Kano

Kano is the former leader of the Black Dragon and a villain from the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games.

History

Past

Kano acted as the leader of the Black Dragon organization, a cut-throat criminal organization, and clashed numerous times with the Special Forces. He also killed Lt. Sonya Blade's partner, which lead to her having a personal grudge against him.

Mortal Kombat Special Forces

At one point, Kano freed his partners, No Face,Tasia, Jarek, andTremor from a Special Forces prison, telling them that he wanted their help in reforming the Black Dragon. Kano actually wanted them to slow down the Special Forces agents pursuing, while he ventured into Outworld. While his cohorts fought against Jax, Kano headed into Outworld and began looking for the Eye of Shitian, an artifact that would grant him great power. However Jax caught up with him and defeated the criminal, using the eye to transport them to Earthrealm where he took Kano into custody. But Kano made his escape so as to compete in the Mortal Kombat Tournament.

Mortal Kombat

Kano journeyed to Shang Tsung's island to compete in his tournament, since he had heard that the sorcerer's palace was full of gold and riches, which he could use to fund the Black Dragons. Kano was free to take part in the tournament, while Sonya was forced to fight to keep her Special Forces comrades alive. They both survived, although many others died, including Sonya's men and Kano and Sonya teamed up with Johnny Cage to defeatGoro. During the fight, the two were sucked into Outworld, where they were found and captured by Shang Tsung.

Mortal Kombat 2

Kano was used as bait, along with Sonya to draw the fighters into Outworld. They were both freed by Jax, who saved Sonya and put Kano in custody. However the Black Dragon leader escaped back into Outworld.

Mortal Kombat 3

Though Kano was assumed dead by most of Earthrealms warriors, he had managed to survive by convincing Shao Kahn to make him part of his army as an instructor of weapons, using his knowledge of Earthrealm's weapons. During Shao Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm, Kano fought against Sonya, but was thrown off to his presumed death by Sonya. He survived and was imprisoned by Motaro, but after the centaur's defeat at the hands ofSheeva, Kano was freed by the Shokan. The two originally planned to work together to kill Shao Kahn, but the Black Dragon leader turned on Sheeva in the important moments, resulting in her defeat. After this, Kano became the general of Outworld's army.

Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance

Kano's promotion to general by Shao Kahn proved to be a wise move on the warlord's part. He faced the strong tactics of Kitana and Goro and the overwhelming odds of their Edenian-Shokan army, yet Kano was successful in repelling their forces and returned to Shao Kahn's palace to see the overlord slain by Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. He swore his allegiance to the Deadly Alliance, becoming their general and was assigned to enslave a village to build a palace for the new Soulando. During this time, Kano was attacked by Li Mei and saved by Quan Chi. However he was forced to fightMavado, who had completed a mission for the two sorcerers in exchange for this.

Mortal Kombat Armageddon

It is presumed that Kano lost the fight since he was encountered by Taven in the Red Dragon fortress. He explained to the demigod that the Red Dragon had been experimenting on him, as well as other clanmates, to transform them into Dragon-Human hybrids. Kano mentioned that they were trying something new on him, but left before elaborating. In his ending, he defeated Blaze, causing his transformation into a black dragon-human hybrid due to the experiments performed on him.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe

During the merger between the Mortal Kombat Universe and the DC Universe, Kano appeared in Gotham City where he stole an amulet that Catwoman had attempted to make off with after she was beaten by the Flash. Catwoman stole it back and Kano was left to fight against the Flash, who had been overcome by the kombat rage. He was beaten, but before the Flash could finish him, Batman appeared and intervened. When Sonya was overcome by the rage, she hallucinated that Jax was Kano. He later joined the alliance between the MK Universe fighters and was forced to accompany Sonya to track down The Joker and Deathstroke, when, after the clown damaged Sonya's wrist portal, they are transported to the Green Lantern Homeworld.

Kano then faced Deathstroke and then the rage infected Joker after he beat Sonya and was defeated. He returned and was then taunted by Shang Tsung, who he attacked after being overcome by the rage. Kano then accompanied the other Mortal Kombat warriors to the fusion of Outworld and Apokolips, where they all faced off against the DC fighters. 

In his ending, the defeat of Dark Kahn, unleashed so much rage into him, it caused him to become driven insane by it. Kano became an outcast and painted his face to express his anger, repeating constantly, "Death to Shang Tsung!"

Film

Kano appears as an accomplice of Shang Tsung in the 1995 Mortal Kombat film, where he is portrayed by Trevor Goddard. He fights Sonya Blade and is killed when she breaks his neck between her legs.

Abilities

Kano is a skilled hand-to-hand fighter and displays great prowess with knives, particularly his Butterfly Knives, relying on them instead of special powers. He can however fire a laser out of his cyborg eye and tuck himself into a ball and fly at the opponent.

Trivia

• Kano bears some resemblance to the Terminator and Ed Boon stated that his design was based on the T-800's appearance in Terminator 2, when the Terminator's face skin is peeled off, revealing his mechanical face.
• In Deadly Alliance and Armageddon, Kano began wearing a lock of Sonya's hair around his neck that he tore from her head in their battle in Mortal Kombat 3.
• In the Deadly Alliance Krypt, one of the coffin's contains an ad for "Kan-O's" a breakfast cereal with Kano's picture on the box.
• During the Konquest mode in Deadly Alliance, it is stated that it was Jax who caused the facial damage that lead to Kano wearing the metal plate on his face prior to the events of the series.
• Kano and Sonya were the first characters confirmed for MK3.
• In Kano's MK vs. DC ending, when he becomes the MK equivalent of the Joker, Kano bears a resemblance to Jack Nicholson, who played the Joker in the 1989 Batman movie.
• When he faced the Flash, Kano stated that he would give Kabal a run for his money.
• His fatality in UMK3, where he reached down the opponent's mouth and pulled out their skeleton, was listed number 6 on Screwattacks' list of Top 10 Mortal Kombat Fatalities.
• In the games, Kano was originally intended to be Asian, but Trevor Goddard's portrayal of Kano as Australian in the Mortal Kombat movie was well liked by the developers, who incorporated aspects of it into subsequent games.
• Kano is also the moniker of a well-known UK grime MC.