Cassandra Carlton "Cassie" Cage is a former sergeant and commander of the Special Forces, Cassie is the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade in the second timeline. She, alongside Takeda, Kung Jin, and Jacqui Briggs, is known collectively as the Kombat Kids. Sometime after the Netherrealm War, Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade got married and had a daughter, Cassie. However, Sonya's perceived prioritization of work over her own family led them to divorce, much to Cassie's sadness. Being the daughter of a high-earning Hollywood actor, Cassie was somewhat spoiled, although her attitude changed after she was kidnapped by the Black Dragon. This experience convinced her to join the Special Forces, where she would be trained by both of her parents in combat. Inheriting the charisma and cocky wit of her father and the stern, tough as nails attitude of her mother, Cassie quickly rose through the ranks to become team leader and, eventually, sergeant. She managed to defeat the fallen Elder God Shinnok single-handedly, even in his full corrupted form, and eventually attained the rank of commander. Initially, Cassie harbored deep insecurities, fearing that she might not be able to live up to her parents' legacy and expectations, especially her mother's. But over time, Cassie developed into a more confident leader with the aid of her friends.

Blonde Blazer was an active superhero being dispatched on the streets, earning a reputation for herself as a courageous hero. Eventually, she decided to broaden her career by moving into a management role, being assigned to take over SDN Torrance. Her leadership reshaped the struggling branch into a model for the company, in particular its efforts to rehabilitate former supervillains and retrain them as heroes through the Phoenix Program. Blonde Blazer is the one who hires Robert Robertson III to join SDN on the promise of helping him regain his superhero career in exchange. She nominally acts as his supervisor in the office during the events of  Dispatch, offering advice and critiquing Robbie's decisions as a dispatcher.

Kait was born in Fort Umson, Tyrus, in 20 A.E. to Gabriel and Reyna Diaz. Gabriel was formerly a sergeant in the COG Army and Engineering Corps. Reyna was a Stranded, a survivor of the Hammer of Dawn Strikes, and the daughter of geneticist Doctor Torres and Queen Myrrah of the Locust Horde. Reyna met Sgt. Diaz during the first year of the Locust War in his mission to assassinate the Locust scientist, Ukkon. Due to Sgt. Diaz learned about the Locust origins, he fled the COG with Reyna, and spent the remainder of the war as a Stranded and leader of their group. The two were married and had Kait in 20 A.E. At age ten, her father was diagnosed with Rustlung. Kait was horrified by what her father had become and was haunted by dreams of killing him to end his pain. Reyna comforted Kait that her thoughts were from a place of love and asked to be euthanized as well if she were ever put in a similar position. Before her father's death, Reyna revealed the existence of Kait's uncle and Gabriel's father, Sergeant Oscar Diaz. While the Outsiders usually went on routine raids of COG Settlements, the Outsider Movement became too heated as First Minister Mina Jinn threatened war against the Outsiders. Unknown to them at the time, First Minister Jinn's civilians and soldiers had been kidnapped, and Jinn believed the Outsiders, especially Reyna Diaz's villagers, of taking them. Reyna ordered the halt of Settlement raids, but eventually, Fort Umson ran out of power. In Bloom 42 A.E., on the 25th anniversary of Victory Day. Reyna ordered JD and Del to raid Settlement 5 while it was under construction, with the objective of stealing a Fabricator for Outsiders to replenish their power source. Kait volunteered to go with them, and Reyna agreed but sent Oscar with the three.

Chosen as an infant from Outworld’s first-born daughters, Tanya was raised by the Umgadi’s priestesses. She’s never known her birth family. As she grew older and saw other initiates wash out, Tanya feared that she would share their fate. But that fear spurred success; after many attempts, Tanya passed her trials and became a full Umgadi. Over time, Tanya became one of the order’s most trusted members. She was the obvious choice when it needed to choose a new leader for the royal family’s personal guard. As an Umgadi, Tanya is sworn to piety and chastity.

