Character Analysis: Scorpion

 

                “It is strong, yes, it is fast, but do you know why the Scorpion is feared? Its will.”


Note: This analysis will be covering all of the mainline game appearances for Scorpion across both the Midway and NRS timelines, as excluding either one of the two would discard a lot of the character’s iconic history. Supplementary material such as the Malibu and MKX prequel comics, as well as the animated Legends movies will be included, due to those appearances being consistent with the character’s capabilities. More incongruent material such as the Jeff Rovin novel or live-action movies will not be included in this analysis. Also, for a detailed blog covering the match up of Scorpion VS Wolf, click here, as the information in this analysis comes straight from the research I did for said blog.

Background


Before he became a revenge-seeking specter, Hanzo Hasashi was just an ordinary boy (as ordinary as the son of a ruthless ninja can be) living a relatively normal life. Hanzo’s father wanted what was best for him, and forbade him from ever joining the legendary clan of assassins known as the Shirai Ryu. As time went on however, Hanzo decided to stray away from the trappings of modern day life, eventually needing to find a way to support his wife and son. Hanzo became a powerful and skilled ninja known as Scorpion, but his desire to make quick money turned out to be his downfall. 


On a mission to steal the ancient Map of Elements, he encountered an assassin from the Shirai Ryu’s rival clan, the Lin Kuei. Scorpion faced off against the cryomancer known as Sub-Zero, and met his untimely demise when Bi-Han ripped his spine from his body, killing him. Simultaneously, the Lin Kuei Grandmaster had ordered the killing of Hanzo’s entire family and clan; executed by the deadly sorcerer Quan-Chi. When Hanzo woke up, he found himself the subject of endless torture in the Netherrealm. But Scorpion’s soul fought on, it was relentless. This is where we get the original timeline’s backstory for Scorpion. In it, he rose from the pits to seek his revenge against Sub-Zero, and succeeded in doing so. After losing in their encounter prior to the tournament, he confronted Bi-Han again, and murdered him, proceeding to escape by bursting into flames.


After this, Bi-Han’s younger brother Kuai Liang, took up the mantle of Sub-Zero to finish the mission his older brother was assigned. At this point, Scorpion realizes the cost of his actions, and devotes his life to protecting this younger version of the ice-wielding ninja. Scorpion would go on to be a kombatant with a neutral alignment, roaming the earth with no clear allegiance to any realm, even going so far as to turn down Shao Kahn’s offer to aid him in his invasion of earth in order to avoid having to fight Kuai Liang.


Later on, Scorpion is tracked down by Quan-Chi, and given an offer he couldn’t resist - to be brought back to life. While Hanzo goes along with this plan, he eventually finds out that Quan-Chi is actually the one responsible for the death of his clan, and attacks the sorcerer, resulting in both being transported to the Netherrealm. With both of them stranded there, Scorpion took advantage of his newfound revelation by thrashing Quan-Chi at any point he could. To circumvent this, Quan-Chi enlisted the aid of two Oni, Moloch and Drahmin, who would fend off Hanzo whenever he got too close to the sorcerer. Scorpion almost met his untimely demise a second time, but the Elder Gods gave him a second chance.


After escaping a Soulnado, they transformed Scorpion into a champion, to fight back against the Dragon King Onaga, and save the realms from complete destruction. Things didn’t turn out too well for yellow-clad ninja (again). The Elder Gods promised to bring Hanzo’s clan back to the land of the living, but instead brought them back as undead zombies. As such, he turns against the Elder Gods and seeks to stop them from preventing Armageddon. Scorpion took part in the final conflict of Armageddon, where all combatants faced off at the pyramid of Argus. A final clash between good and evil, heroes and villains, resulting in a devastating outcome; the end of all things.


…Buuuuuut this is where we hit a divide between the two timelines known respectively as the Midway and NRS timelines. Shao Kahn wins the battle of Armageddon, which results in Raiden resetting the timeline, giving us a new backstory for Scorpion. In this timeline, instead of being a demon operating independently, seeking out those who have wronged him, he ends up becoming a servant resurrected by Quan-Chi, who promised to give Scorpion the vengeance he desperately longed for. Scorpion continues to act on behalf of the evil necromancer and his Brotherhood of Shadow until Raiden and the heroes are able to free some of Quan-Chi’s revenants from imprisonment, of which Hanzo was included.


