Street Fighter Ending Explained: How the Credits Scene Sets Up a Possible Sequel

The ending of the live action Street Fighter is wild, and it sets up a potential sequel. I just got back from the theater, and although I didn't think it was a great movie, the ending was very interesting. Spoilers ahead if you haven't seen it yet.

Street Fighter opens in 1993 with Ryu in hiding and Ken fighting for show

The story does a good job of explaining past events and bringing us into the present day, which is 1993, when the film takes place. Ryu has retreated from the world, and no one has seen him since.

Ken, meanwhile, is living a big shot life. He's doing a lot of fights for entertainment, but a lot of people don't take him too seriously. He performs flashy matches against cars and panda bears to make his money. That all changes when the World Warrior Tournament 2 is announced.

M. Bison and Akuma give Street Fighter two villains

There are two villains in this movie, and I feel like it's a little bit all over the place. The first is M. Bison, the founder and leader of an international criminal organization. He's also a dictator who wants world domination and all power for himself, and he opens the tournament to lure Ryu out of retirement so he can try to trap his power.

Throughout the movie, Ryu is also plagued by his inner darkness and by the other villain, Akuma. Akuma is a dark spirit from the spirit world who killed their sensei, and he wants to fight Ryu for himself.

Chun-Li convinces Ryu and Ken to join the tournament

Everything starts to come together when Chun-Li visits both Ken and Ryu and convinces them to join the tournament. Chun-Li is seeking her own vengeance against Bison, because he killed her father. I won't cover every little detail of the movie, so let's get to the ending.

Blanka breaks Ryu and Ken out of Bison's prison

The ending is a little bit complicated, in my view. After Ryu and Ken are captured by Bison, Bison finally wants to use his machine on Ryu to extract his powers for himself.

Just as the machine powers up, Blanka, who fought Ryu earlier in the movie, bursts through the underground prison walls and saves Ryu and Ken. He had been held captive and forced to fight, so he appreciated being saved by Ryu, and the two have a little bit of a touching moment.

Ryu and Ken's face off is one of the best scenes for me

In my opinion, one of the best scenes in this movie is when Ryu and Ken face off after Ryu reveals that he actually destroyed his invitation to go into the tournament when they were little. Ryu admits that he was jealous of Ken. During this fight, Ryu's darkness takes over, and he uses his powers to throw Ken to the ground.

While all this is happening, the tournament is still going on. Just as he said earlier in the movie, Akuma wants to fight the winner. Once the winner is revealed, Akuma comes down and kills him right away, and that eventually leads to the stadium clearing out.

Akuma pushes Ryu into darkness, and Ken's Hadoken brings him back

Then we get the final fight we've been waiting for the whole time. Akuma wants Ryu's darkness to come out, and once he pushes Ryu to the brink of death, the darkness is finally released. Ryu gives in to this dark surge and transforms into an evil Ryu. Even after defeating Akuma, when Chun-Li and Ken try to come toward him, he uses his powers to knock them to the ground.

This is where Ken remembers his sensei's message from the beginning of the film, and he knows he has to save Ryu from himself. Ken channels his Hadoken energy for the first time and hits a point blank shot on Ryu, leaving him unconscious. This lifts the darkness from Ryu. There's the old karaoke song they always sang together, and Ryu eventually wakes up.

Bison escapes with Akuma's body, and the credits scene points to Sagat

Although Bison wasn't able to drain Ryu's powers, he and his soldiers are able to recover Akuma's body. They end up fleeing back to his fortress with one of the most powerful spirits from the spirit realm.

If you didn't stay until the end, there's a quick mid credits scene showing the animated version of Bison and his crew walking toward Sagat. It's a hint that he will be in the sequel and may get his revenge for losing to Ryu in the Tournament of Champions.

Why Street Fighter didn't work for me

Personally, I just wasn't a major fan of this movie. It felt like it was all over the place, going in so many different directions. Maybe it's because I wasn't a huge Street Fighter fan growing up, but the super comedic dialogue just didn't work for me. I hope others enjoy it, though.

Would you be excited for a Street Fighter sequel?