I also want Johnny Cage to have made a fortune in the 70s and 80s with Microsoft stock options by working there as a part-time janitor
And, while there, he Good Will Hunting'd up on a white board after a meeting and accidently created Windows Vista. The board was hidden away for a few decades and was largely forgotten until early 2000, when it was uncovered and someone decided to implement it.
So I'm late to the party (in fact, I'm reading the thread right now) and an idea for the first movie, we should have Jax in it, before he loses his arms. Sonya joins this group to fight the Mortal Kombat, but Jax, wondering what his partner is doing, goes after her, gets pushed into the Tournament against Goro (who we wouldn't see but a shadow of). We get some dark scene of Jax's limbs being ripped from his body, assume it a Fatality and in the end or another movie all together we get Jax with new cyborg arms.
Edit: Now that I'm farther in the thread, better idea, when Raiden is grabbing champions, he grabs Kono, Sonya, Jax, Johnny Cage, and Lui Kang. Kono isn't wanted by Sonya or Jax yet, but Jax doesn't trust him while Sonya gives him the benefit of the doubt. Jax decides to have Stryker do a background check (which Stryker say nothing shows up on the local database but he'll check national and international, but it's going to take some time. As Jax is waiting for it to come in, Jax has his first match against Goro, which the same events as above happens. Then later Sonya goes against Goro, which gives her a reason to kill him, as she believes Jax is dead. Seeing Jax ripped apart is enough to let Kono know that the "money" for winning isn't worth it and he is then approached by Shang Tsung who knows about the Black Dragons and wants Kono to hook him up with the weapons of Earthrealm, especially these "Cyborgs" that he's heard rumors about. Kono agrees and tries to sabotage Lui Kang's fight (who Shang Tsung believes is the biggest threat to him). However, Stryker gets back with Kono's background check and Sonya finds out that Jax was right. She rushes back to see Kono trying to sabotage the fight. Sonya shoots Kono in the face with her blaster thing or kiss of death before he can, burning his face and eye. The next time we see Kono, he gets that laser eye thing from his Black Dragons, Sonya has a reason to go after Kono, and Jax returns with his Cyborg arm. And we foreshadow the Cyborg stuff that will be seen in Mortal Kombat: Fire & Ice.
Edit: The money idea could also be a hook for Johnny Cage. Cage was a 90s action star trying to get funding to make his comeback but people are over kung-fu movies. So Raiden pulls him in with the promise that the winner gets like a million dollars, but fails to tell him the seriousness of the tournament. So he goes in thinking it's just some normal tournament but the first fatality kinda snaps him into reality.
After Briggs gets off the phone with Stryker, cut to Raiden at the door behind Jax.
Raiden: "It's time, Jax."
Cut to fighting area. On one side you have Sonya, Kono, Johnny Cage, and other Earthrealmers with some of the other Outworlders on the other side with a crowd of people surrounding the room. Jax and Raiden walk in through the crowd.
Jax walks up to Sonya.
Sonya: "Hey..." *pauses* "be careful out there."
Jax smiles: "They don't have anyone big enough to beat me."
Shang Tsung walks in. "Next fight will be between Jax Briggs of Earthrealm..."
Jax turns to Sonya and nodes before stepping forward.
"And 9 time champion of the Mortal Kombat, Goro of Outworld" The camera cuts to the crowd opening up, some folks being pushed out of the way by the four arms of Goro.
Cut to Jax whispering under his breath: "Oh, shit..."
Goro finally makes it to the fighting grounds with the crowd cheering. Shang Tsung looks over the two fighters before yelling "Fight".
Goro roars at Jax, with all four arms opened wide and his head bent down. Jax tries to rush in and punch his face, but Goro is fast and grabs his fist with his upper left hand. Using his lower arms, he picks Jax up, freeing Jax's hand. As Jax starts punching the arms holding him, Goro backhands him, which sends him flying a few feet. As Goro stands over him, Jax tries to uppercut him but instead misses and gets punched in the gut. Goro then goes and beats him mercilessly, even at one point knocking Jax to the ground and slamming him around like Hulk did Loki in the Avengers.
