- calendar_today September 3, 2025
Karl Urban Kicks Off the Fight as Johnny Cage in New MK Sequel
No matter that Karl Urban has spent the past few years as a bad guy dressed in a butcher’s apron and a red hat in The Boys, in the upcoming Mortal Kombat II, he will be seen in designer shades and a martial artist’s attire. The Lord of the Rings and Star Trek alum is joining the cast of the movie as the show-off, martial arts superstar Johnny Cage, who is a longtime favorite among the fans of the decades-old video game series. The film is a follow-up to Warner Bros.’ 2021 reboot and the fourth live-action adaptation of the Mortal Kombat franchise since the 1995 original.
Dead-on-timing was used in this trailer’s release; it came out only a day after Warner Bros. had released an in-universe false trailer for a stereotypical ’90s action movie called Uncaged Fury, supposedly “starring” Johnny Cage, who was played in the mock trailer by Urban. The spoof faux trailer had Cage’s other mock-movie credits read out with obvious spoof, such as Cool Hand Cage, Hard to Cage, and Rebel Without a Cage.
This year, 2025, is the 30th anniversary of the release of the first live-action Mortal Kombat, which, if it was a flop critically upon its release, became a box-office hit and developed a cult following, and fans will always love Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa’s portrayal of sorcerer Shang Tsung as the standard. The 1997 Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, the first film’s sequel, was anything but successful; it tanked critically and commercially, and the game publisher, Midway, filed for bankruptcy, not long after its release.
When Warner Bros. bought the rights to the property, Simon McQuoid was put in charge of the reboot of the original film almost two decades after it was made. The 2021 reboot led fans to Lewis Tan, who played Cole Young, a mixed martial artist who gets thrown into the middle of a war between rival realms to become the champion of Earthrealm. The critical response to the film was underwhelming, and commercial success was modest, but not enough for the studio to greenlight a sequel at the time. However, the film’s revenue was sufficient for the studio to continue with the franchise, and McQuoid has been signed up to return to the director’s chair for the sequel. That film, which is being billed as Mortal Kombat II, left the audience with Cole heading to Los Angeles in the hopes of enlisting Johnny Cage to his team. In the sequel, the characters are ready for battle.
The Familiar Faces of the Old are Back with a New Fighter, and a Slightly Self-Aware Johnny Cage
In its official synopsis of Mortal Kombat II, it has been taken for granted that the viewers have watched the first film. This time, the champions, who are now accompanied by Cage, have to fight to the death, no rules, for the sake of Earthrealm and to stop Shao Kahn from invading and destroying Earthrealm. A lot of weight is on their shoulders, because the fate of the whole realm is in the hands of these warriors.
Lewis Tan is returning to the role as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee will be Sonya Blade, Joe Taslim will be playing Bi-Han/Noob Saibot, also known as Sub-Zero, Tadanobu Asano will be Raiden, the Lord of Thunder, Josh Lawson will reprise his role as Kano, Ludi Lin is Liu Kang, Mehcad Brooks will be Jax Briggs, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, and Max Huang as Kung Lao.
The trailers have set the tone with a tongue-in-cheek nod to Cage and his self-aware persona. In the film’s opening scene, Cage, who is in a dive bar somewhere, has been spotted by a fan who enthusiastically remarks, “I loved Citizen Cage when I was a kid. They should do a reboot!” Cage has become a bitter man due to his career going south, who deadpans back and dismisses the fan’s sentiment by saying, “Nobody wants that.” Cage continues the conversation by informing the fan that his brand of action flicks stopped being produced back in the 1990s.
Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) and Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) then come in to snap the star athlete out of his funk. The two inform Cage that, “You have been chosen to fight.” Cage looks at the two incredulously as he just assumed they were both being overenthusiastic fans; his disbelief is short-lived as he then gets whisked away to some otherworldly colosseum where he has a description for what is taking place – a “fighting tournament to the death.” Cage is not at all interested and is highly reluctant to participate. After Raiden mentions the words “tournament of champions,” his blunt response is: “F— that.”
Cage quickly points out to Raiden that he has no supernatural powers, as he tries to back out of the fight and insists, “I’m just incredibly handsome.” But he changes his mind when Raiden tells him the fate of Earthrealm depends on him. He does, however, have one condition when Raiden agrees, as Cage only states one request: Don’t hurt my face. From here, out come all the action-adventure stuff the viewers would expect from a Mortal Kombat film – bloody, stylized killings, finishing moves, and one-liners (Scorpion: “Get over here!”).
The film, which has equal parts of gory violence and light-hearted humor, seems to be everything the franchise fanatics would want. It is doubtful if it will bring in new fans in droves, but it is not that the franchise does not have a proven track record.
Mortal Kombat II will be released on October 24, 2025.
