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Sub-Zero rips DEATH BATTLE's spine out!

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DeathBattleDino

Published: Jul 15, 2017

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Literature Text

First Appearance: Mortal Kombat II (June 25th 1993)

Full/Real Name: Kuai Liang

AKA: Tundra

Height: 6' 2" (1.88 m)

Weight: 209.4 lbs (95 kg)

Age: 56

Gender: Male

Species: Human/Cryomancer

Place of Birth: Earth, China

Alignment: Neutral Good

Affiliation: Lin Kuei

Occupation: Grandmaster of the Lin Kuei

Attack Potency: City level

Durability: City level

Speed: Relativistic

Backstory

As children, Bi-Han and Kuai Liang were abducted by the Lin Kuei ninja clan to be trained in the arts of assassination. Due to their Cryomantic powers, Bi-Han chose the name Sub-Zero, while Kuai Liang was known as Tundra. Ever since childhood, they were trained by the clan and served them faithfully until the first Mortal Kombat tournament. There, a Revenant known as Scorpion killed Bi-Han, assured that the Cryomancer was responsible for the destruction of his clan - the Shirai Ryu - and the death of his family.

Wanting revenge, Kuai Lang took the mantle of Sub-Zero and traveled to Outworld to fight Scorpion. He defeated the ninja, but when he was about to kill him, he was stopped by the cyborgs of the Lin Kuei - showing that the current Grandmaster's plan has worked - turning the Lin Kuei clan into cyborgs. Stronger. Faster. Less human.

The Cyber clan served Shao Kahn, the Emperor of Outworld, who was responsible for invading Earthrealm and causing the war between the realms. Soon, however, Kuai Lang was captured by Earthrealm's warriors and his consciousness was returned. He was still a cyborg, but was now fighting for Earthrealm in the war.

However, he was killed and his soul was captured by Quan Chi - a dark sorcerer, who created Scorpion from the soul of Hanzo Hasashi. Quan Chi got rid of the Cryomancer's cyborg body and turned him into his slave. Sub-Zero became a Revenant, serving his new Master alongside other killed Earth's warriors, whose souls were as well captured.

After the death of Shao Kahn, Kuai Lang was a servant of the Sorcerer - until Quan Chi was defeated by Earthrealm's Special Forces. His soul - and the souls of many others - was restored by Raiden - Earth's protector and the God of Thunder. He was then trusted by the God to guide one of the Kamidogus - a dagger holding incredible power. Unfortunately, Sub-Zero was possessed by the artifact and soon found by Scorpion - who has returned to his human form as Hanzo Hasashi.

Scorpion defeated the Cryomancer and took the Kamidogu, declaring his opponent unworthy. He was found and saved by Bo' Rai Cho from certain death. The Master explained to Kuai Liang that the Cyber Lin Kuei are still operational, to which Sub-Zero reacted with action.

He infiltrated and destroyed the Cyber Lin Kuei and - with time - rebuilt the clan, which now had a new purpose - defending Earthrealm and its people.

As Hanzo Hasashi also began rebuilding the Shirai Ryu, the two clans finally declared peace after Scorpion realized that it was not the Lin Kuei or Bi-Han who killed his family - it was the Sorcerer Quan Chi.

Physicality

Strength

Comparable to Scorpion, who can punch through heads and broke a Blood Magic-enhanced Raiden's jaw

Kicked a merc through a door. Additional durability feat - tanks Kano's optic blast, which can apparently blast a hole through someone

Sub-Zero was hit with the older optic laser, not the one Kano has now
This statement is true even to the new Eye, as Kano was able to blast through an armored merc's head

Froze and jumped through a wall

Punched and destroyed a portion of a frozen temple. While he was possessed by Blood Magik during this, Scorpion was able to survive his blows.

