Even with the Kombat Pass adding new characters to the roster, fan-favorite Mileena still isn’t set to appear in Mortal Kombat 11. Every time a new Mortal Kombat game comes out, fans inevitably fuss about who did or did not make the roster. Certain milestone titles, like 1996’s Mortal Kombat Trilogy and 2006’s Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, managed to include every character in the series up to that point, but such achievements are harder to achieve as time goes by.
For Mortal Kombat 11, the initial roster includes 25 fighters, as well as six more in the DLC Kombat Pass. Mileena is not part of the main roster, nor is she included in the Kombat Pass, which features Shang Tsung, Sindel, and Nightwolf, as well as guest characters Spawn, Terminator’s T-800, and DC’s The Joker. But Mileena is nowhere to be seen in Mortal Kombat 11. And while that’s unlikely to change, we still want to see her in the game in the future.
By all accounts, Mileena’s story was completed in MKX, despite many fans expressing derision at the character’s violent demise at the hands of newcomer D’Vorah. Considering the time-travel storyline of MK11, many were excited at the prospect of Mileena coming back to live another day, or even avenge herself, but this never came to pass. This is just speculation, but it seems whatever role Mileena could have played in MK11 was instead fulfilled by Skarlet, who acts as Shao Khan’s most loyal and bloodthirsty lieutenant.
Though Mileena was absent from the main game, hope remained that she might make an appearance as part of the Kombat Pass. Unfortunately, this was not to be. At least, not yet. It’s likely there will be another Kombat Pass for MK11. Mortal Kombat X featured two Kombat Passes, for a total of eight DLC characters. Most recently, Injustice 2, by the same development team at Netherrealm Studios, featured three DLC packs, for a grand total of nine additional characters. It’s reasonable to expect Mortal Kombat 11 to feature a similar escalation. The current Kombat Pack features six characters, so it’s quite possible a future Kombat Pack to add six more fighters, bringing the grand total to 12 DLC combatants.
A controversial element of the DLC characters is just how many of the new fighters have been guest characters, rather than returning champions from MK’s past. Three of the six current Kombat Pass entrants are guests. Time will tell if prospective future Kombat Passes will share the current ratio of guest characters. Regardless, if there are going to be more DLC characters after this current Kombat Pass, and it’s likely there will be, we want Mileena to return.
Mileena has been an MK staple since Mortal Kombat II. Though she didn’t appear in the base versions of MK3 and MK4, she did appear in the updated re-releases, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and the Dreamcast-exclusive Mortal Kombat Gold. She didn’t appear in 2002’s Deadly Alliance, though her signature sai weapons were given to newcomer Li Mei. Likewise, in MK11, Kitana can wield Mileena’s sai. This echoes Kitana’s use of Jade’s staff in MKX, a game in which Jade did not appear. Bottom line is: MK11 is out in the wild, but the story is not over yet. There’s still time for Mileena to make her triumphant return as a DLC fighter in the game.
More: Mortal Kombat 11: 10 Characters We’d Love to See as DLC
