Mileena is a recurring character in the Mortal Kombat franchise. Introduced to the series as Shao Kahn's daughter and sister to Kitana, she is actually a vicious, unnatural abomination bred in Shang Tsung's Flesh Pits. She appears to be an attractive mature woman, but beneath her veil is a disgusting, horrifying maw filled with many jagged fangs, a sign of her Tarkatan heritage.
History[]
Original timeline[]
When Shao Kahn conquered the realm of Edenia, he took Queen Sindel as his bride and Kitana as his daughter. Sindel would later be driven to suicide and Shao Kahn would raise Kitana alone, but a magical ward left by her mother would ensure that Kitana would not be completely corrupted by Kahn's evil as she grew older. At an unknown time prior to the Outworld tournament, Kahn ordered the sorcerer Shang Tsung to craft a daughter who would remain loyal to him. Using both Kitana's Edenian blood and the blood of a Tarkatan, Shang Tsung created Mileena.
Alongside her "sister", Mileena served Shao Kahn as an assassin, tracking down and slaying anyone who defied the emperor's reign. As Kitana questioned her duties to her "father" over time, Mileena revelled in hers, taking sadistic and even erotic pleasure from the acts of violence that she carried out.
During the Outworld tournament, Mileena fought against the warriors of Earthrealm only to be betrayed and defeated by Kitana. When Shao Kahn later launched an invasion of Earthrealm, Mileena was assigned to find the wayward Kitana and bring her back to the emperor, only to be defeated and slain in battle. Though her soul was cast into the Netherrealm, she was restored to life by Shinnok and was recruited into his Army of Darkness. When Shinnok's uprising began, Mileena took part in the invasion of Edenia and set her sights upon seizing her "sister's" throne. But Mileena was defeated once again and was imprisoned in the palace dungeon.
Years later, Edenia was invaded by the armies of the Dragon King, Onaga. Mileena was freed from her confinement and pledged her allegiance to Onaga. To help her new lord secure the realm, Mileena began impersonating Kitana in order to throw the Edenian forces off-balance. This deception would not only allow Mileena to take revenge against Kitana, but would also provide an opportunity for her to seize control of Onaga's armies for herself. In time, Onaga would be defeated and his forces would fall into disarray, allowing Mileena to take command of them and use them to invade Outworld. She continued her portrayal of Kitana and led the Edenian forces in a siege of Shao Kahn's fortress, supposedly in the name of peace. In truth, she wanted Outworld for herself.
Mileena would not rule Outworld for long as Shao Kahn would soon return, bringing the revived Goro and Shang Tsung in tow. As the ferocious demigod easily smashed through the Edenian mages' magical defenses, Mileena had no choice but to surrender and submit to Kahn's rule once again. However, having tasted power, Mileena was no longer resigned to remain a mere minion. If she could not have Outworld, there were other realms to choose from, such as Edenia.
When the Battle of Armageddon took place, Mileena joined the Forces of Darkness as they clashed with the Forces of Light. Like all the other kombatants, she would die during the conflict.
Alternate timeline[]
In the altered timeline, Mileena's "birth" is witnessed firsthand. While the period of her creation is not stated, she awakens in Shang Tsung's Flesh Pits for the first time as the Outworld Tournament is in progress. Having recently begun to question her allegiance to Shao Kahn, Kitana investigates the Flesh Pits on Raiden's suggestion where she finds Mileena suspended inside a glass tank. Mileena awakens to greet her "sister", attacking Kitana only only to be defeated. Kitana is appalled that Shang Tsung would create such a monster and tells Shao Kahn. The emperor, of course, was already fully aware of this event and congratulates Shang Tsung. Thus, Mileena takes her place in Shao Kahn's court.
Following Shao Kahn's death during the failed invasion of Earthrealm, Mileena, as Kahn's chosen successor, is crowned as the new empress of Outworld. Proving to be every bit a tyrant as her father, she is labelled the "Mad Empress" by Outworld's citizens. Fortunately for the population, Mileena's reign does not last as she is usurped a few short years after her succession by the Osh-Tekk warrior Ko'atal. Following the coup, Mileena was sent into exile in the wastelands.
