superior to E. Honda, who destroyed a large meteor (1.12 – 11.77 gigatons of TNT)
• In UDON, destabilized the foundation of a building  
• In UDON, could tear off Jedah’s arm
• Destroyed a massive meteor in Capcom Fighting Evolution (11.36 exatons of TNT)
  • Capcom’s Fighting Evolution is clearly very non-canon and out of scale with the main franchise, so this feat won’t impact the overall verdict.
• Could upscale from Mike Haggar, who created an explosion visible from space (353 teratons of TNT)
  • Final Fight Revenge, likewise, is contradictory to canon, meaning this feat is also contentious in its validity

Speed

• Blitzed Ryu and Ken simultaneously
• Blitzed M. Bison and defeated him in a flash
  • M. Bison is capable of flying in tandem with the Psycho Drive Laser, which can reach space in seconds (0.011c)
• Jumped from 150 meters below the surface of the ocean back to the surface 
• His Sekia Kuretsu attack could reach space in mere seconds (Mach 1296.4)
• Far above Guile, who can break the sound barrier with his sonic boom
• Should be faster than Karin whose “Ruler’s Staying Hand” technique can attack enemies up to twelve-thousand kilometers away
• Should be faster than Dee Jay, who can punch several times within an extremely small timeframe
• As Oni, kept pace and dodged attacks from Evil Ryu in the UDON comics 
• In UDON, blocked and countered hits from Felicia and Jon Talbain
  • UDON Jon scales to Huizils who can fly from Earth to Pyron’s location in a short amount of time (Mach 1384.37 – 0.0158c)
• Could upscale from Mike Haggar, who has been stated to charge at lightspeed, and piledrived through the earth at FTL speeds
  • Do note that both feats come from dubiously canon and removed sources, making them somewhat questionable to apply to Akuma
• Could scale above Cracker Jack, who can bat people across the solar system (1662c)
  • Yadda yadda you get the gist by now, EX’s canonicity is dubious so the feat may not be valid to use. Hey, we have to be comprehensive!

Durability

• No-sells one of Ryu’s chi blasts
• Survived Gen’s Zanei in UDON
• Withstood an attack from Oro in UDON, strong enough to trigger a volcanic eruption
• Withstands being within his own volcanic eruption as Oni
• As Shin Akuma, in UDON, withstood re-entry powerful enough to blow a hole in a mountain (46.2 Kilotons of TNT)
• As Oni, in UDON, tanked hits from Shin Ryu and survived being launched through a mountain
• In UDON, could survive hits from Jedah

Shao Kahn

Overall

• Conquered and merged several realms into Outworld
• Usurped Onaga as ruler of Outworld
• Became the one kombatant to defeat Blaze
• Caused Armageddon in the original timeline
• Killed Kung Lao
• Defeated Kotal Kahn and Liu Kang
• Absorbed the souls of almost every human on Earth
• It required the combined forces of every Elder God to finally defeat Shao Kahn

Power

• Snapped Kung Lao’s neck 
• Broke Kotal Kahn’s back, who can blow up a ship (0.77 tons of TNT)
• Hammer swings break a stone pillar 
• Strong enough to rip a person in half  
• Can move Shang Tsung’s island (150 tons of TNT)
• Superior to Tremor, who can cause city wide earthquakes (478 tons of TNT)
• Broke a marble pillar with a shoulder charge 
• A possible battle with Raiden was so powerful they shook the Earth’s core 
• Comparable to Raiden and Shinnok, whose battle almost destroyed the entire planet
  • Raiden can destroy the Sky Temple tower’s floors (6.598 tons of TNT)
  • Raiden has fired a last resort blast that wiped out the sky temple (269.942 tons of TNT)
• Merges entire realms together and sustains their merger
  • Realms are at least the size of an entire solar system (this will be further explained after the Summary section)
• Has shattered realms into pieces in the past
• Comparable to Taven, who, with the Ice Specter, froze a large area (124 tons of TNT)
• Comparable to Sindel, who dissolved the power binding Outworld and Edenia to their merger and can defeat Elder Gods 
• Comparable to Shinnok, who merged every realm in the universe together into the One Being  
• Killed Blaze, who was powerful enough to destroy all of reality
  • Multiple characters when they gain his power are capable of performing feats on similar levels