Kung Jin is a member of the Kung family and the younger cousin of the current Kung Lao. After his cousin is killed by Shao Kahn, Jin becomes angry at Raiden for allowing his death. He becomes a skilled archer and thief, and does not join the Shaolin Monks because of his homosexuality. Twenty years after Kahn’s defeat, Jin sneaks into the Sky Temple to steal a family heirloom that was given to Raiden. When the god of thunder catches him as he is about to escape, he takes the statue away from the thief and tells him that the Kung family honored him with it as a gift. Jin openly blames Raiden for Lao’s death, angering the god and causing a fight. After Jin wins, he walks away but is stopped by Raiden, and figures that the god wanted him to attack to release his anger. Raiden tells Jin to go the Wu Shi Academy and become a Shaolin monk. Jin states that he cannot, fearing they will reject him because he is a homosexual. But the Elder Gods assure him that the academy cares about what is in his heart. Jin tries to argue that it is too late for him, but Raiden gives him the heirloom and replies that it is never too late. Afterwards, Jin trains at the academy and becomes a Shaolin monk like his cousin. Five years later, he is chosen to become part of a Special Forces' team handpicked by Johnny Cage with Special Forces' operatives Cassie Cage and Jacqui Briggs and Takeda Takahashi of the Shirai Ryu.

As a child, Takeda lived in Lampang, Thailand, with his mother Suchin. One day, Takeda's mother received a message from the Red Dragon claiming they knew Takeda was the traitor Kenshi's son. Knowing they would come for him, Suchin sent Takeda away to the next town. When Kenshi found him, he revealed his mother was gone and that he was his father. They soon went on their way as the Red Dragon would be after them. One week later, Kenshi and Takeda made their way through the Himalayas, eagerly trying to escape the Red Dragon who were still following them. Suddenly, Kenshi was hit in the leg with an arrow, allowing Hsu Hao and his crew to catch them. Attempting to distract them, Kenshi told Takeda to run, though he would still be caught. As the Red Dragon grunt attempted to grab Takeda, a Kunai went through his throat, thrown by the wraith Scorpion. After killing Hsu Hao and chasing off the rest of the Red Dragon, Hanzo Hasashi took the two to the Shirai Ryu Temple. Takeda is skeptical of trusting Hanzo after witnessing him kill the Red Dragon members, but Kenshi assures he can be trusted as he conquered "Scorpion" many years ago, then goes away to take down Daegon, the leader of the Red Dragon. Years later, during Takeda's time as a member of the Shirai Ryu, Takeda engaged against Hanzo Hasashi during a test. He bests Hanzo and is promoted to Chujin. As he is congratulated, he asks how to serve the clan, only for Hanzo to tell him his future lies somewhere else. Hanzo mentions his father, to which he denies as to ever having a father. At that time, Kenshi arrives soon after to congratulate his son, but Takeda is angered by his presence by telling him that he was never there for him. After the fight, Hanzo tells him that Kenshi left him in the Shirai Ryu to protect him from his mother's killers. Kenshi reveals that Suchin was murdered due to his part of investigating the Red Dragon.

A close friend to Cassie Cage, Jacqui Briggs is the daughter of Jackson Briggs and Vera Briggs. After Jax was resurrected from being one of Quan Chi's slaves during the Netherrealm War, he met Vera and they went onto marry, the two becoming parents to Jacqui. After her birth, he became overly protective of Jacqui and wanted her to live a normal life. At some point, Jacqui became a professional kickboxer and eventually competed in the Junior Olympics and enlisted in a training camp. Despite her father not approving of her decision to join the Special Forces, Jacqui sees it as her duty to protect Earthrealm and to avenge her father from the suffering he endured from Quan Chi and Ermac. Jacqui enjoys the time she spends with Cassie, but was often annoyed by her friend's lack of hindsight in their youth and is often the voice of reason when the two get into predicaments. During missions, Jacqui becomes very serious and supports Cassie’s leadership. Jacqui is very protective of her family, but is easily annoyed whenever her father’s history of being Quan Chi's slave is brought up, as shown when Kung Jin continues to casually do so. Most recently, she has become romantically involved with Takeda Takahashi, Kenshi’s son and Scorpion’s apprentice.

