Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge kicked off with a cameo from one of most recognizable character in the Warner Bros. lot. Battle of the Realms has a similar intro, but one with a far different guest. It’s not as random as it seems as some viewers may recognize it from one of the many memes in the series’ history. And it’s no coincidence, either. Be aware of spoilers for said intro in the following paragraphs!
Producer Rick Morales spoke to ComingSoon about the intro with Shaggy from Scooby-Doo (who is voiced by Matthew Lillard here, too) and how it was a direct nod to the fans.
“Obviously, it was inspired by that meme and all that stuff,” he said. “I thought that we had an opportunity here that I didn’t think we should pass up because I think Ed Boon squashed that and said Shaggy is not making it into Mortal Kombat. This was as close as you’ll probably ever get to that so we thought we would do some fan service here. And the people that understand that will get it and the other people that don’t will just think, ‘Wow, that’s really weird.’ And that’s OK, too. [laughs]”
https://twitter.com/noobde/status/1432694156338548738
The people in that latter camp may have no idea where the joke comes from. For Mortal Kombat specifically, it stems from all the guest characters in the last three entries. The series tends to grab horror icons like Freddy Kruger and Jason Voorhees or action stars like Terminator and Rambo. The violence of its guest stars tends to open the door for the joke of suggesting non-violent characters, as showcased in this parody article from Hard Drive. Shaggy became one of those jokes that garnered more and more steam, especially after years of being memed as a super powerful character across the internet.
Hack and Slash Shaggy variation ?pic.twitter.com/TGFhfwAVkX
— Ed Boon (@noobde) February 1, 2019
Series Co-Creator Ed Boon chimed in as well and was the point when the bit took off. Boon tweeted about Shaggy more than a few times over the years, the first of which was the above tweet where someone doctored in a picture of Shaggy in Mortal Kombat 11 shortly after its reveal event in January 2019. A later tweet had a rendition of the superpowered version of the character. This kind of depiction was why Shaggy had a green aura around him in the Battle of the Realms intro.
Shaggy obviously won’t be coming to Mortal Kombat 11 since NetherRealm is focusing on its new and unannounced title. That game probably won’t have the green-shirted Scooby Snax-lover unless it’s some sort of WB-exclusive fighter. And given recent rumors, that’s even more unlikely than usual.