Speed

• Can block Liu Kang’s fire attacks
• Far superior to Kenshi, who can slice bullets
• Far superior to Kabal, who can parry machine gun fire (Mach 9), and can move a far distance FTE and travel the same distance back (Mach 70)
• Could keep up with and dodge Kitana’s attacks 
• Superior to Quan Chi, who has intercepted Raiden’s lightning (Mach 291)
• Is a constant rival to Raiden and can fight on par with him, who is stated to move as fast as lightning
  • Raiden can even move in tandem with his own lightning (Mach 98.5)
• Comparable to Shinnok, who has also intercepted Raiden’s lightning (Mach 239 – Mach 1063)
• Comparable to Cetrion, who can fire a beam that reached Earth in a short amount of time  and was able to move her arms while as big as a planet (0.015c and 0.03c respectively)
• Outspeeds Sonya and Johnny, and is superior to Scorpion, who can keep up with Sonya and Johnny
  • Sonya was able to move her arm in tandem with a massless, omnidirectional, and blinding flash of light produced by Raiden. (This is not a lightning attack, as it doesn’t act like Raiden’s lightning usually would)
• Has kept up with and bested Kotal Kahn, who weaponizes beams of light directly from the sun (0.215c)

Durability

• Can tank attacks from Raiden
• Can survive electrocution and having his bones crushed  by Raiden 
• Tanks Shang’s fireball that knocked other kombatants back
• Laughed off an energy blast from Raiden while Raiden was empowered by all of the Elder Gods
  • One Elder God, Cetrion, is powerful enough to grow to the size of the entire planet (37.72 yottatons of TNT)
• Survived having Liu Kang punch a hole through his body
• Superior to Nitara, who survived the explosion of the force of an orb that stored the power that merged her realm Vaeternus to Outworld
• Superior to Noob Saibot, who survived the Soulnado’s explosion in MK9
• Superior to Kintaro, who survived this massive explosion from Kano’s weapon 

Weaknesses

Akuma

Despite his monstrous strength on the battlefield, Akuma has his fair share of shortcomings. Akuma has lost before and doesn’t use his full power in a fight unless the opponent can physically come close to rivaling him. This has gone to the point where he has spared opponents like Adon, who he deemed “unworthy of death.” For a demonic kung fu murderer, he has a strangely strict code of honor and discipline, and is unwilling to fight dirty or challenge those he finds to be too weak.

Shao Kahn

Obviously, Shao Kahn is a tyrant like none other, but he isn’t invincible. He’s been bested by other fighters before, often because of his endless hubris. The man has the gall to taunt his opponent in the middle of a match, so no surprise there.

Summary

Akuma

“One must defeat one’s own shadow, one’s own demon, or he is condemned to nothingness. I have dwelled in darkness and have conquered it.” 

Advantages:

• Should dubiously canon feats be included, is much faster
• Raging Demon may work depending on which interpretation is used
• Better physical projectile range
• Arguably more mobile with his moveset and teleportation  
• Intangibility in short bursts can help him against Kahn in CQC
• Is a more disciplined fighter
• Equal in skill with Kahn
• Akuma Bowling  
• Is the crossover king for a reason

Disadvantages:

• Much weaker and more fragile
• Slower with canon feats
• Nowhere near as experienced
• Raging Demon may not finish the fight instantly
• Soul hax is overall inferior, with far less range
• His SFV design
• No gun 💀

Shao Kahn

“I am no refugee, I am Kahn of Outworld! Vacate my throne, or I’ll soak these sands with your blood!”

Advantages:

• Holds a massive advantage strength and durability
• Likely faster with canon feats
• Greater array of weaponry and fighting styles, and has a more versatile set of abilities 
• Thousands of years more experience
• While Raging Demon seems like the perfect weapon against him, it could be completely ineffective, depending on which interpretation is used 
• Superior soul hax overall, with far more range
• Is overall smarter, and a better tactician going by the majority of his appearances
• Equal in skill with Akuma 
• Can reflect Akuma’s projectiles with Emperor’s Shield 
• Was the biggest Chad in the original timeline

Disadvantages:

• Slower with dubiously canon feats
• Depending on which interpretation is used, Raging Demon could instantly kill him
• Worse projectile range
• Taunting can and will leave him open for an attack
• Modern MK writing
• Was low tier for literally the entirety of MK11’s life

Before the Verdicts 

Realm Sizes

There is generally a lot of misinformation going around on the subject of how realms and the universe in Mortal Kombat work. As it is relevant to certain feats relating to Shao Kahn, here is a short explanation about how we interpreted them for the blog.