He was freed from his specter state, but still retained his hellish abilities through a “curse”. Hanzo at this point had felt remorse for all the lives he took under the service of the Netherrealm, and promised to devote his life to making amends. He reformed the Shirai Ryu, took up an apprentice in Takeda Takahashi, and helped Earthrealm in preventing Kronika, the Keeper of Time, from resetting the universe to achieve her new era. However, after cheating death multiple times, it finally caught up to him, at the hands of the Kytinn creature known as D’Vorah. Even in death however, Hanzo sought to make things right, ensuring that his past self would not go down the route he did, he entrusted him to take his place in his clan. Hanzo Hasashi lived a life of regret, but in the end, fully realized the meaning of dying a hero, and his clan will carry on in his legacy.


Skill and Experience



As a Shirai Ryu ninja, Hanzo has fought in many battles using various different forms and techniques. He was actually given the title Scorpion due to his blindingly fast and deadly skill, and has shown proficiency in many types of weaponry. Scorpion is also proficient in the ways of stealth, and has practiced several forms of Chinese martial arts:




Equipment


Kunai Spear

Scorpion’s traditional weapon; while it varies in appearance, (usually appearing in modern titles as a metallic chain-like weapon, or in older titles as a literal kunai on a rope), it’s consistently used as an effective long-range attack. Scorpion has shown incredible finesse with this weapon, able to use it to spear a pilot out of a moving chopper, and hang onto the chopper once he gets launched away. He can also use it as a short-ranged weapon to slice up his opponents or combine it with hellfire to strengthen his spear-related attacks. The following is a list of spear-related moves Scorpion can use:


  • Spear: Scorpion spears his opponent to pull them in for a follow-up attack. 

  • Double Spear: Scorpion amplifies his spear attack to launch two spears instead of one. This can further be amplified to unleash hellfire through the spears.

  • Burning Spear: Hanzo coats the tip of his spear with hellfire to increase its strength. This makes all of his spear-related moves and combo strings deal more damage.

  • Death Spin: Hanzo briefly whirls his spear around to damage the opponent. 


Roped Mace 

In the Malibu comics, Scorpion is shown wielding a weapon similar to his kunai spear, however it appears as a spiked ball on a rope instead of a kunai. It functions essentially the same way, being used to restrain or attack opponents from a distance.   



Swords

Scorpion wields a variety of swords at his disposal. They are usually depicted as twin katanas, which just like his spear, Hanzo can wreathe with hellfire to increase their potency. Hanzo shows great proficiency with these weapons, and has many moves he can perform with his swords.


  • Sin Blade: A move Scorpion can perform in the appear that bounces the opponent for a full combo.

  • Demon Slam: Scorpion grabs the opponent from above and slams them to the ground; then proceeds to stab them through their back.

  • Misery Blade: Scorpion takes a stance with his sword of which he can unleash several follow-up attacks: a sweeping low, a powerful overhead, or a swift poke. He can also cancel this attack, or amplify it to leave an afterimage which can trick the opponent. 


Axe



Scorpion uses a small battle axe as part of his combo strings during UMK3 and MK Trilogy. It’s useful for short-ranged attacks. It’s also predominantly featured in Cooking with Scorpion (a certified klassic). 



Poison Collection

Scorpion keeps a personal poison collection either on his person or within the Shirai Ryu temple. The contents of this poison collection remain mostly unknown, however one of the items used on-screen is a psychedelic that Forest Fox steals and uses on Hanzo himself to put him in a state of mental entropy. In this state the target relives their worst nightmares, which for Hanzo, was the assassination of his entire clan, including having to watch his wife and son die before him. While he eventually breaks free from this state, it leaves him incapacitated long enough for Fox to tie and restrain him to the ceiling. 


The Deathstone

An artifact created by Shao Kahn and wielded by Scorpion, the Deathstone is able to control a whole army of the undead. These undead beings wield spears, swords, shields, axes, and other forms of weaponry. Wielding the Deathstone requires a powerful mind, as it fills the user’s mind with voices, causing them to be overwhelmed and collapse. Scorpion can also use it to sense and control fused beings. 


Relics


Scorpion is able to use many types of relics, each with varying effects (usually resulting in increasing the combatant's base stats). While there are many more relics than the ones listed below that are available in MK Onslaught, these are the ones that Scorpion is able to equip specifically:


  • Scorpion’s Spear: Increases accuracy by 30%, increases chance of critical damage by 30%, increases critical damage dealt by 20% against those suffering from burn, and adds a 60% chance to burn the opponent with a critical hit on a melee attack. 

