A new promotional banner for the upcoming Mortal Kombat movie has given us a fresh look at some of the main players representing good and evil. The posed hero art includes clear in-costume reveals for Cole Young and Kabal. Take a look:

Lewis Tan appeared opposite a leaping Goro in the official red band trailer wearing Cole Young's unique armored design, which can be seen in the banner. The same preview gave us a fleeting glimpse of Daniel Nelson as Kabal, who can be seen on the far right of the banner wearing the movie's take on his klassic masked design.

Between Cole and Kabal are: Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Jax Briggs (Mehcad Brooks), Scorpion (Hiroyuki Sanada), Sub-Zero (Joe Taslim), Shang Tsung (Chin Han), and Mileena (Sisi Stringer). All of these characters were previously featured in solo character posters.

According to the official synopsis: Cole Young will encounter all of these fighters as he unlocks the secret of his lost heritage on the path to discovering the Mortal Kombat tournament. Shang Tsung's forces of darkness will attempt to destroy him and the warriors of Earthrealm as they train to compete in the ancient contest.

[Related Article: Producer Todd Garner Goes Deep Into Making Mortal Kombat]

Mortal Kombat is coming soon in available cinemas and streaming to HBO Max. Download the MKO App via App Store or Google Play to subscribe to the April 16th calendar event and share your thoughts on this story with a like and comment below! Find & discuss more stories on the Media & Merchandise forum!

Next month's Mortal Kombat movie will present the latest re-imagining of the legendary martial arts tournament and its conflict between two realms. The red band trailer gave us a glimpse of several threats coming from Outworld. We've seen Mileena in action and a new report is giving hope that her identitical twin might factor in somehow, as well. Read on for details:

Syfy Wire was one of many outlets to visit the Australian set more than a year ago. Most of what they saw has been revealed in the trailer and promotional posters, but they report seeing an unidentified blue outfit in in the costume department, and Kitana style fans displayed by prop master Lisa Brennan.

Kitana is absent from the official synopsis and related promotional offerings, making the weapon sighting the most compelling evidence of at least a cameo by the Edenian assassin princess.

Similar on set reference material seemingly spoiled the inclusion of Goro, Reptile, and Kabal in 2019. All three characters appear briefly in the red band trailer, with SyFy Wire also reporting seeing an animatronic tongue and hookswords amongst the prop paraphernalia.

Kitana was first introduced in Mortal Kombat II, quickly becoming a mainstay of heroic efforts to defeat the forces of Outworld in sequels, and multimedia. She was frequently opposed by arch-rival Mileena: a hybrid clone that looks identical to Kitana save for a mouth full of jagged Tarkatan teeth.

Sisi Stringer plays Mileena in the upcoming movie [pictured above], seemingly lacking her iconic toothy maw in the trailer, and promo posters. Special effects artist Larry von Duynhoven told Syfy Wire: "The finished look will have her mouth sort of disengage in the way that it does in the game."

It naturally remains to be seen if the identical nature of Mileena & Kitana leads to a dual role for Stringer, who is ethnically cast against type. Bond girl Talisa Soto originated the role of Kitana in the 1995 adaptation, while Olympian Dana Hee appeared as a masked Mileena in the sequel.

[Related Article: Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate Mileena Trailer]

Producer Todd Garner has discussed details of the omission of characters from the film's plot, confirming Edenian demigod, Rain, will not be appearing. Johnny Cage is also expected to be missing, although Syfy Wire quotes the producer saying: "I definitely will not say that there is no Johnny Cage in this movie".

Mortal Kombat is officially released in limited theatres and streaming to HBO Max in the United States on April 16th. Download the MKO App via App Store and Google Play to subscribe to the release event countdown and receive notifications to your device. Share your thoughts about this story in the comments below and find & discuss more in the Media & Merchandise forum!