Jade is a childhood friend of Princess Kitana. While her motives were unclear, she served Shao Kahn alongside Kitana and Mileena as his personal assassin for most of her life. When Kitana finally turned against Shao Kahn, Jade was ordered to capture her for the Emperor. She ultimately chose to join her friend and has since loyally assisted Kitana in her quest to free their native realm and restore its original beauty. Now residing in the freed Edenia, Jade is a General of the Edenian Army and continues to dutifully serve Kitana and Kitana's mother, Sindel.

Laura Matsuda, her younger brother, Sean, and older brother Fabio were all born in Brazil, though their father, Yuichiro Matsuda, and paternal grandfather Kinjiro Matsuda were Japanese. Yuichiro married Brenda and had three children Fabio, Laura, and Sean. Laura has two maternal cousins, Enzo and Manuela Da Silva, who practice capoeira. Laura was trained by Kinjiro in the art of the family's Matsuda Jiu-Jitsu. When Sean leaves at some point to become Ken Masters' apprentice and pupil, Laura becomes the heir of the art. Heir to the Matsuda Jiu-Jitsu style, Laura looks for opponents to fight and to promote her fighting style. Before leaving her house to seek strong fighters, she hugs and teases Sean a bit. She encounters Birdie and offers him a free meal if they fight. Afterwards, Laura asks Birdie if he knows any strong fighters, to which he points her in the direction of Karin. After their fight, Laura asks her if she knows any strong fighters, Karin replies by telling her about Ryu. After finding and fighting the wandering warrior, he talks about the Satsui no Hado. Later on, Laura meets and fights against Zangief, who gives her tickets to a wrestling scouting event.

In 1987, Sakura, at only 14, began to participate in street fighting after she saw Ryu on her way to her classes at the Tamagawa Minami High School and trained to emulate his style since. She recalls the first two fights she got into were when older bullies stole Tsukushi's portable gaming device and won it back upon defeating them, and when she fought off a college upperclassmen who were perversely harassing Kei with his friends, the latter of which was how she got the attention of Shibasaki and Karin who would also later participate in street fights about two years after Sakura. Six months later on the same year, Sakura started skipping school to search the world for Ryu, Sakura embarks on a long journey to find him and become his student. Along the way, Sagat notices her techniques are similar to Ryu's and demands she tell him where he is. She doesn't know herself and comments on how rude he is and the two fight. At age 16, she was still fighting, and decided to travel the world to find Ryu once more and find out what street fighting is really all about. She started off in her native Japan and fought the sumo wrestler E. Honda, who mentioned Ryu was going off to such places as India and Thailand. Thereafter traveling with her sensei, Dan, she met his friend Blanka along the way and was promised a match with him. Sakura even ended up fighting Maki again, who complimented her on being able to handle her fighting style, Bushinryu, better than last time.

Mikaela learned how to fix cars from her father, a long-time car thief who has presumably been single for some time. When he couldn't find a babysitter, he'd bring young Mikaela along, and she thus learned how to hotwire and steal cars. Eventually, Mikaela's father was caught, and she earned a criminal record for refusing to turn her father in to the authorities. She never turned out like her dad, and hid her automotive knowledge from her boyfriends, for fear that they will be insecure around a girl who knows more about cars than they do. In 2007, when Mikaela went to school with Sam Witwicky since first grade, but had failed to notice him at all during that entire time. After a spat with her boyfriend Trent, she dumped him, and Sam gave her a ride home in his new car.

