Shao Kahn has recently failed in his latest bid to merge Earthrealm with Outworld. As he regroups with his second-in-command, the sorcerer Quan Chi, Raiden confronts him directly. Quan Chi makes a bid to escape, only for Shao Kahn to knock him out of the way with his Wrath Hammer. Raiden attempts to use his lightning blast to knock Shao Kahn through the portal, but this instead causes it to destabilize, until it eventually explodes with Shao Kahn inside it. Raiden then takes Quan Chi to the Elder Gods for punishment.

At the same moment in the DCU, in Metropolis, Superman has finally defeated Darkseid and his army of Parademons. Darkseid attempts to escape through a dimensional Boom Tube whilst Superman argues with Lex Luthor, who had helped Darkseid invade Earth. The Last Son of Krypton stops him by firing his heat-vision into the portal, which causes the Boom Tube to become disrupted and explode with Darkseid inside it. He then takes Luthor away to the authorities.

Unknown to either Raiden or Superman, the explosions do not kill either Shao Kahn or Darkseid, but instead merge them into a singular monstrosity known as "Dark Kahn". As a result of Dark Kahn's existence, the two universes begin to merge with each other, and spreads a mysterious force known as the "Kombat Rage" that infects the champions of both worlds. Not long after the invasion, many of Liu Kang's fellow White Lotus and Kitana's Edenian Forces disappear, seemingly without trace. The two meet up to discuss the issue and resolve that either the Lin Kuei or Black Dragon is behind it. However, when Liu Kang is ambushed by Sub-Zero, he discovers that the Lin Kuei have been suffering losses as well. After earning Sub-Zero's trust by saving him from Scorpion, Kang battles the spectre until, through an unusual force (the Kombat Rage) he disappears and is replaced by The Flash. At first believing him to be an illusion by Shang Tsung, Kang soon realizes that Flash represents a different kind of warrior altogether. When he attempts to analyze Flash, he to