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'Mortal Kombat' Trailer: Where is Johnny Cage? How Cole Young could take his MMA stage name in HBO Max remake

The recently released trailer of 'Mortal Kombat' has left fans disappointed as it features most of the characters from the video game franchise, except Johnny Cage

The first trailer of the ‘Mortal Kombat’ film was released on February 18, 2021, and it featured the ensemble cast of Lewis Tan, Jessica McNamee, Josh Lawson, Ludi Lin, and others. The latest installment in the martial arts, fantasy action franchise is directed by Simon McQuoid on Greg Russo with Dave Callaham’s screenplay.

The new trailer of ‘Mortal Kombat’ is filled with action sequences but fans are disappointed at not seeing Johnny Cage in it.

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‘Mortal Kombat’ will follow Cole Young (Tan), a washed-up mixed martial arts fighter who is unaware of his hidden lineage and why he is being hunted down by Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim) of the Lin-Kuei clan of assassins. After things start to get out of control, Young seeks out a clique of fighters chosen to defend Earthrealm in a high-stake battle against the forces of Outworld.

The ‘Mortal Kombat’ movie features several characters from the original video game franchise like Kano, Raiden, Shang Tsung, Kung Lao, Mileena, Nitara and Kabal. However, fans expected to see Cage in the HBO Max reboot of the original ‘Mortal Kombat’ film series.

You can watch the trailer here.

Who is Johnny Cage?

In ‘Mortal Kombat’ video game franchise, Jonathan “Johnny Cage” Carlton is a fictional character first introduced in 1992. The character is hugely inspired by actor Jean-Claude Van Damme, who provides comic relief to the franchise. In the non-game media, Cage has become a fan-favorite character. The general and critical reception of the character has been mostly positive because of his characterization and gameplay.

In the original ‘Mortal Kombat’ video game, Cage was featured as a martial artist and actor who enters the Shaolin Tournament simply to show everyone that he does not use any special effects or graphics when he does action scenes in his movies. However, he is also tricked into entering the tournament by the sorcerer Shang Tsung. Upon arriving at the tournament, Cage learns the truth from the thunder god Raider and later aligns himself with the Earthrealm warriors.

When Paul Anderson brought the video game saga to the big screen, actor Linden Ashby portrayed Cage. The movie was made against a $18 million budget but earned over $122 million at the worldwide box office collection. When it was announced that a new ‘Mortal Kombat’ would release in 2021, fans hoped to see Cage helping the Earthrealm warriors.

Cole Young is Johnny Cage?

After the release of the ‘Mortal Kombat’ trailer, fans were excited to see several prominent characters from the original video game franchise. However, several characters, including Jack, seem to be missing from the recently released trailer. Fans instantly took to Twitter to show their disdain for not bringing such a powerful character to the big screen.

One user wrote: "The fact Johnny Cage wasn't in the movie sucks but worst of all the Sub Zero vs Scorpion fight was very anti climactic super slow movement not impressed at all." Another wrote: "How do you have a Mortal Kombat movie without Johnny Cage That's like throwing salt and butter on kernels and then trying to eat it". While another fan tweeted: "God i hope the movie is as good as this trailer. No johnny cage here... must be a big twist/reveal they dont want to spoil?" Another fan hoped: "#MortalKombatMovie Where is Johnny Cage? Okay really. This is why we cannot have nice things. Can we stop complaining about something for once that might actually be good. It really does give us a bad name." Another fan tweeted: "My only problem with the trailer was the lack of the Chad Johnny Cage".

However, the movie's producer Todd Garner gave a cryptic response when a fan asked him about Cage in the movie. When a fan said to Garner that he is "bummed" by the fact that Johnny Cage is not present in the released trailer, Garner replied to him by writing, "He’s not not in it", making several to believe that even though Cage was not present in the trailer, there are chances that he will be in the movie is some capacity. One fan even pointed out that Young would take Cage as his MMA name in the movie. Another resonated similar thoughts: "the fact that cole young might be johnny cage gives me hope but also...the fact that johnny cage aint really in the movie makes me kinda sad. he's apart of the original roster, he shoulda had his debut in this movie too but maybe he's a post credit scene or sumn".

'Mortal Kombat' movie will arrive on HBO Max and in theaters on April 16, 2021.

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