Mortal Kombat Reboot Character Breakdowns Revealed
A Mortal Kombat movie starring a mute Kung Lao, a 14-year-old Raiden, and a brand-new fighter never before seen in the franchise? Finish us.
That Hashtag Show rolled out a piping-hot batch of character breakdowns for New Line Cinema's Mortal Kombat reboot film directed by Simon McQuoid, and, in a word, these details are mind-boggling.
The new Mortal Kombat, which comes over two decades after the 1995 Paul Anderson-directed Mortal Kombat and its cringe-worthy 1997 sequel Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, will center around a 30-something "struggling and widowed boxer" from named Cole Turner, whose biggest love in life is his 12-year-old daughter, Emily. Cole is up against some tough challenges, but his incredible determination and refusal to give up "in the face of fantastical adversity" will help guide him out of the darkness.
As we mentioned above, Cole Turner is a total newbie in the Mortal Kombat series, but before anyone cries "fatality," it sounds like he might be a pretty kickass character. He's recruited as a "prophecy chaser" to battle in the tournament that "determines the fate of earth and its inhabitants" — which is the exact type of zaniness we've come to expect from Mortal Kombat.
Other characters confirmed for the Mortal Kombat reboot are Kano, the super-sized and super-strong Australian hired mercenary; Sonya Blade, the "beautiful, brainy blonde writer" who recruits Cole and fights to chase the Mortal Kombat prophecy, hoping to finally earn a medallion in combat; Jackson "Jax" Bridges, the handsome and handless military officer who teams up with Sonya and Cole to fight against the Outworld; Mileena, the "drop dead gorgeous" woman from the Outworld who sports an – ahem — interesting outfit; and Shang Tsung, the great Outworld sorcerer who appears as a dark cloud of energy.
Those descriptions all sound relatively standard, but the one for Sonya deviates from the established lore. Fans have long known Sonya to be the General of the Earthrealm Special Forces who excels in hand-to-hand combat. While she is blonde, attractive, and intelligent, a writer Sonya is not.
Much to our surprise (and that of most Mortal Kombat fans, we're sure), the upcoming Mortal Kombat film will also feature a 14-year-old Lord Raiden, the unkillable god of thunder and trainer of the Underworld team on Earth. In both the Mortal Kombat video game series and the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie, Lord Raiden appeared as an adult, despite his actual age being "Eternal." A 30-year-old man like Cole proving himself to a technically ageless deity who presents himself as a young teenager will be a hoot and a half to watch, and even though we're slightly confused by New Line's decision, we're eager to see how the dynamic between Lord Raiden and the rest of the characters will play out.
Additionally, the film's creatives have decided to make Kung Lao, the boomerang hat-wielding warrior whose sassy mouth is part of what makes him so charming, mute. What's different about this choice as compared to the making-Raiden-a-teenager one is that it isn't just eyebrow-raising — it's also pretty damaging. As Twitter user David Opie pointed out, this move "literally rob[s] one of the franchise's major Chinese characters of his voice."
Rounding out the rest of the Mortal Kombat reboot crew are Liu Kang, Drahmin, Kabal, Nitara, Reiko, and The Overseer, as well as Cole's mother-in-law Sophia and his sister-in-law Jess. Notice anyone missing? Yeah, that's right: Sub Zero and Scorpion are nowhere to be found. With any luck, Cole Turner can fill the double ninja-sized hole in our heart and make up for the M.I.A. fighters. Here's to hoping, at least.