The illegitimate daughter of an Irish lawyer and his housemaid, Anne was barely in her teens when her family emigrated from Kinsale to South Carolina, where her father settled as a plantation owner. After marrying the low-class sailor named James Bonny, she decided to set off on an adventure to the West Indies. The pair arrived in Nassau in April 1716, settling down without having a clear idea of the direction their lives were going to go in. James eventually found work at one of the island's plantations, while Anne spent most of her time daydreaming. Due to her beauty and indifference to propriety, she quickly became the center of romantic attention, which greatly strained her relationship with her husband, so much so that within a year their marriage had disintegrated. As James disappeared further into his work, Anne grew more confident and sociable, eventually deciding to take on a job as barmaid at the Old Avery tavern, the hub of the island's social life. Rejecting the advances of many a pirate, she was called a tease and a harlot by Nassau's coarser inhabitants, mostly out of envy and spite. But with no high society to shun or shame her, Anne's desirability only increased on the strength of these rumors. While working at the Old Avery, Anne made the acquaintance of many of the Pirate Republic's directors, including Edward Thatch, Benjamin Hornigold, Edward Kenway, Charles Vane and Jack Rackham. Anne requested for an annulment of her marriage, while Rackham offered to pay for a divorce, but James did not relent. Following Adéwalé's departure to join the Assassins, Anne became Edward's quartermaster aboard the Jackdaw, supporting him in his pursuit of Bartholomew Roberts, as well as the Templars Woodes Rogers and Laureano de Torres y Ayala.

Dominique Tam was born in 1993 in France. She trained since the age of 16 to represent France in the Summer Olympics in track and field. She failed to qualify for the 2012 games and was on track to qualify for the next Olympic games before Al-Qatala attacked Paris. After the Al-Qatala attack, Domino joined the French Army and was selected for the French Special Forces, where she exhibited extraordinary physical fitness and cognitive ability. She broke three regiment records. In 2017, she was sent to Urzikstan as her first combat deployment. She was tasked with supporting the Coalition forces. She was hand-picked to represent France inside the Warcom unit. In March 2020, Al-Qatala's new leader, Khaled Al-Asad, launched a full-scale assault against Verdansk in Kastovia. Operators from Coalition and Allegiance were deployed to Verdansk to stop Al-Qatala as part of the Armistice initiative. During her service with Armistice, Domino reportedly developed a friendly rivalry with the Allegiance operator Sydney "Syd".

Sergeant Foley is stationed in Afghanistan training an Afghan National Army group at Firebase Phoenix, with the aid of translator Private Hamed and fellow Ranger, Private First-Class Joseph Allen. Shortly after Allen's selection training in The Pit for Task Force 141, Foley and his squad are deployed to rescue BCT-One, which is trapped in a militia-held town near Firebase Phoenix. He first leads his squad to defend the bridge layer from large volumes of RPG fire from the OpFor across the river. After the bridge is laid, he leads his men into the city in Humvees, where they are ambushed by the militia. They put up a good fight, taking down many militiamen, although the Humvee is eventually destroyed. They are then forced to take cover in an enemy-occupied apartment, clearing their way through it. After they clear the building, they receive a distress call from Hunter Two-Three and assist by clearing out a heavily defended school. They then fight their way from the school to the LZ, rendezvousing with General Shepherd's men. Shortly after Allen's death in Russia, the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, is deployed to Virginia in response to an invasion by Russian military forces. Foley leads Dunn, Private James Ramirez, who is Allen's replacement, and the rest of Hunter Two-One in the defence of northeastern Virginia and rescue of a High-Valued-Individual. The team locates the HVI, who is already secured by other Rangers that had gotten there first. Foley takes command of the Rangers in the area just as Russian forces arrive en masse at their position. Under Foley's command, the Rangers successfully hold off the incoming Russians, including two BTR-80's and two Mi-28 gunships, until a friendly convoy arrives to evacuate them from the besieged area.

The Edenian Sindel would become Empress of Outworld, but was greatly stressed by her new position of power and an approaching arranged marriage to the noble Jerrod. Fortunately for her, she was not alone in her endeavour, as Jerrod was an ideal partner and loving husband, and Li Mei, the captain of the elite Umgadi, was a steadfast friend. Though her rule was not perfect, Sindel was able to make Outworld flourish. She became acquainted with Earthrealm's protector, Liu Kang, and witnessed his and Jerrod's founding of the tournament that would maintain peace between the realms. Sindel would soon face many difficulties. She had a strained relationship with General Shao, who was less than appreciative of Liu Kang, feeling as though Sindel was far too lenient with the fire deity. At some point, Jerrod was unjustly murdered, and Li Mei was made the scapegoat for her inability to protect the emperor, leading to her deserting the Umgadi and Tanya taking her place. Though Sindel still had her beloved daughters, Mileena's contracting of Tarkat proved to be a strenuous hurdle to overcome, creating a rift between the entire family. However, the arrival of a curious sorcerer named Shang Tsung would seemingly alleviate the last obstacle, as he was able to provide suppressants for Mileena's disease, which Sindel was extremely grateful for. Additionally, she would be introduced to another sorcerer named Quan Chi, whose peculiar prophecies often turned out to be spot-on - though Sindel worried that the prophecy he made about Liu Kang conquering Outworld might also come true.