As a beaten Jax lays there, Sonya starts to rush in to help him but Raidan stops her.
Sonya: "But he's going to get killed!"
Raidan: "And if you help him, Earthrealm will be disqualified and Outworld will win. I'm sorry, but we must follow the rules, no matter how painful they are to us."
Goro tries to do the Leaping Stomp but Jax rolls away, but the impact still throws Jax away from Goro a few feet. Jax gets up again and tries to slug Goro, but instead is blocked by one of Goro's arms and then Jax is beaten down by another series of punches.
Goro looks up at Shang Tsung and the sorcerer says : "Finish Him"
Goro picks Jax up and grabs his arms. Jax looks at Goro and says "Fuck you." before the camera cuts to a shot from behind Jax. Goro rips both of Jax's arms off in one go and Jax screams. Camera cuts to Sonya, still being held back by Raidan and Kono, looking shocked, standing next to him. Sonya screams "Nooo!" and breaks free of Raidan's grip as Jax's body is thrown the the ground. Camera cuts back to Goro, holding Jax's arms high and looking at Shang Tsung.
Shang Tsung: "Goro Wins!"
Sonya, next to Jax screams at Goro "You monster!" causing Goro to turn his head to her, giving her and her comrades a sad look before dropping his arms (and Jax's arms) and walking away from the fight. Camera cuts to Shang Tsung looking at the Earthrealmers, especially Kono, who hurriedly backs up from the scene and exits the area.
I definitely like Honor as the universal language, because it definitely differentiates the heroes from the villains, and even the tiers of villain from each other. Like, Shao Kahn's a prick, but at least he has some level of Honor, unlike Quan Chi or Shinnok, who you can never trust.
"Go down, kick ass, and set yourselves up as gods, that's our Prime Directive!"
After Briggs gets off the phone with Stryker, cut to Raiden at the door behind Jax.
Raiden: "It's time, Jax."
Cut to fighting area. On one side you have Sonya, Kono, Johnny Cage, and other Earthrealmers with some of the other Outworlders on the other side with a crowd of people surrounding the room. Jax and Raiden walk in through the crowd.
Jax walks up to Sonya.
Sonya: "Hey..." *pauses* "be careful out there."
Jax smiles: "They don't have anyone big enough to beat me."
Shang Tsung walks in. "Next fight will be between Jax Briggs of Earthrealm..."
Jax turns to Sonya and nodes before stepping forward.
"And 9 time champion of the Mortal Kombat, Goro of Outworld" The camera cuts to the crowd opening up, some folks being pushed out of the way by the four arms of Goro.
Cut to Jax whispering under his breath: "Oh, shit..."
Goro finally makes it to the fighting grounds with the crowd cheering. Shang Tsung looks over the two fighters before yelling "Fight".
Goro roars at Jax, with all four arms opened wide and his head bent down. Jax tries to rush in and punch his face, but Goro is fast and grabs his fist with his upper left hand. Using his lower arms, he picks Jax up, freeing Jax's hand. As Jax starts punching the arms holding him, Goro backhands him, which sends him flying a few feet. As Goro stands over him, Jax tries to uppercut him but instead misses and gets punched in the gut. Goro then goes and beats him mercilessly, even at one point knocking Jax to the ground and slamming him around like Hulk did Loki in the Avengers.
As a beaten Jax lays there, Sonya starts to rush in to help him but Raidan stops her.
Sonya: "But he's going to get killed!"
Raidan: "And if you help him, Earthrealm will be disqualified and Outworld will win. I'm sorry, but we must follow the rules, no matter how painful they are to us."
Goro tries to do the Leaping Stomp but Jax rolls away, but the impact still throws Jax away from Goro a few feet. Jax gets up again and tries to slug Goro, but instead is blocked by one of Goro's arms and then Jax is beaten down by another series of punches.
