Johnny Cage

Johnny Cage
Mortal Kombat character
Johnny Cage in Mortal Kombat (2011)
First game	Mortal Kombat (1992)
Created by	John Tobias (with brainstorming input from Ed Boon)
Designed by	John Tobias (early games)
Voiced by	Jeff Bennett (The Journey Begins) Robert Keting (MK:DA) Jeff Pilson (MK2011)
Portrayed by	Daniel Pesina (MK, MKII) Chris Alexander (MKT) Linden Ashby (first film) Chris Conrad (second film) Jeff Durbin (Live Tour) Matt Mullins (Rebirth and Legacy) Casper Van Dien (Legacy)
Fictional profile
Origin	Earthrealm (United States)
Fighting styles	Jeet Kune Do (MK:DA) Karate / Shōrin-ryū (MK:DA, MK:A)
Weapon	Scimitar (MK4, MKG) Nunchaku (MK:DA, MK:A)

Johnny Cage is a fictional character from the Mortal Kombat series, introduced in the 1992 fighting game Mortal Kombat. The character, whose birth name is John Carlton, is an arrogant, narcissistic and overconfident martial arts film actor who provides the comic relief of the franchise. Created as a parody of martial arts actor Jean-Claude Van Damme, Cage has been a staple of the series since, famous for his comedic signature moves.

Appearances

In video games

Johnny Cage was introduced as a playable character in the first Mortal Kombat game, where he enters into the titular tournament to prove that he does not use special effects in his films. In the sequel Mortal Kombat II, Cage goes to another tournament in the realm of Outworld after allying with the warriors who wish to protect Earth led by the thunder god Raiden. Cage also appeared in the 2005 spin-off game Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, which reprises the events leading up to MKII. He did not reappear in the regular series continuity until 1996's Mortal Kombat Trilogy, in which he was killed by Shao Kahn's forces invading Earth. He is shortly revived so he can help his former comrades defeat Kahn. In Mortal Kombat 4 (1997), Cage is allowed to continue his life after Raiden accommodates his request for his revival, and reunites with his friends once again in order to defeat the forces of the disgraced Elder God Shinnok, who plans to initiate a war between the realms.

Cage is not playable in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (2002), but features in the storyline when he and fellow Earthrealm warriors Jax, Kitana, Kung Lao, and Sonya Blade fight to stop a new menace from the eponymous alliance of Outworld sorcerers Quan Chi and Shang Tsung, but Cage is again killed, as are his comrades, who are all then resurrected by the Dragon King Onaga for use as his slaves before eventually being freed from their mind control by the partnership of reformed ninja Ermac and the spirit of Liu Kang. Cage returns as a playable in 2006's Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, participating in the final tournament that would decide mankind's fate. During the ensuing battle, Cage is killed for the third time in the original series continuity when he is beheaded by an unknown opponent.

In the 2011 Mortal Kombat reboot, Cage is a star of the martial arts film Ninja Mime who joins Raiden's forces to save Earthrealm. He and Sonya Blade are the only Earthrealm warriors to survive the course of the game's plot following the deaths of their cohorts at the hands of Sindel.

Design and gameplay

The character was modeled after martial art film actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.^[1] Cage's appearance in the first game was loosely based on Van Damme's portrayal of Dux Ryu Ninjutsu founder Frank Dux in the 1988 movie Bloodsport, incorporating both Van Damme's appearance/outfit and his signature "leg split" move.^[2] In the original concept art, the character was named Michael Grimm, described as "the current box-office champion and star of such movies as Dragon's Fist, Dragon's Fist II and the award-winning Sudden Violence."^[3] Cage was the first character created for Mortal Kombat, and the test prototype of the original game had just two Johnnies fighting each other.^[4] However, he was also the last character to be given a Fatality as his finishing move initially consisted of him simply throwing his opponent across the screen, until a later brainstorm by John Tobias: "I thought, 'Oh, we have all these head images; why doesn't he just punch the guy's head off?'"^[5]

Designed to be a Hollywood star, Cage is meant to be a comic relief character in contrast to more serious characters like Liu Kang and Raiden.^[6] He was also the only character in the original Mortal Kombat game who did not share a past history with any of the other characters. Cage's real name came from Midway Games artist John Carlton, who has worked on the NBA Jam series.

