Back in 2009—before they were purchased by Warner Bros. and changed their name to NetherRealm Studios--the Mortal Kombat team was finishing work on what would have been the first DLC character for their most recent release, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. The DLC character-- MK4's Quan Chi--was apparently finished and ready to be added to the game. Unfortunately, the completion of the DLC occurred around the time when parent company Midway was coming apart at the seams. Before the team could release the Quan Chi DLC, Midway was shuttered, and its studios and franchises were split and sold to the highest bidder. The finished character would never make his way to MKvDC.
Apparently, Mortal Kombat creator Ed Boon isn’t going to let DLC for the upcoming Mortal Kombat suffer the same fate as Quan Chi; he's getting the word out on DLC for the newest MK early. On Twitter this past week, Boon took some time out from trying not say whether there would be an exclusive character in the Xbox 360 version of MK (to match the addition of Kratos to the PS3 version) to ask his followers what Mortal Kombat character they would like to see added to the game via DLC. He also provided a short-list of Kombatants who could possibly make the jump into the new game.
== TEASER ==To be fair, we don’t know for sure if any of these characters are actually in line to make their way to MK via DLC. A Twitter message is no proper press release, and there is no confirmation that any of these characters are definitely coming to the game. But the list sounds plausible enough for DLC, and, if nothing else, shows off what kinds of characters Boon and the MK team are looking at as they decide what characters they'd like to add to the game down the road: secret characters, joke ninjas, and any fighter added to the franchise once the series went polygonal.
Though I think it's pretty clear which of Boon's suggested Kombatants would be the most likely choices for DLC. That's not a hard list to make. So... I did. Here's the list ranking which of Boon's suggested DLC Kombatants would be most worthy of a DLC-based return to MK.
 | 1. Smoke (But A Robot) I’m actually a little surprised that Smoke won’t be making his way into the new MK as a regular character. Introduced as a secret opponent back in MKII, Smoke made his way to the main roster in the release of MK3 as one of game’s playable robot ninjas. Definitely the top choice out of these characters, provided that he comes to the game with these two features. 1. Players can still press a button combo to turn Robo-Smoke into Human Smoke before the fight starts, just like in UMK3. 2. Smoke comes with the fatality where he BLOWS UP THE DAMN EARTH. |
 | 2. Rain Though Rain has since made appearances in both of the Mortal Kombat “anthology” games ( Trilogy and Armageddon), the best Rain appearance in the series is still his debut in UMK3, where he appears in the intro movie of the game but isn’t actually a playable character in that game. Oh, John and Ed! You guys and your screwing with arcade players! Also of note: His name is Rain. And he’s a Purple Ninja. So he’s the Purple Rain. That's still funny. |
 | 3. New Guy While the roster of new fighters (post-UMK3) hasn’t been nearly as memorable as the characters from the first three games, I’d still rather see them give a new character another shot, even as DLC. Or, at least, I’d rather see a new character than the other choices on this list. |
 | 4. Tanya At the very least, I’d rather see a generic female character in MK before another bad male character. The MK franchise is enough of a boy’s club as it is. More dangerous ladies, please! |
 | 5. Kenshi There are people out there who love Kenshi. It's true! |
 | 6. Shinnok Shinnok answers the question, “Is there a Mortal Kombat antagonist lamer and less memorable than Quan Chi? NetherRealm would be better off trying to sell DLC for Fujin the Wind God. |
If nothing else, the five characters that Boon suggests as possible DLC additions at least provide a sense of what kinds of fighters could get their Mortal Kombat debut via DLC. So, MK fans, what characters would you be interested in seeing as DLC? Would you pay to play as that guy on fire in the background of The Pit II?