You can’t help but admire the confidence of the team behind the Mortal Kombat reboot that the movie will generate sequels, given that the majority of the exposition and worldbuilding revolves around the titular tournament, which isn’t even part of the story. Not only that, but the final scene sets up Lewis Tan’s Cole Young heading off to Hollywood and tracking down Johnny Cage.
Fans were a little miffed when they discovered that the massively popular character wasn’t part of Mortal Kombat, but he’s evidently set to play a significant role in any future installments should they end up happening. In fact, there was a groundswell of support a couple of months back behind seeing WWE star The Miz join the franchise as Johnny Cage, and as you can see below, he’s more than happy to step up to the plate.
No Johnny Cage? I AM the special effects. Let me do the casting for you. Say cheese #MortalKombat @MKMovie @noobde pic.twitter.com/XV515B6ybA
— The Miz (@mikethemiz) April 23, 2021
As Dwayne Johnson, Dave Bautista and John Cena have shown, there are plenty of opportunities to be found on the silver screen for professional wrestlers who want to try their hand at acting, and The Miz boasts a decent level of experience in front of the camera as well. The 40 year-old initially broke out as a reality TV star before heading into the squared circle, and he’s starred in several VOD actioners over the last decade including the third, fourth, fifth and sixth entries in The Marine series, which was ironically launched by Cena in 2006.
Not only that, but his entire wrestling gimmick is that of an entitled, egotistical and cocky Hollywood star, so he fits the bill in more ways than one. Of course, Mortal Kombat was only released two days ago, so it could be a while before we find out if The Miz gets his wish or not, but you can bet that Warner Bros. is taking note of his campaign.