Dark Raiden is a corrupted version of the Thunder God Raiden, as well as a major antagonist from the Mortal Kombat franchise.
He is voiced by Richard Epcar (who also voiced the Joker in Injustice: Gods Among Us, Yhwach in Bleach, Akuma in Street Fighter V, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness , and Terra-Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts and Skywarp in Transformers: War for Cybertron) in Mortal Kombat X and Mortal Kombat 11, and by Travis Willingham (who also voiced Kugo Ginjo in Bleach, Zetsu in Naruto, Two-Face in Batman: The Telltale Series, Kingpin in Marvel's Spider-Man and Onslaught in Transformers: Fall of Cybertron) in Mortal Kombat 1.
His Evil Ranking[]
His Villainous Deeds[]
In General[]
- He is extremely hostile to non-Earthrealmers, making him extremely xenophobic.
Original Timeline[]
- In his non-canon MKA ending, he turns his back on Shujinko and attacks him for no reason.
- He backstabs Taven which horrifies him and joins forces with Shao Kahn and tries to prevent Taven from completing his quest.
Alternate Timeline[]
- He corrupts himself and corrupts himself at the ending of the MKX story as he wants more violence and becomes a servant of the Netherrealm.
- He selfishly tortures and kills Shinnok although Shinnok deserved it.
- He attacks Liu Kang for no reason just because Liu Kang just trying to help Scorpion and other people.
- He says very insensitive things about Sonya Blade's death and didn't feel remorse for it.
New Era[]
- Before joining the Forces of Darkness, he fell into villainy for power and while he started off as a full-on anti-villain at the start of his corruption, he later he subverted all of these qualities and instead becomes a tyrant and without hesitation or remorse, he helps Shinnok on his plans no matter how evil they are.
- He joined Titan Shang Tsung as a titan to destroy Liu Kang's New Era.
- He tried to kill Liu Kang, Kitana and the other heroes.
Why He Doesn't Stand Out[]
- He fails the heinous standards to other villains like Shang Tsung, Shao Kahn, Sindel, and Quan Chi who did way worse than him.
Original Timeline and Alternate Timeline[]
- He is genuinely tragic.
- He is a well intentioned extremist and an anti-villain as he wanted to save Earthrealm from threats.
- He’s implied to feel remorse during Armageddon, with everyone dying, and being defeated by Shao Kahn, as his final moments are sending a message to his past self with the message “He must win,” with his lightning returning to blue, signifying his redemption.
- He helps the Earthrealm warriors defeat the revenants in the Netherrealm.
- He redeems himself after realizing his villainous that were committed.
New Era[]
- His actions on helping Titan Shang Tsung usually relies on Fridge Horror.
- He is generically a "Kill-the-heroes" villain, making him bog-standard.
- He is still genuinely honorable and loyal to Titan Shang Tsung and Shinnok.
External Links[]
- Dark Raiden on the Villains Wiki