  • Bloodstone of Vaeternus: Increases chance of critical damage and critical damage itself by 12% and 15%. Also increases dot damage by 15% and heals the user for 50% of all dot damage inflicted. 

  • Crown of Jerrod: Increases chance of critical damage and total health by 12%. If the user’s primary target receives healing, the user is healed for 20% of that healing amount. 

  • Drahmin’s Mask: Increases tenacity (which makes resisting combat effects more likely) by 12%. Also gain 10% increases in attack and total health for every active Netherrealm ally (this effect is decreased per knocked-out Netherrealm ally). 

  • Kafallah Clarion: Increases health and defense by 12% and summons an Oni with 20% of the user’s stats when a teammate dies. 

  • Naknadan Satchel: Increases health by 8% and block by 10%. If the user is targeted by more than one opponent they also gain a 5% increase in dodge per foe. 

  • Datusha Kris: Attacks from the wielder bypass 10% of the target’s defense and their melee attacks also deal increased damage by 10%. 

  • Kirehashi Blade: After winning initiative (first attack in a round), the user gains a 5% increased chance for critical damage, which can stack up to 5 times. 

  • Wu Shi Beads: Increases mastery (which increases the likeliness of applying status effects) by 8%. This also increases critical damage by 12%.

  • Bone Scythe: Increases block and chance for critical damage by 8%.

  • Lin Kuei Kama: Increases tenacity by 8% and chance for critical damage by 12%.

  • Spiked Gauntlet: Increases chance of critical damage by 12% and accuracy by 8%.

  • Luck Charm: Increases mastery by 5%

  • Ancient Teachings: Increases mastery by 5%

  • AP Ammo: Increases critical damage by 10%

  • Bo Staff: Increases block by 5%

  • Bone Shield: Increases defense by 5%

  • Chakram: Increases chance of critical damage by 5%

  • Combat Boots: Increases initiative by 5%

  • Combat Helmet: Increases health by 5%

  • Hide Armor: Increases health by 5%

  • Hide Gloves: Increases defense by 5%

  • Iron Sword: Increases attack by 4%

  • Laser Sight: Increases chance of critical damage by 4%

  • Leather Armor: Increases dodge by 5%

  • Leather Boots: Increases initiative by 5%

  • Meditation Beads: Increases magical resistance by 5%

  • Naginata: Increases attack by 3%

  • Scope: Increases chance of critical damage by 4%

  • Spiked Shield: Increases block by 5%

  • Steel Bracers: Increases physical resistance by 5%

  • Steel Helmet: Increases health by 5%

  • Submachine Gun: Increases attack by 3%

  • Throwing Stars: Increases critical damage by 10%

  • War Fan: Increases dodge by 5%

  • Weapon Harness: Increases accuracy by 5%



                              Konsumables

Scorpion is able to use a vast array of konsumables from MK11’s Towers of Time game mode. While these konsumables could be seen as non-canon, they are being included for completion sake. Some konsumables may be more applicable than others. They have a varying range of effects, such as draining the opponent’s life, healing oneself immediately or overtime, increasing fire damage, making the user more resistant to elemental attacks, etc. Unlike Relics, konsumables can be used by anyone, and are not specific to any particular kombatant.


A full list of usable konsumables can be found here.


                                          Mobile Cards

 

Scorpion is able to draw from a multitude of support and equipment cards that grant him advantages in many ways. Support cards are able to increase Scorpion’s base attack, health, and recovery by a significant amount, while equipment cards offer miscellaneous effects and special abilities alongside the usual stat boosts. The following is a list of the status effects that can be induced via equipment cards:


  • Poison: Damages over time and nullifies healing 

  • Fire: Damages and drains the opponent’s power over time

  • Bleed: Damages the opponent over time

  • Regen: The user heals over time 

  • Power Drain: Drains the opponent’s power 

  • Power: Grants extra power generation

  • Stun: Immobilizes the opponent 

  • Slow: Slows down the opponent’s movement 

  • Speed: Speeds up the user’s movement 

  • Strength: Increases the user’s damage 

  • Weaken: Decreases the opponent’s damage 

  • Shield: Increases the user’s toughness 

  • Shield Break: Decreases the opponent’s toughness 

  • Luck: Increases the user’s critical attack chance 

  • Curse: Causes the opponent to take more damage from critical hits

  • Snare: Disables the opponent’s tag

  • Fear: Forces the opponent to tag out

  • Blind: Increases chance to miss basic attacks

  • Cripple: Disables the opponent’s special attacks

  • Dispel: Removes all negative effects from the user

  • Frostbite: Slowly drains the opponent’s power and decreases the opponent’s speed

  • Vampirism: Heals the user by the same damage dealt

  • Death Mark: Disables all forms of resurrection 

  • Soaked: Slows down the opponent and causes them to take more damage from lightning attacks.

