Get over here… because Mortal Kombat II is about to hit the 2026 movie schedule! A sequel to 2021’s Mortal Kombat, this upcoming video game adaption is set to continue the journey of Earthrealm’s champions and their fight against the forces of Outworld. Simon McQuoid is back in the director’s chair, and he’s aiming to give franchise devotees an experience as close to the games as possible (which is what the MKII trailer suggests). And, now, McQuoid is making me hopeful that one of the games’ most famous fatalities will finally appear.
Fatalities – the finishing moves that are activated at the end of a given match in the games – happen in a myriad of ways. They can come by way of specialized attacks belonging to certain characters, or they can happen when a player uses the environment to destroy an opponent. The latter of those two is known as a “stage fatality,” and there was one involving a certain pit that I was really hoping to see in the first movie. Simon McQuoid mentioned that stage while chatting with SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend, saying:
I thought, ‘Let’s take the spiked Pit from its most basic, 16-bit rendition and make it the huge IMAX version of it. There’s satisfaction in seeing that upscaling, where you feel like, ‘Oh shit!’
Those who’ve played that original 16-bit Mortal Kombat game or any of the later titles surely know that the stage fatality in The Pit is one of this video game franchise’s signature attributes. Said fatality happens when a character gets uppercutted off a bridge and then falls on a bed of spikes. It’s a truly gruesome way to go, but it’s a demise that would be absolutely great to see in the glory of IMAX. While McQuoid doesn’t confirm whether or not fans will definitely see that in MKII, his take on wanting to make that stage grandiose are making me optimistic that a character will indeed fall (figuratively and literally) victim to that fatality.
What’s worth mentioning is that The Pit is referenced in the rebooted franchise’s first movie amid the fight between Jax and Reiko. The pair fight on a stone bridge that overlooks a bed of spikes, though neither actually falls onto them. Instead, Jax crushes Reiko’s skull with his metal arms. While the location is a solid nod to the game, it would’ve been better if someone actually fell onto the spikes and was impaled. Still, McQuoid’s aim to dive into the more “outrageous” elements of the franchise for this sequel make me think we’ll see the fatality:
The thing we wanted to embrace was the outrageous nature of Mortal Kombat. I got better at seeing that as an advantage [with this film]. Then we amplify things, so that we carve out our own unique space in the greater cinematic landscape.
On that note, Lewis Tan (who reprised his role as Earthrealm champion Cole Young) previously teased that the fatalities in MKII would be even more intense this time around. And that’s just one of the reasons fans should be psyched for the film, which also features the debut of Johnny Cage (played by Karl Urban). I’m more than prepared to see what this “dynamite” sequel has to offer, and I hope that includes someone being finished off by falling into a bed of spikes.
Fans will be able to see all the action and gore when Mortal Kombat II opens in theaters nationwide on May 8. In the meantime, grab an HBO Max subscription and stream the 2021 film.
