Here’s Mortal Kombat’s first canonically gay character

Developer is “glad [they] have observant fans!”

A tweet from Mortal Kombat X‘s cinematic director, Dominic Cianciolo, suggests that Kung Jin is the fighting franchise’s first (canonically) gay character. 

“I see people are picking up on the subtle exposition contained in Kung Jin’s flashback,” he said in a tweet picked up by Gay Star News. “Glad we have observant fans!”

Players learn about franchise newbie Kung Jin via a series of flashbacks. Nothing new there, I hear you cry. But it gets interesting at the beginning of chapter four, when Raiden (no, not that one) suggests that Kung Jin joins the warrior Shaolin monks. 

‘I can’t,” says Kung Jin. “They won’t accept.”

To which Raiden replies: “They care only of what is in your heart, not whom your heart desires.”

Okay – that’s pretty subtle stuff. But with Ciancialo’s commendation of “observant” fans, it certainly looks like Kung Jin might have one of the game’s richest and most interesting backstories.