The first bloody trailerfor the newMortal Kombatmovie is here, and holy kow are there a lot of characters to sort out. The trailer itself lays out the familiar narrative just fine, but there are so many blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that we had to revisit this video frame by frame to break it all down.
First up, here’s the official synopsis forMortal Kombat:
From New Line Cinema comes the explosive new cinematic adventure ‘Mortal Kombat,’ inspired by the blockbuster video game franchise, which most recently enjoyed the most successful video game launch in its history, ‘Mortal Kombat 11.’ In ‘Mortal Kombat,’ MMA fighter Cole Young, accustomed to taking a beating for money, is unaware of his heritage—or why Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down. Fearing for his family’s safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Soon, he finds himself at the temple of Lord Raiden, an Elder God and the protector of Earthrealm, who grants sanctuary to those who bear the mark. Here, Cole trains with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano, as he prepares to stand with Earth’s greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe. But will Cole be pushed hard enough to unlock his arcana—the immense power from within his soul—in time to save not only his family, but to stop Outworld once and for all?
That description namedrops a bunch of characters, most of whom we’ve seen in their own character posters (featured below) along with casting information for each of them:Ludi Linstarsas Liu Kang,Joe Taslimas Bi-Han a.k.a. Sub-Zero,Josh Lawsonas Kano,Tadanobu Asanoas Raiden,Jessica McNameeas Sonya Blade,Max Huangas Kung Lao,Hiroyuki Sanadaas Hanzo Hasashi a.k.a. Scorpion,Mehcad Brooksas Major Jackson “Jax” Briggs,Chin Hanas Shang Tsung,Sisi Stringeras Mileena, possible appearances by Kabal (Daniel Nelson) and Nitara (Elissa Cadwell), andLewis Tanstarring as protagonist and newcomer (?) to the franchise, Cole Young.
But is he really a newcomer, or just a familiar character going by a different name, perhaps before choosing a different moniker to enter a deadly fighting tournament? And are there other characters who haven’t been cast or confirmed just yet? We’ll aim to answer those questions and more in the breakdown below:
Cole Young a.k.a. Johnny Cage? Or Satoshi Hasashi a.k.a. Jubei? Chosen One?
Here you see protagonist Cole Young, an MMA fighter known for taking out opponents in the iconic octagon cage. Cole is the “everyman” in this movie. That is, an everyman who was born with a kickass dragon-shaped birthmark that singled you out for mortal kombat in a winner-take-all tournament to the death. Sonya tells Cole (and the audience) as much in the trailer, but Emily Young (Matilda Kimber) also overhears this. Emily, likely Cole’s daughter, probably features in this story as Cole’s point of vulnerability. It’s possible that, to protect her, Cole would enter the most deadly tournament of his career with a completely made-up ring name, perhaps: Johnny Cage.
However, it’s entirely possible that Cole actually has otherMortal Kombatkonnections. (I promise I’ll quit it with the ks.) In what appears to be a flashback sequence to Hanzo Hasashi defending his home from assassins with his trusty rope dart / kunai rope (though it was too late for his wife and, probably, his child, who can be seen frozen to death in the background), we see some sort of connection between Cole and the soon-to-be-resurrected fighter known as Scorpion. Could Cole be a more recent resurrected version of Hanzo Hasashi himself? Or perhaps, as internet sleuths suggests, a resurrected version of Scorpion’s son, Satoshi Hasashi, lovingly referred to by the nickname Jubei?
What we don’t seen in the trailer, however, is a still that was released earlier in the movie’s marketing, namely the arrival of Bi-Han, a.k.a. Sub-Zero, to likely finish off Hanzo Hasashi.
Could this be the moment that led to the one if not both of these rival ninjas being resurrected into their iconic suited selves? Time will tell.
Whoever Cole Young really is will probably be revealed throughout the course of the movie. Will he end up with Sonya Blade to carry on the next generation ofMortal Kombatants? Will he continue the resurrection cycle of Scorpion in an endless battle against rival Sub-Zero? Who knows! At least he gets his own character poster along with the rest of the team.
We’ll have answers when the movie arrives this April. So in the meantime, let’s take a look at the rest of the team assembled thanks to this first trailer.
Usually an antagonist, the Australian mercenary and Black Dragon crime syndicate member has often come to blows with Sonya Blade, Jax, and other Special Forces characters throughout the franchise’s many adaptations. In the new movie, it looks like Kano, sans laser eye for the moment, has actually teamed up with Sonya, Liu Kang, and Cole in order to enter the tournament. Since Sonya whoops his ass in the desert and the sleeveless bro can be seen in their company throughout, perhaps it’s a sort ofSuicide Squadsituation where Kano is offered a chance to work off his criminal sentencing. Good luck with that plan!
What wedoknow is that Kano will show off his eye-laser eventually (wouldn’t you?), will somehow fight what appears to be Reptile (not even in the tournament, yet!) and deliver a heart-grabbing Fatality (inspired by the video game, of course), and then probably betray the entire team, as you do. (You can definitely see a shot of Kung Lao deflecting what is presumably Kano’s eye laser in this trailer, so whether they’re “training” or fighting to the death, I leave it up to you to decide.)
Will Kano eventually work for Shao Kahn or some other nefarious otherworldly powerhouse? Stay tuned to find out!
Liu Kang & Kung Lao
Liu Kang led the charge forMortal Kombat’s heroes throughout most of the franchise’s run, in video games, live-action features, and animated movies alike. Fellow Shaolin monk (and possibly cousin) Kung Lao has gotten the short end of the stick in most of the story’s retellings. That trend seems to continue in this trailer. Liu Kang gets to show off a ton of fiery skills, including the classic fireball and a summoned dragon of fire, while Kung Lao gets to, well, deflect a laser with his shiny, razor-edged hat. Hopefully we see more of both heroes in the movie.
