Everyone loves a good meme, but Mortal Kombat 11 developer NetherRealm won’t be biting in this one case. Despite calls for Scooby-Doo character Shaggy to be in Mortal Kombat 11 culminating in a ridiculous petition, the studio shot down the possibility of this “dead meme” coming to life.
News on the upcoming fighting game has been on the rise as of late, with Kabal confirmed (or “konfirmed,” if that’s what you want to see) to return as a playable character. This news came during the first Kombat Kast, a now-regular livestream from NetherRealm related to all things Mortal Kombat. In that same first stream, the “dekonfirmation” came from NetherRealm’s community manager Tyler Lansdown during a community Q&A.
“Shaggy will not be in the game,” said Landsdown. “At all. Ever. Sorry, dead meme.” The group went on to further shoot down the ideas of Scooby himself or Velma appearing in the game. Surprising stuff.
The Mortal Kombat series is no stranger to guest characters—more recently, horror and action movie icons such as Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, the Alien, and the Predator have appeared in Mortal Kombat games. Additionally, Kratos from the God of War series has graced the series with his angry presence. Of course, these characters are all known for their brutality and violence. Shaggy, on the other hand, is best known for saying “like” too many times, his odd running stance, and being voiced by Casey Kasem.
For those who haven’t been following this meme, the joke is that Shaggy is apparently very powerful—as in, like, more than One Punch Man powerful. With that, I feel that those meme-rs should be aiming for Dragonball FighterZ instead of the ultra-violent Mortal Kombat if anything.
This goes back to Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, which featured popular comic book characters like Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The use of valuable intellectual property resulted in the usual “M for Mature” ESRB rating for the fighting game series to lower to a “T for Teen” rating, with less gory Fatalities and the heroes only able to perform “Heroic Brutalities.” I’m sure the IP holders for Scooby-Doo wouldn’t be pleased by Shaggy either ripping heads off or having his own head ripped off.
With NetherRealm going on to make Injustice, the only compromise would be for the studio to make a spin-off all-Scooby Doo fighting game series.
Mortal Kombat 11 will hit PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch on April 23. In addition to Kabal, D’Vorah will also be returning in the new game. You can pre-order the game on Amazon through this link.
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