In the years following her exile, Mileena manages to gain a number of supporters to aid her in taking back her throne. Among her allies was the Earthrealm criminal Kano who had stolen a powerful relic kept by the Special Forces: the Amulet of Shinnok, the spoils of the Netherrealm War. Kano sold the amulet to Mileena which she would use to devastating effect, destroying an entire village and causing its residents to flee to Earthrealm as refugees.
After the Special Forces discover that Kano had sold the amulet to Mileena, they send Cassie Cage and her unit to assist Kotal Kahn with taking back the amulet and putting an end to the civil war. Mileena is defeated in battle by the Kytinn warrior D'Vorah. Following her capture, Kotal Kahn decrees that Mileena be put to death and has D'Vorah carry out the execution. D'Vorah kisses Mileena, transferring several flesh-eating parasites into Mileena's mouth which then completely consume her face.
Weapons and Abilities[]
- Mian Chuan - Mileena's favoured fighting style.
- Sai - Forked ninja daggers. As well as close-range combat, Mileena also throws her sai as energized projectiles.
- Rolling Thunder - A rolling attack that can trip up enemies.
- Teleport Drop - Mileena vanishes into the ground and reappears in the air to deliver a fierce kick.
- Savage Tear - Mileena's favoured finishing move is to tear out her opponent's throat with her teeth.
Appearances in other media[]
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation[]
Mileena (portrayed by Dana Hee) is one of Shao Kahn's numerous assassins assigned to hunt down Earthrealm's chosen warriors during Outworld's invasion. Her history and relationship with Kitana are not touched upon in the film and she only appears in a single scene, battling Sonya Blade in a muddy ditch. When Sonya defeats Mileena, she notices a dragon tattoo on her back that suddenly becomes animate before disappearing in a flash. As Raiden explains later in the film, the tattoo is a family crest belonging to Shinnok's bloodline and allows passage between realms, but Mileena's was fake.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy[]
This version of Mileena (portrayed by Jolene Tran) is very similar to her video game counterpart, though her history differs slightly. When Kitana was still an infant, Shao Kahn suspected that she would one day grow to hate him and turn against him, and ordered Shang Tsung to create a new daughter for him that would not.
Mileena was created by Shang Tsung from a vial of Kitana's blood and Tarkatan blood after Shao Kahn began to fear that Sindel would raise Kitana to hate him as she did, but when Sindel saw the infant Mileena next to her own daughter, as well as her features briefly contort into their true Tarkatan shape, she took her own life to infuse her soul into her daughter. This left Shao Kahn to raise the girls himself, and in their adolescences, he began training them as his personal assassins after noticing their promising skill, with Mileena being efficient with sai. Mileena grew angry over her father's greater approval over Kitana, and one night, she lost control of her bestial instincts, and killed a passing guard when he found her studying her changed face in a nearby fountain, tearing his throat out with her teeth.
Though Mileena was horrified, Shao Kahn had secretly been watching and was pleased to see Mileena begin to lose her self-control, all a part of his manipulations of her and Kitana.
Mileena next fought Kitana before her father, but was overpowered by her sister, who was declared the winner, angering Mileena enough that her teeth briefly showed. Shao Kahn then assigned the two to begin hunting down and eliminating the remainder of King Jerrod's decoys and bodyguards, a task Mileena relished in. When Shao Kahn gave them the task of killing the true Jerrod, Mileena waited while Kitana confronted him and killed him from behind, impaling him with her sai, giving her sister a smug smirk as she reclaimed her weapon and left.
Mileena did not realize that this act would lead Kitana into discovering her true heritage and begin planning her rebellion against their 'father', and Mileena was none the wiser as she knelt before Shao Kahn as he began telling them of his plans for Earthrealm's conquest.