Mileena

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Mileena is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

[edit] About Mileena

Mileena, unmasked, as seen in her MKII ending

Mileena is a clone of Kitana, created by Shang Tsung's sorcery for Shao Kahn, using Tarkatan physiology. She looks just like Kitana when her mask is on, but when it is off, her long, sharp Tarkatan teeth are exposed.

Mileena despises Kitana, and feels that it is her own right to rule Edenia as Princess in her place. Her fondest wish is to kill her "sister", and claim her existence for her own. Something of an opportunist, she will make use of any chance to seize power that comes within her grasp.

[edit] Storyline

After Shao Kahn conquered the realm of Edenia and merged it with Outworld, he decided he would keep the former king's young daughter Kitana alive and raise her as his own. Although Kitana grew up loyal to the emperor, unaware that he had murdered her father, Kahn feared if she should ever discover the truth about her past, she'd turn against him.

Kahn then ordered his sorcerer Shang Tsung to create an evil, vicious, and loyal clone of Kitana who would take her place. Tsung combined Kitana's essence with a Tarkatan's to achieve this purpose. However, something went wrong with the clone's creation and her face deformed into a hideous Tarkatan's mouth. Rather than disposing of her, she was given the name Mileena and introduced as Kitana's twin sister. Instead of replacing Kitana as originally planned, Mileena would be used to watch Kitana and make sure she remained loyal to Kahn.

Kitana and Mileena grew up together as Shao Kahn's personal assassins, even though Mileena secretly harbored a growing bitterness and jealousy towards her "twin", who Kahn favored over others. Also at some time during her life, Mileena became the secret ally and possible lover of a Tarkatan warrior named Baraka. As Kahn feared, Kitana did finally discover the truth about her past and family. Although she continued to feign loyalty to Shao Kahn, she secretly plotted and waited for the right time to overthrow him.

MKII appearance

During Mortal Kombat II, Shao Kahn began to grow suspicious of Kitana and Mileena was ordered to watch over her sister. After finding out Kitana was indeed conspiring with the Earthrealm warriors, Mileena attacked Kitana, but Kitana proved to be the superior fighter and killed her. Mileena's essence descended into Netherealm (Mortal Kombat's hell), giving her even more reason to hate her sister.

Mileena concept art for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3

Damned to the Netherealm, Mileena found herself recruited by the fallen Elder God Shinnok. During Mortal Kombat Trilogy Shao Kahn made an attempt to resurrect Mileena, Shinnok saw this as an opportunity to spy on the events unfolding in Earthrealm thus allowed Mileena to be brought back from the dead and granted the ability to read Kitana's thoughts. After Kahn was defeated, Mileena was summoned back to the Netherealm.

During Mortal Kombat Gold, Mileena assisted in Shinnok's invasion of Edenia. Seeing this as a chance to finally prove she is superior to Kitana, Mileena allowed her sister to escape Shinnok's dungeons. However, Mileena would again be denied. After Shinnok's defeat, she was again bested by Kitana and secretly locked away in an Edenian prison, perhaps in the hope that she would one day reform.

Mileena remained imprisoned for many years, until the Dragon King, Onaga, returned during Mortal Kombat: Deception and began his own invasion of Edenia. Mileena was freed from her prison by Baraka. She joined Onaga, and was ordered to pose as Kitana in order to mislead the princess' armies while Onaga gathered his strength. Mileena accepted, seeing this as a chance to gain some amount of revenge against Kitana. However, as Mileena began her deception, she also began to consider taking control of the armies for herself.

She appears in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon's Konquest mode, encountering Taven in the dungeons of Shao Kahn's fortress. She battles the intruder, but ultimately is not successful in preventing his progress.

In Mileena's Armageddon ending, she defeats Blaze, causing herself and her "twin" Kitana to psychically fuse together for a moment. When they separate, Mileena finds that she has taken Kitana's features and become beautiful, while Kitana has been cursed with Mileena's Tarkatan teeth. Mileena is now able to take her rightful place as princess of Edenia. She rules in Kitana's place and locks her "sister" in the Edenian palace dungeon, where Kitana eventually goes insane.^[1]

[edit] Combat characteristics

[edit] Signature moves

• Soaring Sai: Mileena's signature move. She throws two sai, charged with purple energy, at her opponent. In older games, it was a charged move and could be performed in mid-air. (MKII, UMK3, MKT, MKG, MK:D, MK:A)
• Teleport Kick: Mileena slides through the ground and quickly hits her opponent from above with a jump kick. (MKII, UMK3, MKT, MKG, MK:D, MK:A)

Teleport Kick in MKKG

• Rolling Thunder: Mileena tucks into a ball and rolls toward her opponent. If the move is blocked, she rolls up in the air and leaves a huge opening for an uppercut. (MKII, UMK3, MKT, MKG, MK:D, MK:A)

