Cyrax

Cyrax is a cybernetic ninja warrior and a hero from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

Invasion of Earthrealm
Cyrax was one of the Lin Kuei warriors selected to be transformed into cyborgs in order to increase their efficiency. Along with Smoke and Sektor, he was ordered to hunt down Sub-Zero, who’d fled from the clan when he had been selected for the process. When Shao Kahn invaded Earthrealm, Cyrax and the other two cyborgs survived, since they had no souls anymore. However Sub-Zero managed to get through to Smoke by convincing him he still had a soul and they defeated Cyrax and Sektor. Cyrax was reprogrammed by the ice ninja, changing his orders to defeating Shao Kahn. However the cyborg did not have the chance to do so before the warriors of Earthrealm defeated the Emperor. He then waited for new orders, but received none and malfunctioned and wandered into a fast desert where he became trapped in the sands.

Return to Humanity
Cyrax was recovered by the Lin Kuei and repaired, but there appeared to be something different about him. The clan was short-handed and decided to send the cyborg into battle, but sent Sektor in as well in order to monitor him. After the defeat of Shinnok, it became clear that Cyrax had begun to remember his human life. Sonya Blade and Jax Briggs brought him to the headquarters of the Outer World Investigation Agency and restored his humanity with their technology. In gratitude, Cyrax joined them and acted as a scout in Outworld.

Deal with Nitara
During the rise of the Deadly Alliance, the two oni, Drahmin and Moloch attacked him. Though he succeeded in driving the two off, a surprise attack by Reptile caught him off guard and the arm console that he used to return to Earthrealm was damaged. Cyrax drove him off as well and shortly afterwards, he encountered the vampire, Nitara, She made him an offer, if he retrieved an ancient artifact for her, she would return him to Earthrealm. The two went to an underground chamber containing the egg of the Dragon King and Cyrax dived below the lava, retrieving an orb that Nitara could use to free her realm of Outworld. He handed it over to Nitara, who kept her promise and created a portal to Earthrealm with her mystical necklace, allowing Cyrax to return home.

In his ending in Mortal Kombat Armageddon, Blaze’s elemental power overwhelmed Cyrax’s cybernetics, making him fully human once again. He joined forces with Sub-Zero and took on Sektor and Cyrax, defeating them in combat. They were reprogrammed to serve the Lin Kuei until they could be returned to human form as well.

Powers
Cyrax is a highly skilled fighter thanks to his ninja training and his cybernetic body offers him a large arsenal of weapons, that are contained in his chest. His most common one is his seemingly limitless supply of bombs and he also had a green energy net that could incapacitate his foes. After regaining his soul, Cyrax retained much of his cybernetics and received new technology form the Outerworld Investigation Agency. His net was replaced with a large buzzsaw appendage and his arm was outfitted with a device capable of creating portals between realms. Cyrax’s armor also possesses a great resistance to heat since he was able to walk through lava with no detrimental effects.

Trivia

 * In the 2D games, Cyrax was the only one of the cyborgs to use a different fighting style.


 * His unit number is LK-4D4.


 * Cyrax apparently hates Johnny Cage’s movies according to his text box in Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance’s Konquest mode. He said that he “felt extremely robbed of his eight bucks after seeing Ninja Mime”.


 * In the opening to Armageddon, Cyrax emits the same sound that all the cyborgs emitted when they were damaged in MK3 after being knocked away by Sheeva. Fans often misinterpret that they are saying “Screw You!” as a joke.


 * Before Cyrax and Sektor had their official names decided on, they were called “Mustard” and “Ketchup” respectively.


 * Hapkido was originally going to be his unarmed fighting style in Armageddon.


 * The Pulse Blade Weapons that Cyrax and Sektor use resemble lightsabers from the Start Wars franchise. Even the colors are similar since Cyrax’s is green and the good Jedi characters’ use blue and green lightsabers and Sektor’s are red, the color of the ones used by the evil Sith characters.


 * One of the game over messages in Shaolin Monks is, “Who will win, Strkyer or Cyrax?”


 * Cyrax is the only character introduced in MK# that was playable in Deadly Alliance.