Shattered ten stone tablets with a single punch

Ripped a Lin-Kuei Cyborg in half

Decapitated a Lin-Kuei Cyborg

Ripped Sektor's head off

His most famous fatality is him pulling out the opponent's spine, which would take at least 1 Million Newtons to perform

Comparable to Rain and Raiden, both of whom can summon and control thunderstorms (9.6 Megatons of TNT or City level)

Speed

Scales to Reptile, who dodged bullets

Comparable to Scorpion, who punched himself (long story) three times in rapid succession

Dodged an oncoming rocket

Comparable to young Takeda and Kenshi, who reacted to arrows

Dodged Sektor's laser-guided rocket

After breaking free from being possessed and still being confused about what happened, reacts to Scorpion

At least somewhat comparable to Quan Chi, who reacted to Raiden's lightning

Comparable to Kotal Kahn, who can redirect sunlight

Durability

Comparable to other Kombatants, who canonically survived and fought on after receiving crippling blows

Comparable to Scorpion, who survived being electrocuted by a Blood Magik-enhanced Raiden

Tougher than Takeda and comparable to Scorpion, who survived and straight up tanked a lightning bolt respectively

Raiden admits Takeda should be dead

Brushed off a rocket while hiding behind a frozen cyborg

Survived being stabbed by two of Scorpion's swords and withstood his fire breath, even if barely

Stayed alive long enough for Bo' Rai Cho to find and rescue him

Tanked a blow from Sektor's rocket fist

Withstood Sektor's flamethrower, which fire flames at three thousand degrees

Degrees of what, it's unknown, but seeing as MK mostly takes place in America, it's safe to assume it's Degrees Fahrenheit

Survived an ice blast from Frost

Takes multiple blows from Jacqui's gauntlets

Scales to Kenshi, who survived a fireball from Scorpion

Scorpion's fire is hot enough to completely vaporize a human body, which requires energy equivalent to 0.072 tons of TNT to 0.0921 tons of TNT (Small Building level)

Comparable to fighters who can survive Raiden's lightning

Lightning carries energy equal to 5 billion Joules or 1.2 tons of TNT (Building level)

Can survive Rain's around-the-world kick (39.7 Megatons of TNT or City level)

Stamina

Fought with Scorpion for about 7-9 pages (albeit off-panel) after being already heavily injured

While enduring the heat of Hell, fought Scorpion (albeit lost)

Agility

Due to ninja training, capable of performing feats no ordinary (or perhaps any) human should be able to perform

Mentality, Intelligence, Skill

Personality

Honorable and calm

May get overconfident

Though he tends to be less so nowadays

Puns

Intelligence

More knowledge on technology than you might think

Used a virus to shut down the Cyber Lin Kuei

Wanted to make peace with Scorpion, even if the other was reluctant

Lin Kuei Grandmaster

An expert in strategy, martial arts, weapon usage and stealth
Trained a new generation of Lin Kuei and reformed the clan to protect Earthrealm

Skill

Skilled Weapons User

Capable of efficiently using virtually any weapon he creates with his ice
Kept up with Scorpion in sword combat

Master Martial Artist

Capable of keeping up with other Kombatants
Can easily outmatch several Tarkatan soldiers at once

Shotokan
A style of Karate
Characterized by deep, long stances that provide stability, enable powerful movements and strengthen the legs
Focuses on strong and powerful blows instead of slower and more flowing motions
Advanced fighters adapt grappling, throwing and standing joint locking

Dragon Kung-Fu
Also known as "Dragon Form" or "Lung Ying"
Uses techniques that can quickly cripple or kill an opponent, operating under the basic assumption that the user is trying to disable the opponent in a way that they are no longer a threat, or simply kill them
Employs a large number of techniques that focus on attacking the opponent's joints, either through joint manipulation or direct strikes
Users are capable of nullifying the opponent's defenses by either breaking their stance of compromising their guard
Practitioners strike hard, block hard and stomp into each position
Uses powerful and short-range attacks, mainly consisting of fist, palm and clawing techniques as well as hit-and-run strikes to wear down a physically superior opponent
The use of seizing and gripping techniques and the extensive use of forearms both offensively and defensively are fairly unique to Dragon Kung-Fu
Heavy blows, which are disguised under reptilian smoothness of the user
Inhaling is silent, but exhalation is deliberate, tense and controlled

Inhaling lightens the body for aerial maneuvers, while exhaling drives power into each technique

Evasion is one of the Dragon Form's key defenses

Evasion in this Martial Art composes of rotation of the upper or lower torso with little to no stance movements

Footwork employs Zig-Zag stepping to allow launching attacks from multiple angles, as well as Bic Bo stepping