Before the realms existed, there was the original, full universe that the One Being embodied. Using the kamidogu, the Elder Gods managed to “seal” the One Being by splitting the universe into fractal pieces of the cosmos that existed before it, thus splitting apart the One Being’s consciousness. Future villains in Mortal Kombat would plan to re-awaken the One Being by merging all of the realms together and by effect recreating the full universe.

The reason this is relevant to the size of realms in Mortal Kombat is that there is a common preconception that realms are only the size of planets. This interpretation simply does not work within the wider context of Mortal Kombat, as it would be logistically impossible to create a full universe by merging planet sized cosmological spaces together.

The only thing that this argument is based on in canon is a statement from Mortal Kombat 3 where it says that Shao Kahn’s merger is “transforming the planet” and it shows a picture of Earth when talking about Earthrealm. However, it is possible that they were only used in reference because Earth is the only planet in Earthrealm that has life in it. Therefore, it would only be plot relevant within MK3 to the characters themselves that transforming and conquering Earthrealm means transforming and conquering their own planet Earth. It’s basically just a representation of Earthrealm to show that Shao Kahn seeks to conquer it, and literally what else would you use to visually depict it just besides its main planet.

Even if we were to take this literally at face value and assume that in the context of Mortal Kombat 3 realms are only planet sized, it is outdated and vague information from a 26 year old game that directly contradicts the wider lore within more modern Mortal Kombat plotlines and even direct clarification by the creator himself.

Ed Boon very directly and explicitly states that Earthrealm as a cosmological structure expands beyond our solar system, not just our planet. There is no reason not to take him literally about this, given how well it fits in line with how we know the Mortal Kombat universe to function.

Finally, we know that Earthrealm is consistent with how it works in this manner, as we can visibly see multiple celestial bodies from Earth at multiple points. This would otherwise be impossible, as realms are located in different dimensions than our own and cannot be accessed normally.

Tl;dr realms in Mortal Kombat are not full sized universes, however they also aren’t planets. It makes the most sense within lore that realms are fragmented pieces of the full universe that contain multiple cosmological structures, such as multiple planets, stars and solar systems.

Verdicts

RadioactiveCaffeine

I’m back, back, back, back again! If anyone has read any MK blogs in the past, you probably recognize me and know what I’m about. I’ll keep my feelings on this fight rather short, because I have much more to talk about, and it is rather simple to explain.

Shao Kahn wins. Shocking to hear from me, I know. To put it bluntly, Shao Kahn is far stronger, potentially faster (as Purple will talk about in his verdict), and has far more ways to kill Akuma than vice versa. 

Shao Kahn scales to the Elder Gods. I’ve heard plenty of arguments against this scaling but none of them make any sense or counter the plentiful evidence that he does. He’s tanked an attack from the Elder Gods in their true forms. Raiden has fought Cetrion in every timeline. Nightwolf, Sindel, Shang Tsung, and Fujin could all severely harm Cetrion. Raiden and Shang Tsung both without the power of Kronika’s Crown, could still severely harm Kronika as well. Cetrion is large planet level. This is not up for debate, based on whether or not her fatality is canon. The vast majority of Street Fighter feats come from non-canon endings anyway, so I don’t see why anyone would have double standards about what’s ok to include from the main series and what is not.

“But Cetrion is only large planet level as a giant”, one might say. Ignoring the weird logic behind that to save me a headache and explain why Shao Kahn would *still* be large planet level anyway, we have Shao Kahn *AND* Raiden both having destroyed whole realms before the events of the series. If your interpretation of the size of realms is as small as planets, (which is pretty unreasonable in my opinion based on the section written about it above) that would still be two feats on planetary levels.

Abilities-wise, Shao Kahn just has Akuma widely beat in versatility. He has far more powerful and more ranged soul hax, can pull out a perfect clone to help him fight, can manipulate Akuma’s mind with magic, can potentially fuck with the blood inside him, and can potentially “merge” him into the realm. 

That’s a good few durability-bypassing options Kahn can exploit against Akuma’s singular option (the Raging Demon), which probably wouldn’t even work on Shao Kahn because in the main canon it explicitly targets and destroys someone’s “life force”, which in Shao Kahn’s case would just be his soul, which he’s amped with billions of souls from multiple of the realms he’s conquered in his lifetime. It likely just wouldn’t work due to Shao Kahn’s soul being way too fucking beefy. Which seems all the more plausible when you remember M. Bison, a character known for soul power, was still able to survive the Shun Goku Satsu with his soul intact, something most characters are incapable of, without removing their soul from their body.

