- calendar_today September 3, 2025
Mortal Kombat’s Cage Match: Karl Urban Joins the Battle
You won’t catch Karl Urban sporting The Boys’ Butcher coat in the upcoming Mortal Kombat II. Instead, the Lord of the Rings and Star Trek alum is set to don a pair of snazzy sunglasses as martial arts movie star and self-proclaimed ladies’ man Johnny Cage. The character is a fan favorite in the video game series that has spanned more than three decades. Mortal Kombat II is a sequel to Warner Bros.’ Mortal Kombat reboot from 2021, and the fourth live-action film in the franchise, counting the original 1995 movie.
Posting the trailer on the same day as a faux “in-universe” trailer from Warner Bros. was a masterclass in marketing. The Saturday installment of its Dawn of the Darks trilogy was a fake trailer for Uncaged Fury, an intentionally cheesy ’90s action film “starring” Johnny Cage. The faux trailer didn’t hold back in spoofing Cage’s other fake movie credits, such as Cool Hand Cage, Hard to Cage, and Rebel Without a Cage.
Warner Bros. and producer James Wan have their fight to end all fights to make with 2025. That’s the 30th anniversary of the first live-action Mortal Kombat, which flopped with critics and audiences but became a box office hit and a cult classic in the decades following its release. Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa’s performance as sorcerer Shang Tsung is still the standard by which most people judge his portrayal of the character. The film’s sequel, 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, is one of the biggest bombs in video game movie history, earning infamy for being both a critical and financial disaster. Game publisher Midway went bankrupt in the wake of its release.
By the time Warner Bros. acquired the rights and rebooted the franchise, over two decades had passed. Simon McQuoid was tasked with writing and directing the new take on Mortal Kombat, which starred Lewis Tan as MMA fighter Cole Young. The film, which introduced audiences to a central character not from the original games, found Young caught in the middle of a war between Earthrealm and its evil counterpart, Outworld. Earthrealm’s fighters battle Outworld’s champions to prevent it from conquering their realm. While it received mixed reviews, the film did enough at the box office to greenlight a sequel, also to be written and directed by McQuoid. The first film ended with Cole leaving for Los Angeles to recruit Johnny Cage, a moment that Mortal Kombat II picks up on.
Characters Return, Characters Are Introduced, and Cage Is Self-Aware
The synopsis for Mortal Kombat II assumes audiences are familiar with the first film, since it provides very little exposition about what happens. This time around, the champions recruited in the first film—now including Cage—gather for an all-out, no-holds-barred fighting tournament to prevent Shao Kahn from conquering Earthrealm. The future of the entire realm is at stake in the fight.
Lewis Tan (Cole Young), Jessica McNamee (Sonya Blade), Joe Taslim (Bi-Han/Noob Saibot, a.k.a. Sub-Zero), Tadanobu Asano (Lord Raiden), Josh Lawson (Kano), Ludi Lin (Liu Kang), Mehcad Brooks (Jax Briggs), Chin Han (Shang Tsung), Hiroyuki Sanada (Scorpion), and Max Huang (Kung Lao) are back for the sequel.
Adeline Rudolph (Kitana), Tati Gabrielle (Jade), Damon Herriman (who voiced Kabal in the last Mortal Kombat but will play Quan Chi here), Martyn Ford (Shao Kahn), CJ Bloomfield (Baraka), Desmond Chiam (King Jerrod), and Ana Thu Nguyen (Queen Sindel) are among the new fighters introduced in the sequel.
The trailer for Mortal Kombat II wastes no time in making clear it knows exactly what it is. After a brief look at the other returning characters, it cuts to Cage being recognized by a fan in a dive bar. “I loved Citizen Cage as a kid,” the fan tells Cage, oblivious to the actor being right there. “They should do a reboot!” In response, Cage, who’s jaded from his fall from fame, says that nobody wants that because his kind of action movies are no longer made.
Enter Raiden and Sonya Blade to interrupt Cage’s lament. “You have been chosen to fight,” Raiden tells Cage, who initially dismisses them as fans simply trying to get a selfie. Sonya instead drags him off, and he’s transported to an otherworldly fighting arena. His new surroundings are described as part of a “fighting tournament to the death.” When Cage is asked if he’s ready to begin the fight, he says, “F— that.”
The actor points out that he’s never had any supernatural fighting abilities, countering his new teammates’ insistence that he is one of the chosen few who can enter the tournament by saying, “I’m just incredibly handsome.” Cage changes his tune when told that the fate of Earthrealm hangs in the balance of the tournament. He does, however, ask that his opponents avoid his face. From there, it’s straight into what Mortal Kombat fans have been conditioned to expect from the game—and its movies—over the years. There’s stylized violence, memorable finishing moves, and a collection of the character’s signature catchphrases, including Scorpion’s immortal “Get over here!”
It looks like the sequel isn’t going to skimp on any of the elements that have made it a series beloved by its loyal fan base. But its over-the-top approach, violent shenanigans, and tongue-in-cheek take on its heroes may not be enough to make it to more casual fans. Mortal Kombat II will arrive in theaters on October 24, 2025.
