Mileena
Encyclopedia
Mileena is a player
and boss character in the Mortal Kombat
fighting game
series. Mileena was originally known as the personal assassin of the Outworld's evil emperor Shao Kahn
and twin sister of his stepdaughter Princess Kitana
, but in a truth she is a deformed clone
of her created by the sorcerer Shang Tsung
. She is usually defined by her fierce rivalry with Kitana, though the series also serving masters other than Shao Kahn and desiring power for herself.
Since her introduction in 1993 as Kitana's palette swap
character, Mileena gained significant popularity and become one of Mortal Kombats most iconic characters. She was used in the games' promotion as a designated sex symbol
, but her appearances in the various related media have been relatively rare and minor, compared to Kitana. She received a mixed (mostly due to a remarkable dualism of her character design) but generally favourable critical reception.
, conquered the realm of Edenia and merged it with his own, he decided he would keep the former king's daughter Kitana
alive and raise her as his own. Though she grew up knowing nothing of her origin, Kahn nonetheless feared that one day Kitana would discover her true parentage and turn against him, so he ordered Shang Tsung
to bring to life a more vicious and loyal version of Kitana that could take her place if necessary, and this has been done by fusing the essence of both Kitana and a Tarkatan warrior from Baraka's race. The process was not a complete success, however, as the hybrid clone was disfigured with a hideous mouth of the Tarkata. Kahn nonetheless introduced her as Kitana's supposedly lost twin sister; instead of replacing Kitana, as originally planned, Mileena would be used to ensure her allegiance to him. The two thus grew up together as Shao Kahn's daughters and personal assassins, though Mileena (who also became a companion of Baraka) secretly grew to harbor great bitterness and jealousy towards Kitana, whom Kahn nevertheless favored over her.
As Kahn feared, Kitana did finally find the truth about her past and so Mileena was ordered to keep close watch over her rival when Kitana secretly allied with Earthrealm warriors during the events of Mortal Kombat II
(1993). The two are pitted against each other in the tournament, but Kitana proves to be superior and Mileena is killed, her soul descending into the Netherrealm. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
(2005), the beat'em up retelling of Mortal Kombat II, Mileena (voiced by Lita Lopez) fights against Liu Kang
and Kung Lao
alongside Jade
and Kitana under Kahn's mental control, but is defeated by the two Shaolin warriors and flees to the Wasteland to seek help from Goro. Damned to the Netherrealm after her death, Mileena swears fealty to Shinnok, the ruler of the realm. During the events of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
(1996), Shao Kahn attempts to resurrect Mileena. Shinnok sees this as an opportunity to secretly monitor the events unfolding in Earthrealm, and thus he allows Mileena to return to life, also magically granting her the ability to read Kitana's thoughts. After Kahn is defeated, Mileena is summoned back to the Netherrealm. In Mortal Kombat Gold (1999), she assists in Shinnok's invasion of Edenia, but allows her sister to escape from a dungeon. After Shinnok's defeat, Mileena comes to Kitana' palace and demands the power over Edenia to be shared with her but Kitana refuses and, when attacked, traps Mileena, locking her away in a dungeon.
Mileena remains imprisoned for years, until Onaga the Dragon King began his own invasion of Edenia, during which she is freed from her imprisonment by Baraka. During the events of Mortal Kombat: Deception
(2004), Mileena (voiced by Johanna Añonuevo) is ordered to pose as Kitana in order to mislead the princess' armies while Onaga gathered his strength. However, as Mileena begins the game's titular deception, she also secretly decides to take control of both the forces of Edenia and Onaga's own undead
army for herself. In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
(2006), Mileena seizes Shao Kahn's fortress in the name of "peace". As she did this still under the guise of Kitana, she decides to continue her charade until the Edenian armies were corrupted enough to follow her under her true identity. Though at first confident that Outworld is hers to rule, when the returning Shao Kahn mounts an offensive against the fortress to re-instate his rule over Outworld she is forced to reveal herself and surrender to him. Kahn then commands her to capture Shujinko, who would be used as a bargaining chip in gaining Onaga as an ally, and Mileena locates and defeats Shujinko, taking him to Shao Kahn's palace. But having tasted power for herself, she is no longer content with being his minion and get the throne of Edenia back for herself. She is later killed by Shang Tsung during the final all-out battle at the Soulnado.
Mileena returns in Mortal Kombat (2011), an alternative-timeline retelling of the original Mortal Kombat trilogy
. In this game, Mileena (voiced by Karen Strassman
) was created by Shang Tsung in the "Flesh Pit" of Outworld and introduced during the second tournament, instead of many years earlier. Meant to be a loyal replacement for Kitana, she is physically and mentally damaged, her animalistic rage controlled only by Shao Kahn as she uses her lascivious demeanor to lure victims and then slaughter and devour them. In the game's story mode, she serves as an opponent for Kitana, Jade, Stryker and Kabal, and is referred to by Shao Kahn as his "true daughter." Her new personality is much more immature (even infantile) than the cold and calculating Mileena of the previous games, and Kitana is also shown to be an unusually sympathic towards her.
Mileena was the first evil female character
to appear in the series, created by John Tobias
. According to Tobias, Mileena was created to accommodate another palette swapped character, adding: "I took advantage of Kitana and Mileena being masked sisters to make a play on the veil myth… One sister is beautiful. One is ugly. One is good. One is evil. Choose wisely before asking one on a date." Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon
described the sisters as the "female versions of Scorpion
and Sub-Zero
".
Mileena was thus originally conceived as a purple-clad version of Kitana, originally portrayed by Katalin Zamiar
in Mortal Kombat II. Becky Gable took over the part from Zamiar for the development of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and in the later games no video footage actors were used. Since Mileena's debut in MKII, her characteristic weapon is a pair of sharp sai
, that at first she has been using in combat only as projectiles and during some of her finishing moves (eventually, the sai were given more use and a magical aura of purple energy in MK2011). Only in MK Gold Mileena also uses a European longsword
, Scorpion's weapon in the both versions of MK4. Her UMK3 Animality transformation animal is a small skunk
.
Mileena is physically identical to Kitana with the exception of her infamous Tarkatan jaw. Boon described Mileena as "Anti-Kitana" and revealed that her large "sharp, nasty teeth" were not originally planned and were only drawn for her Fatality
"Man-Eater
" (featured only in MKII in UMK3/MKT, in which she appears to magically consume her opponent whole and immediately afterwards spews out a hail of clean bones). Following MKII, her teeth were also almost never used again in gameplay until MK2011 (in a leap attack to bite an opponent in the neck and in a Fatality in which she gnaws on the defeated enemy's severed head), with a sole exception of a Fatality in Deception (in which she tears the opponent's head off using her teeth), and got noticeably downsized for Deception and Armageddon.
Her skin color usually appears to be mildly darker than Kitana, although she was never even remotely as dark as Jade's. Since all three of them were given more varying appearances in Gold, Mileena's shoulder-long jet-black hair is usually much shorter than Kitana's and Jade's and most often wore gathered in a ponytail
(except the first games, in which all Kitana-derived characters' hair is mid-back level and loose in MKII and and pinned back in UMK3/MKT). One element of Mileena's anatomy that is often changing from one game to another are her eyes, as she had began with human eyes in MKII, but in UMK3/MKT and MKG her eyes changed to show her being "undead" (all-white with no pupils and irises, similar to these of Scorpion), in the later games she was reverted to her normal eyes, while in the 2011 reboot she has Tarkatan (Baraka-like) whole-yellow glowing eyes with slit pupils (with exception of when she is wearing her alternate UMK3 costume, for which she has human eyes once again).
