Johnny Cage’s Legacy Lives On in Mortal Kombat II with Karl Urban

From donning the Butcher’s coat in The Boys to trading in the apron for a chef’s hat in Realive, Karl Urban has been playing the antihero archetype more than his share as of late. In a surprising turn, he will be trading in that persona for a pair of shades and a slicker haircut for the sequel.

Urban is set to play the egotistical, ultra-confident action star of martial arts films, Johnny Cage. A favorite character among fans of the popular video game franchise, the New Zealand-born star will pick up where the first film left off in the yet-to-be-released Mortal Kombat II. The upcoming sequel to Warner Bros.’s recent reboot of Mortal Kombat will be the fourth live-action film in the series, the first of which was released all the way back in 1995.

Deadline notes the trailer was dropped the day after Warner Bros. released a fake in-universe trailer for Uncaged Fury, a B-list action flick from the ’90s “starring” Johnny Cage. The tongue-in-cheek faux trailer also featured Cage’s “other” movie titles, such as Cool Hand Cage, Hard to Cage, and Rebel Without a Cage.

The 2025 sequel also happens to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the original live-action Mortal Kombat, which was critically panned in 1995 but ended up a box office hit, going on to garner cult status. Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa’s performance as the sorcerer Shang Tsung in that first film is still revered by fans as the definitive portrayal. The movie’s less-than-stellar sequel, 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, however, was a critical and financial disaster, and Midway, the game’s publisher, went bankrupt shortly after the film’s release.

Years later, Warner Bros. would purchase the rights to the franchise, and the studio hired Simon McQuoid to direct a reboot, nearly 25 years after the original. Lewis Tan, who played Cole Young, an MMA fighter drawn into the war for Earthrealm in the 2021 Mortal Kombat, returned as the lead of that reboot, which earned lukewarm reviews, though it performed well enough to secure a sequel, also to be helmed by McQuoid. That first film ended with Young setting out for Los Angeles to find Johnny Cage, so the sequel will pick up right there.

The official synopsis for the new Mortal Kombat II assumes audiences have already seen the first film. The trailer confirms all of the returning champions are there, with the bonus of Johnny Cage. They face Shao Kahn’s assembled doomsday squad in a nonstop, no-holds-barred battle for the fate of the realm. In a “fighting tournament to the death,” the stakes have never been higher.

Some 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), 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.

The live-action sequel also has several new fighters joining the fight, including Adeline Rudolph as Kitana, Tati Gabrielle as Jade, Damon Herriman who voiced the character Kabal in the first film will now be portraying Quan Chi, Martyn Ford as Shao Kahn, CJ Bloomfield as Baraka, Desmond Chiam as King Jerrod, and Ana Thu Nguyen as Queen Sindel.

The trailer wastes no time in throwing fans a wink as it first humorously and self-awarely introduces Cage. He is at a bar, ordering a drink, when he is noticed by a fan. “I loved Citizen Cage as a kid,” the star-struck fan explains. “They should do a reboot!” Johnny Cage (Urban) replies sardonically that “nobody wants that” because his type of films went out of fashion in the 1990s, still bitter from his fall from grace.

Enter Sonya and Raiden, who inform Cage that he has been chosen to fight. He does a double-take and thinks he is being set up by two fans going a little too far, until he is teleported by Raiden to a mystical battleground in some other world for said fighting tournament to the death. He quite predictably balks at the prospect: “F— that.”

He protests that he does not possess any of the other characters’ special powers, saying, “The only superpower I’ve got is that I’m just incredibly handsome.” He eventually changes his tune when he is told Earthrealm is at stake, but he does note that he “wouldn’t mind if people didn’t punch” his face.

The trailer cuts to the bloody, brutal action that audiences expect from Mortal Kombat, complete with over-the-top fatalities, catchphrases, and the requisite fight-to-the-death moves, including Scorpion’s infamous “Get over here!”

The Mortal Kombat II sequel is aiming squarely at pleasing die-hard fans of the film franchise, with plenty of violence, over-the-top action, and a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. If it can land on the first two, while perhaps cutting a wider swath with the humor, the film may also connect with the larger casual audience. Either way, it won’t be shying away from being absurd.

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