First impressions are not positive at all. Aesthetically, it looks awful by 2021 standards, whereas the original two movies looked cheesy, but still decent for 1995 & 1997. The changes in the plot, especially Cole Young...wtf are they thinking??? There's SO much lore within the MK Universe there's no reason for a new generic character. I will be shocked if this movie doesn't bomb during it's first week. I highly doubt it'll surpass the charm from the original 1995 film. More gore is the only positive, but gore in a movie that's based on an M rated video game doesn't exactly mean it will turn out good. Think about Doom from 2005.

Cole is real, so... yeah, I'm passing on this. Stupid, stupid decision for a writer to put a self-insert character in.

Liu Kang and Kung Lao look better than I though they would. Kung Lao looks straight out of the game. Jax's arms look pretty awesome too. Sonya's outfit looks kinda meh, but the actress looks the part

Kano looks disappointing. I wish for the metal plated eye instead the scratches and red retina.

I'm still not thrilled about the OC protagonist, but I do think the depiction of the other characters looks pretty good overall.

My first impressions was why are they promoting Mortal Kombat Legacy because that's what the photo of Sub-Zero with Scorpion reminds me of.

Having the actual leaked scripts I am shocked by the opening. The feudal Japan story arc was never envisioned in the leaked script but given this is Mortal Kombat and toxic fans have been attacking this film and its cast/crew verbally anyway, I see how they need to introduce the film with something this fanbase is most familiarized with.

Cole Young is a new version of his name and I don't think I had ever heard of it until this story broke.

Loving Jax's arms. Those are very well done.

As for Sonya's outfit it's a woke version of her character's 1995 version.

Kano is Kano and he reminds me of the new-gen video game version along with Legacy's version. If that red light effect on his eye is supposed to be his laser eye, the editor needs to remove that white spec that clearly shows his real pupil. Not a fan of the laser pointer effect at this time.

Notice the other person in Jax's photo appears to either be Raiden or some kind of monk...

Liu Kang and Kano are too similar to this-gen version in many ways. But I guess the filmmakers wanted this film to connect more with the MK9-MK11 generation since that generation is less toxic than the OGs aka my generation (MK1-MK4) and new-gen are more open-minded, especially with the kontroversey surrounding the new timelines of MK11 that looks like a typical cheapsake Ed Boon trick to sell more games and now microtransactions/updates.

I will say... these photos do tend to reflect what we can expect to see in Act I (except for two of these photos) of the film when the fighters are introduced before their storylines are developed moreso into what we know the existing roster as anyway. So what it out and see. HBO Max likely offers a trial so that's the cheapest and easiest way for doubters to see it first.

As for the new character and fight format - Mortal Kombat has to keep up with the times to remain relevant. It's like Walt Disney said about Disney, although loosely - We must always keep progressing and as long as people have imagination we have a business. The "Enter the Dragon" fantasy island survival format coupled with a tournament is dull, tried, and fried. Did you not notice the "battle royale" format in Scorpion's Revenge and how well it was delivered? A Battle Royale is not that much different from a tournament and it allows much more freedom and creativity than just matching people based on common traits. That's why we'll never see a Sting vs Undertaker wrestling match - just because they are both dark figures does not make them a perfect match. Gimmick matches had their time as did gimmick movies. And, aside from Cassie Cage, they were bound to tie MK to MMA. That's because when MK was made, around that time the other popular fight films were Bloodsport and Karate Kid and TMNT, and before that, Boon and Tobias did not have much to work with aside from limited fantasy martial arts films, so at that time a tournament was the thing then. Now it's a new era and a Battle Royale is in. MMA is also in. A Hollywood stunt fighter joining a tournament was never believable anyway. Sure I like Johnny Cage with the rest of you but remember Johnny Cage was once considered a very unpopular character - when did that change? When he was absent in MK3/UMK3 or killed in the film MKA? When he continued to appear in all the other games because OG fans felt "entitled" to have all 7 originals debut... in... every... game... when... possible... only to see their beloved Scorpion not in MK3 yet bitched enough to help put him back in in UMK3?

Here's my final words and it's directly to the toxic fanbase. You keeping saying "you're out" whenever a new update about this film is released. But guess what - you've been saying that for going on 5 years now and every time you say "you're out" only to come back and continue to be fed, because you are obsessed, you crave the attention, and frankly you know you can't stay away from anything MK. So I don't believe you when you say you're out and I am not looking forward to your toxicity when the film is finally unleashed just so you can say, again, "you're out," only to wait a couple more years to hear of a sequel or another reboot, to which again you will say "you're out." Sit down and shut up already and I'll see you again on here several times from now.

