Film

Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge

Name: Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge
Genre: Animation, Action, Fantasy
Released: 2020
Cast: Jennifer Carpenter, Joel McHale, Jordan Rodrigues, Patrick Seitz, Ike Amadi

A gleefully brutal animated origin story that treats the Mortal Kombat universe with surprising seriousness. It's a blood-soaked tournament film wrapped around Scorpion's quest for vengeance, animated with kinetic violence that would make live-action squeamish. For anyone who loves fighting games, ultra-stylized action, or just really good character animation used to sell brutal stakes.

TMDb rating

4.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like lean, blood-soaked animated brawling with a grim, personal origin at its core and fight choreography that rewards close attention, the way a tight revenge tale does.

Skip it if the plot is thin and it rushes through its eighty minutes, so if you want characters to breathe between set pieces, it may feel like a highlight reel.

What it asks of you: Its runtime is short and its pace brisk, so it asks for one sitting with little warm-up, and it stays dark and violent throughout rather than light.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li2009

Another video-game adaptation that ditches camp for genuine character drama. It builds a tournament narrative around a fighter seeking justice, with solid action choreography and real emotional weight beneath the martial arts spectacle.

But The 2009 live-action aesthetic feels dated now, and it trades the cartoonish fun of the games for a grittier approach that doesn't always land.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li poster

Castlevania2017

Netflix's animated series proves you can adapt game lore into genuinely gripping television. It's got the same blend of gothic atmosphere, character-driven storytelling, and animation that makes violence feel consequential rather than consequence-free.

But Slow first season as it builds its world. If you want non-stop action, you'll have to wait out the setup.

Kill Bill: Vol. 12003

Tarantino's ultimate revenge thriller uses every visual language available—anime sequences, spaghetti-western standoffs, samurai codes—to build toward the same raw hunger for justice. The kinetic energy and willingness to go stylistically weird match Scorpion's Revenge beat for beat.

But Nearly two hours of setup before the final confrontation. If you need constant action rather than aesthetic and character building, it will test your patience.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion's Revenge

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Castlevania: Nocturne2023

Both deploy voice acting and animation to make inherited trauma visceral. Scorpion's curse echoes through Nocturne's entire narrative structure.

The spiritual successor to Castlevania, continuing the animation studio's evolution. It's a tournament-style story about inherited curses and generational trauma, animated with the same kinetic brutality. Patrick Seitz (Sub-Zero's voice) does crucial work here too.

But Gothic pacing means it builds dread instead of delivering constant action. Gothic aesthetic and theology might feel overwrought if you're used to straightforward revenge stories.

Fate/Zero2011

A supernatural tournament anime where warriors fight for ultimate power, grounded in tragic backstories and genuine moral complexity. The action is stunning, but the emotional core—why characters fight and what they've lost—gives it weight.

But Serialized storytelling means you need to follow threads across multiple episodes. The pacing is slower than Scorpion's Revenge; it's building a world, not racing through a story.

Daria1997

Wait, hear it out. Joel McHale's Johnny Cage—deadpan, comedically detached from the absurdity around him—plays like a riff on Daria's bemused outsider perspective. If you love that voice actor's comic timing, his MTV work is essential.

But It's a high school comedy from the late '90s, not an action film. The humor is dry and generational in ways that might feel alien if you didn't grow up with it.

Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train2020

Released the same year, this anime film proves 2D animation can deliver action sequences that rival anything in live-action. It's about a fighter haunted by loss, moving through supernatural trials. The emotional core makes the spectacle land harder.

But You need to have watched the series to understand the characters and stakes. Coming in cold, you'll be lost in the details.

Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Mugen Train poster

The Raid2012

A tournament-style action film—SWAT team vs. building full of fighters—that uses minimal plot to maximize visceral combat. The choreography is intricate, brutal, and treats fighting as both art and consequence, like Scorpion's battles.

But Subtitled, Indonesian action cinema. If you're looking for English-language star power or traditional narrative structure, this strips both away in favor of pure physical storytelling.

Arcane: League of Legends2021

League of Legends adaptation that somehow became essential television. It uses animation to explore how broken systems create enemies—rivals born from circumstance rather than choice. The visual storytelling is as sophisticated as the voice acting.

But Deliberately paced and character-focused. The action exists in service of story, not the other way around. Patience required.

Harley Quinn2019

Adult animated series with genuine heart beneath the chaos. It swings between ultraviolent action and surprisingly tender character moments, proving animated series can do both without irony or apology.

But Humor is deliberately crude and anarchic. If you want your shows restrained or serious throughout, the tonal whiplash will be annoying.

Blade Runner 20492017

Both explore revenge as a kind of death—Scorpion is literally resurrected as vengeance; K discovers identity only through sacrifice. Neither lets violence be triumphant.

A revenge narrative disguised as a philosophical thriller. It asks what violence costs its executioner, using stunning cinematography to make despair and obsession feel physical. The pacing is patient but every frame matters, like animation where every cell is deliberate.

But Deliberately slow, often meditative. No quips, no humor. If you need wit or pace, this will feel like watching someone else's dream.

Perfect Blue1998

Both use animation's particular power to make invisible states—rage, obsession, the shattering of self—into something you can watch happen. Where Scorpion's Revenge makes revenge physical, Perfect Blue makes psychological destruction physical.

Satoshi Kon's anime psychological thriller proves animation can unsettle like nothing else. It's a descent into obsession and fractured reality, using the medium's freedom from physical law to make internal collapse visible. Visceral and deeply strange.

But Surreal, deliberately disorienting. Not a narrative you can relax into. It demands attention and rewards it with unease rather than catharsis.