Her main color has been either a shade of purple
or magenta
in various installments, although her main costume in Deception is actually mostly black. In her initial appearances, Mileena is clad in a re-colored versions of Kitana's costumes. Later, Mileena's outfits has been getting ever more skimpy with every new game, including a completely exposed midriff since Deception. In Gold, Mileena's outfit differed from Kitana's in any way save color the first time. Steve Beran, character designer of Deception, said that he "wanted to give Mileena an Arabic
feel to her costume and the final version showed a lot more skin and her mask developed into more of a veil
." Her main (more covering) outfit features long flowing sleeves and back-only loincloth and the veil is partially transparent. In Shaolin Monks, Millena appears half-naked in a costume made largely of just multiple belts of leather and scraps of fabric and even barefoot (with a bandaged midfoot), again wearing a veil instead of a mask. In MK2011, Mileena's prime costume is based on her famous Deception provocative alternate, with more added details and again featuring a mask instead of a veil. One of her alternate costumes in this game (out of at least four, which was the largest number out of all characters until the MKII style costumes were given to Kitana and Jade), including her "klassic" UMK3 costume is actually made out of just some bandages put on her naked body, without even a mask and again barefoot.
in UMK3, in which she needs to be unlocked using a special "Kombat Kode", but is available from the start in the compilation game Mortal Kombat Trilogy
. She is not playable in MK: Shaolin Monks, where she instead appears only as a hostile boss character alongside Kitana and Jade, as well as an optional boss in a secret-stage encounter, but has appeared (in the super deformed
-style "cute" form) in every minigame
("Chess Kombat", "Puzzle Kombat" and "Motor Kombat") through the series. Most of her Fatalities involve use of sai (including to immobilize her opponent during the kill) and in some of them she pretends to kiss her victim (CU Amiga called her MKII Fatality "the kiss of death to end all kisses"). In the early 1990s there was also a false urban legend
regarding a supposed "Nudality" finishing move.
Mileena was widely seen as a top-tier character of Mortal Kombat II. Mortal Kombat II According to GamePro
ProStrategy Guide, while Jax is the best overall fighter in this game, Mileena's "massive advantage" over him made her number one ("With her rapid Sai-throwing ability, teleport
attacks, and deadly combos, this beautiful assassin lands atop our ratings"). In their test Mileena players won most matches against all other characters, and especially against Jax, Reptile
(ranked by the guide as the worst MKII fighter) and Shang Tsung. A similar observation was voiced by Amiga Format
, writing that, when put against Jax, she and Kitana were always "so much faster ... that he ended getting his head kicked in every time." According to CU Amiga, Mileena was "third only to Jax and Liu Kang for sheer brillance" in MKII, as a "somewhat misleading character" whose moves need to be "learnt the right way to put them all together to be devastating". She was also named as the best overall fighter in the game by Sega Visions
, noting her high speed and reach, and how her teleport-kick special attack enables the player to dodge the opposing projectiles (Jax was named as the second-best fighter by them too). However, according to Nintendo Power
, Mileena original MKII powers "may prove insufficient" for using her with same effectiveness in UMK3. Sega Saturn Magazine
wrote simply: "she's pretty much identical to the last time." In fact, Mileena has never get had any new special attacks until the Mortal Kombat reboot game in 2011, about 18 years after the arcade release of Mortal Kombat II.
stage show in 1995, played by Jennifer DeCosta. She also appeared as a minor recurring character in Malibu's Mortal Kombat comic books
in 1995, following the release of Mortal Kombat II. In the comics, Mileena first appeared in the 3-volume miniseries Goro: Prince of Pain as part of a team led by Kitana with orders to find the missing Goro in Outworld. She is shown having reservations about Kitana's true loyalty (though she never speaks about it to anyone) and considers herself to be "Shao Kahn's true daughter". Mileena duels Sonya Blade
twice, losing both times. She was also featured in a one-shot special entitled Kitana and Mileena: Sister Act, which explained their past: Mileena is shown in this comic as a creation ordered by Shao Kahn, though he would never let her replace Kitana.
Mileena appeared briefly in the film Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
in 1997 in a cameo
-like role, where she was played by the kickboxer Dana Lynn Hee (Dana Hee), who was also the stunt double for Kitana's actress Talisa Soto
, and was only featured in one scene, in which Mileena was killed in a struggle after she has ambushed Sonya. Mileena's name was never even mentioned in the film and actually only appears in the end credits. Her pink-and-black costume is a palette swap of Kitana's main film attire (a sleeveless corset-like shirt and pants) with an added mouth mask. Mileena has only one spoken line in the film ("You wish" in response to the question of "Kitana?") and it remains the only time she has ever been shown with a braid
ed hair (Mileena was retaining Kitana's film hairstyle as well). Dana Hee described her role as "an evil, mysterious figure that leaves you wondering, 'Who is she?'" Despite being a stunt double herself, Hee had her own stunt double for the scene. In Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation, the novelization penned by Jerome Preisler, Mileena appears in a similar scene, but set in a mist-covered jungle wilderness instead of in a desert, attacking Sonya just as Smoke
attacks Jax, but looks completely different, with unmasked human face and red eyes, laughing an insane and inhuman laughter. In the novel, it is Mileena who scissor-grips Sonya’s neck with "her powerful thigh muscles" (the move used on her by Sonya in the film) and she actually introduces herself, adding that she does not appreciate being confused with her "virtuous half-sister." Sonya defeats her by grabbing one of Mileena's own sai and bringing its short-staff down across her windpipe, then strangling her with it until she dies. Later, when they examine Mileena's corpse, Sonya wonders if she was just "another cyborg", as the griffon-like tattoo on Mileena's shoulder matched the mark that was on Cyrax.
Mileena appeared in the 1999 episode "Shadow of a Doubt" of the television series Mortal Kombat: Konquest
, in which she had no initial relation to Kitana and was here depicted as an initially very repulsive and aggressive Outworld warrior sent by Shao Kahn to assassinate the weakened Kung Lao, with a magic spell placed over her to give her Kitana's beautiful features (for a while, he even called her his "new daughter"). Mileena, wearing a green costume, succeeded in seducing Kung Lao, but couldn't bring herself to kill him during their night of passion and was also explicitly warned by Shang Tsung to not do it. She makes excuses for Kahn and later fights an inconclusive duel against Kitana. As punishment for her taking too much time in her mission, Kahn allows Mileena to keep her beauty with the exception of making her teeth even more exaggerated and pointy. She then starts to wear her signature mask, which Kahn gives her before banishing her from his sight. Mileena was portrayed by Meg Brown in both forms, and by Audie England
while pretending to be Kitana.
