- calendar_today September 3, 2025
Johnny Cage Enters the Fight in Mortal Kombat II Trailer
Karl Urban will be removing his infamous Butcher’s coat from his regular rotation of The Boys wardrobe and trading it in for a pair of designer shades for the upcoming Mortal Kombat II. Lord of the Rings and Star Trek alum Urban has signed on to play Johnny Cage in the sequel to Warner Bros.’ 2021 reboot, which is the fourth live-action Mortal Kombat movie to be released since the original was released in 1995.
The new trailer dropped one day after Warner Bros. released an in-universe fake trailer for Uncaged Fury, an absurd, cheesy ’90s action flick “starring” Johnny Cage. The faux Cage vehicle was released as part of an elaborate marketing campaign and features plenty of wink-wink-nudge-nudge references to Cage’s other fake movie credits, including films such as Cool Hand Cage, Hard to Cage, and Rebel Without a Cage.
Warner Bros. is smartly capitalizing on the success of the 2021 reboot by moving quickly with its production. 2025 also happens to be the 30th anniversary of the first live-action Mortal Kombat film, a surprisingly big box office success at the time and now a cult classic, despite being panned by critics when it was first released. Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa’s Shang Tsung is still beloved by fans as the definitive portrayal of the sorcerer.
Its sequel, 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, however, was a disaster both critically and commercially and helped Midway, the game’s publisher, go belly up for good. After Warner Bros. would go on to purchased the rights, the studio hired Simon McQuoid to direct a reboot over two decades after the original.
The 2021 reboot introduced audiences to MMA fighter Cole Young, played by Lewis Tan.. Young is plucked from obscurity to fight in an ancient war over a mystical realm called Earthrealm. Reviews for the film were middling at best, but its financial performance was just enough to warrant a sequel, with McQuoid returning to direct. The original film ends with Cole Young taking to Los Angeles to recruit Johnny Cage and get a chance to fight to protect Earthrealm.
Audiences Who Aren’t “Citizen Cage” Will Get a Chance to Fight
Warner Bros.’ official synopsis for Mortal Kombat II doesn’t waste any time in the assumption that fans of the first film are ones and zeros away from catching up on all the action. This time around, after Cage joins the champions from the first film, the champions will once again fight in an all-out, no-holds-barred battle against Shao Kahn and his army to prevent the latter from conquering Earthrealm. The sequel’s stakes couldn’t be higher, as Earthrealm’s very existence is on the line.
Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Joe Taslim, Tadanobu Asano, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, Mehcad Brooks, Chin Han, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Max Huang will all be reprising their roles from the 2021 film as Cole Young, Sonya Blade, Bi-Han/Noob Saibot (aka Sub-Zero), Lord Raiden, Kano, Liu Kang, Jax Briggs, Shang Tsung, Scorpion, and Kung Lao, respectively.
Adeline Rudolph, Tati Gabrielle, Damon Herriman, Martyn Ford, CJ Bloomfield, Desmond Chiam, and Ana Thu Nguyen will be joining the film as Kitana, Jade, Quan Chi, Shao Kahn, Baraka, King Jerrod, and Queen Sindel, respectively. Herriman is best known as the voice of Kabal in the 2021 film, but will now be playing Quan Chi.
The trailer for Mortal Kombat II wastes no time in giving audiences both an introduction to and an explanation of who Johnny Cage is. As the film opens, Cage is getting noticed by a bar patron in a dilapidated dive. “I loved Citizen Cage as a kid,” the fan tells Cage. “They should do a reboot!” The crowd groans in protest, much to the fan’s surprise, but Cage is in no mood to hear it. “Nobody wants that,” Cage interjects. “Films like that died in the ’90s.”
Enter Raiden and Sonya Blade, who are there to tell Cag, “You have been chosen to fight.” At first, he’s dismissive of the claims as if he and Sonya Blade were nothing more than stalkerish fans for his movies. But the two soon force their way into Cage’s ego by telekinetically bending a building before smacking him with an energy projectile and transporting Cage to another place altogether for a “fighting tournament to the death.”
“I said, no f—ing way!” Cage rants to Sonya and Raiden after he’s arrived at this otherworldly area with countless, 12-foot-tall replica cities to serve as stages for the various fights. “Not only that, but I don’t have any powers. I’m just incredibly handsome,” Cage retorts. But he quickly comes around when he’s told Earthrealm is on the line. He only has one stipulation: “Don’t damage my face, please.” The trailer immediately segues into all the blood-pumping, stomping, signature finishing moves, and one-liners that Mortal Kombat fans are all too familiar with. Mission: Possible!
The Powers That Be at Warner Bros. Know Mortal Kombat Fans Want Foul and Brutal. Foul and Brutal They Shall Have.
Fans who want a Mortal Kombat reboot that doesn’t feel like a reboot but is more of an ode and love letter to the entire franchise can likely rest easy at this point. Mortal Kombat II’s trailer is all that, as well as a good time for cinephiles looking to be thoroughly entertained. The film caters to the love that fans have for the brand by fully embracing and understanding its spectacle, thus making it unlikely to ever come across as a pretentious wink-and-nudge affair.
It’s hard to know at this stage what Mortal Kombat II will do with hardcore Mortal Kombat fans and how it’ll shake down with cinephiles who may or may not be Mortal Kombat fans. The sequel from Simon McQuoid, who directed the 2021 reboot, hits theaters on October 24, 2025.