  • Oblivion: Removes effects from special attacks, reduces their critical chance to zero, and downgrades them to level 1.

  • Incurability: Disables all forms of healing

  • Invulnerability: Allows the user to ignore any type of damage

  • Silence: Disables the user’s special attack 1 and reduces their power generation by 60%


Similarly to Konsumables, equipment cards can be applied to any character within MK Mobile, however the support cards are specific to Scorpion. Some equipment cards also grant effects specific only to him:


  • Wraith: Grants a 33% bonus to attack 

  • Clan: Shirai Ryu: Grants a 33% bonus to health 

  • Rival: Sub-Zero: Grants a 220% bonus to recovery 

  • Shirai Ryu Kunai: Grants a 25% critical hit chance boost, 50% damage boost against opponents affected by stun or slow, and a 30% unblockable chance for special attacks.

  • Specter’s Infernal Chains: Grants a 70% chance to drain 33% of the opponent’s power with a special attack, a 25% chance to avoid damage from the opponent’s special attack and applying the fire status effect, and the user is able to reflect 30% of their avoided damage to the opponent. 

  • Specter’s Burning Vengeance: Grants a fire status effect applied with any special attack, and applies a 40% chance to gain half of the user’s power bar when the opponent resists a debuff. 

  • Restless Ninja’s Figure: Grants a 15% chance to apply Curse on basic attacks, a 70% resistance to all debuffs while the opponent is affected by snare or curse, and a 10% chance to counter the opponent’s attack by stealing the opponent’s attack for himself. 


A full list of usable equipment cards can be found here.


Abilities


Undead Physiology/Resurrection 

As an undead specter from the Netherrealm, Scorpion is able to survive circumstances that no regular humans would be able to withstand. He has quickly regenerated and recovered from being impaled in the chest and being drowned out by lava. Even after getting beaten into a bloody pulp by Havik, he’s able to stay conscious without much issue, proving his endurance to be quite high. 


More interestingly, Scorpion is able to resurrect himself after death if he’s able to balance out his demonic side. After getting completely brutalized and killed by Havik, Hanzo awoke to a “mirror match” with his alter ego, and after winning, teleported from the Netherrealm to kill Havik, and back to bring his head to the demons. Scorpion was able to escape the clutches of the Netherrealm’s forces and make his way out of hell, completely free of any injuries he sustained beforehand. However, this doesn’t make him unkillable, and it likely isn’t an instant way of continuing a fight.



The Netherrealm 

The Netherrealm is one of the many realms that makes up the structure of MK’s cosmology. A separate plane of reality stated to be infinite in size, it’s essentially the representation of Hell, where all the deceased souls or entities travel to after their death; as long as their soul is tainted with evil. In the Original Timeline, it was consistently stated that existing within or traveling to the Netherrealm requires a corrupted or tainted heart, but the NRS Timeline seems to stray away from this idea, allowing essentially anyone to travel to and fight within the Netherrealm. 


The Netherrealm grants many benefits to Scorpion. While in the lower reaches of the Netherrealm, his strength gradually increases, whilst the powers of sorcerers such as Quan-Chi, fades. In Shaolin Monks, It’s stated that despite the Netherrealm’s size, Scorpion would be able to find Liu Kang and Kung Lao while they’re there, which is supported by Scorpion’s constant thrashing of Quan-Chi in Deadly Alliance. Even with Quan-Chi’s escape to Outworld, Scorpion is still able to somehow sense his presence. 


Lastly, in Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Jataaka suggests that mortals either cannot survive in the Netherrealm with their soul intact or inside their body, and characters such as Drahmin have had their entire body transformed into a vicious beast just from exposure to the realm’s torturous environment. This effect is inconsistent however, and may have been scrapped in later entries as the series started to shift its interpretation of the Netherrealm. Regardless, it’s important to note due to the usage of both timelines in this blog.


Teleportation

One of Scorpion’s signature moves, his ability to teleport is extremely versatile and can be used in many ways. Scorpion gained this ability after being brought back as a specter by Quan Chi. He uses teleportation to surprise his opponents, keep them constantly guessing, evade attacks, and freely travel both to and from the Netherrealm whenever he pleases. He’s even able to teleport others there too, as a way of giving a home-field advantage. 