Goro looks up at Shang Tsung and the sorcerer says : "Finish Him"
Goro picks Jax up and grabs his arms. Jax looks at Goro and says "Fuck you." before the camera cuts to a shot from behind Jax. Goro rips both of Jax's arms off in one go and Jax screams. Camera cuts to Sonya, still being held back by Raidan and Kono, looking shocked, standing next to him. Sonya screams "Nooo!" and breaks free of Raidan's grip as Jax's body is thrown the the ground. Camera cuts back to Goro, holding Jax's arms high and looking at Shang Tsung.
Shang Tsung: "Goro Wins!"
Sonya, next to Jax screams at Goro "You monster!" causing Goro to turn his head to her, giving her and her comrades a sad look before dropping his arms (and Jax's arms) and walking away from the fight. Camera cuts to Shang Tsung looking at the Earthrealmers, especially Kono, who hurriedly backs up from the scene and exits the area.
This is good, but I think right now we have Goro just skipping the first round of the tournament. Is that his right as champion? How exactly do you see that part working @Zonugal?
Right now we have Kano's reacting to Goro during his fight with Kabal
Save Kabal until later movies, especially if you do something with Stryker and the Special Forces stuff. The new timeline has him being Stryker's ex-partner and that would be great drama to show later on. Having Kabal killed only to motivate Kano is a waste when really all you need to do is show that Kano is way over his head and he decides to run, because, while Kano has no problem being in the fighting tournament that might end in death for the loser, Kano has never seen someone like Goro. That's way out of his league. Being Jax having his arms torn off also sets up Sanya's motivation means that you get two hooks for the price of one scene.
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
After Briggs gets off the phone with Stryker, cut to Raiden at the door behind Jax.
Raiden: "It's time, Jax."
Cut to fighting area. On one side you have Sonya, Kono, Johnny Cage, and other Earthrealmers with some of the other Outworlders on the other side with a crowd of people surrounding the room. Jax and Raiden walk in through the crowd.
Jax walks up to Sonya.
Sonya: "Hey..." *pauses* "be careful out there."
Jax smiles: "They don't have anyone big enough to beat me."
Shang Tsung walks in. "Next fight will be between Jax Briggs of Earthrealm..."
Jax turns to Sonya and nodes before stepping forward.
"And 9 time champion of the Mortal Kombat, Goro of Outworld" The camera cuts to the crowd opening up, some folks being pushed out of the way by the four arms of Goro.
Cut to Jax whispering under his breath: "Oh, shit..."
Goro finally makes it to the fighting grounds with the crowd cheering. Shang Tsung looks over the two fighters before yelling "Fight".
Goro roars at Jax, with all four arms opened wide and his head bent down. Jax tries to rush in and punch his face, but Goro is fast and grabs his fist with his upper left hand. Using his lower arms, he picks Jax up, freeing Jax's hand. As Jax starts punching the arms holding him, Goro backhands him, which sends him flying a few feet. As Goro stands over him, Jax tries to uppercut him but instead misses and gets punched in the gut. Goro then goes and beats him mercilessly, even at one point knocking Jax to the ground and slamming him around like Hulk did Loki in the Avengers.
As a beaten Jax lays there, Sonya starts to rush in to help him but Raidan stops her.
Sonya: "But he's going to get killed!"
Raidan: "And if you help him, Earthrealm will be disqualified and Outworld will win. I'm sorry, but we must follow the rules, no matter how painful they are to us."
Goro tries to do the Leaping Stomp but Jax rolls away, but the impact still throws Jax away from Goro a few feet. Jax gets up again and tries to slug Goro, but instead is blocked by one of Goro's arms and then Jax is beaten down by another series of punches.
