If Mortal Kombat had a main character, it would probably be Liu Kang, but the reboot movie from 2021 introduced a new hero in the form of Cole Young played by Lewis Tan.
Unfortunately, not too many people were fans of Cole, even with his body armor gimmick; and while he’s set to return for the sequel, there are actually some things NetherRealm can do to salvage Cole’s reputation with the fanbase.
Make Cole a Playable Character
The very simple solution is—make Cole a playable character in the game.
A lot of the characters in Mortal Kombat are icons not because of their backstory, but because they’re all essentially digital action figures. They all look great on the surface, and fans remember them because of their crazy abilities.
Not everyone knows that Hanzo Hasashi is a warrior with a revenge mission on the Lin Keui, but almost every person who has heard of video games can tell you that Scorpion from Mortal Kombat is the yellow ninja who says, “Get over here!”.
Cole already has a visually interesting power set with his magical body armor and tonfa, so it’s just going to be the case of designing a character around his skillset and putting him in a playable roster. Maybe then more people will start warming up to him, and they’ll be happy to see him kicking some butt alongside Liu Kang on the big screen.
Other Franchises Have Done It
For the best example of making an unknown character a fan favorite, fans can simply look over to Marvel Rivals. Sure the game has characters like Iron Man and Captain America, but there are also more obscure figures from the comics like Magik and Squirrel Girl.
Even if fans don’t know anything about them, they find themselves being attached to the characters simply because they’re playable, and now more people are familiar with who Jeff the Land Shark is.
On the contrary, MultiVersus did sort of thrive on obscure characters being in the roster, but they never really got to flourish because the game had been canceled—despite several people being hopeful that it would pick up eventually.
If NetherRealm really wanted Cole to be a success, they would probably have to offer the character to players for free. It could be a huge risk, but the rewards of having a new character that fans love open up the door for all kinds of merchandising opportunities from Cole Young action figures to Cole Fortnite DLC.
Mortal Kombat II
For now, Cole is expected to make an appearance in the sequel Mortal Kombat II, but it does seem that his role has been minimized to make way for Karl Urban’s Johnny Cage. Other new characters in the sequel include Princess Kitana, Lady Sindel, and the ruler of Outworld, Shao Kahn.
Unless the movie plans to kill off Cole, there’s still a lot of room to hype up the character. It’s been teased that there would be a third Kombat Pack incoming after KP2 was completed with the T-1000 DLC. Maybe that’s when they can introduce a playable Cole? The release date for the film is still pretty far off.
Mortal Kombat II is set to release in theaters on Oct. 24. Mortal Kombat 1 the game is now playable for Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PS5, and PC.