Hype for the new Mortal Kombat film has been growing since its release date announcement in May. Coming from Saw franchise producer James Wan, recent weeks have been filled with official casting reveals. Joe Taslim of action film The Raid will be playing Sub-Zero, while Hiroyuki Sanada, who appeared in Avengers: Endgame, will play Scorpion. Chin Han, known for his prominent role in The Dark Knight, will be Shang Tsung, and the hype is so strong that fanart is already in the works.
One stunning example of great Mortal Kombat comes from the talented artist Kode Abdo, aka Boss Logic. He is currently putting together art pieces showing some of Mortal Kombat's cast as their roles, with his latest piece envisioning Chin Han as Shang Tsung in full regalia. The art shows the mustached Han with glowing green eyes and several ghostly apparitions from other Mortal Kombat characters looming behind him.
In the same post, Boss Logic notes that his favorite casting announcement so far is for Scorpion's actor, Hiroyuki Sanada. Not coincidentally, Boss Logic's art piece prior to his Shang Tsung is a take on Sanada as Scorpion, which focuses on the long hair, glowing yellow eyes, and a unique version of his mask.
Boss Logic is well known for his fan art depicting actors in various character roles. For example, he did a piece showing how Shang Tsung from the previous Mortal Kombat movie could look like from The Matrix with a pair of sunglasses and a green filter.
It remains odd but not surprising that Mortal Kombat remains so popular in both gaming and pop culture. The Mortal Kombat film released in 1995 is hokey to the point of being considered a cult classic, but is still revered. It's a symbol of the times and often referred to as one of the few good film adaptations of a video game. No one really knows what to expect from the upcoming 2021 Mortal Kombat film, but there's absolutely a hope that it lives up both to its predecessor and the iconic franchise that remains successful to this day.
The Mortal Kombat film is scheduled to release in May 2021.