Mortal Kombat co-creator reveals Sonya Blade was originally going to be a male character

There are a handful of characters in the Mortal Kombat franchise that are equal parts iconic and synonymous with the franchise. Sonya Blade is without a doubt one of them, which makes it so interesting to learn that there were originally some very different plans for Sonya.

Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon has revealed that after host a playtesting session for a build of Mortal Kombat with 6 characters, the team recognized that they needed to add a few more faces to the roster.

The 7th character ended up being Sonya Blade, but she didn’t start life as Sonya. Boon reveals that Sonya actually started out life as Curtis Stryker, a male character. As development went forward, the team thought their 7th fighter should be female. This led to the Curtis Stryker backstory being used for the Sonya Blade we know and love. Later on, the Curtis Stryker character was renamed Jackson (JAX) Briggs, who joined the franchise in Mortal Kombat 2. Of course, the name Curtis Stryker was eventually changed to Kurtis Stryker, the Riot Control Brigade character that joined the fray in Mortal Kombat 3.

Pretty crazy to think about how two future franchise characters are tied to the development of Sonya Blade! Without a doubt, Boon and the rest of the team made the right decision with Sonya.