Another alternative and younger version of Mileena appears in the 2011 live-action webisode
series Mortal Kombat: Legacy
, portrayed by the martial artist and debuting actress Jolene Tran. Their story is told in the series' the two-part animated/live episode "Kitana & Mileena", during which Mileena is shown to be a Shang Tsung-created clone like in the games, but of the age more similar to Kitana's (as they were together since they both were babies), and her otherwise normal-looking mouth changes as her teeth grow when she becomes overcomed by a cannibalistic
rage. In Legacy, the adolescent Mileena is clad in violet, does not appear to be Kitana's twin and is seen wearing a mask only in some of the animated sections (during which both of them are wearing outfits similar to these worn by them in MKII). She is shown spar-dueling against Kitana and losing to her, and killing and devouring a random guard in a fit of insanity. When the two are eventually sent by Shao Kahn on a mission to assassinate a man who is really Kitana's biological father, King Jerrod, he is killed by Mileena.
from Tekken, Rayne
from BloodRayne
and Tala from Darkwatch
) and a famous promotional picture of her, known as "Sexy Mileena" (a topless picture in her alternative Deception costume) was created for this purpose by a Midway Games
employee Pav Kovacic. A pinup of Mileena was also featured in IGN
's Hotlist in 2006. In 2011, Mileena was extensively used to promote the new Mortal Kombat, including being one of the only four playable characters in the demo
version of the game. In the trailer "A Night Out With Mileena", several NetherRealm Studios
employees tongue-in-cheek
-style answered the question where they would take her on a date. In April, the fitness model Danni Levy cosplay
ing as Mileena was featured in a "Kasting" live-action trailer and a promotional photo session for MK2011. She and the models of Kitana and Sonya also attended The Gadget Show
for a tournament. Same month, Playboys Jo Garcia
dressed up in Mileena's colors to play as her in a vlog advertisement.
A Mileena figurine in the MKII series came out exclusively with a special issue of the Argentinian magazine Top Kids in 1995. A 7.5-inch action figure also based on Mileena's MKII design was released by Infinite Concepts in 1999, featuring a detachable mask. In 2006, Mileena was featured in a number of cards in the fighting game CCG
Epic Battles
as one of the characters representing the Mortal Kombat universe (previously she was also featured in the CCG Mortal Kombat Kard Game
in 1995, along with the rest of the characters in the first two games in the series). That same year, her image was used as the cover picture of the game's limited "Kollector Edition" of Deception for the Xbox
(there are also versions with the pictures of Baraka and Scorpion).GameStats: Mortal Kombat: Deception Collector's Edition In January 2011, an electronic music
track called "Mileena's Theme" by Tokimonsta was released on iTunes
as the first of three singles that were also later compiled in the album Mortal Kombat: Songs Inspired By The Warriors
. Later in 2011, a statue of Mileena was announced to be released by Syco Collectibles.
called Kitana and Mileena, "leggy ladies who wear masks", to be "an interesting step toward political correctness
" as "a far cry from Little Miss Muffet
", while Austin American-Statesman
said they're "far nastier than that martial-artless aerobics instructor
from the first game
", while Nintendo Power called the MKII version Mileena "beautiful, graceful, beguiling and strong, but most of all, deadly", and "a dangerous enemy: cruel, cold and calculating". UGO ranked Mileena fifth on the list of top 11 Mortal Kombat characters, citing her presence as an evil female player character (a taboo
-breaking novelty in video games at that time) and adding that her brutal attacks, revealing outfits and slut
ty attitude made her a fan favorite. Mileena shared the eight place with Kitana and Sonya on the Complexs list of The 50 Hottest Women In Video Games in 2010 and was also ranked alone as eight on the 2011 list of The 25 Most Diabolical Video Game She-Villains. In 2011, UGO featured Mileena on the list of 25 Hot Ninja Girls for her short role in Annihilation ("The pink ninja plays dirty in a mud wrestling
battle against Sonya Blade that ends with one girl down, one girl out of breath and the few audience members who made it that long into the movie pleasantly surprised") and IGN featured her as one of the series' "four main characters", the others being Liu Kang, Scorpion and Sub-Zero ("At first blush she seems like your quintessential sultry video-game vixen, but the mask comes off and she's got a gaping mouth filled to the brim with dagger-like teeth. And she makes sure she uses all of her--er, assets"). That same year, CraveOnline
's Dread Central also called her "without question" one of the "most beloved" characters in the Mortal Kombat universe.
On the other hand, much of the reception was mixed due to her conflicting looks and unstable personality, althrough these elements were often also regarded positively. In the book Interacting With Video, the sisters were held as an example of a "highly eroticized dragon lady
" of video games, with Mileena's "Man-Eater" Fatality described as "a high powered kiss that evokes vagina dentata
." For this reason she also shared the seventh place with Kitana on GamesRadar
's list of top seven "girls kissing girls" in 2006, and was featured in the 2008 list of "gaming's most repellent anti-babes" ("we had two nigh-identical twins of svelte, slinky sex and gore. ... But then Milly took off her mask and it all went wrong. Horribly, nightmarishly, ball-shrinkingly wrong"). In 2009, GamePro ranked Mileena and Kitana as number 11 on the list of the 17 best palette-swapped
video game characters, adding: "However, if you gauge Mileena's attractiveness simply based on the size of her baby-feeders, be ready for some disappointment when she removes her mask." She was also included on IGN's 2008 list of Top 50 Chicks Behaving Badly ("Just call her Mileen-ewwwwww"), and on Virgin Media
's list of "game girls you wouldn't dare to date". In 2009, ScrewAttack
included her as the seventh on the list of Top 10 Ugly Chicks in Games for her horrific looks when unmasked, but otherwise calling her "like, the ultimate woman". In 2010, UGO ranked her as the seventh on the list of Fighting Games' Finest Female Fighters, but added: "Be careful around that big scary demon mouth she keeps under the skarf though." In 2011, Game Informer
described her entry in the new game to be "as creepy as ever", and Topless Robot ranked her as the sixth goofiest Mortal Kombat character for being "a pretty succinct commentary on the deplorable image of women in videogames" and for her absurdic "Man-Eater" finisher, but nevertheless called her "quite the looker". That same year, Game Rant ranked her as the fourth "most awesome" character of the series, praising her for a disturbing style and being one of "the most disgusting yet alluring" game characters ever created. While comparing the Mortal Kombat characters to the seven deadly sins
in Dante's Inferno
, GamePro chose Mileena to represent Envy.
Mileena has made several cameo appearance
s outside of the franchise, including in the comic book series Gen¹³
in 1995, in the 1996 film Book of Swords
(a nod/tribute to Mileena in a minor role by Katalin Zamiar), and in the 2010 episode "Another Bad Thanksgiving" of the animated series The Cleveland Show
. In 2009, Chibi, vocalist of The Birthday Massacre
, said she was planning to get a Mileena tattoo.
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
and boss character in the Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat (series)
Mortal Kombat, commonly abbreviated MK, is a science fantasy series of fighting games created by Ed Boon and John Tobias. The first four renditions and their updates were developed by Midway Games and initially released on arcade machines. The arcade titles were later picked up by Acclaim...
fighting game
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
series. Mileena was originally known as the personal assassin of the Outworld's evil emperor Shao Kahn
Shao Kahn
Shao Kahn is a boss, announcer and recurring playable character from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The main antagonist in the Mortal Kombat series, Shao Kahn is the Emperor of Outworld known for his godlike strength, extreme brutality and knowledge of black magic...
and twin sister of his stepdaughter Princess Kitana
Kitana (Mortal Kombat)
Kitana is a recurring player and a one-time boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. One of the lead characters of the Mortal Kombat saga, Kitana is the princess of the otherdimensional realm of Edenia and the daughter of Queen Sindel...
, but in a truth she is a deformed clone
Cloning
Cloning in biology is the process of producing similar populations of genetically identical individuals that occurs in nature when organisms such as bacteria, insects or plants reproduce asexually. Cloning in biotechnology refers to processes used to create copies of DNA fragments , cells , or...
of her created by the sorcerer Shang Tsung
Shang Tsung
Shang Tsung is a boss and player character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. A powerful and deadly sorcerer and a primary antagonist in the Mortal Kombat series, Shang Tsung is a shapeshifter who absorbs the souls of those he slays in order to maintain his youth and power...
