MOVIE NEWS – Fan favourite Johnny Cage will be making an appearance in Mortal Kombat 2. His return could put an end to a nearly three-decade-long franchise controversy.

 

 

Mortal Kombat 2 will bring Johnny Cage into the rebooted franchise. His starring role, along with the casting of Karl Urban, could put an end to a 26-year-old cinematic misstep. Mortal Kombat, released in 2021, was a reboot of the video game movie franchise. In almost every way, it completely lived up to expectations. The film followed the ’90s Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation movies, both of which took a massive step back from the blood and violence of video games. Naturally, to maintain a PG-13 rating. Nor did these films bring to life the colourful characters from the Mortal Kombat video games.

The 2021 reboot amply made up for the flaws of the ’90s films, but it missed a key Mortal Kombat element. Instead of using any of the video game series’ beloved characters, Mortal Kombat’s main character was Cole Young, a completely original character created for the film.

Cole Young lacked any personality. He was questionably and undeservedly strong. The choice of Cole Young makes even less sense when Johnny Cage, Mortal Kombat’s most exciting character, is also available. So it’s especially gratifying to see Cage play a significant role in the upcoming sequel to Mortal Kombat 2, which makes up for the 26-year disappointment.

 

Mortal Kombat 2 will be Johnny Cage’s first major live-action film appearance since 1997

 

Although Johnny Cage is the franchise’s most recognisable character, the smart-alecky, overconfident movie star has strangely not appeared in a film since 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. Even then, his appearance was a complete disappointment. In that sequel, Shao Kahn, Emperor of the Outworld, brutally kills Cage after he opens a portal to Earth. This happens just 10 minutes after the film opens. Among Mortal Kombat: Annihilation’s many other flaws, this early death immediately set the sequel off in the wrong direction. All of this resulted in a dismal 4% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes.

The untimely death of Johnny Cage in the 1997 film ultimately means that the character has not starred in a movie in the franchise since the original Mortal Kombat in 1995.

Releasing the Mortal Kombat films without Johnny Cage is almost like releasing several Batman films in a row without Batman. Fortunately, based on all the Mortal Kombat 2 reveals, Johnny Cage will likely have a much bigger role in the 2024 sequel.

 

MK2 is already handling Cage well

 

The cast of the first Mortal Kombat was primarily unknowns. But for Mortal Kombat 2, Warner Bros. cast Karl Urban as Johnny Cage. Urban is known for playing such robust and stoic characters as Billy Butcher in The Boys and Judge Dredd in the criminally overlooked Dredd. In the previous film, all of the actors who brought the characters in the video game to life gave great performances. Jash Lawson as Kano was particularly outstanding.

However, casting a popular and recognisable actor as Johnny Cage proves that Warner Bros. is serious about returning the character.

Karl Urban will undoubtedly give a terrific performance as the movie star martial artist. But he will also bring the comedy. Not much has been revealed about the sequel yet, but a behind-the-scenes photo from MK2 shows Karl Urban in full make-up. Which includes the iconic sunglasses and perfectly combed hair. What’s most exciting about Ubran being cast as Cage is that the role almost guarantees he’ll be starring. Warner Bros. wouldn’t have cast Urban in the role if Cage wasn’t important in Mortal Kombat 2.

Source: EW