If you decide to go specifically with UDON’s interpretation, it stands more of a chance of working because it differentiates between a life force and a soul, and BFRs the soul to Hell. However, again, given that Shao Kahn is completely immune to the soul reaping/distorting effects of the Netherrealm due to being an immortal god, it’s still a massive stretch to say that Akuma is going to overcome both the massive stat and ability disadvantages to land a Raging Demon with a specific interpretation, that only *might* work. You’d have to assume all that *and* pray that somehow Shao Kahn doesn’t hit Akuma once the entire time.

That covers my thoughts on the fight itself. It’s not particularly hard to explain why this fight ends with a Shao Kahn win.

Now I could just say I came here simply to say Shao Kahn wins and call it a day, but that just wouldn’t be true, nor would it be any fun. I’m also here to present a case for something even higher than just large planet level for Shao Kahn, as is probably obvious because of some of the feats listed in the strength and durability section. While it isn’t necessary for this fight in the slightest, there couldn’t be a better opportunity than here and now, since it’s Shao Kahn, who’s at the center of a lot of these feats, and a good few people read these blogs, which makes it easier to spread these series “upgrades” I’ve been working on for a long time. Plus, who doesn’t love a little overkill?

To keep it sweet, short, and simple, MK has a good amount of solar system to even universal feats. I won’t go over *everything* because good lord would that be impossibly long. What I will choose to go over right now is some of the most blatant feats I know of, in favor of universal Mortal Kombat. That’s right, it’s Armageddon time BAYBEEEEE!!!

As is (or at least should be) common knowledge at this point, Shao Kahn was the one who killed Blaze and proceeded to carry out Armageddon at the end of the original timeline. How could this possibly be universal? Well, Blaze himself was capable of ending all of reality, for starters. Also, in any of the other endings of the game, the person who beats Blaze gets his power and uses it for various feats on a similar level, such as reshaping the universe, destroying all the realms (universe), and creating a realm from multiple shattered ones.

I’ve heard the argument that because the fabric of the realms was weakened by ages of Mortal Kombat, that none of these feats would be as powerful as they are, akin to someone punching a structurally unstable house and causing it to collapse, but not being building level because of it. I could find this argument reasonable if the feats were simply just fragmenting the realms, but they aren’t. Blaze’s ending for example specifically mentions “shattering reality until there was nothing”, and structural integrity issues wouldn’t matter in the case of feats of creation/building like the ones Fujin accomplishes with Blaze’s power, or feats involving completely reshaping the whole universe like Havik’s.

All in all, because the “structural integrity arguments” just don’t work, we’re left with some of the most obvious universal feats in the entire MK series, that Shao Kahn would very obviously scale to because he killed Blaze.

Another argument I’ve seen come up against Shao Kahn scaling to Blaze’s universal feats is that Blaze’s power-amping abilities vary from person to person and therefore none of those feats can be scaled back to him, much less Shao Kahn. The main example of this comes from Kobra getting a 1000x power increase, while Shao Kahn gets a 10x power increase. So what gives??? Well, to put it quite simply, Shao Kahn is way more powerful than Kobra (obviously) so an amp from Blaze’s power, who Shao Kahn has canonically matched, is clearly gonna be way less of an amp for Shao Kahn than it is for Kobra. 

The last rebuttal I feel needs to be addressed about these feats is the idea that Blaze was granting a wish to whoever killed him. That just isn’t really said anywhere in the whole game as far as I know. What it explicitly is said to do in multiple endings is boost the powers of characters, amplify their own abilities, 

Tl;dr Shao Kahn wins in almost every aspect of the fight against Akuma, and also Shao Kahn is universal, and you’ll catch ligma if you don’t agree

P.S. I’d like to personally thank a lot of the people who helped me push “Universal Mortal Kombat” into being a legitimate topic of discussion, like Ninten, Momo, Purple, Cyber, TheBlackShulk, Joshski, Carmine, Phantom, etc… These ideas may have started with me, but they certainly would not have gotten very far if I didn’t have friends willing to drink my Kool-Aid and back me up on stuff lmfao.