Trained Ninja

Trained by the Lin Kuei since childhood
Likely capable of stealth

Powers & Abilities

Cryomancy

The power to manipulate, control and create ice from thin air
Sub-Zero's signature in the Mortal Kombat universe
His ice is cold enough to counter Sektor's flamethrowers, which, as shown earlier, burn at three thousand degrees (presumably Fahrenheit)
His brother, Bi-Han, is capable of generating ice as cold as -500 Degrees Fahrenheit (which is actually lower than Absolute Zero at -459.67 Degrees) and Kuai Liang should be comparable

Can use this to teleport
Multiple times has he created weapons made of ice
Can create ice shields
Can create a personal ice shield around his whole body
Can create a bubble shield around himself, which protected him from the explosion of a fallout shelter, protects him from heat and freezes anything that comes in contact with it
Shows off his resistance to ice-based attacks
Can freeze others with ease, either by touch, firing a ball or beam of ice or firing several shards
Frozen objects/people become easier to break/destroy/shatter
Frozen objects/people ignore the laws of gravity and levitate if they were frozen in the air
Freezes three soldiers with a single blast
Replicates the above on three Lin-Kuei cyborgs
Froze the door to a fallout shelter and punched through it
Froze Frost, a fellow Cryomancer
Frostbite Rage
A move in which Sub-Zero powers himself up
His attacks become faster and stronger
Finishing moves are quick, bloody and violent

Special Moves

Attacks that utilize Sub-Zero's abilities and skills
Straight Slice: A quick blow followed by a slice with an ice sword
Throat Slice: Adds an upwards slice to the previous combo, knocking opponents slightly into the air
Upward Sword: An upward slice with the ice sword, which sends opponents into the air
Quick Slice: Two blows followed with a vertical slice with the ice sword
Cold Blooded: Sub-Zero kicks the opponent and punches them in the gut with both hands before grabbing them; He then performs a few quicks stabs at the foe's chest with ice daggers before stabbing them in the shoulders

Frost Hammer: Summons an ice hammer, slamming it into the ground
Air Frost Hammer: When in the air, Sub-Zero summons an ice hammer, points it downward and falls with it, the hammer hitting the ground with enough force to knock the opponent off of their feet
Ground Freeze/Ground Ice: Sub-Zero freezes a small amount of the surface below the opponent's legs, making them slip. It can also freeze their legs to the ground
Shower of Ice: Sub-Zero fires a stream of ice upwards, which falls back down shortly afterwards, freezing the opponent
Teleport: Sub-Zero turns to ice and falls over, shattering; He later reforms himself behind the opponent and rises from the same position he was in when he fell

Ice Nugget: Sub-Zero creates a cube of ice over the opponent that falls down, damaging them if they're underneath it
Ice Burst: Sub-Zero throws an ice bomb at his feet, knocking opponents away from himself if they're too close
Ice Ball: Fires a ball of ice, which freezes opponents who come in contact with it; When enhanced, destroys other projectiles in its way
Slide: A horizontal slide that sends opponents flying and leaves a trail of ice behind; When enhanced, Sub-Zero creates a wall of ice behind himself and throws mid-air the enemy into it
Frozen Aura: Gains a small, personal ice shield that absorbs all chip damage and decreases overall damage
Barrier of Frost: Creates a shield in front of Sub-Zero that freezes any opponents that come in contact with it
Ice Klone: Creates an ice version of himself, which freezes the opponent instantly when they come in contact with it; Can be used as a projectile or a shield

Creeping Ice: Causes spikes to rise from the ground, the range of which can be enhanced
Cold Shoulder: Similar to Slide, Sub-Zero dashes across some ice and slams his shoulder into the opponent; Can be extended with a combo using ice axes
Rising Ice: Sub-Zero blasts himself into the air with an icy explosion, damaging nearby enemies
Frigid Storm: Creates a wall of ice and sends it forward at the opponent
Death-Cicle Barrage: Fires a burst of extremely sharp icicles at the opponent
Polar Axe: Throws a hand-held axe at the opponent
Arctic Trap: Creates a floating ice ball that freezes opponents that come close to it

X-Rays

Devastating and crippling blows
Deep Freeze [1]: Sub-Zero's Mortal Kombat 9 X-Ray. Kuai Lang covers himself in ice while dashing towards the opponent. If the blow lands, he freezes the victim's bladder and crushes them, and proceeds to headbutt them, breaking their jaw.
Deep Freeze [2]: Sub-Zero's Mortal Kombat X X-Ray. Kuai Lang freezes himself and sends a punch when he's ready. If it lands, he rips out the opponent's liver, crushing it in the process, freezes it into a spike and jabs it into the victim's eye.