I knew it! What a way to ruin a possible big return for this franchise to the big screen. Mortal Kombat has its own mythos and a story that needs to be told you don't need a stupid new character like Cole Turner. Wish they would just now leave this alone unless they redo the original story as we know it or the last three games we've been playing. From now on it appears the games will have to be our true Mortal Kombat movies. :( It is a sad day to be a Mortal Kombat fan. Mortal Kombat is ONLY powered by true die hard gamers where parents or those who know how violent the game is will pass on a movie based upon it.

I don't know about this cole guy. He's looking like kenshi and a waste of an opportunity to be kenshi as a protagonist.

I'm not gonna get my panties in a twist until I see the actual trailer. But yeah, I ent getting down n jiggy with Cole.

So does Cole become/replace Johnny Cage or Kobra or is he definitely a new new original character?

Kobra bg/origin would be neat I guess.

Isn't that Sonya's Shaolin Monks outfit? It looks VERY familiar.

Whatever happened to Art Lean & growling dreadlocks guy?

Ka-Tra

I think his (bionic) optic technology has really advanced, or he gets the metal cybernetic eye implant later on in the movie.

The Kano image brings Kazuya Mishima to mind (if it was the other eye), although the Devil Gene and electromechanical infrared/x-ray vision are different. The deep blemishes indicate the metallic got ripped off.

Dude, do you even know what woke is? Obviously not.

Just because she isn't showing saggy tits for you to whack your wang over, doesn't make it woke. It's actually more conservative if anything.

Yes I'm very aware of what "woke" means. I was referring to her wearing long pants and not the shorts Bridgette wore in the 1995 film. Not sure where you got the idea of her "saggy tits" from and I'm shocked you can even see them to know they're sagging because to me I can't see any cleavage since her shirt goes up to her neck? Maybe you're the one whacking your wang?

Correction: That is NOT Raiden with Jax. Now that I can zoom in on the photo, Clearly Jax is fighting against a hammer! Wonder who that could be?

Go Go Power Rangers......There is no such thing as Toxic fans as described by the person here above. Its just a "Nietzsche Rant" coming right up at!!!

MK has become like an ex-partner for many of the OG fans. It won't work anymore and we are seperated and that is all good. but every now and then you want to see how it is going....and yet everytime we check...its just not what it used to be. hahahaha anyway guys I love Jax in these picture but with hair it would have been a lot better. and yes he is fighting Shao Kahn for some reason with his fckn hammer. But Liu Kang and Kung Lao's faces look sooo much the same and they look like very bad cosplayers. the clothes do not fit them properly. Remember the eyes of scorpion in MK95? it fckn scared you....this subzero dude looks like DJ that is about to drop the cold ass beat...his eyes are the contacts even I have at home from the Rave parties before the covid shit.

If you don't want to be disapointed then don't expect anything from this franchise. And no the young kids or teens are no tasteless childiesh mfs they don't like this kind of cosplay movie as well. Its like Star wars now..or even worse...it needs soul...and the Soul is Mr. John Tobias. PERIOD!

Goro, I hate calling people out, but I think I need to, here. Please read what I have to say and try to understand where it's coming from. I didn't write paragraphs explaining my opinion because I know almost no one reads them. But after reading what you wrote, I feel like I need to respond.

First off, do you really think it's open-minded of you to tell people who voice displeasure with the way their favorite property is being treated to sit down and shut up? It's quite the opposite, actually. You also call said fans toxic. Why? Because they don't like the idea of this movie following an original character and pushing the others to the background? Sounds like you're equally as close-minded to think fans should just accept anything with a dragon logo plastered on it. Preaching patience is one thing--attacking people who think differently is another. Disney may change things, but their brand is still recognizable, by and large. This product, well, it just doesn't feel like MK to me, and others seem to agree. At this point, it feels like they've strayed so far from the source material that aside from the outfits of a few characters it's unrecognizable. That's a problem, and sharing that opinion before the movie releases is OK (Fans probably saved Sonic the Hedgehog by criticizing it early, for example.)

You say Cage was always thought of as unpopular, in the past. Why? Because the '90s internet scene said so? I was also here back then and on all the other sites like TRMK, Realm of the Warriors Dot Net, etc. The internet was a much smaller portion of the world back then than it is now, so it wasn't the best representation of the fandom at large. In fact, most fans STILL don't visit fansites. So how can you possibly think this was fact? Internet darling Reptile's usage data from 9 and X is only one example that maybe we really have no idea how popular characters actually are. (BTW, I love Reptile, but the point still stands--no one mained him.)

If you think MK needs to bring on a new character to stay relevant with the public, I'd point you to the sales numbers of MK 9-11. MK's never had such long, sustained success. Yes, some things can and/or should change, but why can't Liu Kang, for example, be the main character? Why not Sonya? Sub-Zero? Or ANY OTHER EXISTING character? Do we really need the writer to use a self-insert character? (That's what Cole feels like, at this point. I could be wrong, but until I see otherwise that's how I'll feel about him.)