. She is usually defined by her fierce rivalry with Kitana, though the series also serving masters other than Shao Kahn and desiring power for herself.
Since her introduction in 1993 as Kitana's palette swap
Palette swap
A palette swap is a practice used in video games, whereby a graphic that is already used for one element is given a different palette, so it can be reused as other elements. The different palette gives the new graphic a unique set of colors, which make it recognizably distinct from the original...
character, Mileena gained significant popularity and become one of Mortal Kombats most iconic characters. She was used in the games' promotion as a designated sex symbol
Sex symbol
A sex symbol is a celebrity of either gender, typically an actor, musician, supermodel, teen idol, or sports star, noted for their sex appeal. The term was first used in the mid 1950s in relation to the popularity of certain Hollywood stars, especially Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte...
, but her appearances in the various related media have been relatively rare and minor, compared to Kitana. She received a mixed (mostly due to a remarkable dualism of her character design) but generally favourable critical reception.
In video games
After the ruler of the other dimensional realm Outworld, Shao KahnShao Kahn
Shao Kahn is a boss, announcer and recurring playable character from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The main antagonist in the Mortal Kombat series, Shao Kahn is the Emperor of Outworld known for his godlike strength, extreme brutality and knowledge of black magic...
, conquered the realm of Edenia and merged it with his own, he decided he would keep the former king's daughter Kitana
Kitana (Mortal Kombat)
Kitana is a recurring player and a one-time boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. One of the lead characters of the Mortal Kombat saga, Kitana is the princess of the otherdimensional realm of Edenia and the daughter of Queen Sindel...
alive and raise her as his own. Though she grew up knowing nothing of her origin, Kahn nonetheless feared that one day Kitana would discover her true parentage and turn against him, so he ordered Shang Tsung
Shang Tsung
Shang Tsung is a boss and player character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. A powerful and deadly sorcerer and a primary antagonist in the Mortal Kombat series, Shang Tsung is a shapeshifter who absorbs the souls of those he slays in order to maintain his youth and power...
to bring to life a more vicious and loyal version of Kitana that could take her place if necessary, and this has been done by fusing the essence of both Kitana and a Tarkatan warrior from Baraka's race. The process was not a complete success, however, as the hybrid clone was disfigured with a hideous mouth of the Tarkata. Kahn nonetheless introduced her as Kitana's supposedly lost twin sister; instead of replacing Kitana, as originally planned, Mileena would be used to ensure her allegiance to him. The two thus grew up together as Shao Kahn's daughters and personal assassins, though Mileena (who also became a companion of Baraka) secretly grew to harbor great bitterness and jealousy towards Kitana, whom Kahn nevertheless favored over her.
As Kahn feared, Kitana did finally find the truth about her past and so Mileena was ordered to keep close watch over her rival when Kitana secretly allied with Earthrealm warriors during the events of Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat II is a competitive fighting game originally produced by Midway Games for the arcades in . It is the second game in the Mortal Kombat series. Like its predecessor, various home versions were produced...
(1993). The two are pitted against each other in the tournament, but Kitana proves to be superior and Mileena is killed, her soul descending into the Netherrealm. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks
Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks is an action/beat-em-up video game based on the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games. Shaolin Monks was developed by Midway LA and published by Midway for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox...
(2005), the beat'em up retelling of Mortal Kombat II, Mileena (voiced by Lita Lopez) fights against Liu Kang
Liu Kang
Liu Kang is a video game character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. First appearing in the series' first title, Liu Kang is portrayed as a Shaolin monk who enters the Mortal Kombat tournament to save his world, Earthrealm, from being destroyed due to having lost nine consecutive...
and Kung Lao
Kung Lao
Kung Lao is a player character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.Kung Lao is a former Shaolin monk and a former member of the White Lotus Society. He stands in the shadow of his great ancestor, the Great Kung Lao, but unlike his great ancestor he has no desire to be champion and would...
alongside Jade
Jade (Mortal Kombat)
Jade is a fictional character from the Mortal Kombat fighting video game series. She debuted in Mortal Kombat II , at first as an unplayable secret character and became a player character in Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3...
and Kitana under Kahn's mental control, but is defeated by the two Shaolin warriors and flees to the Wasteland to seek help from Goro. Damned to the Netherrealm after her death, Mileena swears fealty to Shinnok, the ruler of the realm. During the events of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 is a fighting game in the Mortal Kombat series, released in arcades in 1995. It is an update of Mortal Kombat 3 and was later updated again into Mortal Kombat Trilogy...
(1996), Shao Kahn attempts to resurrect Mileena. Shinnok sees this as an opportunity to secretly monitor the events unfolding in Earthrealm, and thus he allows Mileena to return to life, also magically granting her the ability to read Kitana's thoughts. After Kahn is defeated, Mileena is summoned back to the Netherrealm. In Mortal Kombat Gold (1999), she assists in Shinnok's invasion of Edenia, but allows her sister to escape from a dungeon. After Shinnok's defeat, Mileena comes to Kitana' palace and demands the power over Edenia to be shared with her but Kitana refuses and, when attacked, traps Mileena, locking her away in a dungeon.
Mileena remains imprisoned for years, until Onaga the Dragon King began his own invasion of Edenia, during which she is freed from her imprisonment by Baraka. During the events of Mortal Kombat: Deception
Mortal Kombat: Deception
Mortal Kombat: Deception is a fighting game developed and published by Midway as the sixth installment for the Mortal Kombat series. It was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in October 2004, while a Nintendo GameCube version was published in March 2005. Mortal Kombat: Deception follows the...
(2004), Mileena (voiced by Johanna Añonuevo) is ordered to pose as Kitana in order to mislead the princess' armies while Onaga gathered his strength. However, as Mileena begins the game's titular deception, she also secretly decides to take control of both the forces of Edenia and Onaga's own undead
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
army for herself. In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon is the seventh game in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The PlayStation 2 version was released in stores on October 11, 2006 while the Xbox version was released on the October 16, with a Wii version released on May 29, 2007 in North America.The game was not released...
(2006), Mileena seizes Shao Kahn's fortress in the name of "peace". As she did this still under the guise of Kitana, she decides to continue her charade until the Edenian armies were corrupted enough to follow her under her true identity. Though at first confident that Outworld is hers to rule, when the returning Shao Kahn mounts an offensive against the fortress to re-instate his rule over Outworld she is forced to reveal herself and surrender to him. Kahn then commands her to capture Shujinko, who would be used as a bargaining chip in gaining Onaga as an ally, and Mileena locates and defeats Shujinko, taking him to Shao Kahn's palace. But having tasted power for herself, she is no longer content with being his minion and get the throne of Edenia back for herself. She is later killed by Shang Tsung during the final all-out battle at the Soulnado.
Mileena returns in Mortal Kombat (2011), an alternative-timeline retelling of the original Mortal Kombat trilogy
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Mortal Kombat Trilogy is a fighting game developed and published by Midway in 1996. It is a compilation of content from the previous Mortal Kombat titles, based primarily upon the gameplay mechanics of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3...
. In this game, Mileena (voiced by Karen Strassman
Karen Strassman
Karen Strassman is an American voice actress and actress who is most known for her television and film appearances as well as voice acting. She voices many characters in many video games, animated series and anime series, including Zhalia Moon in Huntik: Secrets & Seekers, Fantine in IGPX, Kallen...