[edit] Recurring fatalities

• Multiple Stabbings: Mileena pulls her sai out and stabs her opponent to death. In Shaolin Monks, after she is done stabbing, she kicks her opponent to the wall. (MKII, MK:SM)
• Bone Stripper: Mileena removes her mask and literally inhales her opponent. She then turns to the other side and regurgitates a torrent of bones onto the ground. (MKII, UMK3, MKT)
• Nail Shooter: Mileena removes her mask and fills her mouth from a bottle full of nails. She then unleashes a deadly barrage upon her helpless foe. (UMK3, MKT, MKG)

[edit] Appearances in other media

Dana Hee as Mileena in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation

[edit] Film

In Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, Mileena (played by Dana Hee) served as an assassin for Shao Kahn. She has one line in the entire movie ("You wish.").

She fought Sonya Blade, who mistook Mileena for Kitana. Sonya killed Mileena, causing the dragon tattoo on Mileena's shoulder to come to life and quickly disappear. Oddly enough, the similar appearances of Mileena and Kitana are the only connections between the two characters that the movie makes (much due to Dana Hee being Talisa Soto's stunt double). Mileena's name is never actually mentioned in the movie, but on the DVD release of it, it was mentioned in one of the fight scenes one could select in the Special Features.

[edit] Television

Mileena also appeared in the live-action TV series Mortal Kombat: Conquest (episode Shadow of a Doubt) as an ugly Outworld warrior with no initial relation to Kitana. She was briefly portrayed by Megan Brown in her Outworld form, and then by Audie England, Kitana's actress, when she assumed the form of the Princess.

Shao Kahn had Kitana's likeness captured in the magical reflection of a sword, and then placed its power upon Mileena to have her assassinate Kung Lao while in the guise of the Princess. He withdrew his gift when Mileena was reluctant to complete her mission, through persuasion from Vorpax. The real Princess Kitana arrived and ferociously dueled Mileena, but the two were transported back to Outworld before she could deliver the killing blow. Shao Kahn let Mileena live, but with a partial likeness of Kitana to remind her of her failure and lost opportunity for beauty. As Mileena was led away, the Emperor tossed her her signature mask to cover her jagged teeth, her surviving Outworld trait.

[edit] Comic books

Mileena appeared as a minor character in the Malibu Comics series. She first appeared in the first issue of the Goro: Prince of Pain miniseries, as part of a team lead by Kitana with orders to find the missing Goro in Outworld. During the three issues of the series, Mileena is shown having reservation as of Kitana's true loyalty, though she never speaks of such reservations to anyone.

She further appeared in the Blood and Thunder and Battlewave series.

Kitana and Mileena

Mileena also appeared in a one-shot special with Kitana (entitled Kitana and Mileena: Sister Act) that explained their past. Mileena is shown as a creation ordered by Shao Kahn, though he revealed Mileena lacked something Kitana has and that she would never replace her. Unlike the games though, it seems her "creators" were a pair of unnamed mutants instead of Shang Tsung.

In the comics' continuity, Mileena and Baraka does not share any relation. Instead, Mileena seems to have a sort of love-hate relation with Reptile, showing them always fighting and shouting at each other, but also working as a fighting team. She also has two encounters with Sonya Blade, and their small rivalry is never developed further.

[edit] Character development

Mileena was the first evil female character to appear in the Mortal Kombat series. She could be said by fans to be the closest thing to a daughter that Shao Kahn has. In 1995, Malibu Comics released a special spin-off issue of their Mortal Kombat comic books, where this is discussed in detail. It is revealed here that Mileena was specifically created for Kahn through sorcery (Mileena constantly refers to herself in these comics as "Shao Kahn's true daughter")

In Deception, she boasted an alternate outfit that covers less skin than any Mortal Kombat outfit to date. To that end, she also appeared in a special edition of Playboy magazine featuring video game characters. A promotional render of her, commonly known as "Sexy Mileena", is an edited version of her alternative outfit concept art, showing her with a great deal of her chest exposed (her sai are the only thing blocking her breasts from view). Oddly however, "Sexy Mileena" was not pictured in Playboy, and only a fairly common render of her in her primary MK:D attire was published; it can, however, be unlocked for viewing in Deception.

In Kitana's character card video for Deception, MK co-creator Ed Boon has described Kitana and Mileena as the female equivalents of Scorpion and Sub-Zero.

[edit] Trivia

• Katalin Zamiar, Mileena's original actress, replayed the role in the 2005 B-movie The Book of Swords (where also several other MKII actors returned for a roles similar to these they played for the game).

[edit] References