Joe Taslim was one of the first actors publicly confirmed for the upcoming Mortal Kombat feature film and it was quickly revealed he'd be playing Bi-Han. In gaming lore he's fated to be killed and resurrected as Noob Saibot -- but will the elder Sub-Zero's transformation be as inevitable in the movie? Read on for the actor's answer:

Embargoes have apparently been lifted on interviews conducted during an Australian set visit all the way back in late 2019 -- unleashing a blitz of movie coverage! According to a newly released quote from Cinemablend, it seems Joe Taslim was thinking about Noob Saibot as far back as over a year ago!

In general, we both know that I play Bi-Han. We have two [S]ub-zeros, Bi-Han and Kuai Liang. Noob Saibot is Bi-Han, it’s not a secret. [Quan Chi] took the humanity of Bi-Han and turned him to Noob Saibot. We both know that from that story of Bi-Han, I mean, it’s on Google it’s not a secret, he has humanity inside of him and when he’s Noob Saibot, it’s just totally dark pitch black. You can see that in his character as Bi-Han when the movie is out. That’s it.

The comment stops short of outright confirming the transformation to "Noob Saibot" will occur in this movie, but eagle-eyed viewers of the official red band trailer will have noticed what looks like a dark Sub-Zero emerging from a puff of black smoke [pictured below].

Bi-Han's circumstances in the upcoming movie aren't quite as they were in gaming canon. He'll traverse several centuries from conflict in feudal Japan before appearing in the present day as Sub-Zero. Like the games, he'll renew his blood feud with Scorpion, but according to the official synopsis he'll be doing it while working for Shang Tsung as the movie's primary antagonist.

It's unclear if cryomancy will be Sub-Zero's means of existing for hundreds of years, or if other methods will justify his return, such as his involvement with the soul-wielding sorcerer. Script writer Greg Russo has stressed the development of his ice powers will not be tied to Shang Tsung.

Bi-Han's real name wasn't revealed until the 2011 video game reboot, which rewrote the saga of the first three games. Bi-Han's death was first revealed in a bombshell arcade ending from Mortal Kombat II [pictured below], while his resurrection as MKII's hidden wraith, "Noob Saibot", was retroactively explained in a Mortal Kombat: Deception ending.

[Related Article: Klassic Noob Saibot Mortal Kombat Mobile Trailers]

Arch-nemeses Sub-Zero & Scorpion feature on a new poster for the film. Do you think their battles will lead to the birth of Noob Saibot? Share your thoughts in the comments below! Find and discuss more stories from the movie on the Media & Merchandise forum ahead of the official release April 16th!

After what seemed like a long period of radio silence: a tidal wave of pre-promotion for the Mortal Kombat has been unleashed with long held embargoes lifting! A veritable carpet bombing of articles has resulted, with film producer Todd Garner revealing more about the creative details of making the movie and its evolutionarytimeline. Read on for details:

A decade ago Kevin Tancharoen teased excerpts from a reboot movie script that would've expanded upon his work on the significantly different world of low budget webseries Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Speaking with Collider, Todd Garner described the approach as "super dark and kind of like The Crow".

Tancharoen formally exited the project in 2013. Garner came on board as a producer some time around the year that followed, pushing the cinematic reboot toward higher loftier goals:

"Tancharoen's stuff was super contained; obviously, the guy was doing it on a shoestring budget, and it was very dark and kind of contained. And so when I read the script, they gave me the movie to work on, I [said], 'This isn't what we should do,' which was stupid, probably. I said, 'This isn't what we should do, we should really try to open this up.'"

This push towards a bigger cinematic design led to the much publicized recruitment of James Wan and an investment in a bigger picture. The Crow -- originally a comic book by James O'Barr -- would no longer be a comparison point, but the frequently emulated template of Marvel Studios and their mass market adaptation of comic book IP remained a common touchstone. Garner explained:

"Okay, if you were really gonna do this, and not just try to make it like The Crow, not just try to make it like Kevin did where he's like, 'Well, I only have this much money, so I'm gonna be in an apartment building with guys kicking the shit out of each other,' what would you do?' And so we started from the premise of, 'What would Marvel do?"

