Yahoo Finance Mortal Kombat's trailer hints at a deeper connection between Cole and Scorpion
If the trailer is anything to go by, the Mortal Kombat movie promises to be a gory, bloody, and violent good time. Based around one of the top '90s video games, Mortal Kombat looks like it could be one for the 'successful video game adaptations' column, along with Sonic the Hedgehog and Detective Pikachu.
Taking inspiration from the game, the movie centres on a tournament in which the best magical fighters battle to the death (FINISH HIM!), with the winner being given continued freedom of their realm under threat of a takeover by Outworld. Each game furthers the plots of the characters and their connections to each other.
Of course, the casual Mortal Kombat player wouldn't know any of this, but the adaptation has cherry-picked some of the mythology from the games to incorporate into the movie. Notably, however, the main character Cole Young (played by Lewis Tan) is a wholly new invention.
However, this theory posits that Cole isn't actually a totally new character, but rather a new take on an existing character and plotline from the game: Satoshi, Scorpion's dead son.
In the game's story, Scorpion's (aka Hanzo Hasashi, played by Hiroyuki Sanada) son named Satoshi and his wife Harumi, are murdered. In fact, so was Scorpion, by none other than the movie's big bad Sub-Zero.
Scorpion became a hellspawn revenant who lived in Hell (later referred to as the Netherrealm). His sole aim was revenge for the murder of his family, and he would align himself with whoever would help him in his plot for vengeance.
So, where's the proof? We know that Cole is 'chosen' to partake in the competition because of the MK symbol branded into his chest. But later, when Jax explains what it means, Cole is wearing yellow bands on his hands, a key element from Scorpion's outfit.
In addition, when Cole is looking in the mirror a fiery vision of Scorpion appears, hinting at a connection between the two. Of course, it could be just a random fate connection and not a blood one, but given the story that's already there for Scorpion, it seems like an easy way to link the game's mythos to the movie's.
Now we know that the glaring issue is that in the comics, his son is dead. The main way this could be retconned is that Cole was left for dead but survived, and had been hidden until now (a la Harry Potter).
Furthermore, the synopsis of the film reads: "A washed-up mixed martial arts fighter named Cole Young is unaware of his hidden lineage or why he is being hunted down by Sub-Zero of the Lin-Kuei clan of assassins." This also fits within the game mythology, in which Sub-Zero is out to destroy Scorpion and his clan.
The synopsis continues: "Concerned for the safety of his family, he seeks out a clique of fighters that were chosen to defend Earthrealm in a high-stakes battle against the forces of Outworld." If Mortal Kombat wanted to, it could easily align Scoprion's Netherrealm with Cole's Earthrealm to fight back against Sub-Zero.
All this speculation could be for nothing, and the film may not connect the two characters via anything more than a mutual enemy in Sub-Zero. We'll have to wait for the movie to be released to find out.
Mortal Kombat will be released in US cinemas on April 16 and will also stream on HBO Max in the US. It's set for an April 16 release in the UK, but that date is subject to change.
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