A Mortal Kombat theatrical reboot has been in the works for much of the last decade, but the most recent phase only began in 2015, with news James Wan was attached to produce.

A first-time director soon followed, but substantial information has been scarce in the eighteen months since, leading to a smattering of conflicting rumors, misinformation, and unsubstantiated reports.

That Hashtag Show claims uncredited exclusive information from a new script by confirmed writer Greg Russo, who is also working on several other video game related projects, including: a Resident Evil reboot, and F.E.A.R. adaptation for Warner Digital's Machinima channel.

The story centers around a list of characters led by "Cole Turner" -- a Philadelphia boxer, and father, reportedly created to lead the movie.

If true: the new invention may be conceived as an entry point character, who will discover the Mortal Kombat universe as surrogate for the audience. With just a hint of Rocky to inform the concept, he may also provide the film a meaningful lead character to kill for a more bloodthirsty adaptation.

Cole Turner
Lead Male. 30s. A brand new character to the MK franchise. Cole is a struggling and widowed boxer who cares more about his young daughter than anything. He is incredibly determined and refuses to quit in the face of fantastical adversity.

This Cole Turner presumably has no relation to the character Julian McMahon played for several years on TV's Charmed. The reported full character list boasts some surprising inclusions that will please hardcore fans, such as Drahmin, Nitara, and Reiko, but notable alterations to iconic fighters will be less well received.

The pursuit of the tournament's "prophecy" recasts Sonya Blade as a brainy writer, Raiden as a 14 year old boy named Jin, Jax Briggs as "Jackson Bridges" - a mercenary who loses his hands, Liu Kang as a "ninja warrior" whose brother Kung Lao is mute, and Kabal as an Outworld assassin.

The rumors have a whiff of inauthenticity, but deviations like these from Mortal Kombat's established plotlines have been consistent through every iteration of live-action adaptation. Even Paul W. Anderson's lauded 1995 film wrestled with established canon, restoring popular aspects, such as the iconic rivalry between Scorpion and Sub-Zero, only after test screenings. The mascot pairing are notably absent from the published list.

Prior to his exit from the project in 2013; webseries director Kevin Tancharoen laughed off rumors his version of the movie would feature Liu Kang as a supermarket clerk. His vision for Mortal Kombat: Legacy never the less went out of its way to radically alter iconic characters, and the world of the game. Liu Kang was a violent sociopath recruited by Shang Tsung when he eventually appeared in the second season.

James Wan professed his appreciation for the classic Mortal Kombat characters while commenting on a need to "get it right", and explaining measured efforts, at a 2016 television event. What that means for a final adaptation remains to be seen.

Update: Todd Garner, Head of Broken Road Productions, who presently list Mortal Kombat as in pre-production on their website, noted via Twitter that any news is premature. While not a denial about the direction of the Russo script, it highlights the fluid process that movie development frequently goes through.

Nothing is happening with the movie at this time, so all news is premature. Sorry!

— Todd Garner (@Todd_Garner) July 10, 2018

Contemporary pop culture is dominated by proven brands, with Hollywood especially fond of loose adaptations, and nostalgic reboots. Mortal Kombat boasts a bit of both, with added potential to time the release of a new game with a feature film. Like Warner Brothers' efforts with DC Comics: the biggest hurdle to MK's success may simply lie in delivering an adaptation that embraces what made the series a success in the first place. Spielberg's Ready Player One provided a proof of concept earlier in the year, giving audiences a taste with authentic Mortal Kombat X cameos.

[Related Article: Retrospective: The Mortal Kombat Cinematic Universe]

What do you think of the rumored character list? Is it a multi-hit combo, or just another fatality? Register to discuss the good and the bad of adaptations on the Media & Merchandise forum! Share this story with friends by liking & sharing via @MK_Online and Facebook.

Jasco Games, the game publishing and design company who created the Universal Fighting System (UFS) Collectible Card Game, has offically announced that it will release a series of Mortal Kombat X cards! They have released this announcement trailer:

Not only does has the Mortal Kombat fighting game experience been faithfully translated to a 2-player card game, but in addition, the game is fully compatible with all other licensed cards that are part of the UFS, such as Street Fighter, DarkStalkers, Dragon Ball Z, and others. Here is a small preview of some of the upcoming cards (though the final design may be subject to change):

There are also upcoming pre-release and release tournaments, and entrants will receive enough booster packs to assemble a card deck. Winners will receive limited edition Mortal Kombat X themed playmats. For dull details, check out:

• The Jasco Games announcement
• The Mortal Kombat X UFS Standard rulebook
• The Mortal Kombat X Draft Rules

Thanks go to MK Online user Scorpio for the word on this! Feel free to join the discussion by registering so that you can post over on the forums!