Purple

First of all, let me just appreciate all the good people who made it possible for me to join this Blog and even make a verdict on my first effort! And huge thanks to my other blog-colleagues for making this a fun and fruitful discussion. Seriously, I’m just really happy to be here. But enough sentimentals, let’s talk business.

Coming right after what might just be my new favorite episode ever (seriously, DIO vs Alucard was WRYYYeally fucking good holy shit) is this blessed announcement…

Ah, yes. The fight that literally only I wanted (or so how it felt at least, shout out to my Akuma/Kahn chads, if you are out there). Very happy with this.

I must admit tho, I am not as versatile in SF as I am in MK, so this verdict would mostly be Shao Kahn-centered, which I figured I can get away with since Akuma was covered not too long ago by the excellent people of G1 in a battle with Raoh, as well as his stats just being generally more agreed upon. Doesn’t mean I’m not talking about him tho sooo…

*clap* LET’S *clap* TALK *clap* ABOUT *clap* AKUMA.

Who, from my understanding, can get as high as island or even small country with some leniency either with his own feats or through scaling to Psycho Drive Canon. I do not count his Capcom Fighting Evolution feat here because that’s a crossover game and we might just as well scale him to Galactus at that point or give Shao Kahn MKvsDC scaling (which actually IS canon but I’m not gonna use that anyway, I’m gonna be nice) As well as being MHS to possibly even sub-rel. I am a bit iffy on using Haggar’s Final Fight Revenge feat, due to dubious canonicity and all that, plus it kinda has this energy to it, so I guess I’ll just ignore both for now.

Now let’s move to something I can elaborate a little more on. Mortal Kombat stats. Namely Speed.

As well as my favorite hill to die on – Kano’s laser. Which is a more legit laser than some other DB has bought in the past and lemme tell you all about it. It goes in a straight line. Burns on contact. Comes from a reliable source (highly advanced cybernetic implant, made by the genius cyberneticist and owned by one of the richest criminal organizations in the universe). Is called an optical laser implant in the game (and literally everywhere else it appeared). Has X-Ray vision, meaning it is capable of producing lightspeed projectiles, since X-Ray = Radiation = Lightspeed. 

This is all important because Kotal Kahn blocks it point blank. Something that would be consistent with him weaponizing the beam of light (to which the opponent can react). So I’m very confident in placing MK in the relativistic range. But even if not there are plenty of cloud to ground lightning to be had in this series, like obviously Raiden’s (which also translates to his normal moves), Nightwolf’s and Rain’s. So at worst Akuma and Shao Kahn should be somewhat comparable in speed or Shao Kahn being faster with the highest results used, which I do accept.

Now to Shao Kahn’s Attack Potency… oh boy… There are a lot of cooks in the kitchen where we cook MK stats, so I’ll just focus on one of the aspects that will get Shao Kahn at the top – the Realm Merging.

Firstly, I sure hope you’ve read the breakdown on the Realms! Only my interpretation is a little different. What I mean is it doesn’t make sense to me for the Realms to just be solar systems or planets, considering the existence of Netherrealm (literally Hell), Heaven or Dreamrealm. You don’t just go to another planet when you die or go to sleep. And John Tobias (co-creator of MK) envisioned other realms as different planes of existence, though still physical in nature, but different from Earthrealm, something akin more to a parallel universe. Which is backed by Ed Boon himself stating that “there is no physical limit” to Earthrealm, as well as Sub-Zero saying that about the Netherrealm. And the don’t forget the Sea of Blood in Outworld that Raiden describes as “bottomless” and uses it to dispose of Geras, saying that he will “fall forever” since him always resurrecting was a problem so I would trust Raiden’s word for Outworld to also be infinite in size..

This all just leads me to believe that the Mortal Kombat universe is a cosmic structure consisting of many infinitely-sized spaces (Realms). Something similar to a Dragon Ball one.

So what the hell does that even mean for Shao Kahn?

Well the merging of the Realms, of course. Since combining two universal structures into one would indeed make you a universal being. Even with Ninten’s own interpretation that would still be a pretty solid MSS-level feat. And let’s not forget Shinnok, who merged ALL the realms at once to form The One Being in his ending in MKX. That’s a universal feat even with the solar system interpretation. And Shao Kahn is comparable to Shinnok in power (arguably even greater, according to The Man himself and Quan Chi’s ending in MK9) since Kahn has defeated characters who got Shinnok beat (Raiden and Liu Kang).

