Shang Tsung (Chinese: 尚宗) is a fictional character and one of the main antagonists of the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise by Midway Games and NetherRealm Studios. He debuted as the main antagonist of Mortal Kombat (1992) and has remained one of the franchise's primary characters. Shang is a sorcerer; he is principally defined by his abilities to shapeshift into other characters and to absorb the souls of his defeated opponents. In the series, he is usually confronted by the series' protagonist Liu Kang. Shang has appeared in various media outside of the games, including the 1995 film and the 2021 film. He has received positive commentary for his design, abilities, and role in the series.
Creation Shang Tsung (originally named "Shang Lao") was based on a "Chinese sorcerer" archetype from martial arts films, including but not limited to the character Lo Pan from the film Big Trouble in Little China. He was originally envisioned as the one who would behead the losing fighter, prior to the concept of character-specific Shang Fatalities. A cut character named "Kitsune", which was later developed into Kitana, "was going to fit into the story as Shang Lao's (Tsung's) princess daughter - the spoil of victory for winning the tournament", who would betray her father after she fell for Liu Kang. However, mid-development, Boon and the team thought it would be fun to put the finishing power in the player's hands, and started coming up with gruesome ways we could finish off their enemies rather than just Shang Tsung. So it was going to be just the boss, but just "goofing around one time" they made Johnny Cage duck down and uppercut the sorcerer. Following this test, the staff decided to turn everybody into finishers. The original idea was that Shang Tsung was a human traitor who had sold his soul. Mortal Kombat art director Herman Sanchez said that as the series progressed he decided to emphasize Tsung's air of "sinister regality." Shang Tsung's design varies throughout the series. The initial history of the character was explained in the 1992 Midway-produced comic book based on the original MK game, in which he was the first-ever Mortal Kombat (then the Shaolin Tournament) champion over 500 years ago from the date of the then-current tournament depicted in the actual game, yet he was stricken with a curse that forced him to consume the souls of his defeated opponents in order to keep his youth. The book cited his "failure to appease the gods" as the reason for his premature aging to a withered old man, but he was noticeably younger in Mortal Kombat II, in which Shao Kahn had restored Shang Tsung's youth and powers as part of his plan to take over Earthrealm by luring Liu Kang and his fellow Earth warriors into Outworld for the next MK tournament. His actor in the sequel changed to Philip Ahn, turning from the original game's Ho-Sung Pak. According to GamePro magazine in 1993, the MKII version of Shang Tsung was nineteen years old, and an article about the game also included a rough sketch by Mortal Kombat co-creator John Tobias of Tsung's "true form," a twisted demon, which has never actually appeared in the video games. Tobias wanted Shang Tsung's long hair to hang loose in Mortal Kombat 3 (in which his actor was John Turk), but potential problems with it flopping about whenever he jumped resulted in it being tied back into a ponytail. Responding to player queries about how Shang Tsung's last name is pronounced, Acclaim Entertainment stated in 1994 that there is no one definitively correct way of pronouncing the character's name. In the original Mortal Kombat game Shang Tsung is a computer-controlled boss that launches fireball projectiles (consisting of a flaming skull, in contrast to Liu Kang's fireball which is shaped like a Chinese dragon) and can morph into other characters at will; this gives him access to all of the Kombatants' signature moves. The character was originally given the morphing ability due to technical limitations as the arcade machines for the game had no memory left for his images. As a player character in MKII, he retains his morphing ability, but can only transform into playable characters (although he can transform into the non-playable sub-boss Kintaro for a fatality). His flaming skull projectile's versatility is also expanded: he can summon skulls from above or below the opponent as well as shoot multiple skulls from his hands. Tsung's shapeshifting went mostly unused in Deadly Alliance, Deception, Armageddon, and Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. Ed Boon explained this was due to a lack of sufficient memory. After the ending of Mortal Kombat 11, Ed Boon decided to cast Tagawa as Shang Tsung for Aftermath as he believes several gamers often visualize him when seeing the character. Despite being presented as an anti-hero, Boon acknowledges that everybody knows he is the actual villain instead and they look forward to the obvious revelation. Tagawa himself said that Mortal Kombat in general was one of the biggest experiences in his career, having enjoyed both films and gaming citing the franchise's length in general. For Mortal Kombat 1, Shang Tsung is returning as a major villain but according to Boon he will not be final one.
Appearances
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