Sonya Blade

Sonya Blade is a fictional character from the Mortal Kombat series. She is known for being the first female character in the Mortal Kombat series and one of the first female fighting characters in video-game history.

Overview
Lieutenant Sonya Blade is one of the main heroes of the story. She is a member of a top United States Special Forces unit and the Outer World Investigation Agency. Her impulsiveness is catalyzed by her superior and good friend Major Jackson "Jax" Briggs. Sonya represents a very emancipated and headstrong woman, but for all her stubbornness and pride, she deeply cares about the lives of her friends and comrades. She has a long-standing enmity with the thug Kano, who stands for everything Sonya despises.

Mortal Kombat
Sonya and her team were in hot pursuit of Kano, the leader of the Black Dragon organization. After he jumped onto a ship, they followed him to a remote island where Shang Tsung's Mortal Kombat tournament was being held. Upon arriving they were ambushed by Tsung's personal guard. To keep her team safe, she agreed to compete in the tournament. Shang Tsung, however, had no intention of fulfilling his end of the bargain and had her unit killed. After Shang Tsung was defeated by Liu Kang in the final battle, Sonya teamed up with Johnny Cage and Kano, ignoring her personal feelings for the sake of survival, to fight Goro on the bridge high above the pit. During the battle, the island started to crumble and both she and Kano were taken prisoner to Outworld by Shang Tsung to appease the emperor, Shao Kahn.

Mortal Kombat II
Sonya was able to send a signal to her superior Jax from Outworld and, during the events of Mortal Kombat II, he travelled there to find her. Jax made contact with the other Earthrealm warriors, and together they learned of Kahn's scheme to invade Earth. It is known that before being captured, Sonya and Kano were forced to put their differences aside and work together to survive in Outworld. She was later freed by Jax who arrested Kano, but as soon as they had passed through the portal to Earth, Kano escaped and ran back into Outworld.

Mortal Kombat 3
Sonya was one of a few selected Earthrealm warriors whose souls were not taken following Kahn's invasion of Earth. She encountered Kano on top of a skyscraper near Kahn's fortress. Kano eventually gained the upper hand in combat and Sonya feigned defeat, but when Kano advanced and grabbed Sonya by her hair to finish her off, she hurled Kano off the roof to his apparent death, taking a lock of her hair with him.

Mortal Kombat 4
After her journey into Outworld and Shao Kahn's near destruction of Earth, Sonya became a member of Earth's own Outworld Investigation Agency, or OIA. The Black Dragon kept crossing her path, however, and its last known member, Jarek, had fled to Edenia while Sonya was chasing him. This lead Sonya and Jax to team up with Raiden and Liu Kang to free that realm from the Fallen Elder God Shinnok's grasp, and to prevent him from coming to Earth. After Shinnok's defeat, in which Jarek had reluctantly participated to save himself, Jarek tried to kill Sonya, but Jax interfered and dropped him off a cliff. It was presumed that Jarek had been killed. After returning to Earthrealm, Jax and Sonya found Cyrax malfunctioning in a desert. The two brought the cyborg back to the OIA headquarters, where they were able to restore Cyrax's humanity. In return, Cyrax joined the agency.

Deadly Alliance
While on an assignment demolishing ancient inter-realm portals in the East, Sonya received a distressing message from Jax that the Outworld Investigation Agency had been completely destroyed by an accomplice of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi. A new threat from Outworld was imminent. But without their interrealm portals, Jax and Sonya had no means to prevent the attack. Sonya was later visited by the God of Thunder, Raiden. He asked for her aid in the coming fight against the Deadly Alliance. Sonya agreed to join her old friend and ally, but she expressed concern that all interrealm portals on Earth were now destroyed. Raiden instructed her to meet with the other heroes on the old island fortress in the Lost Sea where he would address this issue.

Sonya arrived on Shang Tsung's abandoned island fortress and was greeted by one of her allies against evil, Kung Lao. He seemed depressed, but would not offer an explanation. The two of them sparred on the beach to pass the time as they waited for the other warriors that Raiden would have contacted. By late afternoon, a small boat, apparently formed of ice, floated to shore. It was the Lin Kuei ninja, Sub-Zero, and his warrior-in-training, Frost. Sonya was not excited to see Frost. Her first meeting with the new Lin Kuei recruit was not a pleasant one. Sonya had a score to settle and developed a small rivalry with Frost, who felt it was necessary to show off her powers and impress the warriors. She was beaten by Sonya in their small fight that was interrupted by their comrades. There were more important matters at hand. For some reason, Sonya felt she couldn’t trust Frost and loathed her arrogance and cockiness.

By nightfall, the remaining Earthrealm warriors had arrived. Raiden then appeared and transported the heroes to a celestial portal to Outworld. To earn the right to pass into Outworld, each warrior had to defeat a representation of his or her worst adversary. Sonya had thought it would be Frost, but to her surprise, it was a stranger with an image of a red dragon on his back.