My opinion is, this is a DISCUSSION board, and when you tell other people they need to shut up or call them toxic because they actually care enough to voice their displeasure with how things stand or look right now, then you're part of the problem.

People have a right to voice their opinions and disagree. I have four degrees earned over a few decades, and I'm going to tell you, colleges are the most close-minded places on the planet, and encourage their students to be just as bad. The same thing is happening all over the world right now, helped along by people who think only their opinions matter. I hate seeing it, but it gets worse every year. Dialogue is thr answer, not silencing poeple who think differently. Here's a little secret--so-called toxic fans are usually people who care a great deal about something and are just voicing their displeasure. Are some a problem? Yes. Are all of them? Definitely not. The truly close-minded are the ones who turn around and shame people who voice a differing opinion, or tell them they are 'the problem.' This younger generation shouts down everyone who disagrees with them, so calling them more open-minded seems silly to me, as I've seen that it's the opposite, first-hand.

Disagree? Don't "shut up", but tell me why. Criticise an opinion all you want, but don't belittle people for their opinion.

Now, to expand on my actual opinion of this movie here it is: this product just isn't Mortal Kombat as it's been presented to us, as of right now. Could that change? Possibly, but right now that's how I feel about it. If it was called something else, almost no one on here would have a problem with it. I certainly wouldn't. But it IS called MK, so I think it should actually bear some resemblence to its namesake. Hollywood shouldn't co-opt a name and ignore everything it stands for to make whatever they want, and that's exactly the vibes this thing is giving off, right now.

Unfortunately, I think his eye is just going to end up being the source of his "arcana", the movie's answer to special moves. I don't think it's gonna be bionic at all. I think he's gonna get it scratched in a fight, and that's gonna activate his arcana.

That's another nitpick I have. In MK, some special movies are from supernatural abilities, but others are from technology or gadgets. It kind of seems like "arcana" is the collective answer to most special moves in this one. And if that's the case, I think it's a shame because the origin of some special moves kinda reflect important aspects of some characters.

Unnecessary changes.

Jax appears to have his tech arms, why can't Kano have his tech eye?

Next, Sub-Zero's ice will be a symbiotic relationship with the Pseudomonas Syringae bacteria...

Ka-Tra

When I say bionic, I was going by the inside of the retina, not the high-tech steel plate on his face (I like what they did with this in Kano's MKX ending, with the cyber mental hacking). Why does the pupil (and sometimes iris) glow red like it has the entire series (like a T-800, for a typical example)? Because it's liable it's robotic. It's not a mystery, an unnamed Black Dragon technologist surgically grafted it in his eyeball (or socket).

I get this idea the producers are toying with. They think bringing a new character like Cole Turner to literally be the audience in this game-themes movie will work. Hey it worked for Resident Evil right? Sure it did but for a particular reason. Resident Evil didn't have a true hard core backstory. Anyone could be in a Resident Evil themed movie. Any character could be easily replaced. Resident Evil succeeded because it had a stronger plot than most video game themed movies. The plot being the evil Umbrella Corporation created a virus that created zombies and other horrific monsters. Anyone could be the lead in a film like that and you can run into characters or monsters from the game and both the gaming community of Resident Evil and non-gaming community would get it completely.

With a game with a stronger backstory gets involved, similar to comic book themed movies which Mortal Kombat really is in a nut-shell, a comic book turned into a video game in a way, you cannot just randomly place someone who'll be intricate in the story into a film based off of the story that made the game so popular. You may gain a non-MK fan based community which may stay to the MK movies only, but you could possibly loose die-hard fans who have played the games and the majority of MK gamers today started back in 1993 when the first game came out to arcades. Sure they're trying to be fresh but what it a non-MK gamer decides to give the games a try and falls in love with this new character yet this new character isn't in the game ANYWHERE? Could you loose that 1 person? Yes you could but the same could also be said about Resident Evil too with Alice.

For me what kills me so far of this movie is the leaked script that came out a while ago seems to now be more legit than ever. The story itself really isn't there or even strong enough for this film to please true MK fans. So Sub-Zero causes Jax to loose his arms? Really? Okay. We know some die hard fan favorites from the 1st game will not be featured in this film, well at least one.

Mortal Kombat is and always will be about a tournament in which select fighters are to compete to defend the realm of Earth from another realm invading and destroying the Earth. Most notably the Outworld. It isn't about trying to find dragon medallions to enter the tournament, you must be chosen. It just seems that the film will make the luster that made Mortal Kombat interesting with its mythology to loose the great mythology. I will see it but long after the HBO Max and Theatrical thing is over and it is officially released to Blu-Ray which it currently already has a set target release date by Christmas of 2021 of course that could change too. For me I wish they would have done a more traditional style similar to how Enter the Dragon started with the heroes and stuck with the original story. Out of the photos so far I agree that Kano's look is the worst of the bunch.