If that’s still too high for you to buy MK being at, there’s always the lovely Goddess of Virtue – Cetrion with her undoubtable planet-level fatality. Which is honestly a very reasonable cap to put on someone who is considered to be an Elder God, aka the highest being in the series before the introduction of Titans (lame as hell btw). And Shao Kahn should be superior to the character that was stated to be able to contend and have actually defeated said Elder God.

But let’s say you don’t believe any of that. Cosmic MK is a joke to you. I would still argue Shao Kahn has feats similar in power to Akuma. Like one-shotting Shang Tsung for instance. Who has not one, not two, but three different showings of destroying his own island among three different mediums.

And yes, I’m aware of the one calc that got city for it, but even without my obvious interest in buffs I think we can do much better than that, since Shang Tsung’s Island size and portrayal differentiate quite a bit and it doesn’t make any sense for it to be the size of the one used in a calc (basically just his palace, it’s courtyard and some rocks). The Island is quite massive in reality, half of the most iconic arenas in the series taking place there, along with thick forests, an entire underground system where Goro’s Lair recides and a fucking volcano.

But I really don’t think we even should resort to this, I feel like the above mentioned stats for Kahn are valid as is.

And just to cover that base as well – the Ability that is the elephant in the room. 

I don’t think Raging Demon is doing anything to Shao Kahn. If we can even agree on what it is supposed to do that is. I don’t believe it can destroy Kahn’s soul, if we’re going with that version, since he has consumed billions of them throughout his konquests, each strengthening his own, as it works in MK. Shao Kahn’s soul might be too “durable” for Akuma, since Bison was able to survive the Demon some-fucking-how and he is an individual with a notoriously empowered soul. Honestly it’s even hard to predict how the Demon would interact with Shao Kahn’s billions of souls to begin with. Does that mean he would need to do the move billions of times? Does he needs to do it just millions since “DIE ONE THOUSAND DEATHS ” with just a single time? Can the demon locate Kahn’s own soul among all the others and destroy that? There’s a lot more questions you can ask, but I’m leaning to say that it would not work for one reason or another.

And to top it off, Akuma doesn’t have a reliable counter to Kahn’s own soulfuckery in return. Yes, he resisted his soul being eaten by Necalli, but the two methods work quite differently. Necalli needs to devour your body to consume your soul, and Akuma simply outmuscled him in that regard. Not to mention that Kahn doesn’t even need to be near Akuma to steal his soul.

And I think this verdict has been going for a while already, so let me wrap up. My colleagues can tackle the other aspects of this fight but the results are mostly still the same – Shao Kahn is undeniably stronger, arguably faster and is definitely haxier than Akuma. And I believe I hammered my point well enough. The Emperor of Outworld simply Kahn’t lose.

Jerma Sus

Honestly, the moment I saw Oni get revealed in the S8 mid season trailer. I feel there was no way it wasn’t Shao Kahn Akuma was facing, and hoo boy came my surprise after the absolute banger that was DIOcard, while i may not like Akuma vs Shao Kahn as a match myself, i’m glad for at least the people who wanted it for a long while and i appreciate the effort that went into researching both. I think from the previews already it could be a promising episode!

As to who I think takes it? Despite the other three verdicts, I feel Akuma has more chances of taking it than Kahn.

Abilities wise, Kahn is easily the more experienced out of the two and matches Akuma in skill, not to mention he can also reflect his various Gouhado projectiles and its more fiery variations and has abilities/weapons such as telekinesis, hammers and spears to keep him on his toes. Meanwhile Akuma is more disciplined/the less likely to go on taunts on a fight and more mobile with his own teleportation that can make him phase through projectiles or attacks, he’s also able to resist Kahn taking his own soul, given how Necalli was unable to take it in the first place.

And as for the Raging Demon, one of the main things to this debate it depends on whatever interpretation you’re using, whether it’s games or UDON, with the former it’s a bit harder to argue. However I feel either interpretation should do the job against Kahn, there’s no reason as to why it wouldn’t specifically target Kahn’s own soul/lifeforce in his pool of souls specifically given it seems or either destroy it/send it to Makai and it has shown to work on multiple souls before as shown with Bison, and as to why Kahn wouldn’t resist this, in Aftermath Shang Tsung easily sucked his soul and Sindel’s with the crown, nor would he be able to come back to his body given he wouldn’t know how Makai works and he’d most likely just come back as a disembodied spirit.

