NetherRealm’s new Mortal Kombat game will include Johnny Cage on its roster, and Jean-Claude Van Damme will lend his likeness to the fighter in MK1.
Mortal Kombat 1, the next game in NetherRealm’s 30-year-old fighting game franchise, is traveling back in time, centuries before the events of the known Mortal Kombat timeline. Despite that time shift, series staple Johnny Cage will make his way to the roster alongside ye olde ancient fighters like Raiden, Mileena, Kitana, and Kung Lao.
Even more intriguing is the fact that actor Jean-Claude Van Damme will make an appearance as Johnny Cage in MK1, thanks to a character skin.
Van Damme’s appearance in Mortal Kombat 1 closes a specific loop in MK’s history, because the Belgian martial artist was partly the inspiration for the original Mortal Kombat and its Hollywood hero, Johnny Cage.
“He was supposed to be Johnny Cage,” Mortal Kombat series co-creator Ed Boon said in an interview with Polygon last year.
