Like all things Mortal Kombat, Kitana and Mileena’s story unfolds through convoluted lore. As seen in the newest movie, Kitana was raised by emperor Shao Kahn, who killed her father Jerrod and took her mother Sindel as his bride after conquering her peaceful home realm of Edenia. Doubting Kitana’s loyalty, Khan commands the sorcerer Shang Tsung to make a double of her. He does, but because he’s a wacky magician, Shang Tsung mixes in some Tarkatan DNA, giving her that toothy grin.
Over the years, the two struggle against one another, adding a wrinkle to Kitana’s battle against Shao Kahn, leading to lots of backstabbing, plot twists, and mistaken identity shenanigans. The soft-reboot in the 2011 game Mortal Kombat X streamlined the story, slightly revising Mileena’s origin to make her the result of Shao Kahn’s attempts to create a perfect daughter. But the hard reboot in the 2023 game Mortal Kombat 1 skips the clone stuff altogether, making Mileena the first daughter of Jerrod and Sindel, who suffers from the Tarkat virus.
Clearly, the franchise has no problem with changing things on the fly. Further, McQuoid’s movies strike the right balance between a respect for the lore and an acknowledgement that much of it is very, very silly. So if the inevitable Mortal Kombat III suddenly has Kitana telling her psueo-sister Jade (Tati Gabrielle) about her clone sister Mileena after ignoring her for a whole movie, no one’s going to be mad—especially if Mileena unleashes a “Tasty Treat” fatality against her sister for forgetting to call on her birthday.
