According to the developers ofMortal Kombat 1, Cole Young from the 2021Mortal Kombatfilm will not be appearing in the upcoming fighting game. Summer Game Fest has been giving a lot of upcoming games a spotlight, from new reveal trailers to in-depth gameplay videos. Those in attendance also got to try out the games on the show floor itself. One of those games wasMortal Kombat 1, which has a newKameo Fighter system. One fighter that some might think is a prime opportunity to include on the roster or as a Kameo Fighter is the aforementioned Cole Young.
Cole Young is completely new character from thelive-actionMortal Kombatfilm released in 2021. The movie was a soft continuity reboot of the older movies, with Cole being a brand-new character that was created to be the audience surrogate for those unfamiliar with the source material. This includes him not having knowledge about the Mortal Kombat tournament, or that he is the descendant of the iconic Scorpion. Despite some fans hoping thatMortal Kombat 1might introduce Cole into the game’s canon, that doesn’t appear to be the case.
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In an interview with ComicBook.com at Summer Game Fest, NetherRealm Studio lead system designer Derek Kirtzic was asked if Cole would be added to the roster since he was introduced afterMortal Kombat 11,withMortal Kombat 1seeming like a perfect opportunity to do so. Kirtzic simply replied no, stating “we’re leaving that world to that world,” which seems to indicate that the developers have no intention of bringing Young to the rebooted universe.
Cole Young was a divisive protagonist in the 2021 film, with many believing that his motivations and personality were pretty vanilla, and that he didn’t do much to help elevate the other cast members. He also had an ability to create magic armor that many decried as being “overpowered,” but still ended up needing help to win fights. While his actor was complimented on giving a decent performance in midst of the character’s deficits, the consensus was thatCole Young should stay out of theMortal Kombatgames, and that seems to be the case here.
Despite the audience’s apathy to Cole Young, there is aMortal Kombatfilm sequel in the worksaccording to its producer, with several members of the cast to be returning and reprising their roles. This includes Lewis Tan as Cole Young, Radanobu Asano as Raiden, and more. No release date about this film has been given yet, but supposedly filming has started in June.
Mortal Kombat 1launches September 19 for PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
