Mortal Kombat II: A Washed-Up Cage Fights for Earthrealm

Karl Urban Will Be Seen Donning Sunglasses as Johnny Cage in the Sequel to the Upcoming Mortal Kombat Film

Karl Urban is hanging up his signature coat that he donned as the Butcher in The Boys for the more seasoned shade as the publicity-shy, martial arts action star Johnny Cage in the upcoming Mortal Kombat sequel. The new installment follows 2021’s Warner Bros. Mortal Kombat reboot, and is the fourth live-action Mortal Kombat film since the release of the first live-action Mortal Kombat in 1995.

The release date of the trailer is also no accident, arriving a single day after Warner Bros. released an in-universe trailer for Uncaged Fury, a made-up ’90s cheeseball action film “starring” the late ’80s and early ’90s Kung-Fu action movie star Johnny Cage. The fake trailer also poked fun at Cage’s other non-existent movies, such as Cool Hand Cage, Hard to Cage, and Rebel Without a Cage.

The sequel also lands on the calendar in 2025, as the year also marks the 30th anniversary of the first live-action Mortal Kombat, which was a box office success but a critical bomb at the time of its release and since then has become a cult classic for fans of the game. Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa’s Shang Tsung will always be the definitive version for many who grew up playing the game during the film’s release. A direct sequel to the first film, 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, was a critical and financial bomb, with the game’s publisher, Midway, soon filing for bankruptcy not long after the film’s release.

Decades later, Warner Bros. purchased the rights to Mortal Kombat and brought on Simon McQuoid to direct their reboot over two decades since the first film. 2021’s Mortal Kombat, which introduced audiences to Lewis Tan’s Cole Young, an MMA fighter who discovers that he is caught in a battle between the gods of two rival realms over the fate of Earthrealm, had a mixed reception, but was a commercial success, and it has been green-lit for a sequel, again with McQuoid directing. The first film closed with Cole Young traveling to Los Angeles to recruit Johnny Cage.

The official synopsis for Mortal Kombat II also comes with the assumption that viewers have already seen the first film in the new series, or at the very least are familiar with it. In the follow-up, the champions are now joined by Cage, as they square off in a no-holds-barred, all-out war against Shao Kahn’s rule in a battle for the very existence of Earthrealm.

Returning cast members from the first film include Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han/Noob Saibot (aka Sub-Zero/Sub Zero), Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Josh Lawson as Kano, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Mehcad Brooks as Jax Briggs, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, and Max Huang as Kung Lao.

New cast members in Mortal Kombat II include Adeline Rudolph as Kitana, Tati Gabrielle as Jade, Damon Herriman, the voice of Kabal from the first film, now playing the new character Quan Chi, Martyn Ford as Shao Kahn, CJ Bloomfield as Baraka, Desmond Chiam as King Jerrod, and Ana Thu Nguyen as Queen Sindel.

One look at the trailer for the film reveals that Mortal Kombat II is being extremely self-aware, especially in the introduction of its classic character, Johnny Cage. In a scene in the new trailer, he is sitting in a rundown bar when a fan comes up to him. “I loved Citizen Cage as a kid,” Cage is told. “They should do a reboot!” Cage, who is rather bitter about his apparent fall from grace, counters that “nobody wants that” because nobody goes to action star movies “like that” anymore, any more than in the 1990s.

Soon, Raiden and Sonya Blade barge in on Cage, telling him, “You have been chosen to fight.” At first, he thinks they are just rabid fans, but the two drag him away to an otherworldly arena, to compete in what is described as a “fighting tournament to the death.” “F— that,” Cage retorts. He tells Raiden and Sonya that “I don’t have mutant powers. And I’m not jumping through portals in space.” Cage points out that “all I have is this,” tapping his chest, “I’m just incredibly handsome,” but is willing to fight when he is told that Earthrealm is at stake. He just wants them not to cut or bruise him in the face. The trailer then follows the beats of what fans would expect from a new Mortal Kombat film—stylized violence, finishing moves, and now-iconic catchphrases like “Get over here!” from Scorpion.

A self-aware update to a long-running franchise isn’t always the best route to take in the film world, as some loyal fans want the new films not to deviate from the source material. With the Mortal Kombat II trailer, it seems that this latest installment in the film series has an easy route to satisfying fans with its expected ultraviolent action and an over-the-top flair for the highly competitive tournament of fighting in the game.

Mortal Kombat II will be in theaters on October 24, 2025.