Ermac is not one person, but an entire collection of warriors brought together in physical form through magic, courtesy of Shao Kahn and thus, refers to himself as a group instead of a singular. Because of this, Ermac possesses powers related to the souls, mostly used in the form of telekinesis, which allows him to manipulate every aspect of living and non-living objects with his mind. In addition, he is able to manipulate soul energy because of his composition, which he uses in the form of both levitation and firing projectile attacks. Ermac's one weakness is the Netherrealm itself. Since he is a being created by magic, his powers would decrease over time the longer he stays in that realm, weakening the bond holding the souls together and threatening his very existence. Later freed from Shao Kahn's grip by the blind swordsman Kenshi, whom he repaid by teaching him the Telekinetic Slam. He decided to become a force of good partly in guilt of his past evils. To prove this, he decides to help Liu Kang free the souls of his friends from control of Onaga.

Scorpion is a black and yellow garbed, hell-spawned spectre, inexorably seeking vengeance against those responsible for the destruction of his clan and the death of his own family. Despite the fact that Scorpion has previously allied himself with the forces of evil (when promised either means of resurrection on Earth or the chance to inflict his wrath against those who butchered his clan), he is not inherently evi. Being the vengeful spectre that he is, Scorpion is most commonly associated with the element of hellfire, a darker variant of the Earth-related fire element. Scorpion only seems to use the element to confirm the death of his opponents. Immune to death and bound by revenge, Scorpion endlessly chases his targets until they have been silenced. He has the ability to teleport, often used in the form of surprise or ambush attacks. In addition, Scorpion no longer has a face. The mask (and the skin behind it) is a disguise that hides his ghastly skull, from which he can spew forth lethal shots of hellfire. The scope of Scorpion's powers depend on how long he remains in his abode, the Netherrealm. This proves to be advantageous to him when he pursued Quan Chi in the depths of hell, whose magic is diminished by the power and nature of the realm. It is unknown how powerful Scorpion would have been had he'd stayed in the Netherrealm without the concern of chasing Sub-Zero, and later, Quan Chi.