Mortal Kombat 1 Dev NetherRealm Is Using Ghostface to Secretly Bring Back Two Obscure Characters — and Fans Have Already Worked Out Their True Identities

Mortal Kombat 1 developer NetherRealm fully unveiled Ghostface overnight, showing off the DLC guest character’s signature hunting knife, crawling skills, and ability to phone in a fellow Ghostface partner to help finish off victims.

But what the developers failed to reveal is which Mortal Kombat characters they’re quietly bringing back to the series via the Scream villain’s various versions that are available in-game.

During a Kombat Kast, NetherRealm confirmed there are actually three versions of Ghostface: the main Ghostface is the villain from the Scream films, as you’d expect, but the identities of the other two are secrets NetherRealm challenged players to work out for themselves.

As reported by EventHubs, NetherRealm confirmed that the other two Ghostface versions are Black Dragon characters called, at least for now, The Enforcer and The Assassin. Black Dragon is Mortal Kombat’s mercenary clan headed up at various points (the timeline is pretty complicated!) by fan-favorites Kabal and Kano. The lore justification here is Ghostface has been transported to Lui Kang's timeline without his partners from the movies, so recruits two members of the Black Dragon clan to help him out.

So, Ghostface is actually three characters in one. You can switch to temporarily playing as The Enforcer or The Assassin by holding a button during certain moves. You can tell them apart by their knives, if you look closely. You get 12 seconds to play as an alternative Ghostface before you revert back to the OG, or your opponent lands a hit and triggers the OG to come running back in.

Players have analyzed The Enforcer and The Assassin’s unique movesets for hints at the Black Dragon characters’ true identities. Already, there are two outstanding suggestions.

Warning! Spoilers for the identity of Ghostface in Mortal Kombat 1 follow.

Mortal Kombat fans have identified moves that are directly related to Kobra (Enforcer) and Kira (Assassin), two human Black Dragon members who each made their debut in 2004’s Mortal Kombat: Deception. We also see Assassin do Kano’s famous roll attack, but Kira does this move as well in both Deception and 2006’s Mortal Kombat: Armageddon. As you can see from the movesets, this one looks nailed on.

Reaction to this revelation has been positive, not only because it’s a clever way of bringing back two rather obscure Mortal Kombat characters that perhaps would never have seen the light of day otherwise, but also because it leaves the door open for other, perhaps more wanted characters to appear as Kameos or even fleshed out DLC characters with a potential, but so far unannounced Kombat Pack 3.

As for Ghostface, the OG version is voiced by Roger L. Jackson, who has voiced the character throughout the Scream franchise. Ghostface joins the Mortal Kombat 1 roster on November 19 as part of the early access period for Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns Expansion owners, followed by wide availability for purchase on November 26. Up next is Conan the Barbarian and T-1000 Terminator.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.