I never knew I wanted to see Shaggy from Scooby-Doo brutally dismembering Sub-Zero, but an enormously successful fan petition to include the character in the upcoming Mortal Kombat 11 makes me hopeful it’ll happen one day soon. Started by Woken News Network, who asked the developers to “give the fans the fighter they most wanted,” the petition has since gone viral and resulted in some seriously cool fan art and responses from Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon.
Right now, it’s currently sitting at 316,766 signatures, and that’s rising by the second as fans stand up and ask, nay demand, that we see the gangly stoner enter the Netherrealm and show Shao Khan who’s boss. This actually happening might not be as unlikely as it initially sounds, either.
The Mortal Kombat series now has a tradition of including licensed characters, with Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, the Predator and Giger’s Alien all making it into previous installments. On top of that, Warner Bros. owns both properties, which should certainly smooth over any legal issues.
The success of the petition has clearly wowed its creators, too, who’ve stated the following:
“On behalf of Woken News Network, we would to thank you for your tremendous support. We’ve made international headlines, got recognized by the legendary Mr. Boon and Lillard, but have also been receiving so many awesome e-mails from you guys as well,” it continued. “Keep up the amazing work, you rock!”
Ed Boon has been pretty awesome about this whole thing, with his best response being a mockup showing Shaggy fighting Scorpion in the upcoming game. Matthew Lillard, meanwhile, who plays Shaggy in live action and animation also expressed his support, retweeting a “wicked awesome” piece of fan art by BossLogic that you can see above.
Clearly, there’s a lot of people who want this to happen and though there’s no confirmation one way or another just yet, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that this awesome idea actually comes to fruition in Mortal Kombat 11.