Cage Comes Alive in Mortal Kombat II With Karl Urban’s Grit

Karl Urban is taking a breather from butchering it up in The Boys Season 5 to slip on a pair of signature shades for the upcoming sequel, Mortal Kombat II. The Lord of the Rings, Dredd, and Star Trek: Short Treks star has been cast as the player’s favorite, smarmy, martial arts action star, Johnny Cage. The new movie is the long-running video game’s second live-action film and is based on the sequel game of the same name. The film comes on the heels of Warner Bros.’ 2021 reboot of Mortal Kombat and is the fourth live-action Mortal Kombat movie since the first one came out in 1995.

The new trailer was smartly released one day after Warner Bros. released a fake in-universe trailer for Uncaged Fury, a trashy 90s-style action movie “starring” Johnny Cage. The faux trailer featured several in-jokes with Cage’s other fictitious movie credits, including the titles Cool Hand Cage, Hard to Cage, and Rebel Without a Cage.

2025 is also the 30th anniversary of the first live-action Mortal Kombat movie, which is universally seen as a critical disaster, but was a box office hit on release and has since become a cult favorite. In particular, Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa’s performance as the sorcerer Shang Tsung is one that many fans still view as the best incarnation of the character. The original film’s lackluster reception was not enough to spare its sequel, 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which was a critical and commercial bomb. Game publisher Midway went bankrupt the following year.

When Warner Bros. eventually acquired the rights to make a live-action Mortal Kombat movie, the studio hired Simon McQuoid to direct a reboot over two decades after the original. That 2021 film introduced Lewis Tan as Cole Young, an MMA fighter and unlikely champion, pitted in the middle of a fight to save Earthrealm. Reviews were mixed for the first film, but it was a commercial success and enough for McQuoid to be hired back to direct the sequel.

The first film ended with Young setting off to Los Angeles to recruit Johnny Cage.

Joining Lewis Tan’s Young are 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).

Adeline Rudolph (Kitana), Tati Gabrielle (Jade), Damon Herriman (previously the voice of Kabal in the first film, he is now playing the character of Quan Chi), Martyn Ford (Shao Kahn), CJ Bloomfield (Baraka), Desmond Chiam (King Jerrod), and Ana Thu Nguyen (Queen Sindel).

In this next Mortal Kombat II trailer, the first character we see is the new Johnny Cage. He’s in a dive bar being spotted by an overenthusiastic fan. “I loved Citizen Cage as a kid,” the fan tells him. “They should do a reboot!” Cage, a man down on his luck and career, is quick to point out that “nobody wants that” because the type of movies he starred in died in the 1990s.

Lord Raiden and Sonya Blade then interrupt Cage to tell him, “You have been chosen to fight.” At first, Cage thinks they’re just some of his biggest fans, but then Raiden “magically” transports him to an otherworldly fighting arena. “We are in a fighting tournament to the death,” Raiden says. Cage responds the way most of us would in that scenario: “F— that.”

The smarmy Johnny Cage explains that he can’t do much because “I don’t have any magic martial arts fighting mojo or whatever you lot have.” “I’m just incredibly handsome,” he continues, which is not enough for Cage, so he opts out. But then Raiden says something that gets his attention: “We are fighting to the death for the survival of an entire realm.” His whole deal changes at that. “Book me right now,” Cage says, but with one condition, “And don’t you f—ing guys hurt my face.”

Of course, the trailer then delivers what Mortal Kombat fans expect it to: over-the-top, bloody, stylized combat, character signature moves, and classic quotes (we have Scorpion saying “Get over here!”). It seems as if the movie, for better or worse, has found the balance between what Mortal Kombat fans want. With over-the-top action and ultra-violence, but this time around with an equal amount of self-aware humor. It’s a recipe that will hopefully resonate with both fans of the game and others who will be new to the franchise.

Mortal Kombat II is set to open in theaters on October 24, 2025.