In honor of the World Cup, the developers of Mortal Kombat X Mobile have developed special Kombat Cup themed skins for two characters: Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade! NetherRealm Studios released this trailer across various social media outlets:

It can be seen in the trailer that the soccer theme is not merely a visual, as evidenced by the NetherRealm-themed jerseys, but is incorporated in the fighters' special moves as well. Johnny uses the soccer ball as a weapon, and Sonya uses a referee whistle whilst using her abilities!

Some astute fans may have noticed that the character models have been slightly altered, possibly to resemble real-life soccer players. For a closer look, MK Online user judgmentfist has provided us with the following pictures that she created after extracting the textures (including a side-by-side comparison with the default MKX costumes used):

Got thoughts on the latest soccer-themed skins for MKX Mobile? You can continue the discussion by registering an account and heading over to the forums!

Looks like Mortal Kombat 11 was a giant bomb at this year's E3 show. For night 2 of their E3 coverage, Giant Bomb hosts Jeff Gerstmann and Dan Ryckert had a sit-down meeting hosted a panel with several developers, including Ed Boon of NetherRealm Studios, Jacob Mikkelson and Sven Liebold of IO Interactive, and Eric Pope of Ubisoft.

The relevant portion of the video begins in the embedded clip, below:

Of particular interest to Mortal Kombat fans, who may feel disappointed at the news, may be the distinct lack of a Mortal Kombat 11 announcement. This is covered in the beginning of the segment:

Jeff Gerstmann: Ed, no game! What’s going on?

Ed Boon: Well, we’ve had E3s where there’s no game before, in the past.

JG: Definitely.

EB: There’s definitely like a pattern we’ve been following that we’ve kind of broken out of. And I’m surprised how many people know about that pattern. I didn’t think that many people were taking notes—writing it down. But it’s certainly something that we’re changing around. And I wish I could—I’m chomping at the bit to talk about stuff—but at the moment, we have nothing that we’re announcing.

JG [stage whisper] All right, just tell me—is Stryker in it, or what? What are we doing? [normal voice] I mean, that was the cadence for a while. Talk about the game at E3, ship in April type thing—and I feel like Injustice 2, when I started thinking about it, when I started maybe piecing some things together to go, “I don’t think they’re gonna have a game there.” At first I was like, “Aw, man. E3 is cancelled.”

EB: In the past, we’ve released some kind of an announcement trailer right before E3. So when we didn’t do something like that, the death threats started.

In other portions of the discussion, they cover topics like their thoughts on DLC (in both Mortal Kombat X and the Injustice series, as well as games by other publishers entirely, such as Rainbow Six) as well as the challenges of developers responding to feedback by gamers and implementing balance patches and other updates. In addition, they discuss how in times past, the surprise short film/teaser Mortal Kombat: Rebirth impacted their announcement for the Mortal Kombat (2011) reboot, how the Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe crossover laid the groundwork for later MK and Injustice games, the cancelled Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks sequel, Fire and Ice, and they even discussed fan projects such as Pong Kombat. There’s also a bit of a foray into the theoretical crossovers that we’d all love to see—but probably won’t—such as Marvel vs. DC and Mortal Kombat vs. Street Fighter.

Although some fans may be a bit let down that Mortal Kombat 11 is not ready to be revealed at this time, the unstructured nature of discussion makes it entertaining to watch as they cover a variety of topics related to MK’s past, present, and future as well as the occasional drift into other topics entirely. Babalities in For Honor?

Although MK11 may be further behind in the development cycle, the conversation never stops! Register an account and share your thoughts on the forum.

Is it a figurine, is it a pin? FiGPiN specialize in collectibles that are a little bit of both. Their zinc alloy & enamel pins are already emblazoned with some of pop cultures biggest icons - and the first from Mortal Kombat is on its way soon! Read on for more details:

Scorpion leads the way for the Mortal Kombat license in his MKX design, joining a range that includes other major properties, such as: DC Comics, World Wrestling Entertainment, Marvel's Avengers, Assassin's Creed and more! Click the thumbnails below to check out characters from other NetherRealm Studios games: Aquaman, The Undertaker, and Mortal Kombat guest Kratos!

Heading to the video game section of Target stores: the Scorpion FiGPiN is 3" tall (76.2mm) and 3/32" thick (2.0mm), encased in what the company describes as "museum-quality, clear poly-carbonate display box with a black ABS plastic base."

The larger than average FiGPiNs can be worn -- or displayed on a patent-pending soft rubber backer. Each collectible pin is engraved with a unique code signifying its limited status! Other characters retail at around $13.99, which should be rough indication of what you can expect.

Update: Scorpion and an Injustice 2 Harley Quinn can be seen displayed in the NetherRealm Studios headquarters in a recent tweet from Ed Boon! The Creative Director's verdict: "They look great!"

Want to see more Mortal Kombat characters in the range? Register to share your comments on the Merchandise & Media forum! Pin your pride digitally by sharing this story via Twitter and Facebook!