Perfect as it sounds on paper, it’s good that Jean-Claude Van Damme didn’t end up playing Mortal Kombat’s Johnny Cage. After working his way up from low-budget (but highly entertaining) martial arts B-movies, Van Damme became a fully minted A-lister during the 1990s. Some popular Jean-Claude Van Damme action movies include Universal Soldier, Hard Target, and the timeless Timecop. During his heyday, Van Damme was offered the role of Johnny Cage in the first Mortal Kombat movie, but he pᴀssed on it because he was busy with other productions.
Considering the cocky Johnny Cage was heavily inspired by Van Damme’s performance in Bloodsport, he felt like perfect casting. Linden Ashby (Teen Wolf) later landed the role, while Karl Urban will play Cage in the upcoming Mortal Kombat 2, the second part in the reboot movie series. Some fans hoped JCVD might play the latest version of Cage because, while the veteran star has kept himself busy in the decades since, it would still be fascinating to see his take on the role.
Jean-Claude Van Damme Was The “Right” Option For Johnny Cage In 1995’s Mortal Kombat
Martial artist? Check. Movie star? Check? Can do the splits? Double check
With Mortal Kombat, Midway set out to make an arcade game that could rival the popularity of Street Fighter 2 (via G4). They tried to obtain the license to Universal Soldier first and the right to use Jean-Claude Van Damme’s likeness; when that fell through, they just based Cage on Van Damme himself. It thus made all the sense in the world that the Paul WS Anderson movie adaptation would approach Van Damme first. The star couldn’t have been bigger during this period – which also played into him being too busy to appear in Mortal Kombat.
Entertaining as Jean-Claude Van Damme would have been in Mortal Kombat, losing the team dynamic seen in the film would have been a shame…
It’s intriguing to ponder how the film would have worked with Van Damme in the lead. In all likelihood, Jean-Claude would have had the project tailored to suit his stardom and persona and dialed up his screentime. Instead of the balance between the three main characters Cage, Liu Kang (Robin Shou), and Sonya Blade (Bridgette Wilson), it would have become a JCVD vehicle where he’s the one who saves the day. Entertaining as he would have been (and his involvement would have resulted in even better fight sequences), losing the film’s team dynamic would have been a shame.
Van Damme As Johnny Cage Would’ve Prevented The Mortal Kombat Movie’s Best Casting Choice
The worst thing about Linden Ashby’s Cage is that he only played the role once
Linden Ashby was eventually cast as Cage, and while the star was a relative unknown, he proved to be Mortal Kombat’s secret weapon. Ashby’s turn as Cage is a skillful blend of comic douchebag and square-jawed action hero. Ashby not only sells Johnny’s quips and one-liners, he does a great job with the moments Cage is supposed to be serious, such as Art’s death (Kenneth Edwards). The adaptation lucked out with the chemistry between its trio of actors, with Ashby bringing a lot of charm and wit to the movie.
|
Every Mortal Kombat Movie |
Rotten Tomatoes Rating |
|---|---|
|
Mortal Kombat (1995) |
47% |
|
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997) |
4% |
|
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpion’s Revenge (2020) |
90% |
|
Mortal Kombat (2021) |
55% |
|
Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle of the Realms (2021) |
50% |
|
Mortal Kombat Legends: Snow Blind (2022) |
80% |
|
Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match (2023) |
N/A |
Audiences were looking forward to seeing the heroes reunited for a sequel, but Mortal Kombat: Annihilation infamously killed Cage during the opening after Ashby rejected the project. In truth, Cage’s (played by Chris Conrad) early demise is lower on the list of problems with the 1997 sequel, which is hampered by terrible acting and dialogue, nonstop fight sequences that are numbing instead of exciting, and eye-wateringly poor visual effects.
A third Mortal Kombat movie, rumored to be called Devastation, spent years in development before being canceled.
Again, there was probably little Ashby could have done to save the sequel – but his absence certainly didn’t help. His work as Cage is a big part of what made the original Mortal Kombat such a good time, and outside reprising the part as a bonus skin for Mortal Kombat 11, it’s a shame Ashby didn’t get to play the part again in live action.
Jean-Claude Van Damme Did A Different Video Game Movie Just One Year Before Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat delivered a flawless victory against Street Fighter
Video game movies are a subgenre with a particularly poor reputation, being littered with turkeys like Super Mario Bros, Alone in the Dark, and 1994’s Street Fighter. Van Damme is said to have pᴀssed on Mortal Kombat because he was busy with Street Fighter, where he played Colonel Guile. It was a logical move to make a movie version of the Capcom beat ’em up; the game was wildly popular and filled with memorable characters. The film adaptation also sounded promising, with Die Hard screenwriter Steven E. de Souza directing.
Street Fighter received a terrible critical reception despite being a modest hit, and the studio opted out of a potential sequel.
The supporting cast also included Kylie Minogue, Ming-Na Wen, and the late great Raúl Juliá as General Bison. Unfortunately, the film suffered through a messy production, and the crunchy fight sequences were greatly softened after the MPAA threatened it with an R rating. Street Fighter was a modest hit, grossing nearly $100 million on an estimated production budget of $35 million (via Box Office Mojo). Despite this, its terrible critical reception saw the studio opt out of a potential sequel.
Van Damme hams it up as the all-American Guile, but neither his performance nor the film rank among his best work. Street Fighter tries to take the game characters and drop them into a Roger Moore-style James Bond adventure, but despite the big budget, it looks and feels cheap and garish. The fights are nothing to get worked up about, and despite his star billing, JCVD is offscreen for much of the movie. Raúl Juliá is incredible as Bison, though, with his “But for me, it was Tuesday” line becoming part of Street Fighter’s cult legacy.
Jean-Claude Van Damme Eventually Played Johnny Cage In Mortal Kombat
A performance 30 years in the making
Those fans wondering what a Jean-Claude Van Damme version of Johnny Cage would look like had their dreams come true with Mortal Kombat 1. This 2023 video game saw Van Damme loan his voice and likeness to a bonus Johnny Cage skin, with his design harkening back to the actor’s appearance in Bloodsport. This felt like a real full-circle moment for the property, though it felt inevitable that Jean-Claude would find his way to the Mortal Kombat franchise.
With Karl Urban’s casting as Cage, it’s doubtful Van Damme will ever get to do a live-action take on the cocky action star. Still, getting to play Van Damme’s Johnny Cage more than makes up for that disappointment. Van Damme has appeared more open to video game work in recent years, having also appeared as “elusive target” Max Valliant in 2021’s Hitman 3. It will be interesting to see if Jean-Claude Van Damme reprises the Johnny Cage role in the next Mortal Kombat game, but at least gamers finally got to see him in the part.
Source: G4, Rotten Tomatoes, Box Office Mojo