Fatal Blow - Chill Out

An ability used once the Kombatant is low on health, most often capable of turning the tides
Sub-Zero stuns the opponent by hitting him with two axes, which he then stabs into both sides of their abdomen; He kicks them to the ground and slams an enormous waraxe before they pick themselves up, proceeding to lift them into the air and slam them back down

Brutalities

Finishing moves, which aren't on the same level of brutality as the Fatalities
Performed before the opponent's health drops to zero
Snow Ball: Sub-Zero freezes the opponent before throwing another snowball their way, causing the top of their body to explode
Frozen Dinner: Sub-Zero freezes the opponent before uppercutting them, causing their head to explode
Pick Your Brain: Sub-Zero stabs the opponent multiple times with ice daggers before jabbing one of them into the victim's brain
Ice Cubed: While having Frozen Aura on himself, Sub-Zero performs a slide, sending the opponent into the air; He then touches the opponent, transferring his aura onto them, making them freeze and shatter simultaneously; The opponent's head lands on the ground, revealed to be frozen in an ice cube

Splitting Image: Sub-Zero creates an Ice Clone in front of himself before causing an ice explosion that shatters it; The bits of ice from the clone stab the opponent, including their eyeballs and mouth
Secret Brutality: Sub-Zero freezes the opponent and punches a hole in their chest; Shortly after the victim's head falls off of their neck and shatters on the ground
Off With Your Head: After sliding into the opponent, he throws them to the ice wall he created behind them; The stunned opponent falls victim to an axe thrown at their throat, which decapitates them

Fatalities

Brutal finishing moves
Each Kombatant possesses a variety of these, gaining new ones with each installment in the series
Spine Rip: Sub-Zero grabs the opponent's head/neck and rips their head off, including their spine
Ice Shatter (MK2/MK: SM): Sub-Zero freezes the opponent and uppercuts them, causing the top of their body to shatter to bits
Ice Shatter (MK4): Sub-Zero freezes the opponent before uppercutting them, making their entire body explode
Snowball Grenade: Sub-Zero throws a snowball at the enemy, which digs into their body before exploding
Frosty!: Sub-Zero freezes the opponent with his breath; The victim then falls over and shatters to pieces

Overhead Ice Smash: Sub-Zero freezes the opponent as he lifts them before ripping them in two and throwing their two halves onto the ground, letting them shatter to pieces
Skeleton Rip: Sub-Zero moves behind the opponent, grabbing them by the spine; After struggling a bit, he rips out their entire skeleton, leaving the skin and muscle to fall down without support

Freeze and Throw (MK: D): Sub-Zero freezes the opponent and rips their head off; He then dashes away and throws the head as a projectile, which shatters the victim's body on impact

Freeze and Throw (MK: SM): Sub-Zero freezes the opponent and creates a snowball in his hands, which he throws to shatter the opponent
Below Freezing: Sub-Zero freezes the opponent's legs and sweeps them; The still alive victim attempts to drag themselves away, but Kuai stomps on their head, crushing it

Freeze Kick: Sub-Zero freezes the opponent and kicks them, causing them to shatter
Freeze Slam: Sub-Zero lifts the opponent over himself and freezes them before throwing them onto the ground, causing them to shatter
Have An Ice Day: Sub-Zero freezes the opponent's legs before grabbing them by the neck and pulling upwards; He rips the top of their body off, leaving the legs still frozen

Spinal Smash: Sub-Zero punches through the opponent's chest, ripping out their spine before freezing them; He then uses the spine to smash the victim to pieces

Bed Of Ice: Sub-Zero creates spikes behind the opponent before kicking them into it, making the spikes stab their back; Shortly after, he jumps on top of them, impaling them even more. The final stomp causes instant death as a spike penetrates the victim's eyeball

