Mortal Kombat 2: Karl Urban Shows Off His Johnny Cage Transformation

Following moderate success at the box office, Warner Bros. Pictures is now in the process of producing a sequel to its 2021 film based on the Mortal Kombat video game franchise. In May, rumors began circulating that Karl Urban of "The Boys" fame would play Johnny Cage, a classic character from the video game series whose introduction in the upcoming sequel is teased at the first film's conclusion.

A release date for "Mortal Kombat 2" is still some time away and has yet to be announced. The dual WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, in fact, delayed filming, so it may well premiere later than Warner had originally intended. But progress is being made again, and in an Instagram post celebrating his return to set following a resolution between SAG-AFTRA and film studios, Urban shared a photo of himself alongside a few of his co-stars, providing fans with one of their first proper looks at his Johnny Cage transformation.

Whereas Urban sports dark hair and a beard in "The Boys" — the role from which most modern viewers are likely to know him — as Cage he has no beard and a blond hairdo. Instagram user elifnk996 took note of this change, commenting, "Is he blonde or am i homelanderblind?" Their description of his new look as akin to that of "The Boys" villain Homelander (Antony Starr) garnered more than 1,500 likes, suggesting there are plenty of fans of the Amazon superhero series similarly surprised by Urban's appearance.

Karl Urban's Instagram post marks his first public appearance on the set of "Mortal Kombat 2," solidifying his beardless face and blond head of hair as his Johnny Cage look. He has, however, maintained this style since at least July, which tracks with the fact that filming kicked off in June.

While Urban appears beardless in one prior picture, his first Instagram post in which his face is both relatively clean-shaven and his hair dyed blond is a strangely low-fidelity photo of him alongside "Mortal Kombat" video game co-creator Ed Boon, dated July 13. From that point on, he's been sporting this same look, including in a September Instagram post of himself posing alongside one of Red Bull Racing's Formula 1 cars and members of the team's pit crew.

Knowing its filming schedule by the time of his new appearance's unveiling, it was safe to assume the change was for the film from the get-go. Nevertheless, his latest on-set photo is the first official confirmation that Urban will be rocking this look in the upcoming "Mortal Kombat" sequel.