The Marvel movie method shaped development of the new script, but where Marvel relied on one of their most enduring and entrenched founding characters to initiate and anchor the Avengers franchise [Iron Man], Garner describes Liu Kang as a "weird [adjustment]". Elaborating on the premise, "So we said, 'Okay, maybe we just start neutral and come into the movie, and then really set up the canvas where we can meet all of the characters that people love."

Lewis Tan will carry some of that burden as Cole Young: a character created for the movie and central to the premise and first official trailer. Garner spoke with ComicBook.com about the controversial invention, explaining his role as an entry point for a movie audience: "... the worry is when you have such a deep piece of [IP]] like a video game that if you get too stuck in just the video game, you can sometimes ignore the rest of the world".

Despite the enduring legacy and popularity of the 1995 feature film directed by Paul W.S. Anderson; Garner questions whether the same approach -- a tournament based on the plot of the 1992 video game and often compared to Bruce Lee masterpiece Enter the Dragon -- would be too jarring and limiting in 2021.

"He sees the eyes of anyone who's never played the game, just to come in and go, ‘Oh, this is Kabal. Oh, this is Kano, oh this is Sonya Blade.’ As opposed to just jumping in and having a tournament and just sort of how the '95 movie did it. We felt like that might be a little limiting for people and be a little jarring for people. Kind of in the same way ... I think about Transformers, if you just loved that game, you can't just come in and have a bunch of robots. You have to have somebody coming in and narrating. I use that in air quotes. So that's the character Cole is playing. We're not trying to say he's a new character in the game, he's just used to start introduction into the world of Mortal Kombat."

Sadly, some characters won't make the cut, but not all omissions will be as surprising. Garner told ComicBook.com that Rain was briefly considered for the movie, "But Reptile's sort of like Rain and so it's like... And that was just a weird fight [...] So we had to pull that character out, which is like, that wouldn't have been a [main] character anyway." He explained the vetting process to Collider, noting the differences between playing a game and watching a movie:

"I always like to say to people, 'Who do you normally play?' And them I'm like, 'Welp, okay! That movie is not this one!' But we tried to really get the right characters in, and tried to be intelligent about [whether] we were just throwing characters in just to have them in the movie so we can placate people, or do they really belong in the movie."

[Related Article: Johnny Cage In Doubt For Mortal Kombat Movie]

The red band trailer has reportedly become the most watched in YouTube history! Are you excited about their approach to the material? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Mortal Kombat officially comes to limited tehatres and streaming premiere on HBO Max on April 16th! Download the MKO App via App Store and Google Play to subscribe to the release day event and receive notifications to your device! Find and discuss more stories in the Media & Merchandise forum.

From the legendary game soundtracks by Dan Forden to the techno of albums inspired by the warriors: there's a strong tradition of music and Mortal Kombat! The newest movie trailer brought back an old favourite, but it also introduces us to sounds from a new source. Take a listen:

There are a few folks in music answering to the n ameVWLS, but this one brought ominous tones to one of the most watched red band trailers in YouTube history! Listen to their song Emergence below to be taken back to soundscape of that impactful first preview!

The Mortal Kombat trailer also featured an obligatory sting inspired by Techno Syndrome: the song first recoreded as part of Mortal Kombat: The Album, and used memorably in the 1995 feature film. A song we'll no doubt be hearing more of in the future.

[Related Article: Watch: Mortal Kombat 11 New Era Launch Trailer]

Mortal Kombat officially arrives in limited release theatrically and streaming to HBO Max on April 16th. Download the MKO App via App Store and Google Play and subscribe to the calendar event to receive notifications. Share your thoughts about the VWLS song in the comments below and find more stories in the Media & Merchandise forum! Special thanks to MK Online user gorostilllives for posting this to the forum!