New Trailer Reveals Karl Urban as Mortal Kombat’s Iconic Cage

Say goodbye to the Butcher’s coat (at least temporarily), Karl Urban. The Lord of the Rings and Star Trek alum will soon be swapping his Nazi gear for a pair of designer shades in Mortal Kombat II. The film, which follows Warner Bros.’ 2021 reboot, will star Urban as the cocky, over-the-top martial arts star Johnny Cage. It will also mark the fourth live-action Mortal Kombat film since the 1995 original.

Warner Bros. dropped the teaser trailer for Mortal Kombat II at a particularly strategic moment: it came exactly one day after the studio released a fake in-universe trailer for Uncaged Fury, a cheesy-looking, ’90s-style action flick “starring” Johnny Cage. That spoof trailer even includes cheeky nods to Cage’s other fake film credits, such as Cool Hand Cage, Hard to Cage, and Rebel Without a Cage.

This isn’t the only connection to 2025. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the first live-action Mortal Kombat. Released two years after the original game, that film bombed with critics on release but performed well enough at the box office to eventually find a cult following in the years since. Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa’s performance as the sorcerer Shang Tsung is still considered by many fans to be the definitive big-screen portrayal. Its follow-up, 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, was a critically and commercially panned disaster, and the game’s publisher, Midway, went bankrupt soon after.

Warner Bros. would eventually purchase the rights to the property. The studio hired Simon McQuoid to direct the reboot more than two decades after the first film. That 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot introduced Lewis Tan as Cole Young, an MMA fighter who finds himself in the middle of a battle to save Earthrealm. The film’s reviews were mixed, but it performed well enough commercially that a sequel, again with McQuoid at the helm, was greenlit. As the film ended, Cole had set off for Los Angeles to recruit Johnny Cage. The events of Mortal Kombat II will pick up after the events of the first film.

If you’ve seen the first Mortal Kombat film, you don’t need this synopsis for the sequel. It explains the sequel’s narrative on the assumption that its audience is already familiar with the first. The champions from the first film—now with Cage—meet once again for an all-out, no-holds-barred brawl to save the realm from Shao Kahn’s invasion. Their goal is to stop him from conquering Earthrealm, or else the realm will cease to exist.

A number of the 2021 film’s cast members are returning for the sequel. They include: Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Jessica McNamee as Sonya Blade, Joe Taslim as Bi-Han/Noob Saibot (a.k.a. Sub-Zero), Tadanobu Asano as Lord Raiden, Josh Lawson as Kano, Ludi Lin as Liu Kang, Mehcad Brooks as Jax Briggs, Chin Han as Shang Tsung, Hiroyuki Sanada as Scorpion, and Max Huang as Kung Lao.

A few new fighters have been added to the sequel. They include Adeline Rudolph as Kitana, Tati Gabrielle as Jade, Damon Herriman (who voiced the character in the previous film) as Quan Chi, Martyn Ford as Shao Kahn, CJ Bloomfield as Baraka, Desmond Chiam as King Jerrod, and Ana Thu Nguyen as Queen Sindel.

The teaser trailer for the film hits exactly the right note with its comedic yet self-aware introduction to Johnny Cage. In the first scene, Cage is spotted by a fan at a rundown bar. “I loved Citizen Cage as a kid,” the fan enthuses, “They should do a reboot!” The former action star, who has seen better days, responds to the compliment by claiming nobody would want to see that since nobody wants to watch the kind of action movies he used to star in from the 1990s.

Lord Raiden and Sonya Blade soon interrupt his self-pity party. “You have been chosen to fight,” Raiden tells Cage. At first, the actor believes them to be just two overzealous fans. However, he is soon whisked away to an otherworldly fighting arena for what is described as a “fighting tournament to the death.” The reaction from Cage? “F— that.”

Cage notes that he isn’t gifted with any supernatural powers like some of the other competitors. “I’m just incredibly handsome,” he says, but that comment is soon forgotten when Raiden tells him that the battle is to save Earthrealm. He will, however, make one demand. “If you can, do me a favor, and don’t damage my face.” The teaser trailer then moves directly into the kind of stuff Mortal Kombat fans expect. Gory, stylized combat, signature finishing moves, and favorite catchphrases such as Scorpion’s “Get over here!”

The film is shaping up to be exactly the kind of thing hardcore Mortal Kombat fans will enjoy. Whether it will do well enough commercially to spawn future sequels will depend on its success with general audiences. For now, however, the sequel is not at all shying away from its over-the-top source material.

Mortal Kombat II will open in theaters on October 24, 2025.