Total 64 magazine described Cage is "the worst fighter" in Mortal Kombat Trilogy due to his special moves being difficult to aim and weak in effect.^[7] In Shaolin Monks, besides being a supporting character through the main game, he is also playable in the versus mode. Gameplay-wise, Cage's projectiles usually travel in an arc, while his other signature moves are designed to punish opponents at close range. The Shadow Kick, which leaves a trail of green afterimages, helps Cage close in on enemies, and his infamous groin punch is a quick, disabling attack.

Other appearances

Johnny Cage is one of the main characters in the Mortal Kombat comic book series, where his portrayal is faithful to the games. He appears during the entire Blood & Thunder miniseries, in which his most serious moment is when he, under Raiden's advice, decides to not seek the power of the Tao Te Zhan, since he felt it would be like "faking" his way through his films.^[8] During the second issue of the Battlewave miniseries, he is seen resuming his acting career when Sonya, awaiting him in his dressing room, requests his assistance in an investigation into Goro's vicious attack on Jax. He initially refuses, but later reconsiders what is important and decides to follow Jax into Outworld. In the meantime, he assigns his massive bodyguard, Bo, to protect Liu Kang.

In the first Mortal Kombat film, Cage was played by Linden Ashby, whose portrayal was faithful in keeping with the game character's personality. Shang Tsung assumes the identity of Cage's sensei, Master Boyd, on the set of one of Cage's films in order to trick him into taking part in the Mortal Kombat tournament. Cage defeats both Scorpion and Goro, and near the film's climax, he is initially handpicked by Shang Tsung to fight him in final combat until Liu Kang intervenes and accepts the challenge.

Cage briefly appeared in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, in which he was played by Chris Conrad. In the opening scene, Shao Kahn takes Sonya hostage following a fight with Raiden. Cage attempts to save her with his Shadow Kick, but his attack is quickly snuffed out by Kahn, who then threatens to take Cage's life unless Raiden frees Kahn's generals, whom he had captured moments earlier in a standoff with Kahn. Raiden obliges, and Kahn capitalizes on his ruse by killing Cage on the spot.

Matt Mullins played Cage in the 2011 short film Mortal Kombat: Rebirth as a faltering action star. To allow his talents to still be used, he became an undercover agent for police officer Jackson Briggs. However, Alan Zane (Baraka) attacks and kills him in a brutal fight.^[9]

Mullins reprised his role as Cage in the third episode of Mortal Kombat: Legacy (which also featured brief appearances by The Electric Playground host Victor Lucas and MK creative director Ed Boon), with the character revised as a flailing TV star whose career was on the downturn after Power Rangers, in which he had starred, went off the air. Cage unsuccessfully pitches a pair of reality show pilots, in which he was filmed engaging in acts of vigilantism by beating up various criminals, to two television executives. After they subsequently refuse to extend his development deal and he later overhears one of the executives backstage offering a new show to another actor by way of stealing Cage's ideas, Cage snaps and pummels the executive along with two security guards who had rushed to the man's aid. Cage is then approached by Shang Tsung with an offer to provide "a way out of everything."

Mullins left the series after the first season and was replaced by Casper Van Dien for season 2, in which it was revealed that Cage refused Shang Tsung's offer to fight for Outworld, but was reluctantly recruited by Raiden to participate in the tournament. Cage is stabbed through the shoulder during a fight with Mileena, but manages to save Kitana from certain death before fleeing the battle. However, while Cage is later being treated by Stryker, Liu Kang ambushes the pair but is interrupted by Kung Lao before he can finish them off. Van Dien, partially in jest, compared his career to that of the character in an interview.^[10]

A six inch figure of Johnny Cage from MK 2011 was released by Jazwares. A number of other figures have been also released earlier.