Chest Kold: Sub-Zero freezes the opponent's chest before punching a hole in it. He then grabs their spine, now visible, and breaks it; He proceeds to lift the victim over himself before ripping them in two with his bare hands
Ice-Cutioner: Sub-Zero completely freezes the opponent's body in an ice cube, leaving the head hanging out before decapitating the victim with a massive axe; He picks up the head and freezes it, smashing it into bits
Frozen in Time: Sub-Zero slides forward, leaving behind an Ice Clone holding a spear; His slide knocks the enemy into the air, who then falls and gets impaled by the Klone's spear; Sub-Zero approaches, ripping out the enemy's spine from the front and stabbing the head onto the spear

Animality

A fatality achieved through the user's transformation into an animal
Sub-Zero transforms into a polar bear before mauling on the opponent

Injustice 2 Super Move

The Super Move of his he received, being a (DLC) character for Injustice 2
Sub-Zero first sends a line of ice across the ground, freezing the opponent's legs if it hits. He then slides towards them, sending them into the air and freezes them mid-air as they float behind him. He then summons an ice hammer and hits the frozen opponent with it, sending them flying. He then teleports in the direction where the victim is flying in and fires a volley of ice shards, freezing them again. Finally, he grabs the foe and smashes them into the ground

Arsenal

Cryomancer Armor

An ancient armor once used by Sub-Zero's Cryomancer ancestors
Increases Sub-Zero's physical strength and grants protection
Can telepathically speak to Sub-Zero to grant him advice, but this only happened when Sub-Zero was in a near-death situation

Dragon Medalion

Obtained by Sub-Zero after his victory over Sektor
Can only be wielded by those strong and disciplined enough. Otherwise, they'll be consumed by their own power
Enhances the user's power to "omnipotent" levels

Kamidogu Dagger

Imbued with a portion of the power of the One Being
After sacrificing his own blood to the Blood Code, Sub-Zero becomes more powerful, at the cost of becoming overwhelmingly bloodlusted
Gave him the power to freeze a large portion of a city with a single blast

Feats

Word of God states that all Kombatants have magic in their blood, making them stronger and faster than a peak human

Appeared as one of the Kombatants in Mortal Kombat vs DC, in which he fights against such foes as Batman, Flash and Superman (non-canon)

Appeared as a DLC fighter in Injustice 2 and in his ending, helped defend Earth from the Regime (non-canon)

Defeated Cyrax

Defeated Ermac, who ripped off Jax's arms seconds before

Defeated him a second time after becoming a cyborg

Defeated Reptile and, not so long afterwards, Scorpion, who previously killed Bi-Han

As a cyborg, managed to regain his consciousness with the help of Earthrealm's warriors

As a cyborg, defeated Sektor

As a cyborg, defeated Goro and Kintaro simultaneously

As a cyborg, defeated Noob Saibot, AKA Bi-Han after he was returned to life by Quan Chi

Killed Sektor

With some help from Cyrax, shut down the Cyber Lin-Kuei and rebuilt the clan

Defeated a team composed of Cassie Cage, Takeda Takahashi, Jacqui Briggs and Kung Jin one after the other

Ultimately made peace with Scorpion

Engaged in battle against Kotal Kahn and his army

Alongside Hanzo Hasashi, infiltrated a Cyber Lin Kuei facility

Defeated Cyrax, Sektor, Cyborg Frost and Noob Saibot

Took part in the battle against Kronika's forces

Weaknesses

Not a dirty fighter

Tends to hold back

Using the Kamidogu Dagger causes him to become bloodlusted

Znalezione obrazy dla zapytania subzero background

Sub-Zero: "This fight will be your last!"

mortalkombat sub_zero subzero mortal_kombat deathbattle mortalkombatsubzero kuailiang deathbattlescrewattack

Since his brother's death, Kuai Liang was known as Sub-Zero - as a way to honor his brother. His Cryomantic powers allowed him to avenge Bi-Han...almost. After being turned into a Cyborg against his will by his own clan, he was killed and his soul captured by Quan Chi. He served the Sorcerer until his soul was returned to him. Soon afterwards, he managed to destroy the Cyber Lin Kuei and reform the clan on his own terms.

He became its Grandmaster and soon mastered Cryomancy. With his skill and supernatural powers, he enters DEATH BATTLE, prepared for almost anything - cyborgs, four-armed beasts and even his own brother...

Credit goes to Kuai Liang's respect thread on Reddit, using which I found stuff I couldn't originally.

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Mister-Nathaniel

May 8, 2019

May I barrow this bio?

I'd be very ICE of you to do so.