Much to the dismay of fans a producer for Mortal Kombat has revealed that Johnny Cage is too problematic and white to appear in the movie.
According to BoundingInToComics, Johnny Cage did not appear in the Mortal Kombat movie due to racism and will not likely feature in the sequel.
Johnny Cage was one of the original playable characters in the original Mortal Kombat arcade game that released in 1992.
Johnny Cage is the stage name for a has-been action movie star known as Jonathan Carlton. His character is largely inspired by Jean-Claude Ban Damme in the cult classic 1988 movie Bloodsport.
In the original story Johnny Cage entered the Mortal Kombat tournament to reclaim his fame and, for once and all, prove to his critics that he can actually fight.
In an interview with Inverse, Mortal Kombat producer Todd Garner explained why they chose to introduce a brand new character to the movie. And as we had previously speculated, it was too replace a seemingly problematic character known as Johnny Cage.
When asked about the Mortal Kombat movie, Garner said, “If you walked into the theater and you didn’t know anything, would you enjoy it? We have to, by the end of the movie, get everyone caught up. So if they let us make another one, then we can start really digging into the characters.”
“You have to go into it knowing there are hardcore fans who know every single thing. But you have to be realistic.”
“If you’ve ever taken your mom to a movie and she’s like ‘What’s happening?’ and you’re like, ‘Mom, shut the f*ck up.’ That’s the problem with Mortal Kombat. It’s so goddamn complicated. Cole asks the questions, ‘Who? What’s happening?’ and he gets the answers,” he said.
Garner would then explained why Johnny Cage does not appear in the movie, insinuating that he felt the whole thing was a bit too white for his liking.
“There are a lot of characters in the Mortal Kombat universe and there’s no character I could take and dust off and give a new backstory. We needed somebody to completely manipulate, so there’s not 30 years of people going, ‘You can’t do that.’”
He continued: “I feel like if I was getting to make a movie with a diverse cast, it felt weird to have a white actor, literally Johnny Cage, be the hero of the story.”
His comments confirm what our source had previously disclosed to us when they started filming Mortal Kombat here in Australia in 2019. Cole Young is a Johnny Cage replacement, a much more diverse one at that.
This news may be devastating to fans and cast members alike.
Last month the Indonesian Judo master Joel Taslim, the actor who plays Sub-Zero in the new Mortal Kombat 2021 movie, had a live discussion with Scot Adkins. During their discussion Adkins lets it slip that Scot Adkins is actually in the movie.
“I mean, you have to come back. I really hope that if we have the sequel, I really hope that you’re apart of it. I really hope they have to call you — and this is me and just my opinion — but I really hope you can play Johnny Cage,” an excited Taslim said.
Adkins responded by saying that he is available and is eagerly waiting for that call.
So it appears that even the cast members were hopeful to see Johnny Cage make an appearance in the sequel, but sadly that will not likely happen as we now know that he’s a replacement for the problematic character.