The build-up to the pandemic release of Mortal Kombat in theaters and on HBO Max was filled with joy for fans of the blockbuster video game franchise. Director, Simon McQuoid was name-dropping characters as if he’d been a hardcore fan of the game for decades. The cast looked great, with the legendary Hiroyuki Sanada taking on the role of Scorpion, and a number of fan-favorite characters being represented.

Fast forward to the release of the film, and the cries of MK fans were heard far and wide. While some of the fight sequences were impressive, mainly the opening fight between Scorpion and Sub-Zero, there were several issues in the film. The story was bad and huge liberties were taken with the storyline. None of those liberties offered any improvements to the overall story. Also, the new character Cole (Lewis Tan) was borderline insulting. Overall there was a general lack of respect for the source material that has plagued Hollywood for decades.

Due to the massive streaming numbers of the Mortal Kombat movie on HBO Max, a sequel was greenlit at Warner Brothers. This time around fans won’t be easily fooled by returning director Simon McQuoid throwing out a few character names. Unfortunately, thanks to an exclusive report right here on That Hashtag Show, and some fairly reliable Twitter scoopsters, it seems as though the film is already off to a lackluster start.

Johnny Cage – Out of Time

Karl Urban is in final talks to play Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat 2

The movie is scheduled to film in Australia from June through September. Recently, Twitter leaker MyTimeToShineHello, has claimed that Karl Urban has been tapped to take on the role of Johnny Cage. While Urban is an exceptional actor, he’ll also be 51 when the Mortal Kombat sequel starts filming. What little we know of the new movie makes it seem as though the film will loosely follow the story of Mortal Kombat II. In MK2 Cage is around 25 years old. However, in MKX and MK11, Cage is around his mid-50s, which would match up better with Urban. But that’s another red flag if Cage is 50 during the events of MK2.

Our exclusive report from last month revealed that several other characters are being added to the Mortal Kombat sequel. Shao Kahn, Baraka, Kitana, Sindel, Quan Chi, and King Jerrod will reportedly appear in the new film alongside Johnny Cage. While most of that sounds promising, it’s the character descriptions that have fans worried.

Baraka the Good

Baraka is described as a foe to Johnny Cage who eventually joins his side after being impressed by Cage’s fighting. First off, Baraka and Johnny Cage are not rivals in any of the games. They fight on opposing sides, but that’s about as far as that goes. Secondly, Baraka should never be an ally to Cage. He doesn’t always fight for Shao Kahn, which isn’t even mentioned in his character description, but he’s never fought for Lord Raiden and the Earthrealm, which his alliance with Johnny Cage certainly implies.

Sindel the Undead

Sindel’s story in the film seems to indicate that she becomes Shao Kahn’s undead servant. In the games, Sindel commits suicide after her husband, King Jerrod, is killed by Shao Kahn. She is then resurrected by Shinnok, or Quan Chi depending on the game, on Earthrealm. Which allows Shao Kahn to invade the realm. She’s then placed in a brainwashed state so she obeys Shao Kahn. While on paper this can be seen as an undead Sindel, anyone who has played the games would know that is not the case until Mortal Kombat X when she becomes a corrupted revenant for Shinnok.

King Jerrod the Unnecessary

Then we have King Jerrod, Sindel’s husband. He’s an extremely minor character in the games, to the point where just his inclusion in the movie is a potential reason for concern. He was killed by Shao Kahn, or Sindel depending on the game, approximately 10,000 years before the events of the first Mortal Kombat game. This was changed in the Mortal Kombat: Legacy web series, which took a number of liberties, many of which were disliked by fans. This seems to be where many of the ideas for the 2021 film originated.

The only reason to include King Jerrod in the movie is to show a flashback from 10,000 years ago or to set up Ermac. As King Jerrod is one of the many souls that make up the popular ninja. Our best guess is that if Ermac is included in the new movie, he will have no connection to King Jerrod. It wouldn’t be a surprise to find the timeline is changed and unnecessary liberties are taken with the source material.

Jeremy Slater the Writer

Mortal Kombat fans already know that Simon McQuoid has failed them once. While Jeremy Slater has stepped in to write the script for the new film, his credits are very hit or miss. He’s best known as the showrunner for Umbrella Academy on Netflix. While that series is generally good, it also strays quite a bit from the source material. The same can be said for Moon Knight on Disney+, which Slater helped write. Then you have the 2017 live-action Death Note movie and the 2015 Fantastic Four, both very poorly received. The Mortal Kombat sequel definitely seems to be in the wrong hands. But perhaps we’ll get the cheesy gold that was the 1995 MK film.

Let us know your thoughts on the Mortal Kombat movie sequel in the comments, or on Twitter at @ThatHashTagShow.

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