While the announcement of Mortal Kombat 2 caused our eyes to roll so hard, it would’ve been physically impossible to watch the sequel – and thankfully so after Simon McQuoid’s dismal effort with the much-hyped franchise reboot – the prospect of Karl Urban portraying Johnny Cage (real name: John Carlton) has corrected our vision and reeled us right back in.
The Wrap reports the beloved character actor of Amazon’s The Boys, Dredd, Star Trek, and The Lord of the Rings fame is currently a top candidate for the gig; which was intentionally left up in the air by a post-credit scene featured in the last movie, wherein MMA fighter turned champion for good, Cole Young (Lewis Tan), ventured forth to seek out the martial arts movie star and primary Earthrealm defender in Los Angeles.
Considering what we’ve already witnessed from Karl Urban during his stint as Billy Butcher in Amazon’s The Boys – a perfect balance of brash cockiness, roll-up-your-sleeves-to-get-the-job-done attitude, plus a concealed measure of humanity – the bloke seems like a very appropriate choice to bring Johnny Cage to life in Mortal Kombat 2. Although there is a growing contingent of fans who have actively been campaigning for WWE star The Miz.
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Aussie director Simon McQuoid is set to return, hopefully with a better sense of action cinema so as to not squander the production’s cast of legitimate martial art talent by reducing their choreography to sub-par cinematography; while the screenplay has been accomplished by Moon Knight and The Umbrella Academy scribe Jeremy Slater.
Assuming Mortal Kombat 2 picks up where Mortal Kombat left off, we can also expect the return of Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Mehcad Brooks as Jackson “Jax” Bridges. Ludi Lin as Liu Kang; with Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Hiroyuki Sanada as Hanzo Hasashi / Scorpion, and potentially Joe Taslim as another iteration of Sub-Zero (i.e. Kuai Liang).
Keep an eye out here for updates on Mortal Kombat 2.
