I, like many fans, was quite conflicted about the recent trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot, based on the popular fighting game of the same name. On the one hand, it does indeed look pretty badass! It has awesome fight scenes, great costumes, spot-on casting, and – of course – finally some fucking blood and gore, baby! I mean, Sub-Zero literally freezes Scorpion’s blood and then stabs him with it! Hell yeah!
…but then there’s the whole Cole Young issue. If you’re not familiar with the games, actor Lewis Tan is playing Cole Young, a new character created specifically for the film…in a franchise that has almost 100 playable characters across over 11 games. So who exactly is Lewis Tan's Mortal Kombat character?
Now, of course, fans – as they are wont to do – have been frantically theorizing that Lewis Tan’s Cole Young might actually in fact be connected to – or even secretly be – an established Mortal Kombat character, especially since the official synopsis says he’s “unaware of his heritage”, all but foreshadowing some sort of reveal. But is that true? If so, how?
One popular theory is that Cole Young is actually "Johnny Cage". This one, in my opinion, is honestly quite a stretch. It is based primarily on Cage's lack of appearance in the trailer, and the fact that Cole is an MMA or “Cage" fighter, whose character – the theory goes – would start acting in movies at the end of the film, with “Johnny Cage” as Cole’s new pseudonym.
And, look, I get it – fans love Johnny, and it’s more than a little disappointing that he’s seemingly not currently involved in the new film at all. Furthermore, the excuse that director Simon McQuoid recently gave as to why they created Cole in the first place – basically to be “the eyes of the audience” and help explain the rules of the complicated universe to uninitiated viewers – doesn’t make much sense when a) they didn’t need to do that in the original film, and b) if that’s the case, just make that character Johnny, regardless! I mean, he’s a Hollywood blow-hard who could have been chosen by Raiden to participate in the Mortal Kombat tournament due to his fighting prowess, without Cage knowing the ins-and-outs of the Mortal Kombat universe, which he’d then have to learn about throughout the course of the film – along with the audience. Not only that, but discovering a secret heritage is actually a part of Johnny’s backstory as well (turns out he can use his green energy attacks because he’s the descendant of a Mediterranean war cult). Hell, even Cole’s arc about being a down-on-his luck fighter needing to prove himself could’ve been given to Johnny, since that’s always been a part of Cage's story from the very beginning (particularly the “out of work loser” version in the recent animated Scorpion’s Revenge film, voiced by Joel McHale).
But, unfortunately, I just don’t think there’s enough evidence for that to be the case. Not to mention Cole’s personality in the trailer and plot description doesn’t seem to jive with Cage’s at all, even moreso considering it’s been confirmed by the director that Kano (played by Josh Lawson) is the new film’s comic relief.
Another, I’d argue much more likely, theory is that Cole's related to Scorpion somehow – either as a possible descendant, or even a version of Takeda (a younger kombatant whom Scorpion mentors in the later MK games). Now, the evidence is still somewhat slim – it’s mostly relegated to the split-second jump scare that shows Cole looking in the mirror and Scorpion's face popping up, as well as the yellow accents in his costume. But there are other things that make this theory a bit more substantial. For one, McQuoid has mentioned that the film will open with a long battle between Sub-Zero (played by Joe Taslim) and Scorpion (played by Hiroyuki Sanada), where in the games (possible spoilers) Sub-Zero murders Scorpion’s family – and then, Scorpion himself – before Scorpion later appears as an avenging spirit who escapes the Nether Realm to kill Sub-Zero in the first Mortal Kombat tournament. Of course, there’s no telling how much of that will happen in the film itself, but that’s what occurred in the original MK lore (before a retcon involving a sorceror named Quan Chi…though I doubt the filmmakers will go that route for simplicity’s sake). Meaning this film seems to be reorienting the narrative towards the ancient feud between the two ninjas, rather than focusing on Liu Kang’s journey like the previous films did.
However, Scorpion’s arc is about his revenge against Sub-Zero – not winning the tournament – and while the Scorpion’s Revenge animated film (generally) navigated that narrative conundrum, the new film might try a different approach. This could include, again, Lewis Tan’s Cole Young turning out to be a descendant of Scorpion’s lineage who survived Sub-Zero and the Lin Kuei’s attack on his family (thus “secret heritage”), and gain Scorpion’s powers by the end of the film, or even a possible possession scenario.
But my personal opinion (or at least the one that'd make me the least mad), is that Lewis Tan’s Cole Young turns out be…drum roll please…Kuai Liang, the second Sub-Zero! Now, they'd obviously have to retcon the hell out of Liang's backstory EXTENSIVELY, but the Sub-Zero we see in the trailer has been confirmed by the director to be Bi-Han – the first Sub-Zero in the games who (again, possible spoilers) Scorpion canonically kills in the first Mortal Kombat tournament (which the film has been confirmed to be set in). However, Bi-Han’s brother – the aforementioned Kuai Liang – dons the Sub-Zero mantle in MK II after Han's death, but instead of being a villain (or at best a merciless antihero) like his brother, Liang becomes a bonafide hero and ally (while Bi-Han himself becomes the undead wraith Noob Saibot, also making his first appearance in MK II).
Now, we already know from the trailer and official synopsis that Cole Young (which already sounds sorta like an Americanized "Kuai Liang" already) is a washed up fighter, and his arc will be believing in himself again to find his special "arcana" power. So, what if for some reason he has had his cryomancy powers suppressed, and when the time is right, he's able to use his freeze attack at a decisive moment? It even puts the connection to Scorpion in perspective – it could be a misdirect, or it could be part of an emotional arc as Cole has to come to terms with the evils his brother (or more likely just ancestor in this version, as Bi-Han is rumored to be centuries old) had committed (i.e. killing Scorpion and his whole family), with Liang eventually helping Scorpion right those wrongs, on top of saving the world in the tournament. There's even precedence of Kaui Liang and Scorpion teaming up and finally ending the feud between their two rival clans, as seen in the recent Mortal Kombat games, giving more credence to their eventual team-up and Cole's emerging importance. And finally, there's a line in the official press release that says, “Shang Tsung has sent his best warrior, Sub-Zero, an otherworldly Cryomancer, to hunt Cole down”. Maybe Shang knows how powerful Sub-Zero’s powers are, and doesn’t want Earthrealm to have a fighter on their side with the same abilities?
But, most likely? Cole is just a rando. Which would be disappointing, but also there's precedence for this type of "POV" character in the games (Shujinko in MK: Deception, and Taven in MK: Armageddon, for example). So, while annoying, it's not out of the realm of possibility that he has no connection to anyone in the games whatsoever, and is just what he looks like – a fan insert character.
But what do you guys think? Is Lewis Tan’s Cole Young character in Mortal Kombat created specifically for the movie – or is he connected to an established game character in some way? And if so, who and how? Either way, sound off with your speculation below!
Meanwhile, Mortal Kombat will get over here in select theaters and HBO Max April 16th!