Mortal Kombat reboot confirms Kabal as one of the film’s kombatants

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

So this is exciting! It's now been confirmed that fan favorite Kabal will be joining the kast of kombatants in the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot, to be played by stuntman Daniel Nelson (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Godzilla vs. Kong)!

I'm particularly excited, as Kabal is my personal favorite character (he was the fighter I came closest to beating Mortal Kombat 3 back in middle school). Besides the games, however, Kabal was also mentioned in dialogue in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (where Rain had captured him alongside decidedly not fan favorite Stryker), and even had a sort-of romantic subplot with Sonya Blade in one episode of the animated series Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm, voiced by Maurice LaMarche.

On top of that, a year ago Ludi Lin (who's playing this version of Liu Kang, originally played by Robin Shou in the 1995 film), showed off the rehearsal of a fight scene with a stunt performer wielding two weapons – which many had (correctly!) surmised that Kabal would be in the film. You can check it out on his official Twitter account below! 

#kickingmonday pic.twitter.com/4RX5kCRf79

— LudiLin (@ludi_lin) December 9, 2019

Meanwhile, no official release date has been confirmed on the film's IMDb as of yet, but it should be coming out soon now that the HBO Max deal has gone through. We'll keep you updated!

Also, here's the the most recent synopsis (which doesn't mention the rumored boxer character, as well as an interesting description of the tournament itself):

Mortal Kombat is a mysterious, intergalactic tournament of ancient martial arts. Shaolin Monk Liu Kang, from Earth, gets invited as a competitor.

So what do you guys think? Also fans of Kabal? Either way, who else would you like to see in the movie? Sound off below!