I’m not even gonna try and pretend like I’m not excited about this so prepare for random bits of capslock to come out of nowhere because OMFG THIS MORTAL KOMBAT TRAILER IS AMAZING!!!
Get over here! Watch the trailer for Mortal Kombat now — in theaters and streaming exclusively on HBO Max April 16. #MortalKombatMovie pic.twitter.com/eFhQhbdNUl
— Mortal Kombat Movie (@MKMovie) February 18, 2021
OK. Let’s do the fangirling first. I’ve been into Mortal Kombat since its debut and have been in love with it for decades. The games. The 90s movie and THE BEST movie theme song in, like, ever. The short-lived cartoon series where Luke Perry voiced Sub-Zero, Cree Summer voiced Kitana, and Clancy Brown voiced Raiden.
Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero.
The Special Forces game.
Basically, if it’s Mortal Kombat I’m there, and this trailer just hits all the fangirl beats for me. I spent my morning screaming with fellow Mortal Kombat fan, Princess Weekes, as we chatted back and forth about our first impressions (AH OMG MORTAL KOMBAT), characters who appeared (MILEENA GORO OMG WAS THAT REPTILE), scenes that caught us off guard (DID SUB-ZERO SHATTER JAX’S ARMS), and theories about who Cole is.
And who is Cole? Here’s a synopsis straight from Warner Bros.
In the film, Cole is unaware of his heritage, and why he is being hunted by Outworld’s Emperor Shang Tsung’s best warrior, Sub-Zero. Fearing for his family’s safety, Cole goes in search of Sonya Blade at the direction of Jax, a Special Forces Major who bears the same strange dragon marking Cole was born with. Once he is brought to the temple of Lord Raiden, Cole begins his training with experienced warriors Liu Kang, Kung Lao and rogue mercenary Kano. Soon he will stand with Earth’s greatest champions against the enemies of Outworld in a high stakes battle for the universe.
Here are our theories, thus far:
- Cole is somehow related to Sub-Zero, who is hunting him down. Sub-Zero, in the games, does have a brother (Kuai Liang), and with Cole not being aware of his heritage he could be unaware of the fact that he has a brother or that he’s part of the Lin Kuei clan.
- Cole becomes Kabal. Hear us out. Kabal used to associate with Kano (and with Kano working with the good guys, for some reason, he could easily betray them and convince Cole to come with him) but is horribly burned in an attack and ends up becoming Kabal.
- Cole ends up using a stage name: Johnny Cage, after surviving the events of Mortal Kombat. This is mostly because Mr. Cage isn’t in the trailer and instead of having him, Sonya, and Liu Kang (the three who are usually Earth’s defenders) it’s Sonya, Jax, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Kano.
Questions we have:
- Emperor Shang Tsung? When there was a statue of Shao Kahn in the trailer? This could line up with Deadly Alliance, which is when Shang Tsung and Quan Chi (!!!) teamed up to take out Shao Kahn AND Liu Kang. Is that how Shang Tsung is the emperor?
- Speaking of Quan Chi (!!!), there’s clearly some backstory with Hanzo Hasashi, who would later become Scorpion with the influence of, again, Quan Chi (!!!). Are we building up toward an appearance of Quan Chi (!!!), and later, Shinnok (HOLY CHRIST AH!!!!!)?
- Cole is gonna train with Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and KANO?! Do they not realize that Kano is evil yet? Is Sonya not hunting him down… yet?
- What is the incident from 7 years ago? We’re assuming it’s when Jax lost his arms, and potentially when Hanzo lost his family, but what else happened 7 years ago?
- Mileena is here (yay) which means Kitana is somewhere too, yes? We thought we saw a glimpse of her in the trailer, but we’re not sure. Since Shang Tsung is the one who created Mileena (as requested by Shao Kahn) it makes sense that she’d be serving him, but where does this leave Kitana?
- Where is Jade?!
On top of all of this, the nods to the franchise throughout the trailer were such a nice touch. The epic music that has beats of that UH-MAY-ZING 90s anthem. The moves the characters do, ranging from Kano holding a heart in his hand, to Sub-Zero creating the spiked ice wall he throws Scorpion through. The fact that all the brutality is bloody and grotesque, giving us ALL the excellence that Mortal Kombat has to offer.
GET. OVER. HERE.
FINISH THEM.
Just … AH, I WANT IT TO BE APRIL!!!
(Image: Warner Bros.)
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