The Real Reason Johnny Cage Wasn't In Mortal Kombat

It sounds like the folks involved in the movie all agree: Johnny Cage was too big to be included in the movie. "The reason [Johnny Cage] is not in this original film is he's such a giant personality that he almost has his own gravitational field," director Simon McQuoid told Variety.

In an interview with Inverse, screenwriter Greg Russo said that as he got into the story he realized the omission made sense. "The reason Cage is not in the movie has nothing to do with Cole. It has to do with Kano," he said. "When I was designing the story, I didn't want the traditional 'three heroes save the day,' because you have three people with the same perspective. I love conflict. I love Kano because he's an a**hole and a self-serving prick. That creates conflict. Once everybody knew Kano would be part of [the story], his personality became really big. Really egotistical. That's Johnny Cage, too. I played with Johnny and Kano in scenes together, and it was too much. It was two identical personalities and it took away from everyone else." 

Kano indeed has a swaggering, comic individualism in the new "Mortal Kombat" film, which plays a significant role in the plot. Adding Johnny Cage's cocky, spotlight-seeking personality to the mix does, in retrospect, seem a bit much.

At a press event for the film, producer Todd Garner reinforced this viewpoint. Calling Johnny Cage "the elephant in the room," Garner said (via Cinema Blend), "He needs his own space. It's very hard to just throw him in a movie, like I said, with Kano. So, taking him out was very easy not only for the movie, but for the sequel. I want to make a sequel, and I've now got Johnny Cage, which hasn't been used in the first one. So, I have a big stick and carrot that maybe they'll let me have a Johnny Cage real presence in the second one."