What you need to know
- During an interview at 2023's Comic-Con, Ed Boon has confirmed that J.K. Simmons, the voice actor for Omni-Man will reprise the character's role for the Mortal Kombat 1.
- Omni-Man is a major character from Invincible, a superhero comic book series and animated series that explores the life of the superhero, Invincible, who also happens to Omni-Man's son.
- Mortal Kombat 1 is an upcoming fighting game that will feature fan-favourite Mortal Kombat characters and guest characters from other franchises like Invincible' Omni-Man, Homelander from The Boys, and DC Comic's Peacemaker.
On July 22, 2023, Ed Boon, the co-creator of the Mortal Kombat franchise was being interviewed alongside Robert Kirkman, the co-creator of the Invincible and The Walking Dead comic-book franchises about the inclusion of Omni-Man as a DLC guest character in Mortal Kombat 1.
During the interview, Ed Boon confirmed that Omni-Man's voice actor, J.K. Simmons will be reprising his role for the game. This has also been confirmed by Mortal Kombat 1's story and voiceover director, Dominic Cianciolo on Twitter.
It’s been a thrill and a privilege to direct JK Simmons as Omni-Man in #MortalKombat1.Amazing talent, wonderful person!And for you trivia buffs, the second Oscar winner in a Mortal Kombat game…The other being Sylvester Stallone… https://t.co/ZTW3GyxSBlJuly 23, 2023
For those unaware, Invincible is a gritty and violent superhero comic-book series that follows the life of Mark Grayson as he strives to protect the earth as the superhero, "Invincible" while trying to live a normal life. Omni-Man is a significant character in the story as he is Mark Grayson's father and, without going into spoiler territory, is a dark deconstruction of DC Comics' Superman.
The comic series began in 2003 and concluded in 2018. Then in 2021, it received an animated series adaptation on Amazon Prime that received critical and fan acclaim for its well-animated action and gripping story that twisted tropes of the superhero genre in unexpected ways.
The show features a large cast of famous voice actors and one of the most well-known among them is J.K. Simmons as the voice of Omni-Man. J.K. Simmons is an Oscar-winning actor notable for his roles as J. Jonah Jamieson in various Spiderman movies, Tenzin in The Legend of Korra, Cave Johnson in Portal 2, and many more.
Windows Central's take
When the previous game, Mortal Kombat 11 included guest characters from other franchises, NetherRealm Studios made a concentrated effort to get the characters' original voice actors, if possible, to maintain their authenticity while paying tribute to their fans. It included the likes of Keith David returning as Spawn, Peter Weller as Alex Murphy a.k.a. RoboCop, and Sylvester Stallone as John Rambo.
So, it is nice to see NetherRealm Studios continuing this trend by getting J.K. Simmons to return as the voice of Omni-Man for Mortal Kombat 1, which is sure to please many Invincible fans. However, it has not been confirmed as of yet if Mortal Kombat 1's other guest characters, Homelander and Peacemaker, will have their actors, Antony Starr and John Cena respectively, return to voice their characters for this upcoming Xbox title.
We will have to wait to find out when Mortal Kombat 1 launches on Sept. 19, 2023, for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
