[10] She was intended to be an unplayable herald-like character who wielded a single ornamental fan and was "Shang Lao's princess daughter — the spoil of victory for winning the tournament" who would ultimately betray her father after she fell for the game's protagonist Liu Kang.

[13] Skarlet, a female ninja who debuted as a playable character in the 2011 Mortal Kombat reboot, originated in MKII by way of false player rumors of a glitch that would turn Kitana's outfit red.

[22] According to Boon, Kitana's "Kiss of Death" Fatality, first seen in MKII, was inspired by the demise of villain Mr. Big (Dr. Kananga) in the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die.

Kitana was chosen as the best Mortal Kombat II fighter by the editors of Sega Power and Super Play for being "good all around" and due to her quick attacks and perceived similarities to Chun-Li.

According to Nintendo Power, "with such a small repertoire, Princess Kitana will be sorely challenged by experienced warriors," even as her fan toss is faster than many other projectile attacks.

Nevertheless, X360 called the CPU Kitana "the worst possible character to come up against" in the single-player Tower mode of UMK3, as she is "fast, impossible to sweep, and capable of rendering any opponent incapable with a waft of her fan.

[38] Their official guide for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, on the other hand, called her "one of the more dangerous characters in the game due to her speed and extremely effective move-set.

"[39] Prima's official guide for 2011's Mortal Kombat deemed Kitana a capable fighter who once again "is at her deadliest in the corner" and is also especially good if played against Baraka and Cyber Sub-Zero.

[48] Kitana and fellow Edenian Jade free Sindel from Shao Kahn's mind control, which enables reigning Mortal Kombat champion Liu Kang to defeat him and results in Edenia and Earth returning to their peaceful states.

[51] When Quan Chi and his forces later leave the realm to focus on attacking thunder god Raiden and the Earth heroes, Kitana escapes to aid her allies in defeating Shinnok.

Despite her grief, she leads the Earth warriors into an assault on Shang Tsung's palace, where she faces Quan Chi but is outmatched and killed alongside her allies.

[58] Meanwhile, Liu Kang's spirit is able to remain amongst the living after his murder, and he enlists the reformed ninja Ermac to help him free Kitana and his friends from Onaga's control, a mission in which they are successful.

Following this warning, Kitana returned in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon (2006), accompanied by Liu Kang's spirit in order to keep him whole until she found a way to reunite him with his body.

Following this, Kitana joined the rest of the combatants in traveling to the fused realms of Outworld and Apokolips and fighting the DC Universe's heroes and villains while Raiden and Superman destroyed Dark Kahn.

In the DLC story expansion Aftermath, Kitana was brought back to life by Fujin and Shang Tsung to join forces with Sindel in the battle against Kronika.

They are initially deceived by Shang Tsung and General Shao into believing Earthrealm is plotting against them until Fire God Liu Kang and his allies expose their atrocities.

Though they are reunited with their father, Jerrod, after he takes control of Ermac's body, Sindel is killed shortly afterwards by her evil counterpart from Titan Shang Tsung's timeline and passes the throne to Mileena.

[72] Kitana had a brief appearance in a Midway-published Mortal Kombat II comic book prequel that was written and illustrated by series co-creator John Tobias and served to introduce the game's new characters.

[77] The film's producer Lauri Apelian commented that the two main female characters (Kitana and Sonya Blade, played by Bridgette Wilson) "needed to have a strength and an independence and an intellect that went well beyond their beauty and being sexy.

[79] Soto underwent five weeks of martial arts training for the first film,[80] and additionally learned Brazilian stick fighting for her use of the character's steel fans in Annihilation.

[83] She appeared in three episodes of the 1998 syndicated live-action television series Mortal Kombat: Conquest, with the role split by Audie England and Dara Tomanovich.

[85] Kitana was featured in a two-part episode of the 2011 web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy, which combined live action and animated sequences.

When Mileena kills a man who is actually their father King Jerrod, Kitana learns the truth after her past and decides to turn against Shao Kahn in the upcoming Mortal Kombat tournament.

Laura Evenson of San Francisco Chronicle noted Talisa Soto's attractiveness in the 1995 Mortal Kombat film, but found her character otherwise uninteresting as compared to Robin Shou's Liu Kang.

[112] Ben Steelman of the Star-News described her as "basically Princess Leia in black leotards,"[113] but Jim Sterling of Destructoid noted Kitana's "more sensible makeover" therein in contrast to her in-game designs.

"[115] The 2011 Mortal Kombat Legacy first-season episode "Kitana & Mileena" was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award in the category of "Outstanding Achievement in Writing Derivative New Media".

[116] Kitana is considered a prominent sex symbol in the Mortal Kombat series, in a display of what one author described as manifestation of "pseudo-Japanese Orientalist fetishes.

In 1994, she was one of the fighting game characters cited by Guy Aoki of AsianWeek as allegedly perpetuating existing stereotypes of Asians as martial arts experts.

[122] When Marsha Kinder accused Mortal Kombat II of misogyny in its handling of female characters, she alleged that "some of the most violent possibilities are against women," whose own "fatality moves are highly eroticised.

[124] Chad Hunter of Complex chose Jade and Kitana to represent the "women who fight" stereotype in his 2012 list of the fifteen most stereotypical characters in video games, for being "half-naked skanks who can fight, hurl lasers and perform aerobatic attacks while wearing thongs, high-heeled boots and keeping their giant breasts under scarves," claiming that this has caused "female gamers [to] slide away from this series.