) was created by Shang Tsung in the "Flesh Pit" of Outworld and introduced during the second tournament, instead of many years earlier. Meant to be a loyal replacement for Kitana, she is physically and mentally damaged, her animalistic rage controlled only by Shao Kahn as she uses her lascivious demeanor to lure victims and then slaughter and devour them. In the game's story mode, she serves as an opponent for Kitana, Jade, Stryker and Kabal, and is referred to by Shao Kahn as his "true daughter." Her new personality is much more immature (even infantile) than the cold and calculating Mileena of the previous games, and Kitana is also shown to be an unusually sympathic towards her.
Character design
Portrayal of women in video games
The portrayal of women in video games has often been the subject of both academic studies and controversy. Two recurring themes are the level of independence of female characters from their male counterparts, and their objectification and sexualization....
to appear in the series, created by John Tobias
John Tobias
John Tobias is an American comic book artist, graphic designer and video game designer. Along with Ed Boon he is one of the creators of the groundbreaking Mortal Kombat fighting game series....
. According to Tobias, Mileena was created to accommodate another palette swapped character, adding: "I took advantage of Kitana and Mileena being masked sisters to make a play on the veil myth… One sister is beautiful. One is ugly. One is good. One is evil. Choose wisely before asking one on a date." Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon
Ed Boon
Edward J. Boon is an American video game programmer who had been employed for over 15 years at Midway. He now works for Warner Bros...
described the sisters as the "female versions of Scorpion
Scorpion (Mortal Kombat)
Scorpion is a recurring player and boss character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. He has been a playable character in all the games, with the exception of the original version of Mortal Kombat 3.-In video games:...
and Sub-Zero
Sub-Zero (Mortal Kombat)
Sub-Zero is the name given to two video game characters from the Mortal Kombat series. The older Sub-Zero first appeared in the first Mortal Kombat game, being replaced by his younger brother in Mortal Kombat II and the subsequent games...
".
Mileena was thus originally conceived as a purple-clad version of Kitana, originally portrayed by Katalin Zamiar
Katalin Zamiar
Katalin Rodriguez-Ogren is an American martial artist, sportswriter and actress.-Biography:...
in Mortal Kombat II. Becky Gable took over the part from Zamiar for the development of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and in the later games no video footage actors were used. Since Mileena's debut in MKII, her characteristic weapon is a pair of sharp sai
Sai (weapon)
The sai is a traditional Okinawan martial arts weapon. The basic form of the weapon is that of a pointed, dagger-shaped metal truncheon, with two curved prongs called yoku projecting from the handle...
, that at first she has been using in combat only as projectiles and during some of her finishing moves (eventually, the sai were given more use and a magical aura of purple energy in MK2011). Only in MK Gold Mileena also uses a European longsword
Longsword
The longsword is a type of European sword designed for two-handed use, current during the late medieval and Renaissance periods, approximately 1350 to 1550 .Longswords have long cruciform hilts with grips over 10 to 15 cm length The longsword (of which stems the variation called the bastard...
, Scorpion's weapon in the both versions of MK4. Her UMK3 Animality transformation animal is a small skunk
Skunk
Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
.
Mileena is physically identical to Kitana with the exception of her infamous Tarkatan jaw. Boon described Mileena as "Anti-Kitana" and revealed that her large "sharp, nasty teeth" were not originally planned and were only drawn for her Fatality
Fatality (Mortal Kombat)
In the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, a Fatality is a finishing move that can be used against one's defeated opponent at the end of the final match, after the boss character says "Finish Him/Her." The Fatalities are usually lethal, featuring a brutal and morbid execution of the defenseless...
"Man-Eater
Man-eater
Man-eater is a colloquial term for an animal that preys upon humans. This does not include scavenging. Although human beings can be attacked by many kinds of animals, man-eaters are those that have incorporated human flesh into their usual diet...
" (featured only in MKII in UMK3/MKT, in which she appears to magically consume her opponent whole and immediately afterwards spews out a hail of clean bones). Following MKII, her teeth were also almost never used again in gameplay until MK2011 (in a leap attack to bite an opponent in the neck and in a Fatality in which she gnaws on the defeated enemy's severed head), with a sole exception of a Fatality in Deception (in which she tears the opponent's head off using her teeth), and got noticeably downsized for Deception and Armageddon.
Her skin color usually appears to be mildly darker than Kitana, although she was never even remotely as dark as Jade's. Since all three of them were given more varying appearances in Gold, Mileena's shoulder-long jet-black hair is usually much shorter than Kitana's and Jade's and most often wore gathered in a ponytail
Ponytail
A ponytail is a hairstyle in which most or all of the hair on the head is pulled away from the face, gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip or similar device, and allowed to hang freely from that point. It gets its name from its resemblance to the undocked tail of a...
(except the first games, in which all Kitana-derived characters' hair is mid-back level and loose in MKII and and pinned back in UMK3/MKT). One element of Mileena's anatomy that is often changing from one game to another are her eyes, as she had began with human eyes in MKII, but in UMK3/MKT and MKG her eyes changed to show her being "undead" (all-white with no pupils and irises, similar to these of Scorpion), in the later games she was reverted to her normal eyes, while in the 2011 reboot she has Tarkatan (Baraka-like) whole-yellow glowing eyes with slit pupils (with exception of when she is wearing her alternate UMK3 costume, for which she has human eyes once again).
Her main color has been either a shade of purple
Purple
Purple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade....
or magenta
Magenta
Magenta is a color evoked by light stronger in blue and red wavelengths than in yellowish-green wavelengths . In light experiments, magenta can be produced by removing the lime-green wavelengths from white light...
in various installments, although her main costume in Deception is actually mostly black. In her initial appearances, Mileena is clad in a re-colored versions of Kitana's costumes. Later, Mileena's outfits has been getting ever more skimpy with every new game, including a completely exposed midriff since Deception. In Gold, Mileena's outfit differed from Kitana's in any way save color the first time. Steve Beran, character designer of Deception, said that he "wanted to give Mileena an Arabic
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
feel to her costume and the final version showed a lot more skin and her mask developed into more of a veil
Veil
A veil is an article of clothing, worn almost exclusively by women, that is intended to cover some part of the head or face.One view is that as a religious item, it is intended to show honor to an object or space...
." Her main (more covering) outfit features long flowing sleeves and back-only loincloth and the veil is partially transparent. In Shaolin Monks, Millena appears half-naked in a costume made largely of just multiple belts of leather and scraps of fabric and even barefoot (with a bandaged midfoot), again wearing a veil instead of a mask. In MK2011, Mileena's prime costume is based on her famous Deception provocative alternate, with more added details and again featuring a mask instead of a veil. One of her alternate costumes in this game (out of at least four, which was the largest number out of all characters until the MKII style costumes were given to Kitana and Jade), including her "klassic" UMK3 costume is actually made out of just some bandages put on her naked body, without even a mask and again barefoot.
Gameplay
Mileena is a secret characterSecret character
A secret character can be a player character or a non-player character in a video game that must be unlocked by completing a goal within the game...
in UMK3, in which she needs to be unlocked using a special "Kombat Kode", but is available from the start in the compilation game Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Mortal Kombat Trilogy
Mortal Kombat Trilogy is a fighting game developed and published by Midway in 1996. It is a compilation of content from the previous Mortal Kombat titles, based primarily upon the gameplay mechanics of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3...