I'm not a fan of the many versions if the Cole name. What's the point of that? We went from Turner to Morino to now Young... why?

Also not a fan of literally no pre-promotional merch. There were gobs for the 1995 film - books, CDs, videos, figures, a CD-ROM, even a sticker album lol. But we have a magazine article, an online poster, and a very small snippet in a studio promo video.

@trynax Where is the source for the projected Bluray release date and did it mention a 4K release?

Also... to give you some spoilers based on the 2018 script in comparison with what little has been released...

• The young girl, Emily plays Cole Young's daughter. If they stayed true to the script she will play an edgy role of being stalked and hunted by Goro. Cole Young IS Scorpion's son. Mileena leads the Outworld warriors on their assault on Earth. Shao Kahn appeared in the 2018 opener which also setup the tournament lore and even shown how the Dragon medallion was made. Kind of reminded me of a Freddy Kruger opening where the blades were sharpened. Scorpion didn't have a major role in the 2018 script. Johnny Cage did NOT appear in the 2018 script. However he was eluded to being in the sequel. Kitana does not appear in the 2018 script. Her fans are referenced as if she had died or went missing. Reiko is in the film and fights Earth warriors. Earth warriors are now Cole Young, Kano, Sonya, Jax, Raiden, Liu Kang and Kung Lao. Liu Kang DOES NOT WIN the MK tournament. Cole does. It starts out as a tournament but goes all to hell in a battle royale format. The same battle royale format we seen in Annihilation. Only they didn't refer to it as a battle royale then... ambush was used alot. Liu Kang's very wimpy / emo. Raiden is alot like his MK9-MK11 version. Don't expect a confident wise-cracker. Sonya kills Kano only at his request in a mercy style killing. Reminds me of Sonya's death in MK11. Alot of the movie takes place in Sonya's house n a farm. Why does this remind me of the new Ghostbusters movie? This is very much a horror film. Sub-Zero works for Shang not as a slave under his power but defender of Outworld. He is very evil. In the 2018 script Scorpion only appeared at the end. Sonya feels alot like MK11 Sonya. In some ways this movie pits MK11 version of the characters in a MK prequel. The sequel, if made, will definitely be a different MK1. The lack of promotion and the veil of secrecy suggests to me we shouldn't expect a sequel which will very well anger fans as cliffhangers would be left unresolved. However it appears alot of the cast remained busy with other projects after filming suggesting they are only working due to established star power and deals pre-pandemic. Several cast members have not. Based on my experience being an extra in a MTV reboot of the British Inbetweeners show and given the fact that show garnished so much hate for being a remake I'm very certain this movie will fail in the US. The only reason a sequel could be made is if it carries a success overseas which may likely be very so as that audience, especially Asian, favors martial arts films.

Blu-Ray.com had an article on the HBO Max / WB releases and had a handful of them already listed like Wonder Woman 1984 which is late August for Blu-Ray at this moment. The article discussed how when the movie is released on HBO and the theaters it will have a total of 6 months run. 3 of the 6 months the film will be in both theaters and HBO Max, after the third month the movie will be pulled from theaters but continue to run on HBO Max until Blu-Ray / DVD release which would occur 3 months after the movie has been on just HBO Max. I'll need to find the article again but it had at that time Blu-Ray release dates of about 10 movies one was Wonder Woman which at that articles posting was August this year, however it has been updated to just say 2020 with the art work for the movie so far. Mortal Kombat at that time had a December 2021 Blu-Ray release. All releases are expected to change too but this article was posted around the same time HBO Max and WB announced this news. It should be in their new archives on their site. Taking what the article stated if you start in April roughly six months away would be October at the earliest but December at the latest. All movies will more than likely have 4K releases. Very seldomly now do they not. One thing to note as soon as something like the HBO Max movies are released the physical release is almost always mentioned on the site and a cover art is displayed.

Here is a link to the WW84 cover they have so far. Release date has been changed on it https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Wonder-Woman-1984-4K-Blu-ray/244927/

Quick question on the poll....what does each statement mean when you vote? Is show me more mean not until I see more or I want to see more? Is Finish Him mean not interested? I understand the Outstanding one at least.

Can you provide a link to that article?

Also, to point out the photo with Sub-Zero and his ice spike...

Notice behind him everything is frozen? If this is the same scene as mentioned in the 2018 leaked script, this photo is from the final fight scene!

The new opening was in the January 2019 draft.

There are other changes as well.

@Bran

You have this script? Please message me on here...

I really don't think you know what "woke" means.

Actually I'm hyped for the movie! although I'm not expecting anything. Wonder why they changed the dragon logo,