NetherRealm
The Bride from Kill Bill sneaks into Mortal Kombat 1: This is the Fatality that makes your heart explode
We show you Shujinko’s Fatality in Mortal Kombat 1, clearly inspired by Kill Bill and the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique.
The Mortal Kombat series is famous for its finishing moves like the fatalities, and Mortal Kombat 1 is one of them. Ed Boon, one of the main people responsible for the franchise, shared Shujinko’s Fatality on social media, which was clearly inspired by Kill Bill and the exploding heart technique that Pai Mei taught Beatrix Kiddo (aka “The Bride”).
This is the explosive heart fatality from Kill Bill in Mortal Kombat 1
Ed Boon, co-creator of the Mortal Kombat saga and creative director of Netherrealm Studios, took to his Twitter/X account to share a video clip comparing a Shujinko fatality in Mortal Kombat 1 to the exploding heart technique from Quentin Tarantino’s two-part Kill Bill.
“What are you talking about? We don’t draw inspiration from movies,” Boon says in the publication in an ironic tone. It is well known that the Mortal Kombat saga has had a few brushes with cinema since Freddy Krueger was a DLC character in Mortal Kombat (2011). Mortal Kombat X (2015) continued this trend with guest characters from horror movies such as Alien, Predator, Leatherface, and Jason Vorhees. And Mortal Kombat 11 (2019) added Spawn, Terminator, RoboCop, and John Rambo. Almost nothing. And that’s not to mention that the saga itself was born thanks to Van Damme’s movie “Bloodsport” (1988).
At the end of “Kill Bill: Volume 2′ (2004), The Bride (Beatrix Kiddo, played by Uma Thurman) eliminates Bill (played by David Carradine) using a technique known as the “Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique,” which consists of hitting five pressure points with the fingers that cause the heart of the person receiving the strikes to explode after five steps.
In the scene itself, Bill comments that Pai Mei taught Kiddo the technique. Pai Mei was his proud kung fu master who inspired Shujinko’s design in MK1.
The inspiration is more than obvious. Who knows if the content Mortal Kombat 1 gets beyond Kombat Pass 1 (which includes Homelander from ‘The Boys’, Omni-Man from ‘Invincible’ and DC’s ‘Peacemaker’) will bring more winks and movie references.