Goro looks up at Shang Tsung and the sorcerer says : "Finish Him"
Goro picks Jax up and grabs his arms. Jax looks at Goro and says "Fuck you." before the camera cuts to a shot from behind Jax. Goro rips both of Jax's arms off in one go and Jax screams. Camera cuts to Sonya, still being held back by Raidan and Kono, looking shocked, standing next to him. Sonya screams "Nooo!" and breaks free of Raidan's grip as Jax's body is thrown the the ground. Camera cuts back to Goro, holding Jax's arms high and looking at Shang Tsung.
Shang Tsung: "Goro Wins!"
Sonya, next to Jax screams at Goro "You monster!" causing Goro to turn his head to her, giving her and her comrades a sad look before dropping his arms (and Jax's arms) and walking away from the fight. Camera cuts to Shang Tsung looking at the Earthrealmers, especially Kono, who hurriedly backs up from the scene and exits the area.
This is good, but I think right now we have Goro just skipping the first round of the tournament. Is that his right as champion? How exactly do you see that part working @Zonugal?
Right now we have Kano's reacting to Goro during his fight with Kabal
Yo @Joolander, while I detailed out the tournament in rounds, that is more for the audience to witness the progression of the tournament.
In my mind you can really just challenge anyone at any point, so nobody is going to go against Goro first and the fights we see in the first "round" are Shang Tsung maneuvering his warriors to take out who he sees as the strongest competition first before they even get to his champion.
Regarding the Jax stuff, eh...? I'd prefer to keep the cast where we have them and if we're going to bring in Jax I'd say we utilize him during Soyna's own film. I don't really have any great reason as to why we shouldn't see Jax get mutilated beyond the fact that I don't think we need to and I'd rather have him as a character that the audience knows something is happening. If you have him in the first film fans know his arms are getting ripped off, but if you save him for later films we can maybe do something different/surprising.
I guess I can see that. I just never liked how in the original movies, we don't meet Jax until Sonya comes across him in that place that Cyrax is hidding in, and he's already gotten the arms and we don't find out why, for real, other than Jax thought they looked cool. Having Jax play a small role in the first movie that gives a logical reason for why he has Cyborg arms in the next movie makes sense to me. But that's just my two cents.
Edit: And it doesn't have to be the first round. After a fight or two being shown, you could do a montage that shows a few seconds from the fights of round 1, then Jax vs. Goro being later when Shang Tsung maneuvers his champion to take out an important fighter at a critical time. Again, just my two cents.
I guess I can see that. I just never liked how in the original movies, we don't meet Jax until Sonya comes across him in that place that Cyrax is hidding in, and he's already gotten the arms and we don't find out why, for real, other than Jax thought they looked cool. Having Jax play a small role in the first movie that gives a logical reason for why he has Cyborg arms in the next movie makes sense to me. But that's just my two cents.
Oh yeah, I agree with all of that.
I'd just prefer we get to see that story in Sonya's film, where he loses his arms near the end of that, he shows up in Mortal Kombat 2: Konquest with his new arms and starts clobbering with centaurs & shit.
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
So we have: our character list, fan-casting, general film series descriptors, the first film's tournament structured and some basic themes/morals we want to tell in these films.
Can we move on to tackling in more concrete terms:
* How does every of our characters get brought into the tournament?
* Where does the tournament get held? What does it look like? What does it feel like?
* And finally, for my own curiosity, how many years are between each Mortal Kombat? They say its every generation, so how many years is that? I personally like one hundred years, its a nice round number.
I think 100 years might be a bit too long. The Great Kung Lao was Champion after all, and killed by Goro (or is it betrayed by Shang Tsung in our version?) which means he needs to have won a tournament and come back for at least another.
So I think 50 years is probably about right, even though it still means a bit of magical life lengthening for our champion, it also means The Great Kung Lao would not have been born before Charlemagne
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
I think 100 years might be a bit too long. The Great Kung Lao was Champion after all, and killed by Goro (or is it betrayed by Shang Tsung in our version?) which means he needs to have won a tournament and come back for at least another.
So I think 50 years is probably about right, even though it still means a bit of magical life lengthening for our champion, it also means The Great Kung Lao would not have been born before Charlemagne
Fair, fair...
I had read somewhere that it was 40 years, which would put the first Mortal Kombat tournament in the 17th century.
Also, I kind of imagine that Shang Tsung informs Goro of the Great Kung Lao's weaknesses (that Lao shared with Tsung out of presumed trust/loyalty).
Another thing is, if Goro is the reigning champion, then why is Shang Tsung the final boss of the tournament?
In the old timeline, I remember some fans assuming that Liu Kang had actually won the tournament when he beat Goro, but Shang Tsung was pissed that their plans were ruined at the last possible moment and so just outright attacked Liu Kang.
In the new timeline, I guess Shang Tsung somehow manipulated the rules so that Liu Kang also had to defeat the guy hosting the tournament for some reason?
I just noticed that you to were both Tony Stark, I was wondering why the same person was quoting themselves.
I like the 40-50 year mark, too.
Like I said before about Johnny Cage, he could be trying to restart his career, since Kung-fu movies stopped being popular in the late 90s. His Kickstarter for Mine Assassin 3 failed to reach it's goal, so he's looking for cash. Raiden, who is only caring about winning the tournament, not which foot soldiers die in it, let's Johnny know about a prize for the Tournament's winner (paid in gold), but doesn't (or maybe can't since Johnny just decides he's heard enough, let's go!) about the stake nor the fatalities.
Kano might be similar. He's just a mid boss in the Black Dragons, wanting to earn a big payday and Raiden plays into that if you don't make Kano side with the Shang Tsung right off the bat.
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
Like I said before about Johnny Cage, he could be trying to restart his career, since Kung-fu movies stopped being popular in the late 90s. His Kickstarter for Mine Assassin 3 failed to reach it's goal, so he's looking for cash. Raiden, who is only caring about winning the tournament, not which foot soldiers die in it, let's Johnny know about a prize for the Tournament's winner (paid in gold), but doesn't (or maybe can't since Johnny just decides he's heard enough, let's go!) about the stake nor the fatalities.
Eh, I'd rather have Johnny Cage be in his mid thirties and still be a big celebrity. I think the first movie did it right in that he joins their tournament to prove that he can actually fight. For our Johnny Cage I think it might be fun if he thinks its a publicity stunt or that Raiden is some kind of deep method actor who's inviting him to partake in a movie.
So instead of Raiden luring Johnny in with money (which I personally don't like) he just can't gleam that Johnny doesn't understand the actual gravity of the tournament, and he also thinks Johnny has done everything in his movies because of Kung Lao's ramblings about Cage (as we've talked about earlier in the thread).
Kano might be similar. He's just a mid boss in the Black Dragons, wanting to earn a big payday and Raiden plays into that if you don't make Kano side with the Shang Tsung right off the bat.
I like Kano as the boss of the Black Dragons. Maybe he gets recruited by Raiden as he needs to hide low for a bit and Raiden promises him that no satellite, computer or person on Earth could find him where he'd take him for a bit?
But that goes back to the concept that this protector of Earthrealm doesn't know what a movie is, which is... stretching it a bit. How do you plan on making it where Kung Lao even talks about Cage? Because I doubt that real martial artist talk about Jason Statham or Chuck Norris or Jackie Chan when they talk about doing tournaments.
I actually kinda like the idea of Raiden not knowing what a movie is. He's been Protector of Earthrealm since probably prehistoric times. If we go with the 50 years between tournaments, "action movie star" as we know it has only really been a thing during the current tournament and the last one. That would be like you knowing exactly what the latest fad in middle school is as of last week
Hell we could even make a joke about Raiden putting say Robert Mitchum or someone in the last tournament
I actually kinda like the idea of Raiden not knowing what a movie is. He's been Protector of Earthrealm since probably prehistoric times. If we go with the 50 years between tournaments, "action movie star" as we know it has only really been a thing during the current tournament and the last one. That would be like you knowing exactly what the latest fad in middle school is as of last week
Hell we could even make a joke about Raiden putting say Robert Mitchum or someone in the last tournament
I hate it. Sure it would be funny, but then it begs the question, "Why does Raiden care for a world he doesn't understand?" While I can see Raiden might not care about sacrificing a few mortals in the Mortal Kombat to save billions, I just can't see him not being interested in it. Raiden might have basic understanding of things, like how my grandfather knows what the internet is but doesn't understand how it works, but to be totally ignorant to the tech and culture of this world he's protecting is dumb.
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
Grunt's Ghost, it's totally fine for you to disagree with some of our decisions but we've agreed on them and we're trying to move forward.
I enjoy different view-points but if you haven't read through the entire thread you might get a better sense for the type of project we're going ahead with, and if that agrees with your preferred style/aesthetic.
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Zonugal(He/Him) The Holiday ArmadilloI'm Santa's representative for all the southern states. And Mexico!Registered Userregular
Sorry I've been out of the thread for a couple days!
So you also asked how do the heroes get there: I think the easiest way for this to work is for Raiden to recruit people and bring them through whatever magical means he sees fit
I don't think that's particularly original, but the story is literally that he is CHOOSING these champions so I think its ok to have him recruit these people.
The more interesting question is how do the earthrealmers on the side of Shang Tseung get there? Is there some natural connection between the realms or does Shang Tseung just do it magically for them?
Itd be kinda neat if like, the ninja clans had some way to travel between realms, that might explain some of their mystic abilities since humans usually don't have much magical connection
Where it should be: I think it should be in Outworld. Their "hosting" after all, and it would immediately establish the tone of how raw this place is. Have it in the imperial city, let them see all the weird races of outworld.
My question: Do we want Outworld to have the weird purple sky it used to have? I would normally be in favor of dropping it but I wonder if the newer "desert-y" aesthetic might look too mad max-y to people?
Sorry I've been out of the thread for a couple days!
So you also asked how do the heroes get there: I think the easiest way for this to work is for Raiden to recruit people and bring them through whatever magical means he sees fit
I don't think that's particularly original, but the story is literally that he is CHOOSING these champions so I think its ok to have him recruit these people.
The more interesting question is how do the earthrealmers on the side of Shang Tseung get there? Is there some natural connection between the realms or does Shang Tseung just do it magically for them?
Itd be kinda neat if like, the ninja clans had some way to travel between realms, that might explain some of their mystic abilities since humans usually don't have much magical connection
Where it should be: I think it should be in Outworld. Their "hosting" after all, and it would immediately establish the tone of how raw this place is. Have it in the imperial city, let them see all the weird races of outworld.
My question: Do we want Outworld to have the weird purple sky it used to have? I would normally be in favor of dropping it but I wonder if the newer "desert-y" aesthetic might look too mad max-y to people?
I think we can have the purple sky just maybe during the twilight hour/dusk?
I like the idea of Outworld to really make it a unique kung-fu/martial arts film. That also allows us to have some unique environments for our fights.
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they aren't just mind controlling you
They're bringing your body and mind back but not your soul
they're actively stealing your humanity
Then I want Johnny Cage to be fluent in Mandarin, multiple Khoisan languages and Anglo-Saxon
Which he learned for his roles in Ninja Mime, his remake of Lawrence of Arabia, and a remake of Braveheart, respectively
I'm sorry but I think we want Cage to be likable
This might be too far
This is all very important
Vin Deisel would show up for it right
perfect
Billy Zane
or, like, one of the bad guys gives him a straight kick right to the patella and he's all MY SHANANANANANANANA KNEE, KNEE
Like, the opening riff to this track?
This definitely fits a world where someone, I don't know, can get eaten by a giant tree
And then of course his entire Fury Road album is basically one big audition tape for crazy, frenetic movie soundtracks
Edit: Now that I'm farther in the thread, better idea, when Raiden is grabbing champions, he grabs Kono, Sonya, Jax, Johnny Cage, and Lui Kang. Kono isn't wanted by Sonya or Jax yet, but Jax doesn't trust him while Sonya gives him the benefit of the doubt. Jax decides to have Stryker do a background check (which Stryker say nothing shows up on the local database but he'll check national and international, but it's going to take some time. As Jax is waiting for it to come in, Jax has his first match against Goro, which the same events as above happens. Then later Sonya goes against Goro, which gives her a reason to kill him, as she believes Jax is dead. Seeing Jax ripped apart is enough to let Kono know that the "money" for winning isn't worth it and he is then approached by Shang Tsung who knows about the Black Dragons and wants Kono to hook him up with the weapons of Earthrealm, especially these "Cyborgs" that he's heard rumors about. Kono agrees and tries to sabotage Lui Kang's fight (who Shang Tsung believes is the biggest threat to him). However, Stryker gets back with Kono's background check and Sonya finds out that Jax was right. She rushes back to see Kono trying to sabotage the fight. Sonya shoots Kono in the face with her blaster thing or kiss of death before he can, burning his face and eye. The next time we see Kono, he gets that laser eye thing from his Black Dragons, Sonya has a reason to go after Kono, and Jax returns with his Cyborg arm. And we foreshadow the Cyborg stuff that will be seen in Mortal Kombat: Fire & Ice.
Edit: The money idea could also be a hook for Johnny Cage. Cage was a 90s action star trying to get funding to make his comeback but people are over kung-fu movies. So Raiden pulls him in with the promise that the winner gets like a million dollars, but fails to tell him the seriousness of the tournament. So he goes in thinking it's just some normal tournament but the first fatality kinda snaps him into reality.
This is good, but I think right now we have Goro just skipping the first round of the tournament. Is that his right as champion? How exactly do you see that part working @Zonugal?
Right now we have Kano's reacting to Goro during his fight with Kabal
Yo @Joolander, while I detailed out the tournament in rounds, that is more for the audience to witness the progression of the tournament.
In my mind you can really just challenge anyone at any point, so nobody is going to go against Goro first and the fights we see in the first "round" are Shang Tsung maneuvering his warriors to take out who he sees as the strongest competition first before they even get to his champion.
Regarding the Jax stuff, eh...? I'd prefer to keep the cast where we have them and if we're going to bring in Jax I'd say we utilize him during Soyna's own film. I don't really have any great reason as to why we shouldn't see Jax get mutilated beyond the fact that I don't think we need to and I'd rather have him as a character that the audience knows something is happening. If you have him in the first film fans know his arms are getting ripped off, but if you save him for later films we can maybe do something different/surprising.
Edit: And it doesn't have to be the first round. After a fight or two being shown, you could do a montage that shows a few seconds from the fights of round 1, then Jax vs. Goro being later when Shang Tsung maneuvers his champion to take out an important fighter at a critical time. Again, just my two cents.
I think that him going through something like that makes for a good character beat down the line when he doesn't want Jaqui to join the military
Oh yeah, I agree with all of that.
I'd just prefer we get to see that story in Sonya's film, where he loses his arms near the end of that, he shows up in Mortal Kombat 2: Konquest with his new arms and starts clobbering with centaurs & shit.
Can we move on to tackling in more concrete terms:
* How does every of our characters get brought into the tournament?
* Where does the tournament get held? What does it look like? What does it feel like?
* And finally, for my own curiosity, how many years are between each Mortal Kombat? They say its every generation, so how many years is that? I personally like one hundred years, its a nice round number.
He can always be shown in the recruitment of Sonya.
But we don't want the first film to be too overcrowded.
So I think 50 years is probably about right, even though it still means a bit of magical life lengthening for our champion, it also means The Great Kung Lao would not have been born before Charlemagne
Fair, fair...
I had read somewhere that it was 40 years, which would put the first Mortal Kombat tournament in the 17th century.
Also, I kind of imagine that Shang Tsung informs Goro of the Great Kung Lao's weaknesses (that Lao shared with Tsung out of presumed trust/loyalty).
In the old timeline, I remember some fans assuming that Liu Kang had actually won the tournament when he beat Goro, but Shang Tsung was pissed that their plans were ruined at the last possible moment and so just outright attacked Liu Kang.
In the new timeline, I guess Shang Tsung somehow manipulated the rules so that Liu Kang also had to defeat the guy hosting the tournament for some reason?
I like the 40-50 year mark, too.
Like I said before about Johnny Cage, he could be trying to restart his career, since Kung-fu movies stopped being popular in the late 90s. His Kickstarter for Mine Assassin 3 failed to reach it's goal, so he's looking for cash. Raiden, who is only caring about winning the tournament, not which foot soldiers die in it, let's Johnny know about a prize for the Tournament's winner (paid in gold), but doesn't (or maybe can't since Johnny just decides he's heard enough, let's go!) about the stake nor the fatalities.
Kano might be similar. He's just a mid boss in the Black Dragons, wanting to earn a big payday and Raiden plays into that if you don't make Kano side with the Shang Tsung right off the bat.
Eh, I'd rather have Johnny Cage be in his mid thirties and still be a big celebrity. I think the first movie did it right in that he joins their tournament to prove that he can actually fight. For our Johnny Cage I think it might be fun if he thinks its a publicity stunt or that Raiden is some kind of deep method actor who's inviting him to partake in a movie.
So instead of Raiden luring Johnny in with money (which I personally don't like) he just can't gleam that Johnny doesn't understand the actual gravity of the tournament, and he also thinks Johnny has done everything in his movies because of Kung Lao's ramblings about Cage (as we've talked about earlier in the thread).
I like Kano as the boss of the Black Dragons. Maybe he gets recruited by Raiden as he needs to hide low for a bit and Raiden promises him that no satellite, computer or person on Earth could find him where he'd take him for a bit?
Hell we could even make a joke about Raiden putting say Robert Mitchum or someone in the last tournament
I hate it. Sure it would be funny, but then it begs the question, "Why does Raiden care for a world he doesn't understand?" While I can see Raiden might not care about sacrificing a few mortals in the Mortal Kombat to save billions, I just can't see him not being interested in it. Raiden might have basic understanding of things, like how my grandfather knows what the internet is but doesn't understand how it works, but to be totally ignorant to the tech and culture of this world he's protecting is dumb.
I enjoy different view-points but if you haven't read through the entire thread you might get a better sense for the type of project we're going ahead with, and if that agrees with your preferred style/aesthetic.
Sorry I've been out of the thread for a couple days!
So you also asked how do the heroes get there: I think the easiest way for this to work is for Raiden to recruit people and bring them through whatever magical means he sees fit
I don't think that's particularly original, but the story is literally that he is CHOOSING these champions so I think its ok to have him recruit these people.
The more interesting question is how do the earthrealmers on the side of Shang Tseung get there? Is there some natural connection between the realms or does Shang Tseung just do it magically for them?
Itd be kinda neat if like, the ninja clans had some way to travel between realms, that might explain some of their mystic abilities since humans usually don't have much magical connection
Where it should be: I think it should be in Outworld. Their "hosting" after all, and it would immediately establish the tone of how raw this place is. Have it in the imperial city, let them see all the weird races of outworld.
My question: Do we want Outworld to have the weird purple sky it used to have? I would normally be in favor of dropping it but I wonder if the newer "desert-y" aesthetic might look too mad max-y to people?
I think we can have the purple sky just maybe during the twilight hour/dusk?
I like the idea of Outworld to really make it a unique kung-fu/martial arts film. That also allows us to have some unique environments for our fights.