Hellfire Manipulation 

Scorpion’s primary method of attack is via his traditional hellfire manipulation. As a specter of the Netherrealm, Scorpion wields hellfire as part of his curse, with it coursing through his body in a searing rage. He has shown many different applications of using hellfire: including shooting fireballs, summoning flames from the ground, surrounding his body in an aura of flame (which can deal damage overtime), creating whirlwinds of flame, engulfing his hands or legs with fire to increase the potency of his attacks, and much more. 


A unique attribute of Hellfire is its ability to burn souls. It’s suggested to be capable of normally burning the damned souls of the Netherrealm, as Quan-Chi asserts that his torturers report the Netherrealm’s flames as being unsuccessful in burning Hanzo’s soul. It’s debatable how effective this application of hellfire is, as there’s never any additional context provided on it. However, intro dialogues do suggest hellfire affecting souls to actually be legitimate, proving it to be capable of harming them. In any case, it’s likely much more deadly than regular fire, and one would need a strong enough soul to defend against such a technique. 


Portal Creation

Scorpion can create portals that seemingly lead to the Netherrealm, as shown in his MK9 fatality. This allows him to burn his opponents to a skeletal corpse. Additionally, he can create a portal while in the Netherrealm and just spear his opponents from the safety of the realm. He also combines this with his teleportation ability to gain the edge over his opponent. 


Summoning


Scorpion, through some way shape or form, is also able to create multiple copies of himself to ambush his opponent in the Netherrealm. He does this in his UMK3 clones attack the opponent before the camera fades to black. He can also summon hordes of undead Shirai Ryu members and giant flaming skulls to attack his opponent. Additionally, the ninja specter is able to draw upon the denizens of the Netherrealm to assist him in combat. He can summon demons to restrain his opponent from below, or to attack them from the side or above. 



Elemental Intangibility 


Scorpion is able to briefly turn his body to a state of pure fire to pass through an opponent and burn their body from behind. He’s also shown going from his fiery skeletal state to human form in certain intro and outro animations.  



Spirit Form/Possession

In the Malibu comics, Scorpion is shown to have the unique ability to exist as a “spirit”, which is able to roam freely after his physical body is shattered and destroyed by Sub-Zero. In this state, Scorpion can fly, possess and speak through others, and even reform his physical body after being reduced to this state over a brief period of time. 




X-Rays/Fatal Blows


Finishers 

Scorpion is no stranger to the series’ trademark finisher, the Fatality. Usually done when Scorpion wants to finish off his opponent with style, Scorpion has shown many fatalities over the years, however, he’s also able to perform Babalities, Brutalities, Animalities, Friendships, and much more. Given he’s been in almost every single Mortal Kombat entry, it’s no surprise that his finisher list would entail such wide variety:




Resistances



Forms


Inferno Scorpion

After Liu Kang and Kung Lao fought and defeated Scorpion, they tried drowning him in a pool of lava, only for him to miraculously leap back into action as…Inferno Scorpion! Which…isn’t actually all that different from regular Scorpion, but he presumably gains a boost in strength and fire-related attacks.


Feats

Overall

  • Defeated Kung Lao, Nightwolf, Sektor and Cyrax, Bi-Han, Havik, Frost, Sonya Blade, Johnny Cage, Quan-Chi, D’Vorah, Kuai Liang, Goro, Sheeva, Kitana, Skarlet, Jax, Kano, Erron Black, and Raiden.

  • Took down the Special Forces alongside his clan

  • Fought his mirror self and overcame his inner demons 

  • Survived multiple encounters with the Oni, Moloch and Drahmin

  • Avenged his family and clan 

  • Reformed the Shirai Ryu after his restoration 

  • Trained and mentored Takeda, son of Kenshi

  • Briefly became the Elder Gods’ champion 

  • Fought in the battle of Armageddon 

  • Assisted in fighting off Kronika and the Netherrealm army 

  • Founded peace between the Shirai Ryu and Lin Kuei

  • Aided in taking down the Cyber Initiative 

Strength

Speed



Durability


Weaknesses


Scorpion is a tenacious foe; but he has his fair share of weaknesses. Too much built-up anger can cloud his judgment, leading him to make irrational decisions based on his own personal motives. He has a history of being manipulated time and again, although specifically only while as a specter of the Netherrealm. Lastly, despite his undead state, he is not invincible; ailments such as poison have put him down for the count

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