Mortal Kombat 2 Isn’t Even Trying To Hide Cole Young’s Fate Anymore

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Expect a lot of deaths in Mortal Kombat II, and it seems Cole Young will be among them. The 2021 Mortal Kombat movie introduced Cole, played by Lewis Tan, as the lead character, but many fans felt his story wasn’t fully realized. The sequel offers a chance to develop and improve his role, especially considering he’s the descendant of the famous Mortal Kombat fighter Scorpion.

I’m really excited because it looks like Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa is coming back as Shang Tsung for the next movie! But I’ve heard rumors for ages that they might do something unexpected with the character, even kill him off. It seems like they’re switching things up, and with Johnny Cage, played by Karl Urban, joining the battle, he’s now the one taking the lead as the hero instead of Cole.

From the very beginning of the marketing for Mortal Kombat II, the focus has been on introducing a new character, and this has meant less attention for Tan’s character. Now, it seems like Cole Young might not even survive the sequel.

Cole Young Is Basically Completely Absent From Mortal Kombat 2‘s New Trailer

Warner Bros. is kicking the marketing for Mortal Kombat 2 back into gear with a new trailer, now that the movie has a release date in May. Many fans, including myself, have noticed a key character, Cole Young, is completely absent from the trailer. He doesn’t have any lines and isn’t even shown clearly in the background of any scenes.

He appears very briefly in the trailer – you could easily miss it. Cole is visible for just one second at the 1:49 mark, as shown in the screenshot below.

We’ve seen him sparring with Jax and Liu Kang, while Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade look on. That’s all there is so far. Surprisingly, the latest marketing materials show him even less than before—in the first trailer, he was in three short scenes adding up to around five seconds of screen time.

The second trailer for Mortal Kombat 2 features very little of Cole, strongly suggesting he won’t have a major role. However, removing such a key character from the conflict between Outworld and Earthrealm doesn’t fit with the established lore. The most likely explanation is that Cole dies – and likely early in the film – which accounts for his absence from most of the trailer footage.

Based on the trailers, I believe Cole will die in a battle against Shang Tsung, likely alongside Lord Raiden. He might sacrifice himself to allow the other heroes to escape and protect Raiden, giving him a heroic end that sets up the rest of the film.

I’ve long suspected something bad would happen to Cole in the new movie, but the marketing team hadn’t really focused on him at all until now. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Cole is going to die in Mortal Kombat II – they’re not even trying to disguise it.

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2026-02-25 23:30