John Marston was born in 1873 in the northern United States. His father was an illiterate Scottish immigrant who was born on the boat to New York, while his mother was a prostitute, who died during John's birth. John initially lived with his father, a heavy drinker who loved Scotland and always talked about it, and despised the English for what they did to his great grandparents. However, he was blinded in a bar fight south of Chicago and died later on in 1881, when John was eight years old. The circumstances around his death are unknown, although John was told that he died in a bar fight. John spent the next few years in a rough orphanage before running away to make his own luck on the streets. At the age of 11, John committed his first murder when he shot a man, although he claimed it was not his fault. In 1885, at the age of 12, Marston had been caught stealing by homesteaders in Illinois, who planned on hanging him. Dutch van der Linde stepped in and saved the young boy, taking him under his wing; John was thus inducted into the Van der Linde gang, alongside Hosea Matthews, Arthur Morgan, and Susan Grimshaw. The gang became a surrogate family to the young boy, with Dutch becoming his mentor and father figure. He taught John how to read, shoot, hunt, gather, and instilled him with a love of nature and things other than power, like how he had done for Arthur. After recovering from his injuries, John, along with Arthur and Bill, assaults an O'Driscoll hideout at Six Point Cabin, using information given by Kieran Duffy, a former member of the O'Driscolls. John takes Kieran on his horse, and they arrive at a forested area outside of the camp. The three take out some of the O'Driscolls silently, before a shootout ensues. The three emerge victorious, and after Kieran saves Arthur's life, John and Bill convince Arthur to let him stay, and the two take him back to camp.

Arthur Morgan was born circa 1863 to Beatrice and Lyle Morgan in the northern United States. As a child, his mother died of unknown causes, while his father was a petty criminal and outlaw. In 1874, when Arthur was 11 years old, his father was arrested for larceny. Morgan later witnessed his death and, despite a strained relationship with him, still donned his hat and kept a picture of him. Around 1877, a 14-year-old Arthur was found as a "wild delinquent" and picked up off the streets by outlaws Dutch van der Linde and Hosea Matthews. Viewing the pair as surrogate father figures, Arthur came to share Dutch's vision of a life lived free from the constraints of civilization and the rule of law. The pair taught him how to read, write, hunt, fight, shoot, and ride, becoming their first protégé as well as one of the founding members of the Van der Linde gang. A little later, Arthur met Susan Grimshaw, who became romantically involved with Dutch and joined the gang, acting as a tough mother figure. In 1885, Arthur met a 12 year-old boy named John Marston who had been saved by Dutch from being lynched by a group of Illinois homesteaders. John was inducted into the gang and raised alongside Arthur with the pair growing as close as brothers. Dutch instilled the boys with his anarchist worldviews against a corrupt government and preached that revenge was a fool's game. Over the years, Arthur and John became regarded as Dutch's favorite 'sons'. After the botched ferry heist, Dutch and the gang are forced to flee Blackwater and attempt to cross the mountains west to evade law enforcement. Dutch sends Arthur scouting ahead for a place they can camp at and he discovers an abandoned mining town named Colter, returning shortly after to direct the gang to the place. After the thaw comes in, the gang leaves the mountains for a new location in The Heartlands, near the town of Valentine.