. She is not playable in MK: Shaolin Monks, where she instead appears only as a hostile boss character alongside Kitana and Jade, as well as an optional boss in a secret-stage encounter, but has appeared (in the super deformed
Super deformed
Super deformed or SD is a specific style of Japanese caricature where characters are drawn in an exaggerated way, typically small and chubby, with stubby limbs and oversized heads, to make them resemble small children...
-style "cute" form) in every minigame
Minigame
A minigame is a short video game often contained within another video game. A minigame is always smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free to promote the main game...
("Chess Kombat", "Puzzle Kombat" and "Motor Kombat") through the series. Most of her Fatalities involve use of sai (including to immobilize her opponent during the kill) and in some of them she pretends to kiss her victim (CU Amiga called her MKII Fatality "the kiss of death to end all kisses"). In the early 1990s there was also a false urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
regarding a supposed "Nudality" finishing move.
Mileena was widely seen as a top-tier character of Mortal Kombat II. Mortal Kombat II According to GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
ProStrategy Guide, while Jax is the best overall fighter in this game, Mileena's "massive advantage" over him made her number one ("With her rapid Sai-throwing ability, teleport
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
attacks, and deadly combos, this beautiful assassin lands atop our ratings"). In their test Mileena players won most matches against all other characters, and especially against Jax, Reptile
Reptile (Mortal Kombat)
Reptile is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat series of video games. Created for Midway Games by John Tobias and Ed Boon, Reptile debuted in Mortal Kombat as a hidden boss and appeared in subsequent titles as a playable character. The character has also appeared on various merchandise,...
(ranked by the guide as the worst MKII fighter) and Shang Tsung. A similar observation was voiced by Amiga Format
Amiga Format
Amiga Format was a British computer magazine for Amiga computers, published by Future Publishing. The magazine lasted 136 issues from 1989 to 2000. The magazine was formed when, in the wake of selling ACE to EMAP, Future split the dual-format title ST/Amiga Format into two separate publications...
, writing that, when put against Jax, she and Kitana were always "so much faster ... that he ended getting his head kicked in every time." According to CU Amiga, Mileena was "third only to Jax and Liu Kang for sheer brillance" in MKII, as a "somewhat misleading character" whose moves need to be "learnt the right way to put them all together to be devastating". She was also named as the best overall fighter in the game by Sega Visions
Sega Visions
Sega Visions was a video game magazine focusing on games made for Sega video game machines such as Sega Master System, Game Gear, Genesis, and Sega CD. It was created by Sega and was initially published by The Communique Group. In 1992, Infotainment World took over publishing for the rest of its...
, noting her high speed and reach, and how her teleport-kick special attack enables the player to dodge the opposing projectiles (Jax was named as the second-best fighter by them too). However, according to Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
, Mileena original MKII powers "may prove insufficient" for using her with same effectiveness in UMK3. Sega Saturn Magazine
Sega Saturn Magazine
Sega Saturn Magazine was a monthly UK magazine dedicated to the Sega Saturn. It held the official Saturn magazine license for the UK, and as such some issues included a demo CD created by Sega, called Sega Flash, which included playable games and game footage...
wrote simply: "she's pretty much identical to the last time." In fact, Mileena has never get had any new special attacks until the Mortal Kombat reboot game in 2011, about 18 years after the arcade release of Mortal Kombat II.
In other media
Mileena was one of the minor characters featured in Mortal Kombat: Live TourMortal Kombat: Live Tour
Mortal Kombat: Live Tour was a martial art theatrical stage show featuring Mortal Kombat characters, sound, and laser light effects on stage...
stage show in 1995, played by Jennifer DeCosta. She also appeared as a minor recurring character in Malibu's Mortal Kombat comic books
Mortal Kombat comic books
The Mortal Kombat comic books series included the official comics by Midway and a licensed adaptation series by Malibu Comics, published between October 1994 and August 1995...
in 1995, following the release of Mortal Kombat II. In the comics, Mileena first appeared in the 3-volume miniseries Goro: Prince of Pain as part of a team led by Kitana with orders to find the missing Goro in Outworld. She is shown having reservations about Kitana's true loyalty (though she never speaks about it to anyone) and considers herself to be "Shao Kahn's true daughter". Mileena duels Sonya Blade
Sonya Blade
Sonya Blade is a player character from the Mortal Kombat series. She is portrayed in the games as an officer of the United States Special Forces.-In video games:...
twice, losing both times. She was also featured in a one-shot special entitled Kitana and Mileena: Sister Act, which explained their past: Mileena is shown in this comic as a creation ordered by Shao Kahn, though he would never let her replace Kitana.
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation is a 1997 American martial arts action film that was the sequel to 1995's Mortal Kombat, and was directed by John R. Leonetti, who had served as the cinematographer for the previous film...
in 1997 in a cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
-like role, where she was played by the kickboxer Dana Lynn Hee (Dana Hee), who was also the stunt double for Kitana's actress Talisa Soto
Talisa Soto
-Early life:Born Miriam Soto in Brooklyn, New York, Soto is the youngest of four children born to an Italian mother and a Canadian father of Puerto Rican descent. Her parents later relocated to Northampton, Massachusetts where Soto and her siblings were raised and educated.-Modeling:At the age of...
, and was only featured in one scene, in which Mileena was killed in a struggle after she has ambushed Sonya. Mileena's name was never even mentioned in the film and actually only appears in the end credits. Her pink-and-black costume is a palette swap of Kitana's main film attire (a sleeveless corset-like shirt and pants) with an added mouth mask. Mileena has only one spoken line in the film ("You wish" in response to the question of "Kitana?") and it remains the only time she has ever been shown with a braid
Braid
A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by intertwining three or more strands of flexible material such as textile fibres, wire, or human hair...
ed hair (Mileena was retaining Kitana's film hairstyle as well). Dana Hee described her role as "an evil, mysterious figure that leaves you wondering, 'Who is she?'" Despite being a stunt double herself, Hee had her own stunt double for the scene. In Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation, the novelization penned by Jerome Preisler, Mileena appears in a similar scene, but set in a mist-covered jungle wilderness instead of in a desert, attacking Sonya just as Smoke
Smoke (Mortal Kombat)
Smoke, whose real name is Tomas Vrbada, is a fictional character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. First appearing as a hidden unplayable opponent in Mortal Kombat II, Smoke makes his playable debut in Mortal Kombat 3 as an unlockable character. While Smoke is human in MK2, he becomes a...
attacks Jax, but looks completely different, with unmasked human face and red eyes, laughing an insane and inhuman laughter. In the novel, it is Mileena who scissor-grips Sonya’s neck with "her powerful thigh muscles" (the move used on her by Sonya in the film) and she actually introduces herself, adding that she does not appreciate being confused with her "virtuous half-sister." Sonya defeats her by grabbing one of Mileena's own sai and bringing its short-staff down across her windpipe, then strangling her with it until she dies. Later, when they examine Mileena's corpse, Sonya wonders if she was just "another cyborg", as the griffon-like tattoo on Mileena's shoulder matched the mark that was on Cyrax.
Mileena appeared in the 1999 episode "Shadow of a Doubt" of the television series Mortal Kombat: Konquest
Mortal Kombat: Konquest
Mortal Kombat: Konquest is an American martial arts television series that aired for one season from 1998 to 1999, and was based on the popular Mortal Kombat fighting game series. The program was filmed at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida.-Storyline:"In each of us there burns a soul...