Liu Kang, for his part, appears to battle Kabal in this trailer, giving us our only brief look at the often-masked, dual hooksword-wielding cop-turned-Black Dragon member. (Kabal and Kano have quite the history together, so maybe that will factor in as well.)
Please give this dude at least one cool hat move before killing him off, thanks.
Sonya Blade
Leading the charge for the Good Guys, and the exposition in this first trailer, is Special Forces member Sonya Blade. Turns out that her previous squad’s run-in with Sub-Zero went catastrophically. We can expect her (and Jax … definitely Jax) to try to get revenge for their fallen comrades. (We also know that Sonya, at some point, will get her hands on some energy weapons, which she uses to blast the ever-loving hell out of Mileena. RIP Mileena, probably.)
Sub-Zero & Scorpion
Perhaps the most iconic character in all ofMortal Kombat, Sub-Zero seems to be an all-out villain in this movie. We’ve already seen multiple battles between Sub-Zero and Scorpion, and their less resurrected and ninja-fied forms, but the movie will wisely focus on even more clashes between these two; they kind of exist within their own rivalry despite anything else going on around them.
Sub-Zero gets the best display of his power set in this trailer. We see corpses frozen solid in the background, blades forged of his enemy’s blood in the foreground (an homage to one of his Fatalities), and the closest thing this trailer has to a Fatality as Sub-Zero throws an injured Scorpion through an ice wall.
He also made one particular city streetveryicy, which is honestly just rather rude.
Scorpion makes a good case for being the most-recognized character in this franchise, so one wonders if that’s what he and Sub-Zero are always fighting about. But you can’t have ice without fire, and you can’t have Sub-Zero without Scorpion. I, for one, am very curious to see how this new movie plays with some very old conventions here.
Jax Briggs
Pardon the phrasing but Jax gets absolutely jacked up early on in this trailer, courtesy of Sub-Zero. The icy ninja freezes Jax’s bullets in place as they leave the gun, just before ripping his arms clean off of him. The good news for Jax is that he gets a hell of an upgrade. And his arms look much better in this movie version than they have in most of the franchise’s history, opting for a more mechanical look than simple metal plating. His hands may look a bit like the T-1000, but this is one cyborg we’d prefer to have on our side just the same.
But who the heck is he beating on in this scene? Some mohawk-having, armor-sporting goon? Not sure who we have here, but if the movie wants to tell the saga of the Cyborg Lin Kuei, they could be starting here with this character. Is it Sektor, Cyrax, Smoke? Hard to say, but it would be an interesting way to get into that completely insane lore.
And speaking of cyborgs … is this a shot of Smoke entering into the picture? Or perhaps Noob Saibot? Or is it just a flashy way for Sub-Zero to make an entrance? Hard to say…
While we can see Mileena on team Shang Tsung in this trailer, we can also see that she’s not long for the (Out)world. A fight against Sonya Blade looks like it’s going to end rather painfully for the clone experiment. However, Mileena has been known to possess self-healing and regenerative properties in the games, so perhaps a blast to the midsection is not necessarily a flawless victory for Sonya in this case.
Lord Raiden
Almost always the leader of the Good Guys (when he’s not being corrupted by trying to find loopholes in infinite timelines), Raiden seems to take a bit of a back seat in this movie, judging from what we’ve seen so far. Raiden will probably arrive to choose his pieces and set the stage for them to fight. It looks like we’ll see Raiden arrive in a signature lightning strike, perhaps to revive the fallen Hanzo Hasashi.
Regardless, we’ll see Raiden assemble the team of Kano, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Sonya Blade, and Cole Young to enter the title tournament. (And is that one of Kitana’s fans on the side?)
Shang Tsung
We don’t have many shots of the tournament host and soul-stealing sorcerer Shang Tsung in this trailer, but we hope they’re saving the best for the movie itself. Shang Tsung clearly has his team of chosen fighters, namely Sub-Zero and Mileena we think, which will go up against Raiden’s team and Shao Kahn’s warriors. Shang Tsung has lived for quite some time, which seems to be a common theme with the more magical characters in the franchise, and in that time, he’s added more and more rivals and nemeses to his list. First and foremost among them is Liu Kang, but you can bet that the Good Guys will find plenty of reasons to want to take this perennial nasty down.
Shao Kahn & His Outworld Forces
Is that a statue shrine or the Outworld ruler Shao Kahn himself? Hard to say, but traditionally, the Kahn is the title of the ruler of this realm. Shao Kahn managed to hold onto it for thousands upon thousands of years, though other challengers have since ascended to the throne. We’re not expecting that to happen inMortal Kombat, but it’s certainly a possibility. That is, if our chosen hero can get past one of Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung’s most favored warriors: Goro.
We’re assuming that’s Cole in the image above, because it seems like the chosen hero has more than a birthmark going for him. In multiple shots from this trailer alone – the fight between Sub-Zero and Scorpion in the frozen gym, the battle between Sonya Blade and Mileena – this same dude keeps showing up, always rocking the black pants with red trim and encased in some sort of rocky glyph armor. He looks remarkably like the ancient painting that tells of the tournament and its chosen victor, minus the spiked bracelets:
Is Cole Young actually going to be some brand new hero born of the legend ofMortal Kombat? We’ll find out on April 16th. But just as the trailer teases the classic theme song in its closing moments, so too will we leave you with a timeless throwback, courtesy ofThe Immortals:
