Mortal Kombat 1 will come full circle with a Jean-Claude Van Damme Johnny Cage skin, and now, thanks to Ed Boon’s appearance on the latest episode of Hot Ones, we have our first peek at what it will look like.
If you weren’t aware, the team behind developer NetherRealm Studios has been working to have Damme appear in the franchise since it first got its start in the early ‘90s. The action star, sadly, never made his way into the franchise for over 30 years, but when Mortal Kombat 1 finally launches later this month, the Damme drought will finally come to an end. You can get a better look at the Jean-Claude Van Damme skin and see then see it in action in the screenshots and at 5:50 in the video below.
Related: Ed Boon Reveals How Mortal Kombat’s Devs Choose Guest Characters
The moment comes just as First We Feast host Sean Evans asks Boon about how the Jean-Claude Van Damme skin came to be. Although Boon doesn’t quite explain how NetherRealm worked with the actor to have him appear in Mortal Kombat 1, he does recount the story of his involvement, or lack thereof, in the first entry.
“When we made the very first game, our original intention was to make ‘Van Damme the Arcade Game.’ We wanted to see the words ‘Van Damme’ big there,” Boon says. “Bloodsport was big, and Universal Soldier I think was, so we called his people, and we were like, ‘We want to make a game based on Van Damme.’ I don’t know if he declined or it just never got to him or something like that, but again, this is a couple of 20-something-year-old kids, wanting to make a video game. I could see how Van Damme would go, ‘No, we’re not doing this.”
He continued, “This time, we hit the lottery. We got him. We actually have his voice, and he’s going to be the Johnny Cage character.”
Mortal Kombat 1 launches for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X | S on September 19, 2023. While you wait, be sure to read up on how NetherRealm chooses the Mortal Kombat guest characters, and don’t forget to check back in for any updates.
