Mortal Kombat II NYCC Footage Reveals Johnny Cage’s Iconic Nutcracker Punch

Warner Bros. took to New York Comedian-Con on Saturday to unveil a brand new trailer, behind-the-scenes video, and a model new clip from their highly-anticipated Mortal Kombat II, which features a shot that old-school players will completely love. The sequel to 2021’s Mortal Kombat was initially purported to hit theaters on October 24, however it was in the end pushed to Could 15, 2026.

The studio helped ease the blow of such an enormous launch delay by bringing the action-packed sequel to NYCC with a panel that featured stars Karl City (Johnny Cage), Adeline Rudolph (Kitana), Tati Gabrielle (Jade), and Martyn Ford (Shao Khan), plus director Simon McQuoid and author Jeremy Slater, who was confirmed on the panel to be writing a 3rd Mortal Kombat film.

Display Rant was in attendance for the panel, which ended with the clip and trailer, neither of which have been launched on-line at this second. The clip featured a brand new take a look at City’s Johnny Cage, confirming one of many character’s signature strikes courting all the way in which again to the primary Mortal Kombat recreation that debuted in 1992.

The scene in query options Liu Kang (Ludi Lin) approaching Baraka (CJ Bloomfield) to affix the Earthrealm in preventing the nefarious Shao Khan, although Baraka refuses, citing the Earthrealm’s lack of a correct military. Johnny Cage steps in and tries to goad Baraka into preventing Kang, calling him a coward if he does not, however it backfires: Baraka now desires to combat Cage.

Johnny and his allies — Liu Kang, Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee) and Jax (Mehcad Brooks) — agree he isn’t prepared for a combat, joking, “Yeah, you are gonna die.” Johnny stumbles via the primary a part of the combat, however that each one modifications when he is knocked down, sending his sun shades flying. Sonya urges him on by saying, “You are an actor, so act.”

This leads into the trailer second when Johnny places on his shades, as he turns the combat round, in the end getting the higher hand towards Baraka earlier than ending him off by pulling off a perfectly-executed Nutcracker punch, the place he does the splits and punches Baraka within the crotch.

The ultimate shot of the clip gave approach to a raucous ovation from the NYCC crowd, although it is unclear when the complete clip with the Nutcracker shot will likely be launched on-line.

The Well-known Johnny Cage Nutcracker

Johnny Cage looks at the broken end of a spear in Mortal Kombat 2 — Johnny Cage appears on the damaged finish of a spear in Mortal Kombat 2

Anybody who has performed Mortal Kombat with any diploma of regularity is aware of that Johnny Cage — who within the recreation is a world-famous actor and fights with sun shades on — has an iconic transfer all through the sport sequence. Whereas it does not have one title within the video games, it has been known as the “Nutcracker,” the “Nut Punch” or the “Cut up Punch.”

The transfer exhibits off not solely Cage’s flexibility, however his usually crass nature: he drops right into a full cut up, whereas punching his opponent sq. within the crotch. The transfer is each humorous and efficient within the recreation. Each the Johnny Cage character and the transfer are famously modeled after one other actor with a penchant for the splits: Jean-Claude Van Damme.

It’s believed that the Nutcracker transfer itself is derived from a scene in Bloodsport, the place JCVD’s Frank Dux drops into the splits and thrusts a fist into his opponent’s nether areas.

It stays to be seen if Baraka is the only real sufferer of Johnny Cage’s Nutcracker punch within the highly-anticipated Mortal Kombat II, however we’ll discover out for certain when it hits theaters subsequent summer time.