Mortal Kombat 2 Needs to Kill Off Cole Young

Cole Young was created for the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie, but he should be killed off in Mortal Kombat 2. The sequel is now officially confirmed to be happening, and it’s come as a bit of a surprise to many. After all, Mortal Kombat 2021 was far from a box office hit, earning only $83 million worldwide on a budget of $55 million, which after marketing costs and other expenses, would be far from profitable. Reviews were also mixed to poor, earning a mere 54 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

What seems to have saved Mortal Kombat 2021 from ending up as just another failed Hollywood reboot attempt is its somewhat unlikely status as being the most-streamed of Warner Bros.’ 2021 simultaneous streaming/theatrical movie releases. Whether that means Mortal Kombat 2 will end up sent straight to HBO Max is unclear, but if a Mortal Kombat sequel is going to work — and avoid the pitfalls of 1997’s abysmal Mortal Kombat: Annihilation — it needs to keep what worked about the reboot. Most notably, the R-rated gore and violence need to be left intact.

While it’s important that Mortal Kombat 2 retains what Mortal Kombat 2021 did well, it should also jettison what didn’t work, and on the top of that list is the character of Cole Young. That’s not a knock on Cole’s portrayer, actor Lewis Tan, who did fine with the material he was given. The problem is, Cole was an unnecessary character from the off. He’s not from the Mortal Kombat video games, and Mortal Kombat 2021 writer Greg Russo has admitted that Cole’s inclusion was a studio mandate. With the reboot having done enough business to earn a sequel, it’s time to send Cole packing.

For starters, Warner Bros.’ logic about needing to introduce a newly created character to serve as the audience’s point of view for the movie to work makes no sense. Mortal Kombat is a franchise spanning decades, and it’s quite likely the vast majority of people going to see a new MK movie will be well familiar with its characters. Plus, the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie was a big hit, despite an audience surrogate character not serving as the protagonist, with Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, and Sonya Blade front and center.

Outside of that, Cole’s forced integration into the movie is made obvious by how lame of a character he is. He spends most of the movie getting beaten to a pulp, and only barely defeats Goro, even after his arcana power manifests. He also barely defeats Sub-Zero in the final battle, and needs help from his ancestor Scorpion to do so. It’s very telling that even among those who really liked the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie reboot, Cole is pretty unpopular, with most enjoying the movie in spite of his presence, not because of it. With Johnny Cage, whose Hollywood backstory already naturally makes him an outsider to the mystical Mortal Kombat world, set to join the cast for Mortal Kombat 2, there’s just no reason to keep the narrative dead weight that is Cole Young in the picture.

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