Following two reboots, Kuai Liang (Chinese: 奎凉; pinyin: Kúi Liáng) becomes the new Scorpion in Mortal Kombat 1 (2023), while alternate timeline variants of Hasashi make minor appearances.

", which was voiced by series sound designer Dan Forden during a variation of Scorpion's "Flaming Skull" Fatality or at random when any of the game's characters landed an uppercut.

While his ninja-outfit template from the first generation of games has remained relatively unchanged over time, the improved graphics of the post-Mortal Kombat 4 three-dimensional releases have allowed more details to better differentiate the male ninja characters, and Scorpion's costumes were duly enhanced with objects such as two katana swords strapped to his back and his spear attached to a rope tied to his belt in Deadly Alliance, and a set of ornate shoulder epaulets in Deception, in which his alternate costume was a throwback to the two-dimensional MK titles.

Scorpion's MK2011 costume was inspired by his namesake, such as the character's abdomen-shaped shoulder pads, the two stinger-handled swords crisscrossed on his back, and the exoskeletal pattern on his hard-shell face mask.

Scorpion was included with Sub-Zero, Reptile, and Ermac in a bundle of classic costumes from the first Mortal Kombat that was released as downloadable content for the 2011 reboot.

[10] In the original Mortal Kombat's fighter-selection screen, Scorpion had regular human eyes, as his identity as a resurrected specter was meant to be a mystery, but he was given solid yellow or white eyes for every release thereafter starting with MKII,[10] while actors portraying Scorpion in live-action media such as the feature films and the Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series were outfitted with opaque contact lenses in order to achieve this effect.

His other incumbent special move throughout the series, save for Deadly Alliance, has been his Teleport Punch, where he flies offscreen during battle and then reappears to strike his opponent from behind.

[15] He is also a playable character for both the versus and story modes in Shaolin Monks, where his move sets in this game are largely identical to Liu Kang's with some original techniques.

[16] Scorpion's signature finishing move from the original game up until Mortal Kombat 4 was his "Fire Breath" Fatality, in which he removed his ninja hood and face like a mask to reveal a skull right before immolating his opponent.

While the "Fire Breath" was brought back for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe in 2008, his spear has otherwise served as his primary tool in his fatalities in the three-dimensional games, from impaling his opponents through the head and then decapitating them in Deadly Alliance, using it to yank off their limbs in Deception, and plunging it into their chest before kicking them through a portal that left nothing but a skinned corpse hanging from the spear's chain in MK2011 ("Nether Gate").

[17] This subsequently spawned false player rumors of a glitch that would turn Scorpion's sprite red, with the name "Error Macro" appearing in the energy bar.

In Mortal Kombat II (1993), Scorpion believes Sub-Zero is alive until he realizes it is his younger brother, Kuai Liang, causing him to seek redemption.

In Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Emperor Shao Kahn enlists Scorpion's aid, but the latter eventually defects to Earthrealm's defenders due to his work pitting him against Kuai Liang.

[24] In Mortal Kombat X (2015), Scorpion continues to serve Quan Chi until Raiden and his allies restore his human form and free him from the necromancer's control.

[25] As of Mortal Kombat 11 (2019), Kronika brings a past version of Scorpion to the present and recruits him, promising to resurrect his clan and family.

[34] After Titan Havik's defeat, Kuai Liang forgives Cyrax for her role in the wedding ambush and allows her to join the Shirai Ryu.

In the former, he seeks to solve all the riddles inside Shang Tsung's mystical tome, the Tao Te Zhan, in order to gain absolute power.

In the latter, Shao Kahn uses a mystical gem called the Deathstone to restore Scorpion's human form and place him in charge of an undead army.

This version is a young man who acquires his powers after the soul of his deceased father merges with his body in the hopes of using it as a vessel to seek revenge against Sub-Zero for his murder.

An original, unidentified incarnation of Scorpion appears in the Mortal Kombat: Conquest episode "The Serpent and the Ice", portrayed again by Chris Casamassa.

[45] Dale, who has a background in kung fu, said that after rehearsals, his "arms and shoulders felt like they had daggers in them", while the contacts he wore were "cumbersome".

Banished to the Netherrealm as a vengeful specter, Hasashi eventually returns in the present to aid his descendant Cole Young in defeating and killing Bi-Han.

While he was initially unfamiliar with the Mortal Kombat franchise, while conducting research on Scorpion, Sanada refers to him as "a very tasty role for an actor: family man changed to fighting machine.

[56][57] Pop Culture Shock distributed a life-sized bust in 2011 that featured removable shoulder pads and light-up eyes,[58] as well as a 19" statuette based on his UMK3 design, as part of their "Mortal Kombat Klassics" collection.

[63] He appeared along with other Mortal Kombat series villains, Kabal, Quan Chi, and Shao Kahn, in a collection of 2.5" super-deformed figures released by Jazwares in 2012.

The character was featured along with Raiden, Ermac, Jax, and Shang Tsung in a 2014 animated short film produced by Comedy Central that parodied the Mortal Kombat games.

[68] Lucas Sullivan of GamesRadar ranked him as the seventh best fighting game character in the genre's history due to the "coolness of his 'undead antagonist' factor.

[76] According to PlayStation Universe in 2011, Scorpion "has spawned one of the most iconic catchphrases in gaming history" and "remains a firm fan favorite nineteen years since his debut.

IGN regarded Scorpion's "Flaming Skull" as the second-best MK Fatality without specifying any particular title in the series, due to how the player's perception of the character changes when he removes his mask.

[90] Joshua Yehl of IGN commented, "The movie’s biggest problem is that it tries to do the epic Mortal Kombat tournament arc on top of a more personal Scorpion story and ends up doing justice to neither.