Panam Palmer was part of the Aldecaldos nomad tribe. Her best friend was captured by the Raffen Shiv, a hostile Nomad group, when they were a child, only to be saved by fellow-Aldecaldo Cassidy Righter - an incident that deeply affected Panam into her adulthood, to the point of never telling anyone what happened in order to forget about it. Cassidy would remain a close friend of Panam and become somewhat protective of her. Panam also befriended several other clan members, including Mitch Anderson and Driss "Scorpion" Meriana. Panam idolized Saul Bright, a fellow Aldecaldo who used to pull off impressive as well as funny stunts in his earlier years. At some time, Panam and Mitch were hauling cargo from San Francisco to Kansas for the owner of a syn-meat farm. The stench at the farm got Panam so sick that she puked on the owner's boots to which he simply replied "No need to bow, I'll just take a handshake." Another "long story with many twists and turns" involved the corpse of the Deputy Finance Director of Kaukaz riding in Panam's trunk. At some point, Panam's clan set up camp in the Badlands outside Night City. She didn't see eye to eye with the clan's leader, Saul Bright, who was trying to strike a deal with Biotechnica in his attempt to keep the clan alive with consistent work. Panam disapproved, believing the clan should remain independent from corporations. Together with Scorpion, Panam kept joking about getting Mitch on board and heading off to Oregon on their own. Panam's conflict with Saul came to a head, however, when, due to her rebellious attitude, she eventually left the clan and moved to Night City, even though her friend Mitch tried to talk her out of it at first. Working as a mercenary under the fixer Rogue, Panam was often paired with nomad Nash on a few gigs, though she was unaware he was Raffen Shiv. Despite moving away, Panam maintained communication with members of the Aldecados, including her close friends Mitch Anderson and Scorpion.

V was raised by the streets of Heywood, Night City. At the age of 13, a junkie tried to knife one of their chooms. V reacted and stabbed him first, becoming their first kill. V knew him from before, as the junkie had always been begging on the streets, and was fond of him. Though V initially left for Atlanta two years ago, they returned to Night City after realizing it was not going to work out. Whilst recovering from a fight in El Coyote Cojo, V agreed to help the bartender, Pepe Najarro, settle a debt with a fixer by the name of Kirk Sawyer. In exchange for paying the debt, Kirk sent V to steal a Rayfield Aerondight from a corpo agent. After receiving a lift from their old friend Padre, V proceeded with the job. As they managed to enter and start the car, V was stopped by Jackie Welles, who was also attempting to steal the vehicle. However, they were quickly surrounded by the NCPD, led by officer Henry Stints, and were arrested. Though ordered to be executed by the vehicle's owner - Kaoru Fujioka - they were instead knocked out and left bloodied in an alleyway of Heywood. After the ordeal, V and Jackie were properly introduced, the latter revealing that Kirk's threats were actually empty. When he invited them for a meal, V hesitantly accepted, leading to their friendship. V stayed with Jackie for six months, doing mercenary jobs together while improving their street cred. Eventually, V managed to save enough money to rent an apartment of their own in Megabuilding H10.

She was born and grew up in Maribor. Sometime during her childhood, she had a conduit moment and was noticed by sorcerers. Thus, she found her way to Aretuza. Here, she became a sorceress on her own, specializing in making of magical potions, mainly healing ones. This was rather amusing twist of fate as she herself was allergic to magical potions and could only tolerate non magical ones. During her studies, she befriended the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg, and by 1249, the two of them were already close friends and colleagues. After graduation, she became a very well known and respected sorceress, taking her assignment as a advisor to the throne of Temeria. In 1263, after the First Northern War with Nilfgaard started, and the kingdom of Cintra destroyed, sorcerers and sorceresses under the leadership of Vilgefortz of Roggeveen decided to stand on Sodden Hill supporting Northern troops with their magic. Here, they wanted to stop the invading forces. Triss was among those who volunteered. The battle was brutal and the mages stood against incredibly strong forces but in the end, they managed to defeat the invaders. The cost of victory was high, though, as 13 mages died. As a matter of fact, it was first believed that the number of dead was 14 - the last one being Triss. She was very seriously wounded, sustaining burns on her body, but also having all of her hair burnt off. With Yennefer, the only mage that would have still recognized her, blinded during the battle, she was counted amongst the dead.