However unfortunate it might seem, Scorpion's pretty much destined to win. As a spirit of raw vengeance that's anger was empowered by the Netherealm, he is pretty much granted a get-out-of-jail-free card with every loss.
Sub-Zero meanwhile? No such luck. Poor guy's first incarnation was still among the living and what drove him wasn't anything overtly negative, so upon his death the Netherealm twisted him into a mere shadow of his former self.
Edit: Orrr his campaign in Mortal Kombat Mythologies Sub Zero apparently darkened him considerably if this is to be believed. It didn't really hit me that he might have been phased by that adventure in that way.
His brother came along as his replacement, proving himself to be more raw and badass (even down to the scar) with new more inventive techniques when compared to his brother, despite how his older Noobish brother had a far more epic hardcore adventure and should by all rights be muuuuuch stronger. He fights against his former clan once they become obsessed with technology and start Roboticizing their own warriors (yeah, they stole Robotnik's scheme and made it their own).
Despite his victory and becoming the new leader of his clan, he's still mortal. Even if he is better than Scorpion in every way, he will still some day age and lose his edge. Even with all the challenges he faces he's stuck facing a specter until he can convince him he's not his real enemy, and if Mortal Kombat 4 is to be used as an accurate model? He wouldn't notice that sort of thing until his vengeance is falsely quenched:
Pretty much no matter what happens Scorpion will at least eventually win, and he likely will not stop until he does. It's also likely that somehow, in some way, Quan Chi will end up reaping the rewards, because he is awesome.
Of course, this was all from the original incarnation of Mortal Kombat. If the update with Raiden fucking up the past is to be taken as canonical... shouldn't Sub Zero be a cyborg?
Cyrax was fun, and in the Raiden Redo he and Sektor have human costumes for the pre-MK3 portion of the game. The only lacking of the cyborgs was that they had no personalities left intact, but that was also meant to be the point of them: They define Sub-Zero's threat.
On another note, I rather like D'Vorah. Her moveset's all bug-related stuff.
Noob Saibot (the original sub zero) is my favorite
Edit: Yess. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6SGjbZtvbM
"Quan Chi will end up reaping the rewards, because he is awesome. "
He always seems to be the one pulling the strings behind every nefarious plot in these later games. It's almost comedic.
"If the update with Raiden fucking up the past is to be taken as canonical... shouldn't Sub Zero be a cyborg?"
I really hope not, I've always avoided playing as the robotic characters in mortal kombat.
"Scorpion's pretty much destined to win. As a spirit of raw vengeance that's anger was empowered by the Netherealm, he is pretty much granted a get-out-of-jail-free card with every loss. "
Yea, he just keeps coming back it's getting tiring almost. Reminds me a lot of zombie deadpool concept marvel had going for a while. Anyway, they've tried beefing out Sub-Zero by giving him some flashy ancient medallion and his own generic revenge plot after scorpion killed his brother. It's clear scorpion always wins, but I'll still bet on the underdog for the hell of it.
Theories abound, I encountered someone theorizing that the new Sub-Zero might be this dude. Smoke didn't turn cyborg in the revamp, so he might be another one of the ones who ended up not converting.
I personally hope so, his power set seems a little cooler, even if it's a bit of a stretch since his origin isn't canon yet. It's likely just going to be some other run of the mill Cryomancer, a son or something, from there being a rather sizable timeskip (like when they tried to throw Frost at us), but looking at Cassie Cage as a combination of Johnny Cage, Sonya, and Striker, alongside Quan Chi having some of Shang Tsung's moveset incorporated into how he plays now, it'd not be a stretch really to combine Sub Zero and Rain. If no water powers are present, it could be a disguise motif similar to Violet from the Tekken Series, himself a masterful kicker but hiding that truth by holding back, if not him simply taking a different power aspiration from the altered storyline.
Edit: Maybe he's more canon than I thought (Ed Boon is featured as one of the writers and a cameo).