Shinnok is one of Earthrealm's most ancient enemies and arguably the most powerful. A fallen Elder God, he commands the armies of the Netherrealm and more against Raiden and his champions, challenging the sanctity of the planet for generations.
While he is much different than his predecessor and successor antagonists, Shao Kahn and Kronika, there are aspects of Shinnok which each entail his potency ~ or incompetence ~ as a formidable and worthy antagonist to the Mortal Kombat series. Through a shrewd analysis of the character, you can gain an understanding of whether or not he was a villain quality enough to support his own game.
10 Lacking - Losing In The First Chapter
One of the reasons Shao Kahn was such an effective villain was that at the beginning of Mortal Kombat 9, you saw why he should be feared. He stood atop a mountain of corpses, placing his boot on Raiden's chest as he prepared to end his life. Though he would be defeated two times throughout the course of the game, these losses were well earned by the player.
Meanwhile, Shinnok lost in the first chapter of Mortal Kombat X to none other than Johnny Cage. This is veritably humiliating, given Cage's relative inexperience from the perspective in the franchise's lore.
9 Perfect Villain - Buildup
Unlike many of the series' villains, Shinnok's plans were officially announced at the end of Shao Kahn's invasion in Mortal Kombat 9. This made his casting as the franchise's tenth villain not only much more reasonable to anticipate, it also established why he waited until that point to attack.
This was integrated far more neatly than Kronika's alleged machinations of turning Liu Kang and Raiden against each other on countless occasions through incalculable timelines. It is especially effective since Shinnok needed to balance his intelligence with his power, not solely relying on one or the other.
8 Lacking - Upstaged In His Own Story
Shinnok was not the exclusive antagonist of Mortal Kombat X. Many of its events surrounded the jockeying for power between Mileena and Kotal Kahn, one which detracted from what was supposed to be the Elder God's zombie apocalypse.
The two plotlines would somewhat converge near the end of the campaign when Kotal Kahn attacked the young heroes in a bid to appease Shinnok, though it does not detract from the fact that much of the story scarcely involved Shinnok at all. This greatly diminishes his respectability as a foe.
7 Perfect Villain - Playable
In many Mortal Kombat games, the main antagonist was not playable, and with good reason; they were designated with a move set that would be overpowered in the hands of any player. Nonetheless, the urge to be evil remained, compelling Ed Boon and the designers to erect a solution.
There would be two stages of Shinnok's fight; his base form (where he is playable), and his corrupted body, bathed in the power of the Jinsei. The latter would serve as the unstoppable juggernaut players are forced to contend with as the final boss, allowing them to play his stock iteration to their heart's content.
6 Lacking - Used As A Prop
In the beginning of Mortal Kombat 11, it was necessary to illustrate Raiden's descent into darkness to contrast it with the purer version restored in Kronika's time wipe. To achieve this, Shinnok was showed being tortured by Raiden at the start of the campaign to display the Thunder God's depravity.
Considering that this would be the only time the character made an appearance in the game, it is an especially mortifying and pitiful fate. His legacy was little more than a prop to establish Raiden's own corruption, his anguished wails echoing into history.
5 Perfect Villain - Minions
Shinnok's minions were much more successful than Kronika's time lost warriors or the meandering monsters under Shao Kahn's command. In addition to being ruthlessly efficient, they managed to defeat Bo Rai Cho, force the protagonists on the run, and harrow their former allies to their core.
More importantly, they would persevere into Mortal Kombat 11, with revenant Liu Kang and Kitana assuming the mantle of leadership in Shinnok's absence. The revenants also allowed a chance for Mortal Kombat 9 fan favorites to return for the campaign, such as Sindel ~ even if she would remain unplayable.
4 Lacking - Move Set
Shinnok's move set is poorly designed, whether in his normal or ultimate form. In his base form, he borrows a multiple strike fire ability from Shang Tsung which rockets his opponent into the air. In his corrupt iteration, he relies on cheap hyper armor and overwhelming damage, rather than intelligently designated abilities (such as Kronika's mobility).
This makes the character insipid and forgettable, as some of his skills are either unoriginal or flagrantly ripped off from others.
3 Perfect Villain - Corrupting Raiden
Shinnok may have seemed defeated with fairly minimal consequence, yet this is only true from a superficial glance. As the Elder God was responsible for corrupting the Jinsei, Raiden's only recourse was to attempt purifying it himself.
He was successful in this endeavor, only to become corrupted instead. Quan Chi may never have been able to claim Raiden's soul as he desired in Mortal Kombat 9, though his master would corrode it nonetheless. By Mortal Kombat 11, even the Thunder God's own allies are reluctant to trust him, enabling Shinnok satisfaction despite his defeat.
2 Lacking - Losing To Cassie Cage
Should Johnny Cage's victory over Shinnok not have been absurd enough, his daughter's subsequent triumph reduced the Elder God to a joke. Despite being enhanced through the life essence of Earthrealm itself ~ and his opponent having even less experience than her predecessor ~ Shinnok lost to Cassie Cage, all the same, suffering one of the most imbalanced defeats in Mortal Kombat history.
What credentials it gave to Cassie as a hero it detracted from Shinnok as a villain, his legacy being that of an ephemeral invasion dramatically less in scale than what Shao Kahn mounted.
1 Perfect Villain - Ladder Ending
In gauging a villain's merit, their ultimate goal is one of the most important factors. In Shinnok's ladder ending, he was able to conquer Earthrealm and use it to mount an offense against the Elder Gods themselves. From the commotion, he stirred the One Being, an entity stronger than any other force in the universe.
Its awakening heralded not only an end for the deities, but for reality itself. Despite Shinnok's failure at the hands of the Special Forces, his victory would have been more depraved than anything other villains could have fathomed.