Regardless of what fans thought of the last Mortal Kombat movie, the film managed to get enough buzz, and a sequel is currently underway.
It’s been revealed for a while that The Boys star Karl Urban will be playing the part of series mascot Johnny Cage, but the movie is also set to bring back some other faces from the games that were absent from the first movie.
Every New Character in Mortal Kombat II
While Johnny Cage is the latest of Team Raiden to join the fight, the movie is also going to be introducing Outworld Princess Kitana (Adeline Rudoplh). It’s also not clear where her allegiance lies, but Jade (Tati Gabrielle) is also going to be making her debut in MKII.
As for villains, this movie is going to be the one that introduces longtime series villain Shao Khan (Martyn Ford) and his queen Sindel (Ana Thu Nguyen). The movie will also be introducing the series' resident evil sorcerer Quan Chi (Damon Herriman) as well as the chaotic neutral Baraka (CJ Bloomfield).
While there are a lot of new characters incoming, there will be some returning faces from the first movie—as well as some faces that people weren’t really expecting back.
Which Character is Coming Back?
For one, all the surviving EarthRealm warriors are returning with Sonya (Jessica McNamee), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Jax (Mehcad Brooks), and Cole (Lewis Tan). Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) and Shang Tsung (Chin Han) will also be making a return.
Surprisingly, though they died in the first movie, Kung Lao (Max Huang) and Kano (Josh Lawson) will be returning for the sequel (possibly as revenants); and while their arcs seem to have been completed in the last film, Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada) and Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) will also be coming back for MKII—specifically Sub-Zero is going to be returning as the black ninja Noob Saibot.
It’s kind of bad that Mileena won’t be making a comeback for this sequel, seeing that she has a very interesting history with Kitana, who is going to be showing up in this movie. Maybe they can resurrect her as a clone down the line? This series isn’t safe from all kinds of campy plot points.
The Story
It’s still unclear what kind of story fans can expect with the sequel, but maybe this time fans will actually get to see the Mortal Kombat tournament. With the first movie having everyone focused on getting their ‘invite’, it was kind of a bummer to watch the credits role with no real tournament taking place.
The sequel should finally have Liu Kang’s fated duel with Shang Tsung, but it’s possible that the movie may want to shake up the familiar formula this time around. Even the games have just done a full reboot of the canon, so you can’t blame them.
Hopefully this time around, the films just embrace how kooky the story of MK actually is. Because while the action was magnificent, a lot of fans thought the movie kind of took itself too seriously. So much for a franchise that’s a love letter to campy B-movies.
Mortal Kombat II is set to hit theaters on Oct. 24.