And quick reminder as stated by Akuma the more sins you commit, the more painful it becomes, with Kahn being covered in souls this should bite him back in the ass even if you accept him being more powerful. Now speaking of Power…. I’m iffy on Kahn’s own scaling myself, it’s why I believe Akuma should be more powerful. In terms of where i put both, Akuma’s direct feats are more impressive (Island sinking, 400 megatons), and his scaling is a lot more straightforward given he’s obviously a top tier within the verse. He consistently beats characters such as Bison or Ryu and has some of the best feats in series, so he should be able to scale mid-tier feats such as E. Honda’s meteor feat in SFV (which is in the gigatons btw). Meanwhile a last resort attack from Raiden in Deception’s intro got 270 tons of TNT, which would give Akuma enough of an advantage to one shot. And comparing their speed by scaling to Bison and Quan-Chi (0.011c vs Mach 1063), Kahn wouldn’t be quick enough to catch or even attempt to use some of his other abilities on him. And now you would be asking, why wouldn’t Kahn scale that high? well……

Let’s start with my arguments against Kahn’s own scaling, Blaze first. In several endings Blaze’s own amp is specifically stated to be between a 10x/1000x increase that each kombatant gains upon defeating him and their effects vary, meaning several of them vary upon the person and so would their feats. This amp is even stated to go as far as to be beyond of other gods themselves in the hands of Raiden and it made Shinnok’s doppelganger into his former fallen elder god state, here’s where the problem with Kahn’s scaling shows, with so many feats of varying powers (plus their vague nature through text and the fact certain feats could be overtime like Havik’s) and Kahn’s own showings against the amped kombatants it’s hard to justify if he was as powerful or comparable as when he got that amp, he and Onaga got one shot by Baraka in a flash, he got transmuted by Shang Tsung, got the ever living shit out of him by Khameleon, was slain by an army of Shokan, hell even Quan-Chi got beaten with the amp by elder gods, you get the point.

With Blaze’s supposed reality “shattering” feat, I feel it’s weird to assume he did it through his own power. As shown with Armageddon’s intro, the fabric of the realm was already at the brink of collapse from the many ages of Mortal Kombat and overgrowing number of kombatants:

“Ages of mortal kombat have begun to tear the fabric of the realms. The critical point has finally been reached. It was foreseen that kombatants would one day grow too powerful and too numerous. If left unchecked, their intensifying kombat would weaken and shatter the realms, then bring about the apocalypse.”

With so many people engaging through Mortal Kombat (especially with a roster of 61 kombatants) at once, it’s no surprise that by Blaze’s endless fighting with taking on so many people at once and killing them Armageddon would be brought on in the first place. This is also supported that by engaging through Mortal Kombat, kombatants would tap into the forces that make reality possible.

Second, I feel there’s enough of an argument that you could argue against Kahn’s scaling to elder gods and potentially even Raiden in his case. Kahn throughout MK9’s whole plot couldn’t directly interfere with the elder gods themselves due to their rules or else he’d basically just face their wrath, not to mention Kahn’s own power fluctuates depending on his own soul reserve. When Kahn faced Raiden with the power of 6 elder gods, he was initially able to tank a blast, however afterwards Kahn was barely even able to fight Raiden back with the amp, and was notably a lot more mortally wounded in comparison to Raiden.

And to go with Raiden without the amp, i think there’s definitely an argument to be made in MK11’s case: First point, Geras throughout the whole story was being empowered by Kronika and he basically plowed through a team-up between Shang Tsung/Nightwolf/Fujin, until Nightwolf buys enough time to basically make Shang Tsung send him to Chaosrealm through a portal. Fujin beat Raiden while being corrupted by Shinnok’s amulet, Raiden only managed to defeat an empowered Geras at his strongest point by basically BFR’ing him with a chain that fell on him. This is important because Sindel was able to beat this form through brute force unlike Raiden or Fujin, and Sindel was the only one to be able to harm Cetrion and basically already would have killed every earthrealm champion had not Nightwolf used his sacrifice chant, which is they needed her against Cetrion. Not to mention, Kahn got beaten by Shang Tsung with the crown and as previously mentioned his own soul consumed, which was already able to contend with beings such as Cetrion as shown when Jacqui wore it.

All in all, I feel like the prevalent issues with MK scaling already hammer in the final nail on Kahn’s coffin for me. I’ll give the vote for Akuma.