Freddy Krueger Wasn't the Only Horror Movie Character Considered for Mortal Kombat

While some Mortal Kombat fans are upset for one reason or another that Freddy Krueger is the fourth DLC character for the latest game in the series, he's an ideal choice as a character that's not averse to violence. NetherRealm's goal all along was to have a guest character be one of the four released as DLC, and in the process of deciding upon him, Krueger wasn't the only horror film character considered.

"It's kind of hard to choose a character who would fit well into the Mortal Kombat universe, with the blood and violence that's so associated with it," Ed Boon told the PlayStation Blog. "Kratos from God of War is a brutal, bloody character, so he makes sense.

"When we had the discussions about the DLC characters, we knew that we wanted to add a returning character, a new character, but also a guest character. That was one of the goals right from the beginning. A number of names were run by us: Jason, Michael Meyers and all those guys. Freddy Krueger, we felt, was the most instantly recognizable and he fits in with Mortal Kombat with his claws. It just seemed like the best fit."

Boon also said over the years there had been an idea for a group of killers from movies in the 80s and 90s -- he throws Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre into that group with the aforementioned bunch -- to be included in one of the games. The problem, he said, was, "We never got a grip on how we would do it."

Many of the fans who aren't upset with Krueger's presence in Mortal Kombat are disappointed that he appears to be based upon the character from last year's remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street, as opposed to the 1984 original. Boon, however, claims he's not based on any particular version.

"We didn't try to make him look like the actor Robert Englund, I don't even know if we would be allowed to... Admittedly, I didn't see the latest movie, the remake. But obviously the first few movies were huge -- they left an undeniable mark on pop culture. When I look at him, I think of the original Freddy: he's got the striped sweater and is instantly recognizable. He's Freddy in general, we don't really identify him as one version or another."

Including Freddy worked out nicely for NetherRealm, as Mortal Kombat is published by Warner Bros. -- the parent company of New Line Cinema, distributor of A Nightmare on Elm Street.

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