Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is canon to Mortal Kombat lore according to NetherRealm Studios story director... sort of
'Shang Tsung is not the enemy this time'
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe would be one of the last games released by Midway Games before the company was bought by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and then rebranded as NetherRealm Studios.
The unusual circumstances of the story for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe gave the impression of a "what if" scenario. However, it appears that Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is actually canon to Mortal Kombat lore according to Dominic Cianciolo, story and voiceover director at NetherRealm Studios.
During Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, there was a confrontation that pitted Liu Kang against Raiden on whether or not they should trust Shang Tsung. Notably, there was a scene in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe that was eerily similar.
Was this an intentional homage to the scenario that happened in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe? Does this mean that Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe is canonical to the Mortal Kombat lore? These are apparently questions that often get asked of NetherRealm Studios.
"The answer is yes," said Cianciolo. "We can assume that those events happened in one of Kronika's many previous timelines. Clearly she thought it was a mistake because she rolled it back and got rid of it."
DC's Joker, Batman's arch-nemesis, is among the DLC guest characters included in Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath. Although guests like Kratos, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, the Predator, Spawn, and RoboCop don't play any sort of role in the main story modes for Mortal Kombat titles, it seems that the Joker does have a place in Mortal Kombat canon thanks to the existence of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe.
However, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe now only exists as an erased series of events. Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe's story did technically occur, but not during the timeline that is Mortal Kombat 9, Mortal Kombat X, and Mortal Kombat 11.
"When we looked at this idea of multiple timelines, we were hoping to be able to integrate past lore including Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe," continued Cianciolo. "We knew that our most observant fans were going to pick up on that similarity."
Upon meeting up with Shang Tsung in Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath, Raiden was extremely suspicious of the sorcerer's motivations. It turned out that Shinnok's Amulet was clouding his judgement of the situation.
Similarly in Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, Raiden was unable to resist the influence of the Kombat Rage that was being generated by Dark Kahn (a fusion between Darkseid and Shao Kahn). As a result, the Thunder God ended up attacking both Shang Tsung and Liu Kang.
"Shang Tsung is not the enemy this time." Word for word, this is what Liu Kang said to Raiden in attempts to calm him down in both titles. According to Cianciolo, this wasn't simply a coincidence.
During Mortal Kombat 11's original set of events, Raiden was able to recall previous timelines that pitted Earthrealm's guardian and the Mortal Kombat champion against one another. The Thunder God was able to realize that these were timelines that were previously erased by Kronika.
This likely means that Raiden was even able to remember his battle against Superman and the DC Universe when this happened.
Source: Ars Technica. Sent in by: enkil.
