Casting in movies, TV shows, and even video games via voice acting is critical for the media itself to come off right to viewers. You can probably all think of a game, show, or film that had “improper casting,” and it brought the whole thing down. For the upcoming Mortal Kombat 2 film, the follow-up to the 2021 reboot of the bloodthirsty franchise, many key characters from the gaming series vast lore will be brought in to help fill out the official tournament. One of those characters was teased at the end of the first film: Johnny Cage.
Johnny Cage is a character that is far more nuanced than you might expect. If you were to “boil him down,” you’d be told that he’s just a B-level actor who makes forgettable films with decent action sequences. The catch, though, is that Johnny was always so good at what he did that it looked fake, even though it wasn’t. That made him a perfect addition to EarthRealm’s crew in the various Mortal Kombat tournaments that he was in. He also got hitched to Sonya Blade and had a kid with her, so he has a lot more emotional depth than you’d expect.
Thus, given the lukewarm reception to the reboot, Mortal Kombat 2 needed to cast the perfect guy to play the many layers of Johnny Cage. Thus, they brought in Karl Urban, a man who revels in playing “complicated men who like to fight a lot.” Seriously, look at some of his best roles, and you’ll see how good he is at playing that type of role.
Now, while we don’t have any official footage of Urban as Johnny Cage, the film team did drop a “movie poster” for one of Cage’s films in the universe. Check it out:
Yep, that feels like a “Johnny Cage movie,” doesn’t it? In the previous film, the reason we knew Cage was coming was because of another movie poster called “Citizen Cage,” with the tagline “Fight For Your Rights,” a reference to the fights that Cage would do in his films.
It’ll be curious to see what they do with Johnny in the movie. Will he be already “down and out” in his acting career, or is he starting to “feel the pressure” of trying to get more roles? Or will they do something different and have to truly convince Johnny to come on the side of EarthRealm?
Only time, and Johnny Cage, will tell.
