First released in 1992, and responsible for the creation of the ESRB rating system (because gore and violence), the Mortal Kombat series of games has earned its own violent niche in the fighting game genre. Even now, a newly released promo video for Mortal Kombat 11's "Kombat Pack" DLC has raised both excitement and plenty of brows in the process.
The Kombat Pack as mentioned features Shang Tsung in his 1995 movie attire, Nightwolf from MK3, Sindel, Spawn (with original voice actor Keith David returning for the role), The Terminator, and DC supervillain The Joker. DC and Mortal Kombat fans know The Joker's return is not surprising, though."The Clown Prince of Crime" has had several incarnations alongside Mortal Kombat characters in the past decade, which leads us to believe there may be more than one Joker in the Mortal Kombat Universe.
Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe (2008)
Released in November 2008, we start the list with Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. As the name suggests, the game featured characters from both franchises and followed a storyline where their universes collided. Major figures met their parallels--such as Superman with Raiden, Wonder Woman with Kitana, and so on. Revolutionary for its time, this rated T for Teen title was nominated for Teen Choice Award for Choice Video Game.
In this rendition, the Joker sports a suit akin to something out of Batman The Animated Series, and fits himself with classic card trick tropes, moderate-paced kicks, punches, light guns, and bombs - which are all ready to go when he's not using his electric shocker.
Overall, with both wits and speed of his reflexes in battle and in the story mode, this Joker appears quite standard and run of the mill for the character at large--possibly hanging off the coattails of Mark Hamill's performance of the character.
Injustice: Gods Among Us (2013)
Following this title was 2013's Injustice: Gods Among Us. The story mode of Injustice begins with the Joker destroying Metropolis, and Superman's subsequent extrajudicial execution of the villain. After killing the Joker, Supes become a fascist dictator, and threatens to kill anyone else who opposes him. Batman winds up being forced to travel through alternate dimensions with other DC super friends in attempts to put a stop to the madness. In the end, the heroes reign supreme with the corrupt Superman, an alternate dimension Joker, and other foes locked up (at least for now).
This Joker sports some slightly different looks and tricks from 2008, though. Aesthetically, this Joker dons the suit and hair more like Jack Nicholson's portrayal, and the extended smile makeup of Heath Ledger. From a mechanical perspective, Injustice 1 Joker uses a lot more knives (perhaps a more direct homage to 2008's classic Dark Knight Joker), has faster reflexes than in MK vs DC, and sports revolvers with heavier damage. It is also worth noting that this game, unlike MK v DC, has special moves for each character (wherein MK v DC only had some customized attacks and fatalities). The Joker's special move for this game has him throwing homemade pies, a crowbar, guns, and a bazooka (in that order)--which gives opponents something to the effect of 32% damage.
Notably between the 2008 and 2013 iterations, the two Jokers share the same voice actor. To us, this could easily mean that this is the exact same Joker living in a dimension where the Mortal Kombat collab AND Injustice timeline happened one after the other. Or, one could wonder if 2013's Injustice Joker is really just the same Joker as MK v DC, except each game has a different branching timeline--one with Injustice, and the other with MK v DC; where one will never know about the other timeline.
Injustice 2 (2017)
As for the 2017 sequel to Injustice, it's unsurprising that this Joker directly follows the plotline of Gods Among Us. One could argue that the effects of last game have taken a toll on him though. He has more disheveled features than in the other games, he sports the messy hair, makeup, and knives of Ledger's Joker, with the long trench coat and shirtless look of Jared Leto's Joker. As a character in the ring, Joker finds himself with increased speed, extended use of the knife, and the return of the electronic shocker (from MK v DC).
Dissecting this, there is an obvious nod to the 2013 Injustice, but an even more subtle one to 2008's MK v DC. Thus, Injustice 2 Joker could be living in a dimension where both events from MK v DC and Injustice took place, or at least knows about the existence of another dimension.
Mortal Kombat 11 (2019)
Now we are left with what appears to be a new Joker for MK11 (we'll just call him New-Joker for illustrative purposes). The source of who exactly New-Joker is, stems from plenty of suggestions. One Reddit thread suggests that New-Joker is a "copycat" of the original; which could make New-Joker a product of the cultist movements that formed in Injustice after the real Joker died in his dimension. One could also suggest that New-Joker is in another universe where the events of Injustice and MK v DC never happened, since New-Joker looks so fresh to fighting in comparison to the other Jokers. Or if we were to take a more wildly speculative route, New-Joker could just simply be more clown-like--maybe work some normal part-time job.
Mortal Kombat 11 released this past spring for PS4, PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Characters in the "Kombat Pack" will be released one at a time, with "The Clown Prince of Crime" arriving January 28th. Looks and jokes aside, it will be interesting to see his actual skills in the game and tournaments.