Cyrax

Cyrax
Mortal Kombat character
Cyrax in Mortal Kombat (2011)
First game	Mortal Kombat 3 (1995)
Created by	Ed Boon and John Tobias
Voiced by	Rhasaan Orange (MK2011)
Motion capture	Stephan Scalabrino (MK2011)
Portrayed by	Sal Divita (MK3, UMK3, MKT) J.J. Perry (Annihilation) Shane Warren Jones (Legacy)
Fictional profile
Origin	Botswana (Earthrealm)
Fighting styles	Ninjutsu (MK:DA, MK:A) Sambo (MK:DA)
Weapon	Sabre of Light (MKG) Pulse Blade (MK:DA, MK:A)

Cyrax is a player character from the Mortal Kombat fighting game franchise created for Midway Games by Ed Boon and John Tobias. Making his debut in Mortal Kombat 3 in 1995, he is a member of the Lin Kuei clan of assassins who underwent transformation into cyborgs. Along with counterparts Sektor and Smoke, Cyrax was assigned to hunt down the rogue former clansman Sub-Zero, but unlike Sektor, he and Smoke were able to rediscover their human side, with Cyrax in particular joining Sonya Blade and Jax Briggs as a member of the Outer World Investigation Agency after having his soul restored. His backstory prior to his transformation is expanded in the 2011 Mortal Kombat reboot.

Cyrax has also been featured in other Mortal Kombat alternate media such as the 1996 animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm and the 2011 web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy. The character has received mostly positive reception, particularly for his Fatality finishing moves and gameplay.

In Mortal Kombat 3, Cyrax is a member of the Lin Kuei clan of assassins along with Sub-Zero, Sektor, and Smoke. When the clan decides to utilize modern technology by converting its members into soulless cyborgs, Sub-Zero refuses and defects from the clan, and was thus marked for death by the grandmasters. As a result, Cyrax, Sektor and Smoke were all assigned to hunt down and kill Sub-Zero. They survive the invasion of Earthrealm by Outworld emperor Shao Kahn and his minions, as they have no souls to take. However, Sub-Zero captures Cyrax and reprograms him with orders to destroy Shao Kahn, but Kahn was defeated beforehand by the other Earthrealm warriors. As a result of his reprogramming, Cyrax awaited new orders from Kahn; when these never came, he consequently malfunctioned and wandered until becoming mired in the middle of a vast desert. This was continued In Mortal Kombat Gold, when he was recovered and repaired by the Lin Kuei. The short-handed clan sent Cyrax back into battle, with Sektor assigned to monitor him. His MK Gold storyline was negated by the Konquest Mode in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002), in which Cyrax was "recovered by Special Forces agents Sonya Blade and Jackson Briggs," a reference to the character's unused biography in Prima's official strategy guide for MK Gold, according to which Cyrax was recovered by the Special Forces in the Gobi Desert and reprogrammed to fight on the side of good against Shinnok. After Shinnok's defeat, it became apparent that Cyrax had begun to experience flashbacks of his former life, and Sonya and Jax bring him to the Outer World Investigation Agency headquarters, where Cyrax's humanity was restored. As a token of gratitude, Cyrax joined the agency as a scout in Earthrealm.