Ronda Rousey dressed up as her Mortal Kombat 11 character Sonya Blade at WWE’s Elimination Chamber event. The original Mortal Kombat arrived in arcades way back in 1992 and quickly became popular for its distinctive characters and brutal combat. While parents were outraged by the gore and violence found in the games, their popularity only grew with each sequel. A PG-13 movie adaptation appeared in 1995 from director Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil), and while it watered down the bloodshed somewhat, it did a surprisingly good job capturing the charm of the games.
The movie franchise was short-lived, however, with Mortal Kombat: Annihilation attracting terrible reviews and underperforming at the box office. The franchise also spawned a live-action TV series, a kids cartoon show and a web-series called Mortal Kombat: Legacy, which ran for two seasons. The game series has proven to be remarkably robust, spanning multiple sequels and spinoffs. This year will see the launch of Mortal Kombat 11, which sees the franchise’s large roster of characters facing off against a new time-bending villain called Kronika.
The full line-up of returning characters has yet to be unveiled, though old favorites like Raiden, Kano and Sonya Blade will be back. It was recently confirmed Ronda Rousey would be lending her voice and likeness to Sonya Blade for the latest entry, and at a recent WWE Elimination Chamber event (via Game Rant), Rousey proved how perfect her casting is by dressing up as Sonya.
While this is obviously a shameless piece of cross-promotion between Mortal Kombat 11 and WWE, it’s pretty cool too. An R-rated reboot of the Mortal Kombat movie franchise is currently in the works, so if Sonya Blade is in the script, the studio doesn’t have to look very far for the right actress. That said, the project might be in trouble, with James Wan (Aquaman) recently admitting he departed as a producer from the reboot because he couldn’t find a story or budget he was happy with.
While the live-action movie doesn’t currently seem to be making progress, a Mortal Kombat animated movie is reportedly in the works from WB Animation, with a voice cast that includes Joel McHale and Jennifer Carpenter. In addition to Rousey appearing in Mortal Kombat 11 there are rumors WWE star John Cena (Bumblebee) will also appear as Kurtis Stryker. This would be another case of perfect casting, but the character’s appearance in the new game has yet to be confirmed. Cena is also attached to play the lead role in video game movie adaptation Duke Nukem, though little has been heard about the project recently.
More: 25 Weird Things That Happened Between Mortal Kombat 1 And 2
Mortal Kombat 11 arrives for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One on April 23, 2019.
Source: WWE (via Game Rant)
