MORTAL KOMBAT II Trailer Teases Savage Fights and a Blood-Soaked Tournament Showdown
Warner Bros. has dropped a brand-new trailer for Mortal Kombat II, and this time the gloves are off in a big way. More fights, more blood, and more game-accurate characters.
The sequel looks like it’s going all in on everything fans wanted the first time around, and at the center of the chaos is Karl Urban as Johnny Cage.
Urban’s Cage isn’t riding high on fame. He’s a washed-up action star who gets pulled into the ultimate bloodsport by Raiden and Sonya Blade.
Watching Cage get tossed into a mystical death tournament against literal monsters is already a great hook, and Urban seems to be having a blast with it. If the trailer is any indication, this movie might fully lean into Cage’s ego, sarcasm, and eventual reckoning in a way that feels ripped straight from the games.
I love that the Mortal Kombat tournament itself is finally front and center. This is exactly what fans have been waiting to see!
Returning characters like Cole, Jax, and Scorpion are back in the mix, alongside heavy hitters from the games including Kitana, Baraka, Sindel, and Quan Chi.
Leading the villains is Shao Kahn, who looks ready to crush more than a few skulls. Meanwhile, the iconic rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero continues, but with a twist. Sub-Zero has taken on his wraith form as Noob Saibot, which raises the stakes in a very cool way.
During last year’s New York Comic-Con panel, director Simon McQuoid explained that the goal with Mortal Kombat II was to deliver a “full feature-length version” of the tone set by the 2021 reboot’s opening Scorpion and Sub-Zero sequence.
“That opening fight was easily the standout moment of the previous film, so building an entire movie around that level of intensity sounds like the right call.
Franchise creative director Ed Boon doubled down on that promise when describing the sequel’s opening. He said, “Double that intensity; I challenge you not to cry when you watch it.”
I seriously doubt this movie is going to make me cry, unless a character jumps out of the screen and kicks me in the nuts. That’ll bring on the tears!
McQuoid and writer Jeremy Slater also teased that the movie expands the series mythology in a major way. Expect more characters, more of the franchise’s larger cosmology, and way more fights. Boon even hinted that the sequel features double the number of fights seen in the 2021 film.
Slater also revealed that when the tournament matches aren’t happening, the characters will be sent on their own “missions and adventures” that’ll shape their journeys throughout the film. That approach could give the story more breathing room while still delivering the brutal action fans show up for.
The new trailer already showcases some brutal and cool-lookiing fight scenes that look tailor-made for a packed theater crowd. If they stick the landing, this could be the adaptation that fully embraces what makes the games so ridiculously fun.
Mortal Kombat II hits theaters on May 15, 2026. The big question is… will it kick me in the nuts!?