Mortal Kombat 2 will be coming to theaters 24th October, and now we have a fresh look at the upcoming sequel.
These latest images give us our best look yet at The Boys star Karl Urban as Johnny Cage, as well as Martyn Ford as Shao Kahn, Adeline Rudolph as Kitana and Hiroyuki Sanada, who is reprising his role as Scorpion.
Johnny’s “integration into the Mortal Kombat story and universe is a big part of what this movie explores,” NetherRealm’s Ed Boon told EW. “He’s a washed-up Hollywood guy thrown into this magical, ultra-violent thing. Karl, his depiction of Johnny Cage is different than our games in some ways.
“He’s adding his own flare to it, but I think it’ll feel fresh. There’s like a novelty factor in there.”
Boon added Johnny’s introduction in the film is “ridiculously hilarious”, with the game developer stating his debut incited “some of the biggest laughs” during the film’s early screenings.
Mortal Kombat 2’s director Simon McQuoid said the movie team “wanted a character that wasn’t just completely silly, comic book… It’s a character that could instantly go there and become too light and throwaway if we were to lean too much into the kind of cheese”.
The director believes Urban’s casting has “allowed that character to have more depth”.
In addition to Urban, Adeline Rudolph – who previously starred in Netflix’s The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina – will play Princess Kitana. Meanwhile, fellow Sabrina alum Tati Gabrielle is Kitana’s bodyguard, Jade.
This is not Gabrielle’s first foray into the video game adaptation scene. She also starred as Jo Braddock in 2022’s Uncharted film adaptation, and has been cast in The Last of Us’ second season as Nora, “a military medic struggling to come to terms with the sins of her past”.
Along with these new images, EW revealed new movie-accurate skins of characters including Urban’s Johnny, Rudolph’s Kitana, and Ford’s Shao Kahn are coming to Mortal Kombat 1 some time later this year.
Eurogamer’s former editor Wesley Yin-Poole wasn’t overly keen on the first Mortal Kombat film when it came out a few years ago, calling it “boring”.
“There’s just enough low-rent entertainment to prevent the Mortal Kombat movie from being a complete disaster, but it’s tough to recommend when it costs £16 to rent online. A tenner straight to Blu-ray feels like a better fit,” he wrote in Eurogamer’s Mortal Kombat movie review.