Reception

The character was generally very well received for a variety of reasons. UGO Networks ranked Johnny Cage as fourth on their 2008 list of the top Mortal Kombat characters, complementing his role as the comic relief of the series.^[11] In UGO's 2012 list of top Mortal Kombat characters, Cage placed as 23rd with a comment that "there's nothing better than kicking somebody's ass with a fighter that's supposed to be a joke."^[12] He was also ninth in Game Revolution's list of top ten old school Mortal Kombat characters with praise on his special moves that made him stand out.^[13] IGN listed him as a character they would like to see as downloadable content for Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe, as he "remains a favorite among MK heroes, even though he's spent a good portion of the series' life in a coffin."^[14] In 2013, he was ranked as the tenth top Mortal Kombat character by ScrewAttack,^[15] and was voted the series' 13th greatest character in a poll by Dorkly.^[16]

In 2007, 1UP.com ranked him ninth in their feature covering the ten most notorious video game resurrections, noting that one of the most remarkable part of his character was that he was one of the few ones who died during the storyline.^[17] In 2008, Destructoid called him "easily the best character in a fighting game ever."^[18] GameDaily included him in their list of top 25 "gaming hunks", stating that "if you can't marry Brad Pitt, you can always settle for Mortal Kombat's Johnny Cage."^[19] In 2012, Complex ranked him as the 16th "most dominant" fighting game character for having "the greatest move in fighting games" by 1992, adding that he "embodies Hollywood's overpaid jerk persona perfectly."^[20] 1UP.com's Retronauts compared him to Street Fighter's Guile.^[21] In 2014, What Culture ranked Johnny Cage as the 14th greatest ever fighting game character, calling him a "proof that, as gory as the MK franchise may be, it never loses sight of its own silliness."^[22]

Cage's infamous split-punch move hitting opponents in the groin (which at first could be performed only against male opponents, but later became gender-neutral) was featured in GamesRadar's article about "gaming’s most devastating genital attacks" with a comment that "it’s hardly Cage’s most impressive or most damaging move, but it’s inarguably his best."^[23] In another article, the split-punch was listed as his signature move with notes that while it is performed in a "decidedly un-Street Fighter way", it was the first "silly" moment in the franchise.^[24] In addition, his split-punch of Goro in the film was listed as one the top 11 game movie moments by UGO.com in 2007.^[25] His finishing move from the 2011 reboot, which involves the use of an Academy Award-like statuette, was included by FHM on their list of nine most brutal Fatalities in the game.^[26] It was also ranked tenth by Complex in their 2013 ranking of the "craziest video game fatalities," a list that Cage actually made twice as his triple uppercut Fatality from MKII came in at 39th.^[27] That same year, Complex also ranked Johnny's autograph Friendship as the 16th best finishing move in the series, stating that "most of these Friendships were deliberately lame, but Johnny Cage's was very much in character, playing on his douche-tastic persona."^[28]

According to the GameSpot review of the 2011 game, Johnny Cage's "arrogant personality and inordinate sexism make him something of a chore to listen to" in the story mode.^[29] Machinima.com placed him second on their 2011 list of "scumbags in gaming" for being a "supreme" example of a narcissistic "douchebag" in video games.^[30] In 2012, ScrewAttack included him among the top ten "p*ssy ass b*tches in all of gaming".^[31] Complex described this "walking douchebag" as "the perfect example of how far confidence and self delusion can take you" and "by far the spokesperson of the obnoxious Ed Hardy crowd."^[32] Carl Lyon of Fearnet opined that Van Dien's portrayal of Cage in Legacy "makes the character the unlikable asshole we all know and love."^[33]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Johnny Cage.

• List of Mortal Kombat characters

References

v t e Mortal Kombat Video games Fighting games Mortal Kombat (1992) MKII home versions MK3 Ultimate MK3 Trilogy MK4 Gold Deadly Alliance Deception Armageddon vs. DC Universe Mortal Kombat (2011) Action games Mythologies: Sub-Zero Special Forces Shaolin Monks Collections Arcade Kollection Other media Feature films Mortal Kombat Annihilation Other adaptations Comics Live Tour Defenders of the Realm Konquest Rebirth Legacy episodes Card games Kard Game Epic Battles Music The Album Original Motion Picture Soundtrack More Kombat Songs Inspired by the Warriors Characters Baraka Cyrax Ermac Goro Jade Jax Johnny Cage Kano Kenshi Kitana Kung Lao Liu Kang Mileena Motaro Nightwolf Noob Saibot Raiden Reptile Scorpion Sektor Shang Tsung Shao Kahn Sheeva Sindel Smoke Sonya Blade Stryker Sub-Zero Other articles Controversies Fatality NetherRealm Studios Midway Games Injustice: Gods Among Us