Petition To Add Shaggy To 'Mortal Kombat 11' Surpasses 300K Signatures
The Shaggy revolution rages on. Tens of thousands have joined a Change.org petition asking that the Scooby-Doo character be added to Mortal Kombat 11, and now that petition — which had 173,000 supporters on Jan. 29 — has blown past the 300,000 mark.
"On behalf of Woken News Network, we would like to thank you for your tremendous support," Woken News wrote on the petition's Change.org page today. "We've made international headlines, got recognized by the legendary Mr. Boon and Mr. Lillard but have also been receiving so many awesome e-mails from you guys as well. Keep up the amazing work, you rock!"
The rise of Shaggy's popularity with the Mortal Kombat community has been incredible to watch since the petition went online last week.
It all started with a meme — a crossover, of sorts, depicting the normally unassuming Shaggy as though he'd undergone the "ultra instinct" Goku transformation from Dragon Ball Super. The meme was first created over a year ago, but roared back in the early days of January 2019, with more and more internet artists and jokesters contributing to the collection of Ultra Instinct Shaggy art.
The meme's resurrection just happened to coincide with a bunch of Mortal Kombat 11 news items and character reveals. Given the rather violent nature of that game, and the sometimes supernatural characteristics of those on its roster, Ultra Instinct Shaggy and Mortal Kombat 11 appeared to be a perfect match. Woken News ran with it, creating a Change.org petition for Shaggy to be included in the game. And from there, it was off to the races.
Mortal Kombat 11 director Ed Boon, to his credit, has seemed to enjoy the meme and the MK 11 petition that followed it.
At first, Boon appeared to dismiss fans on Twitter who broached the subject of Shaggy. But as the movement picked up steam, and the Change.org petition collected more support, Boon started to have a little fun with it. He tweeted out some mockup art, for instance, of Shaggy doing battle with Mortal Kombat character Scorpion. He later asked fans to sign his own petition, of sorts, jokingly pushing for Scooby to join the roster of Injustice (another NetherRealms fighting game).
And finally, a few days ago, Boon retweeted some fan art of both Shaggy and Scooby in the style of Mortal Kombat. It appears Boon is enjoying the gag of Shaggy appearing in Mortal Kombat 11 just as much as everyone else.
But the longer it goes on — and the more Mortal Kombat 11's director takes part — one has to wonder if this is truly a gag at all. It seems outlandish to even raise the possibility, but for entertainment's sake, we'll ask the question: could Shaggy actually appear in Mortal Kombat 11?
You might assume that Shaggy wouldn't make a good Mortal Kombat character based on his cartoon persona. But if Ultra Instinct Shaggy is someone else — some stronger, otherwordly version of that character — then the normal rules don't apply. The team at NetherRealm Studios could essentially work from a clean slate, creating a whole Shaggy move set from scratch.
And then there's the issue of licensing. Would NetherRealm Studios really take this joke to the finish line, securing the Scooby-Doo rights so that Shaggy could be added to the game? If this was a character from some other franchise, the answer would almost surely be no. But here's the thing: Scooby-Doo is a Warner Bros. property. The studio behind the Mortal Kombat series, NetherRealm, is also owned by Warner Bros. And the company publishing Mortal Kombat 11? That just happens to be Warner Bros., as well.
The path to getting Shaggy into Mortal Kombat 11, however unlikely it seems, is not one with a whole lot of obstacles. All it requires is some communication among the many subsidiaries of Warner Bros., and perhaps, a nod of approval from whoever manages the Scooby-Doo brand. Adding a family-friendly cartoon character to the world's most over-the-top fighting game would likely come with consequences, after all.
The Change.org petition that kicked this whole thing off is now targeting 500,000 signatures, and at the moment, is still garnering support at a rapid clip. We'll be sure to update you if it reaches that milestone — or if Ed Boon makes more news regarding Shaggy's inclusion in Mortal Kombat 11.