Mortal Kombat II’s new trailer teases more action, more characters, fatalities, plenty of Johnny Cage (Karl Urban), and, thank goodness, less of Cole Young (Lewis Tan).
Warner Bros. is banking on the sequel to the 2021 reboot, which was a success despite opening during a time when people were still iffy about going to theaters, to be the first blockbuster of summer 2026, with its new May 8th release date.
Like the first trailer, the new one follows Urban’s Johnny Cage, a washed-up action movie star who is recruited by Lord Raiden (Tadanobu Asano) to fight on behalf of the Earth Realm to stop the forces of NetherRealm led by Emperor Shao Khan (Martyn Ford).
Of course, Cage is reluctant to get on board once he sees warriors who have special abilities called arcana, which we learned in the first film, have to be unlocked, so chances are we will also experience Johnny learning how to toss green projectiles and pull off his shadow kick.
The Mortal Kombat Tournament Will Be The Focal Point of The Sequel
The new trailer also gives us more action, revealing that this film will definitely revolve around the actual Mortal Kombat tournament and the fighters involved.
We get brief glimpses of Lui Kang (Ludi Lin) taking on a revived Kung Lao (Max Huang), who is now evil, and if we had to guess, was revived by Quan-Chi (Damon Herriman). Also being resurrected after losing an eye is Kano (Josh Lawson), so it’s safe to assume he will finally get his signature cybernetic eye cover in this film.
Also making appearances in the new trailer are Princess Kitana (Adeline Rudolph), her bodyguard, Jade (Tati Gabrielle), Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sonada), Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), now in his Noob Saibot wraith form, Jax (Mehcad Brooks), Baraka (CJ Bloomfield), and more.
Based on the trailer, it feels like the films are on the same trajectory as the video games they are based on, with the second iteration being bigger, better, and gory than the first, and we are here for it.
You can see what the video game streets are saying about the film below.
