Mortal Kombat 1995 deepfake video casts Jean-Claude Van Damme as Johnny Cage. Thanks to 2021’s hit R-rated action film, Mortal Kombat is back on screens and more successful than ever.
Mortal Kombat of course began life as an arcade game way back in 1992, later being ported to home consoles. The wild popularity of this five-button fighting game with its fast-paced action and super-gory “fatalities" in 1995 led New Line Cinema to produce a movie adaptation that dialed back the violence to PG-13 levels, making it more acceptable for kids. That movie may have quickly faded from public consciousness but video gamers definitely stayed interested in Mortal Kombat, leading to 2021’s ultra-violent reboot.
This renewed interest in the Mortal Kombat movies has led at least one deepfake video creator to use their skills on the 1995 version and recast the role of Johnny Cage. In the new clip, action superstar Van Damme becomes Cage for an epic fight against Scorpion. See the video from well known deepfake maker stryder HD in the space below:
It makes perfect sense to cast Van Damme as Cage because, in fact, the character of Cage was based on Van Damme himself. How it ended up that Van Damme didn’t play Cage in the first Mortal Kombat movie is indeed a mystery given how perfect the casting would have been. Ultimately, Cage was played by Linden Ashby, a frankly forgettable actor. Now thanks to deepfake technology, the injustice of Van Damme not essentially playing himself in Mortal Kombat 1995 has been rectified.
Of course the character of Johnny Cage was actually left out of the new Mortal Kombat movie, but speculation has run hot and heavy about who will eventually take on the role in the coming sequel. Fans have their favorites naturally, including Ryan Reynolds who recently took to social media to respond to rumors. Scott Adkins, Jensen Ackles and wrestler The Miz have also been brought up as possibilities. Van Damme of course also gets mentioned even though he is now far too old to play Johhny Cage, unless producers want to do something radical with the character and make him much older, or employ deaging CGI on Van Damme and swell their budget beyond reason. After seeing the new deepfake of Van Damme in the original Mortal Kombat, perhaps it’s not entirely outside the realm of reason to think CGI could be used to at last cast him as Johnny Cage for real. Unless or until Van Damme gets the call to be Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat 2, fans have to content themselves with home made videos like the one featured above, which is impressive enough to be sure.
Source: stryder HD/YouTube