Summary
Ed Boon once considered having famous celebrities voiceMortal Kombat 1’s entire playable cast. The latest installment in NetherRealm’s infamous fighting game series is finally out after about a year of hype and speculation, with players all around the world diving intoMortal Kombat 1’s rebooted timeline and refined gameplay mechanics. So far,reviews forMortal Kombat 1are some of the highest the franchise has ever seen, with much praise going toward the game’s strong single-player offerings.
Part ofMortal Kombat’s appeal has always been its memorable cast of playable warriors, and this has even included a few famous faces from outside the world of gaming. WWE and UFC star Ronda Rousey voiced the iconic Sonya Blade in 2019’sMortal Kombat 11, which also saw Arnold Schwarzenegger and Silvester Stallone reprise their famous roles as the T-800 Terminator and John Rambo. This trend is continuing inMortal Kombat 1, asMegan Fox voices the vampiric Nitaraand Jean Claude Van Damme lends his own for an alternate Johnny Cage skin modeled in his likeness.
RELATED:Megan Fox Didn’t Do All of Nitara’s Voice Acting in Mortal Kombat 1
As it turns out,Mortal Kombat 1was originally planned to have even more involvement from Hollywood, as revealed by series co-creator Ed Boon in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. While telling the story behindMortal Kombat 1’s Jean Claude Van Damme skin, Boon noted that he once considered having every character played by a famous actor, such asCyberpunk 2077star Keanu Reevesvoicing Kenshi. He soon realized that this wasn’t feasible in terms of budget or availability, and he wasn’t sure if Reeves would be willing to come in to read the hundreds of lines of spoken dialogueMortal Kombat 1required.
While having famous Hollywood actors lend their talents to a video game is an effective form of marketing, the actual results can be rather mixed at times.Mortal Kombathas proven no different, as the aforementioned Ronda Rousey drew criticism for her performance as Sonya Blade inMortal Kombat 11. History would repeat itself forMegan Fox’s portrayal of NitarainMortal Kombat 1, which fans have decried as bland and unemotional. Fox didn’t do all of Nitara’s dialogue either, with veteran voice actress Cristina Valenzuela filling in for the character’s battle grunts.
With this in mind, perhaps it’s for the best that Ed Boon abandoned his original plan to haveMortal Kombat 1’s entire cast be voiced by celebrities – even if Keanu Reeves has proven himself as a voice actor thanks to his role as Johnny Silverhand inCyberpunk 2077. While Reeves didn’t appear asMortal Kombat 1’s Kenshi, fans can expect to hear the famous voices of JK Simmons, Antony Starr, and John Cena asMortal Kombat 1guest fighters Omni-Man, Homelander, and Peacemaker in the future.
Mortal Kombat 1is available now for PC, PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X/S.
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