Uncaged Fury Returns: Mortal Kombat II’s Fake Trailer Hypes Johnny Cage

No more Butcher’s coat from The Boys for Karl Urban. The actor will trade that costuming for some stylish sunglasses as he takes on the role of cocky martial arts movie star Johnny Cage in the sequel Mortal Kombat II. Urban is the latest high-profile name to get attached to the video game franchise’s upcoming action film. The Mortal Kombat II sequel follows on the heels of Warner Bros.’ 2021 Mortal Kombat reboot. This new installment will be the fourth live-action Mortal Kombat film since the original was released in 1995.

Warner Bros. released a trailer for the Mortal Kombat II sequel on Wednesday, and the timing of the trailer’s release is a nice Easter egg. It was dropped one day after the studio unveiled a fake in-universe trailer for Uncaged Fury, a cheesy 1990s-style action film “starring” Johnny Cage. In the spoof trailer, Cage is seen in various fight scenes spliced with nods to his other fake films, such as Cool Hand Cage, Hard to Cage, and Rebel Without a Cage.

2025 is also the 30th anniversary of the first live-action Mortal Kombat, which bombed with critics when it was released but ended up finding a strong audience and going on to become a cult classic. Many fans point to Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa’s performance as the sorcerer Shang Tsung as the definitive version. The original film’s sequel, 1997’s Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, performed significantly worse, earning a fan video of actors running from a miniature earthquake as the worst review of the film. The game’s publisher, Midway, filed for bankruptcy a few years later.

Warner Bros. later acquired the rights and hired Simon McQuoid to direct a reboot 23 years after the original. The 2021 Mortal Kombat film gave audiences Lewis Tan’s Cole Young, an MMA fighter thrust into a battle for Earthrealm. It received mixed reviews but was a modest success and has since been greenlit for a sequel. McQuoid will return to direct. The first film ended with Cole Young journeying to Los Angeles to recruit Johnny Cage, and it appears the sequel will pick up from there.

The Official Synopsis Hints at Familiar Faces, and the Sequel Will Feature the Biggest Icon from Mortal Kombat II

The official synopsis for Mortal Kombat II doesn’t bother to summarize the events of the first film, assuming the audience will have seen the film in advance. The film’s heroes, now joined by Cage, must fight in an all-out, no-rules brawl to prevent Shao Kahn from taking over Earthrealm. The sequel will be at stake if he is victorious.

Lewis Tan (Cole Young), Jessica McNamee (Sonya Blade), Joe Taslim (Bi-Han/Noob Saibot, also known as Sub-Zero), Tadanobu Asano (Lord Raiden), Josh Lawson (Kano), Ludi Lin (Liu Kang), Mehcad Brooks (Jax Briggs), Chin Han (Shang Tsung), Hiroyuki Sanada (Scorpion), and Max Huang (Kung Lao) will return from the first film, and Mortal Kombat II will add to the ensemble cast. Adeline Rudolph (Kitana), Tati Gabrielle (Jade), Damon Herriman (Kabal in the previous film will play Quan Chi), Martyn Ford (Shao Kahn), CJ Bloomfield (Baraka), Desmond Chiam (King Jerrod), and Ana Thu Nguyen (Queen Sindel).

The trailer gives viewers a glimpse of the film’s self-aware version of Johnny Cage. In the beginning, Cage gets noticed by a fan in a low-rent bar. “I loved Citizen Cage as a kid,” the fan enthuses. “We should do a reboot!” Bitter about the way his career has gone, Cage retorts that “nobody wants that” because the type of movies he was in “was a dead trend in the ’90s.”

The meet-up with his fans is interrupted when Lord Raiden and Sonya Blade show up. Cage tries to cut in on their conversation, only to be cut off by Raiden saying, “You have been chosen to fight.” Cage’s immediate assumption that they are fans is only solidified until he is transported to a fantastical fighting arena for what Sonya calls a “fighting tournament to the death.” His response: “F— that.”

Cage tries to wiggle out of the tournament by pointing out that he doesn’t have any powers. “I’m just incredibly handsome,” he quips, but changes his mind when he hears the fate of Earthrealm is on the line, only to ask that participants try not to hurt his face. From there on out, it’s the meat and potatoes of a Mortal Kombat film, as the trailer unleashes blood, fight announcer/monster UI, exaggerated finishing moves, and the iconic lines such as Scorpion yelling “Get over here!”

As a sizzle reel, it’s a perfect one-two punch of ultra-violence and meta humor, exactly what fans are going to want to see in this new installment. If the film has legs beyond a cult audience, however, is an open question, but it’s clear that at least it won’t be shy of its bonkers roots.

Mortal Kombat II will premiere in theaters on October 24, 2025.