Mortal Kombat II star Karl Urban has teased his character’s journey in the upcoming sequel at this year’s New York Comic-Con. Initially slated for an October 24, 2025 release, the follow-up to 2021’s Mortal Kombat reboot was later pushed back to May 15, 2026.

Urban, who joins the sequel as the veteran Hollywood action star turned Earthrealm champion Johnny Cage, is just one in a slew of new cast additions that also include Adeline Rudolph (Kitana), Martyn Ford (Shao Kahn), Tati Gabrielle (Jade), Ana Thu Nguyen (Sindel), Damon Herriman (Quan Chi), Desmond Chiam (King Jerrod), and CJ Bloomfield (Baraka).

During the official Mortal Kombat II panel at this year’s New York Comic-Con, where Screen Rant was in attendance, Urban offered insights into his character’s journey and where the sequel finds his character. Describing him as a “very dispirited character,” Urban reveals that the world has largely forgotten who he is when Raiden and Sonya first recruit him.

Throughout the panel, it was also explained that the decision to frame Urban’s character as a washed-up action hero, rather than someone at the peak of his Hollywood career, was to provide Cage with a suitable journey.

Mortal Kombat II’s New Characters Will Take Center Stage

Throughout the panel, audience members also learned a great deal about what to expect from Mortal Kombat 2’s expanded cast roster. While 2021’s Mortal Kombat largely framed Lewis Tan’s Cole Young as its central protagonist, a great deal of emphasis will instead be given to both Urban’s Johnny Cage and Rudolph’s Kitana in the sequel.

Moreover, the relationship between Kitana, and her lifelong friend and bodyguard Jade, is said to offer one of the movie’s most significant emotional arcs. With Rudolph and Gabrielle not only being close friends but also actors who have previously worked together on Netflix’s The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, their on-screen relationship is said to have benefited from their behind-the-scenes connection.

Between Cage’s quest to regain his damaged sense of self-worth and Kitana’s own emotional journey, the Mortal Kombat sequel seems poised to offer fans far more than the kind of graphic fight sequences and fatalities that the game franchise is famous for.

During the panel, it was also revealed that many of the characters will each face various side missions in between their main tournament battles, so the movie’s narrative does not rely solely on having the Earthrealm champions waiting for their respective fights.

While audiences are now waiting until May next year to finally see what Urban’s Johnny Cage and his fellow Earthrealm champions have in store for them, the details that have already emerged about Mortal Kombat II have already begun to stir a great deal of anticipation for its summer 2026 release.