, in which she had no initial relation to Kitana and was here depicted as an initially very repulsive and aggressive Outworld warrior sent by Shao Kahn to assassinate the weakened Kung Lao, with a magic spell placed over her to give her Kitana's beautiful features (for a while, he even called her his "new daughter"). Mileena, wearing a green costume, succeeded in seducing Kung Lao, but couldn't bring herself to kill him during their night of passion and was also explicitly warned by Shang Tsung to not do it. She makes excuses for Kahn and later fights an inconclusive duel against Kitana. As punishment for her taking too much time in her mission, Kahn allows Mileena to keep her beauty with the exception of making her teeth even more exaggerated and pointy. She then starts to wear her signature mask, which Kahn gives her before banishing her from his sight. Mileena was portrayed by Meg Brown in both forms, and by Audie England
Audie England
Audie England is an American actress and professional photographer.- Biography :She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and graduated from UCLA with a concentration in cinematography....
while pretending to be Kitana.
Another alternative and younger version of Mileena appears in the 2011 live-action webisode
Webisode
A webisode is a short episode which airs initially as Internet television, either download or stream as opposed to first airing on broadcast or cable television. The format can be used as a preview, a promotion, as part of a collection of shorts, or a commercial.A webisode can be an episode...
series Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Mortal Kombat: Legacy
Mortal Kombat: Legacy is an American web series anthology that debuted on Machinima.com's YouTube channel on April 11, 2011. The show is an adaptation of the fictional universe of the Mortal Kombat video game franchise...
, portrayed by the martial artist and debuting actress Jolene Tran. Their story is told in the series' the two-part animated/live episode "Kitana & Mileena", during which Mileena is shown to be a Shang Tsung-created clone like in the games, but of the age more similar to Kitana's (as they were together since they both were babies), and her otherwise normal-looking mouth changes as her teeth grow when she becomes overcomed by a cannibalistic
Cannibalism
Cannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
rage. In Legacy, the adolescent Mileena is clad in violet, does not appear to be Kitana's twin and is seen wearing a mask only in some of the animated sections (during which both of them are wearing outfits similar to these worn by them in MKII). She is shown spar-dueling against Kitana and losing to her, and killing and devouring a random guard in a fit of insanity. When the two are eventually sent by Shao Kahn on a mission to assassinate a man who is really Kitana's biological father, King Jerrod, he is killed by Mileena.
Promotion and merchandise
In October 2004, Mileena was featured in a spread in the special edition of Playboy that spotlighted provocative video game characters (besides her, there were also Kurenai from Red Ninja, Nina WilliamsNina Williams
is a character from Namco's Tekken game series. She is known to be a cold-blooded assassin who had made her very first appearance in the original Tekken game and since has appeared in every Tekken game released...
from Tekken, Rayne
Rayne (BloodRayne)
Rayne, sometimes called Agent BloodRayne, is a fictional character in the BloodRayne series of video games. Created by Majesco Entertainment, she is the series' titular protagonist, appearing in both games and later extended media, such as comic books and films related to the series...
from BloodRayne
BloodRayne
BloodRayne has received mostly mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox version 73.53% and 76/100, the GameCube version 68.88% and 73/100, the PlayStation 2 version 68.87% and 75/100 and the PC version 65.78% and 65/100.-External links:*...
and Tala from Darkwatch
Darkwatch
Darkwatch: Curse of the West is a 2005 Weird West first-person shooter video game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It was developed by High Moon Studios and published by Capcom in the United States and by Ubisoft in the European Union and Australia.The game mixes western, horror and steampunk genres...
) and a famous promotional picture of her, known as "Sexy Mileena" (a topless picture in her alternative Deception costume) was created for this purpose by a Midway Games
Midway Games
Midway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
employee Pav Kovacic. A pinup of Mileena was also featured in IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Hotlist in 2006. In 2011, Mileena was extensively used to promote the new Mortal Kombat, including being one of the only four playable characters in the demo
Game demo
A game demo is a freely distributed demonstration or preview of an upcoming or recently released video game. Demos are typically released by the game's publisher to help consumers get a feel of the game before deciding whether to buy the full version....
version of the game. In the trailer "A Night Out With Mileena", several NetherRealm Studios
NetherRealm Studios
NetherRealm Studios is an American video game developer based in Chicago, Illinois. The company was founded in 2010 replacing WB Games Chicago and Midway Games, which purchased assets in 2009 that were formerly owned by Midway Games Chicago after Midway filed for bankruptcy...
employees tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
-style answered the question where they would take her on a date. In April, the fitness model Danni Levy cosplay
Cosplay
, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...
ing as Mileena was featured in a "Kasting" live-action trailer and a promotional photo session for MK2011. She and the models of Kitana and Sonya also attended The Gadget Show
The Gadget Show
The Gadget Show is a British television series focusing on technology and is broadcast on Channel 5. Originally a thirty minute show, it was extended to forty-five minutes, then later to fifty five minutes. Repeats have also aired on the digital channels 5*, Dave and Channel 5's Internet on-demand...
for a tournament. Same month, Playboys Jo Garcia
Jo Garcia
Jo Garcia is an American nude and lingerie Playboy model who became Playboy's Cyber Girl of the Year for 2008, after being named Cyber Girl of the Month in October 2007, and Cyber Girl of the Week for the week of June 18, 2007....
dressed up in Mileena's colors to play as her in a vlog advertisement.
A Mileena figurine in the MKII series came out exclusively with a special issue of the Argentinian magazine Top Kids in 1995. A 7.5-inch action figure also based on Mileena's MKII design was released by Infinite Concepts in 1999, featuring a detachable mask. In 2006, Mileena was featured in a number of cards in the fighting game CCG
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
Epic Battles
Epic Battles
Epic Battles is a collectible card game by Score Entertainment released in September 2005. Gameplay attempts to emulate a traditional fighting game experience and features characters and attacks from several different franchises....
as one of the characters representing the Mortal Kombat universe (previously she was also featured in the CCG Mortal Kombat Kard Game
Mortal Kombat Kard Game
Mortal Kombat Kard Game is a collectible card game released in 1995 by BradyGames in cooperation with Midway Games. It is based on the Mortal Kombat video game series, it however did not contain excessive violence like its video game counterparts.-Game:...
in 1995, along with the rest of the characters in the first two games in the series). That same year, her image was used as the cover picture of the game's limited "Kollector Edition" of Deception for the Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
(there are also versions with the pictures of Baraka and Scorpion).GameStats: Mortal Kombat: Deception Collector's Edition In January 2011, an electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
track called "Mileena's Theme" by Tokimonsta was released on iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
as the first of three singles that were also later compiled in the album Mortal Kombat: Songs Inspired By The Warriors
Mortal Kombat: Songs Inspired By The Warriors
Mortal Kombat: Songs Inspired By The Warriors is a compilation album featuring songs inspired by the iconic warriors from the Mortal Kombat game series. The soundtrack coincides with the release of the latest installment in the video game series, Mortal Kombat...
. Later in 2011, a statue of Mileena was announced to be released by Syco Collectibles.
Reception and cultural impact
Mileena's addition to the series was well received and she quickly became one of the most popular and recognizable Mortal Kombat characters. At the time of the release of MKII, The Miami HeraldThe Miami Herald
The Miami Herald is a daily newspaper owned by The McClatchy Company headquartered on Biscayne Bay in the Omni district of Downtown Miami, Florida, United States...
called Kitana and Mileena, "leggy ladies who wear masks", to be "an interesting step toward political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
" as "a far cry from Little Miss Muffet
Little Miss Muffet
"Little Miss Muffet" is a nursery rhyme, one of the most commonly printed in the mid-twentieth century. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20605.-Lyrics:-Alternative Lyrics:...
