Friends, for almost ten years over on the Retroist I was quick to share my love of the Mortal Kombat game franchise – which was started back in 1992. For 28 years I have been a fan of the series of fighting games, although to be 100% honest it was Mortal Kombat II in ’93 that cemented my love of the series – thanks in no small part to the addition of Kung Lao. After all these years the roster of characters greatly expanded from the original seven in the ’92 game to 62 playable characters in Mortal Kombat: Armageddon in 2006. Having been presented such a large number of characters to choose from, the latest games have brought that number down to a more manageable offering – with 25 playable characters in last year’s Mortal Kombat 11. Through it all I have stuck with the former Shaolin Monk known as Kung Lao – thanks in part to the striking design by John Tobias… as well as that deadly hat!
The Mortal Kombat franchise has seen a couple of toy lines being produced over the years – with one of them being released by Hasbro in ’94 and using parts from their G.I. Joe series of action figures. In addition the franchise saw two live action films in ’95 and ’97 as well as a direct-to-video animated offering entitled Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins – while there was much to enjoy about the first film and some of the animated outing – they paled in comparison to the fun of Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm in ’96.
There have in addition been a couple of live action TV series for Mortal Kombat with a brand new feature film scheduled for release in 2021. However, it turns out that this Spring will see the release of Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge. A direct-to-DVD release that looks to be mainly focusing on the original seven iconic characters from the game franchise.
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has not skimped on securing some talent to lend their voices in the film – which is being directed by Ethan Spalding (Avatar: The Last Air Bender) and was written by Jeremy Adams (DC Super Hero Girls). Johnny Cage is voice by Joel McHale (Community), Jennifer Carpenter (Dexter) is voicing Sonya Blade, with Grey Griffin (Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?) as Kitana as well as Satoshi Hasashi.
We have the talented Jordan Rodrigues (Lady Bird, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) as the conniving but powerful villain – Shang Tsung. Mortal Kombat 11‘s Dave B. Mitchell is lending his voice to Raiden and the legendary Steve Blum (Star Wars Rebels, Wolverine and the X-Men) is playing Sub-Zero. It is The Strain‘s Robin Atkin Downes who is voicing the villainous Kano and Ike Amadi who played both Shao Khan and Cyrax in the latest Mortal Kombat game is taking on the role of Jax Briggs. Kevin Michael Richardson of The Simpsons is voicing the mighty Goro – while Darin De Paul of Overwatch is taking on the role of the cunning sorcerer Quan Chi. Last but obviously not least is Patrick Seitz (My Hero Academia) who is voicing Hanzo Hasashi… or as he is better known – Scorpion.
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