Even before Mortal Kombat 11 came out, fans theorized which fighters would join the roster as DLC. Moreover, gamers also wondered which characters would fill MK11's guest character slots—in the tradition of Kratos, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, and the Predator from past entries. Netherrealm decided to put all of that speculation to rest by unveiling the fighters of Kombat Pack 1—Shang Tsung, Sindel, The Terminator, The Joker, and Spawn!
Todd McFarlane's notorious anti-hero won't join the roster until March 17th. But when Al Simmons does become playable in Mortal Kombat 11, he's guaranteed to raise Hell! We've only got a few lingering questions that the teaser for Kombat Pack 1 didn't assuage—namely, which powers will Spawn use against his fellow Kombatants? Time to engage in a round of educated guessing—at least until Al's gameplay trailer drops.
10 Evil Animal Empathy
Fun fact: Al Simmons can talk to the creatures of the night, just like most interpretations of Dracula can. To be specific, Spawn can communicate with wolves, bats, bears, and other "creatures of sin." Now some of you are already thinking, "doesn't Nightwolf do the same thing in Mortal Kombat 11?"
You're not wrong if that's your train of thought, but Al can take things a step further if need be. Using his dark powers, Spawn can directly control creatures of sin - using them as pawns with which to do his bidding. We can imagine Al using this power in one of his Fatalities - Spawn could an army of creatures to descend and brutally devour his foes! Mortal Kombat 11 also features variations, just like MKX, so Al could have an entire style dedicated to summoning beasts.
9 Shape-Shifting
Spawn doesn't stop at summoning the creatures of the night - he can also transform into a swarm of bats at will! One of Al's numerous powers grants him the ability to instantly change his physical form. In one of the earliest Spawn comics, Al accidentally became a white man when trying to revert to his human form. In fairness, Shang Tsung already has shape-shifting as his primary gimmick.
However, Shang only takes the form of other Kombatants. Spawn could shapeshift into a more demonic form during one of his Fatalities. Conversely, Al could shape-shift while making use of Mortal Kombat 11's new Fatal Blow mechanic. Honestly, Spawn has a lot of options at his discretion.
8 Telepathy
Al's as a tactical of a fighter as he is savage; he prefers to disarm his foes, literally and figuratively, before taking them out for good. To that end, Spawn will use telepathy to play with his enemies' minds. If Spawn uses this power in Mortal Kombat 11, we could see him borrowing a few moves from Quan Chi - another fighter who likes to mess with his foes' minds.
Spawn's no Charles Xavier, however, so his telepathic powers are relatively limited; we likely won't see Al put all of Earthrealm into a telepathy-induced coma, in other words. That doesn't mean that Spawn can't use telepathy to throw off his foes in Mortal Kombat 11. Moreover, Al could invade his foes' minds and make them commit Hara-Kiri - an MK mechanic we haven't seen in years!
7 Portal Creation
Aperture Science, eat your heart out! Just like Chell from Valve's Portal games, Spawn can create portals that instantly transport him across vast distances. Al could create portals with one of his special moves - allowing Spawn to close the distance between himself and his opponents, or create space.
We can also imagine an entire variation dedicated to creating portals. Spawn could summon demons to help him in battle as well as redirect projectiles. As a coup de grace, Al could open a portal directly to Hell for one of his Fatalities! Conversely, Spawn could chop his foes to bits by rapidly opening and closing an array of portals.
6 Divine Powers
Even if you don't know much about Spawn, you've probably seen pictures of him sporting a pair of massive wings. When the Man of Miracles/ Mother of Existence let Al eat from the Tree of Life, he gained phenomenal cosmic powers - with the wings replacing his iconic cape. For a time, Spawn's powers rivaled his universe's versions of Satan and God!
We don't imagine Netherrealm making Divine Spawn playable for the sake of balancing Mortal Kombat 11. However, we could picture Al tapping into this form's angelic abilities during his Fatal Blow or in one of his Fatalities. It could harken back to Cetrion's Fatality, in which she grows to the size of a planet before atomizing her enemies.
5 Matter Manipulation
Though this is one of Spawn's more understated abilities, it's also one of his deadliest. Al primarily uses this power to transmute weapons out of thin air. Nine times out of ten, Spawn will summon an array of guns into the battlefield. That could work in Mortal Kombat 11 - Al could use guns as one of his projectiles or even mid-combo.
However, Spawn can take a page from the Elric brothers and seriously rearrange the molecular structure of animate and inanimate objects! Via transmutation, Spawn could turn the ground underneath his foes into quicksand! The stages in Mortal Kombat 11 also feature plenty of interactable items. What's to stop Spawn from turning a wooden barrel into an IED?
4 Telekinesis
Via telekinesis, Spawn can go full Exorcist on his foes with the power of his mind alone. In the comics, Al often uses this ability to psyche out his prey - opening and closing doors without being anywhere near them. Ermac, Kenshi, and Takeda are currently absent from Mortal Kombat 11 - we need more playable psychics!
Al could use this power to fling foes like playthings or he could levitate himself in the air. Psychics like Kenshi and Ermac had some of the most creative and brutal Fatalities in the franchise. Spawn could continue that trend in Mortal Kombat 11 - at least until more mind-benders enter the arena.
3 Chronokinesis
Taking a page from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Spawn learned how to stop time to varying degrees and durations. Mortal Kombat 11 would be woefully unbalanced if Spawn could freeze time indefinitely. But maybe he could manipulate time in a Fatal Blow - similarly to Geras.
Time is also a big theme in Mortal Kombat 11's story - chiefly, in relation to Kronika's attempts to purge the MK universe's timeline. While guest characters don't usually play a role in Mortal Kombat canon, Spawn might break the mold this time around. Either way, Netherrealm has quite a few avenues in regards to how Al could use one of his more esoteric abilities.
2 K7-Leetha
Perhaps Spawn's most devastating power is his suit, K-7 Leetha! Al's suit grants him a host of incredible abilities and communicates with him like a Marvel symbiote. A lot of the weapons that Al uses also come directly from K-7 Leetha - namely his signature chains and spikes. Spawn's guaranteed to use K-7 Leetha in Mortal Kombat 11, we just aren't sure how at the moment.
In Soulcalibur 2, Leetha took the form of an ax called Agony. That was the in-universe reason why Spawn lacked his iconic cape (in reality, Al's cape is very hard to animate.) We'd like to see Leetha take on an armory's worth of forms in Mortal Kombat 11 - with an ax form serving as a nice callback.
1 Necroplasmic Magic
To the uninitiated, Spawn is just a typical perpetually brooding anti-hero with a penchant for violence. In reality, Al Simmons is an esteemed tactician, a hardened soldier, and a mage! Beyond K-7 Leetha, Spawn's most other devastating powers stem from his mastery over Necroplasmic magic. Mortal Kombat 11 features all sorts of mystics and magisters, but none have abilities quite like Spawn's Necroplasm.
Initially, Spawn's powers were limited by a counter that allowed for 9,999 uses. However, the modern version of Spawn isn't hindered by this gauge anymore. Netherrealm will have to get crafty with implementing Spawn's Necroplasmic magic in Mortal Kombat 11. If they aren't careful, Spawn could become the most OP character in the game!