Jax gets brutally and bloodily beaten by Sub-Zero in the Mortal Kombat movie, but he somehow manages to survive. The character has survived relatively gruesome injuries in the video games plenty of times, so it’s not completely unexpected for him to bounce back from getting his arms frozen and ripped off by an ice man. But how exactly does Jax manage to survive Sub-Zero’s fatality?

Losing his arms in an incredibly violent way is sort of Jax’s whole thing in the MK video games as it what eventually leads to him getting his metal arms that he uses as skull-crushing and bone-cracking weapons. Even so, the way in which he gets de-limbed in the Mortal Kombat reboot is particularly harsh. Not only does Sub-Zero freeze and shatter Jax’s arms, he then kicks him down a multistory drop to smash into the concrete below. And yet, Jax somehow manages to survive.

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The movie offers two explanations. The first is a line stating that Sub-Zero’s ice cauterized the arm wounds on shattering, which stopped Jax from bleeding to death. The other is that Liu Kang managed to reach him and bring him to Raiden’s temple in time for Jax and his arms to receive proper medical attention. While both of these answers are reasonable within the film’s own fantasy logic, they don’t account for the blunt force trauma of Jax’s drop.

One other possible explanation that isn’t made explicit in Mortal Kombat is that Jax was saved by his arcana. Because he had the dragon mark during his battle with Sub-Zero, even though he hadn’t yet unlocked his superpower, it’s possible that Jax was granted some enhanced strength and/or durability. That could explain how he survived the fatality and the subsequent fall long enough to be saved by Liu Kang, and it would make sense for the arcana to grant some general strength enhancements.

It’s a bit underwhelming that Sub-Zero’s one onscreen fatality isn’t actually fatal, but he still comes off as a menacing and dangerous villain. Of course, he might be a bit more menacing if he actually checked to make sure his opponents were dead. With Jax back and stronger than ever by the end of the film after awakening his ultra-powerful cybernetic arms, Bi-Han may have more trouble the next time they face off. The new cyborg Jax could be looking for some payback if Sub-Zero is resurrected as Noob Saibot in Mortal Kombat 2.

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Rick Stevenson
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Rick Stevenson is a writer, editor and performer based in Brooklyn, NY. He’s written on TV, film and games for over six years, in addition to assorted stints in bookselling, carpentry, and TV production. Rick studied writing at the College of William & Mary and Oxford University, and can report with some authority that they are both old. He lives and dies for Avatar: The Last Airbender.

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