For Sonya, facing the Deadly Alliance also coincided with her search for two missing OIA agents, Cyrax and Kenshi. She was unable to find them, however, and, along with Jax and Cage, was killed in battle with the Deadly Alliance's Tarkatan forces. The Deadly Alliance's victory was short-lived, as Onaga had entered the scene just moments after their victory over Raiden himself, and reclaimed Outworld, as well as the amulet. With his ability to raise the dead at will, he resurrected and enslaved Sonya and her fallen comrades. As Sonya and her comrades appear normal in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, it is likely that Ermac and the spirit of Liu Kang had freed them from Onaga's control.

Armageddon
In Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, Sonya returns to Earth after Onaga's defeat, with the intention of continuing her assault on both the Red and Black Dragon clans, only to be forced to focus on the newly-established threat of the Tekunin. In her absence, the Tekunin had grown large enough to disrupt Earth civilization and had violated Earthrealm law by engaging in illegal interrealm alliances with unknown parties, a combination which forces Sonya to divert all the resources of the Special Forces against them. Early in their battle, Sonya seems to get an unexpected break when the Tekunin's flagship - helmed by their Grandmaster Sektor himself - is seen above the Botan Jungle, and succeeds in downing it. During her direct attack, Sonya kept sending Sektor warning signals that ordered him to surrender, but Sektor wasn’t planning to give up so easily and refuses to listen. Thanks to Sonya’s destruction of the Tekunin flagship, Taven manages to escape capture, she then sends a team lead by her partner Jax in to hunt for survivors, but they mysteriously vanish and are presumed to be captured by the Tekunin. Jax's own cybernetic bio scanners send out anomalous readings before contact is lost, and Sonya fears the possibility of Jax's death. Sonya soon focuses on discovering with whom are the Tekunin working from outside Earthrealm, and feels extremely worried that these rogue groups are conspiring with outside agents, for it puts the realm of Earth in grave danger. She embarks on a quest to find a way to shut them down. With little options left to find out Sektor's plans and other realm connections, she tracks the signal of a homing beacon placed on Taven by Sektor before his escape, easily killing an Ice Monster beast that was about to battle Taven with her own Armed Forces projectile special move, and eventually confronts him in Arktika. In a very dangerous mood and tough fashion, she tries to get information out of him about Sektor and the Tekunin. Proclaiming she has full authority over him, Sonya is unwilling to trust the Edenian warrior, so they soon engage in battle after Taven refuses to comply. Sonya limps away after she is beaten, warning him that she'll be watching him.

In her Armageddon ending Sonya defeats Blaze, who offers her any power she desires. When Kano arrives at the scene, Sonya is glowing with energy and glares at him. Her gaze burns Kano alive and makes him explode in a cloud of ash. With this new power, Sonya incinerates all of the Black Dragon and Red Dragon clan members, clearing the way for a new era of peace.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Sonya appears as one of the warriors representing the Mortal Kombat Universe. In the story mode, Sonya is investigating the dimensional imbalance when Catwoman, who had unintentionally infiltrated the Special Forces base, challenges her to fight. After defeating Catwoman and handing her over to Jax, Baraka mysteriously appears. She defeats him, then heads to Raiden’s temple to find out what is happening. There, she is confronted by Captain Marvel who, under the effects of Kombat Rage, tries to destroy her. She manages to defeat him, but is soon challenged by Green Lantern, who she also defeats, but just as she was about to finish Green Lantern, Captain Marvel attacks her, allowing him and Green Lantern to escape.

After Raiden informs her of a number of strange dimensional incursions, Sonya and Jax return to their base to use their own teleportation machine to try to get to the other dimension. Sonya and Jax teleport to an orbital space station where, after Jax defeats Wonder Woman, they free the captive Sub-Zero and take him back to Earthrealm. When she found Jax unconscious at the hands of Green Lantern Sonya once again challenged him but was defeated, and while they've been imprisoned both Jax and Sonya manage to escape back to Earthrealm. There Earthrealm's heroes and Outworld's villains join forces to try and defeat the invaders from the other universe. Sonya reluctantly teams up with Kano to track a foreign energy signal. They head to a cemetery, where they are confronted by The Joker and Deathstroke. The Joker sprays acid on Sonya’s portal generator, which activates and delivers the four of them to Oa. There, Sonya and Kano are defeated and soon return to Raiden's temple and report the failure of their mission.

When both sides finally decide to meet for one last battle, Sonya once again fights Catwoman. In the end, Sonya is knocked unconscious while Raiden and Superman proceed to fight Dark Kahn. After Dark Kahn’s defeat and the separation of the universes, Sonya stands alongside her allies and enemies to see a powerless Darkseid left behind in Shao Kahn’s palace.

In Sonya's ending, she comes in possession of a Power ring from an unnamed Green Lantern slain during the merger of the dimensions. After the two dimensions separate, Sonya is still in possession of the ring, but without a Lantern Battery, she is forced to use it sparingly until she can find another way to charge it.