", while Austin American-Statesman
Austin American-Statesman
The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of Texas. It is an award-winning publication owned by Cox Enterprises. The Newspaper places focus on issues affecting Austin and the Central Texas region....
said they're "far nastier than that martial-artless aerobics instructor
Sonya Blade
Sonya Blade is a player character from the Mortal Kombat series. She is portrayed in the games as an officer of the United States Special Forces.-In video games:...
from the first game
Mortal Kombat (video game)
Mortal Kombat is a 1992 fighting-game developed and published by Midway for arcades. In 1993, home versions were released by Acclaim Entertainment. Released in the Fall of 1994, the Microsoft Windows 3.1x version was released by Activision Interactive. It is the first title in the Mortal Kombat...
", while Nintendo Power called the MKII version Mileena "beautiful, graceful, beguiling and strong, but most of all, deadly", and "a dangerous enemy: cruel, cold and calculating". UGO ranked Mileena fifth on the list of top 11 Mortal Kombat characters, citing her presence as an evil female player character (a taboo
Taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
-breaking novelty in video games at that time) and adding that her brutal attacks, revealing outfits and slut
Slut
Slut or slattern is a pejorative term applied to an individual who is considered to have loose sexual morals or who is sexually promiscuous...
ty attitude made her a fan favorite. Mileena shared the eight place with Kitana and Sonya on the Complexs list of The 50 Hottest Women In Video Games in 2010 and was also ranked alone as eight on the 2011 list of The 25 Most Diabolical Video Game She-Villains. In 2011, UGO featured Mileena on the list of 25 Hot Ninja Girls for her short role in Annihilation ("The pink ninja plays dirty in a mud wrestling
Mud wrestling
Mud wrestling is defined as physical confrontation that occurs in mud or a mud pit. The popular modern interpretation specifies that participants wrestle while wearing minimal clothing and usually going barefoot, with the emphasis on presenting an entertaining spectacle as opposed to physically...
battle against Sonya Blade that ends with one girl down, one girl out of breath and the few audience members who made it that long into the movie pleasantly surprised") and IGN featured her as one of the series' "four main characters", the others being Liu Kang, Scorpion and Sub-Zero ("At first blush she seems like your quintessential sultry video-game vixen, but the mask comes off and she's got a gaping mouth filled to the brim with dagger-like teeth. And she makes sure she uses all of her--er, assets"). That same year, CraveOnline
CraveOnline
CraveOnline is a male lifestyle website based in Los Angeles with sales offices in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. The site is owned by media company AtomicOnline, the publishing division of Evolve Media Corp.- History :...
's Dread Central also called her "without question" one of the "most beloved" characters in the Mortal Kombat universe.
On the other hand, much of the reception was mixed due to her conflicting looks and unstable personality, althrough these elements were often also regarded positively. In the book Interacting With Video, the sisters were held as an example of a "highly eroticized dragon lady
Dragon Lady (stereotype)
A Dragon Lady is a stereotype of East Asian women as strong, deceitful, domineering or mysterious. The term's origin and usage is Western, not Chinese. Inspired by the characters played by actress Anna May Wong, the term was coined from the villain in the comic strip Terry and the Pirates...
" of video games, with Mileena's "Man-Eater" Fatality described as "a high powered kiss that evokes vagina dentata
Vagina dentata
Vagina dentata is Latin for toothed vagina. Various cultures have folk tales about women with toothed vaginas, frequently told as cautionary tales warning of the dangers of sex with strange women and to discourage the act of rape....
." For this reason she also shared the seventh place with Kitana on GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
's list of top seven "girls kissing girls" in 2006, and was featured in the 2008 list of "gaming's most repellent anti-babes" ("we had two nigh-identical twins of svelte, slinky sex and gore. ... But then Milly took off her mask and it all went wrong. Horribly, nightmarishly, ball-shrinkingly wrong"). In 2009, GamePro ranked Mileena and Kitana as number 11 on the list of the 17 best palette-swapped
Palette swap
A palette swap is a practice used in video games, whereby a graphic that is already used for one element is given a different palette, so it can be reused as other elements. The different palette gives the new graphic a unique set of colors, which make it recognizably distinct from the original...
video game characters, adding: "However, if you gauge Mileena's attractiveness simply based on the size of her baby-feeders, be ready for some disappointment when she removes her mask." She was also included on IGN's 2008 list of Top 50 Chicks Behaving Badly ("Just call her Mileen-ewwwwww"), and on Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
's list of "game girls you wouldn't dare to date". In 2009, ScrewAttack
ScrewAttack
ScrewAttack . is a video game-related website that showcases original entertainment for an audience of video game enthusiasts. Its content is also shown on GameTrailers and IGN...
included her as the seventh on the list of Top 10 Ugly Chicks in Games for her horrific looks when unmasked, but otherwise calling her "like, the ultimate woman". In 2010, UGO ranked her as the seventh on the list of Fighting Games' Finest Female Fighters, but added: "Be careful around that big scary demon mouth she keeps under the skarf though." In 2011, Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
described her entry in the new game to be "as creepy as ever", and Topless Robot ranked her as the sixth goofiest Mortal Kombat character for being "a pretty succinct commentary on the deplorable image of women in videogames" and for her absurdic "Man-Eater" finisher, but nevertheless called her "quite the looker". That same year, Game Rant ranked her as the fourth "most awesome" character of the series, praising her for a disturbing style and being one of "the most disgusting yet alluring" game characters ever created. While comparing the Mortal Kombat characters to the seven deadly sins
Seven deadly sins
The 7 Deadly Sins, also known as the Capital Vices or Cardinal Sins, is a classification of objectionable vices that have been used since early Christian times to educate and instruct followers concerning fallen humanity's tendency to sin...
in Dante's Inferno
Dante's Inferno
Dante's Inferno is the first part of Dante Alighieri's epic poem Divine Comedy.Dante's Inferno may also refer to:* Dante's Inferno , a silent film about a slum landlord sent to hell...
, GamePro chose Mileena to represent Envy.
Mileena has made several cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
s outside of the franchise, including in the comic book series Gen¹³
Gen¹³
Gen¹³ is a fictional superhero team and comic book series originally written by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi and illustrated by J. Scott Campbell. It was originally published by Image Comics under the banner Wildstorm, which went on to become an imprint for DC Comics, who continued publishing the Gen¹³...
in 1995, in the 1996 film Book of Swords
Book of Swords
Book of Swords is a 2002 low-budget martial arts film.The film featured four actors from the 1993 cult video game Mortal Kombat II: Ho Sung Pak as Lang , Richard Divizio , Daniel Pesina and Katalin...
(a nod/tribute to Mileena in a minor role by Katalin Zamiar), and in the 2010 episode "Another Bad Thanksgiving" of the animated series The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show
The Cleveland Show is an American animated television series that premiered on September 27, 2009, as a part of the "Animation Domination" lineup on Fox in the United States...
. In 2009, Chibi, vocalist of The Birthday Massacre
The Birthday Massacre
The Birthday Massacre is a synthrock band, based in Toronto, Canada. The band formed in 1999, known then as Imagica...
, said she was planning to get a Mileena tattoo.
External links
- Mileena – The Mortal Kombat Wiki
- Mileena at IGNIGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
- Mileena at Giant BombGiant BombGiant Bomb is an American video game website and wiki that includes gaming news, reviews, commentary, and video, created by former GameSpot editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis in collaboration with Whiskey Media...
- Mileena at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...