While Mortal Kombat 1 will be released early next week, NetherRealm Studios reveals the character of Jean-Claude Van Damme in the long-awaited game!
After having just presented Nitara, the character played by Megan Fox, NetherRealm Studios, which produces the highly anticipated next video game Mortal Kombat 1, now reveals that of Jean-Claude Van Damme: a certain Johnny Cage…
As ComingSoon reports, it was during an episode of the show “Hot Ones” with the co-creator of the game series Ed Boon that the images were revealed. At about six minutes, Boon is indeed asked about Jean-Claude Van Damme and we can see a glimpse of the character in the game: a Johnny Cage dressed in Frank Dux’s iconic outfit in the film Bloodsport, all shots are allowed from 1988.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Warner Bros.
And check out what he looks like in the game:
If Johnny Cage doesn’t speak in the music video, we know it’s fine Jean Claude Van Damme who will lend him his voice.
JEAN-CLAUDE VAN DAMME INSPIRED THE GAME?
Bloodsport, anything goes, Jean Claude Van Damme and Mortal Kombat have a common history since the first Mortal Kombat was initially supposed to be a game with him. As Boon clarified (and had clarified several times before), the team wanted the Belgian actor to be the star of the game and the initial pitch contained footage of the Bloodsport. This never came to fruition, which then led to the birth of Mortal Kombat without Van Damme. And since Johnny Cage has apparently always been a sort of parody and/or homage to Jean-Claude Van Damme, it would seem that things have finally come full circle.
This isn’t the first time Mortal Kombat has featured cast-based characters. Mortal Kombat 11, for example, included characters resembling and with the voices of Linden Ashby, Bridgette Wilson and Christopher Lambert, who respectively reprized their roles as Johnny Cage, Sonya Blade and Lord Raiden, the latter seen in the Mortal film Kombat from 1995. Mortal Kombat X also asked Carl Weathers to bring Jax to life as an homage to his character Al Dillon in Predator.
Mortal Kombat 1 will be available on September 19, 2023.