Appearance
Sonya was the only one of the seven original playable characters from the original game whose character design changed throughout the series. In the first game, she simply had a green outfit with black swimsuit thong worn over it, white socks, short hair and a headband.This sprite was kept for her cameo appearance in Mortal Kombat II. In Mortal Kombat 3, she is once again in her socks and wearing a green spandex outfit. However there are some differences. Her green spandex outfit was touched up with black and white stripes, her hair was longer and tied into a ponytail and she wears thicker socks.

Since Deadly Alliance, her lingerie could be seen outside, and in Shaolin Monks, she had a navel piercing. In Mortal Kombat 4, her two most notables feature were a black cap, and that she began to wear boots. In Deadly Alliance, she was given a military-style outfit with a jacket, a tight torn shirt, tight pants, and black boots; she kept this appearance for Mortal Kombat: Armageddon.

Film
Sonya was a primary character in both Mortal Kombat films. Bridgette Wilson was cast in the first movie after the filmmakers' first choice, Cameron Diaz, suffered a broken wrist during martial arts training prior to shooting. During production, Wilson was given the nickname "RoboBabe" by director Paul Anderson. Sonya's personality and storyline are faithful to the games in keeping with her vendetta against Kano for murdering her partner. During the tournament, she fights Kano and ultimately kills him. Later in the film, she is captured by Shang Tsung and taken to the Emperor's castle in the wastelands of Outworld where she is challenged by Shang Tsung to final combat. The arrivals of Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Kitana prevent this however, and Sonya is subsequently freed from her chains by Cage, with whom she shares a mutual attraction. Taking Sonya's place, Liu Kang goes on to defeat Shang Tsung and win the tournament.

Sandra Hess took over the part in the sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Sonya is devastated by the death of Johnny Cage, who was killed by Shao Kahn after saving her life, and struggles to cope with her grief. After rescuing her old partner Jax from an extermination squad led by Cyrax on Shao Kahn's orders, she reunites with Liu Kang and Kitana in hopes of stopping Kahn from bringing the Earth to ruin.

Sonya was also one of the main protagonists in the animated film Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins.

In the novelization of the first Mortal Kombat movie, there was an additional scene in the beginning showing Sonya discovering the mutilated body of her partner, Lieutenant Bill van Hoven, who was killed by Kano.

Television
Sonya was a lead character in the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, and was voiced by Olivia d'Abo. Her vendetta against Kano was explained, and was explored further in two separate episodes. Kano was shown to have killed her partner, named Wexler.

Comic books
Sonya was one of the main characters in Malibu's Mortal Kombat comic book adaptations. She first appeared in the Blood & Thunder miniseries in hot pursuit of Kano alongside her partner, who was later killed by Kano in one of only two organized fights that commenced in the entire series. She succeeded in capturing Kano at the conclusion of Blood & Thunder, but he was later freed by his Black Dragon cohorts.

In the second series, Battlewave, Sonya investigated a brutal attack on Jax. Convinced that only someone from Outworld could inflict such injury, she ventured into Shang Tsung's island only to be ambushed and captured by Kintaro. She was brainwashed by Reptile into marrying Kahn, but the Earth warriors intervened during the ceremony and Sonya was able to break free from the trance by herself.

The comics strongly suggested a love interest between Sonya and Johnny Cage, an idea later brought into the games.

Novel
In Jeff Rovin's Mortal Kombat novel, Sonya traveled along with Kano and the rest of the Black Dragon, disguised as a criminal named Gilda Stahl. Her mission was to ensure that the Black Dragon didn't kill anyone, although she had a personal interest in getting Kano: he had shot her fiancee Cliff LoDolce. Her cover was eventually blown by Shang Tsung.

Character development
Sonya was partially inspired by martial artist and actress Cynthia Rothrock, and was named after one of Boon's sisters, as confirmed in a video interview in the special edition of Deception.

There were originally no plans for Sonya's inclusion in Mortal Kombat, as Kurtis Stryker (who debuted in Mortal Kombat 3) was to have her storyline, but he was eventually dropped due to fans' requests for a female character during early beta testing of the game. Mortal Kombat: Special Forces was to have both Jax and Sonya as playable characters; however, Sonya's part was dropped due to deadline issues exacerbated by Tobias' sudden departure from the company. Her latest appearances include being featured as one of the cover characters for the PS2 version of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, and being featured in a special card ("Vixen Vendetta") for the Epic Battles card game fighting Kira.

Game information
Both Sonya and Kano are shown in one of the backgrounds in Mortal Kombat II, chained in Kahn's Arena. They were also the first confirmed characters for Mortal Kombat 3. Johnny Cage's ending in Deadly Alliance showed a movie poster with him standing and Sonya clinging to his leg, hinting at a possible relationship. But because it was a film poster, the relationship could be non-canonical.