Mortal Kombat Characters Guide: Johnny Cage

Quick Take

Johnny Cage is one of the most recognizable of the Mortal Kombatants. As possibly the only character in all of Mortal Kombat to smile ever, Cage is a movie star who joins the tournament to prove that his moves aren’t just for show and revive his dying career.

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Mortal Kombat Characters Guide: Johnny Cage

Johnny Cage is one of the more well-known of the Mortal Kombat charaters, starring alongside Liu Kang and Sonya Blade in the 1995 film. Cage is a famous martial arts actor who joins the tournament to resuscitate his career and show the world that he is much more than a wire fighter, actually able to perform the flashy and seemingly-impossible moves in his movies. Despite being one of the main three “protagonists” initially, Cage failed to make much of an influence after the first game. He’s killed at the end of Mortal Kombat II, and absent from Mortal Kombat III. While Cage was never one of the most serious of the Mortal Kombat fighters, his revival and reappearance in Mortal Kombat IV marked the beginning of his new and less important role as more of a joke character.

Fighting Abilities

Johnny Cage

Johnny Cage is given the Jeet Kune Do fighting style as well as Nunchucks in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance. These are relatively fitting for his character as a martial arts actor.

Shadow Kick - Johnny Cage slides toward his opponent with a sidekick extended while leaving a trail of afterimages behind him. Without a doubt his most famous special move.

Force Ball - A green projectile that travels in a slight arc toward the opponent.

Shadow Uppercut - Punching variation of his shadow kick. Cage travels upward in a shoryuken-like arc delivering an uppercut, leaving a trail of afterimages in his wake.

Split Punch - Johnny’s other most famous move, and probably the most underhanded attack of the Mortal Kombat characters, and possibly fighting game history. Johnny does the splits and punches the opponent in the groin. This attack has always been more effective on male fighters than female.

Fatalities:

Johnny’s most famous fatality is a simple decapitation via uppercut. In the first game this fatality had a glitch allowing Johnny to uppercut three heads off of his opponent. This glitch was eventually made an actual fatality. Johnny’s next-most famous fatality is arguably his spine rip – a slightly messier method of head removal, but limited to one.

Character Evolution

Johnny Cage

Johnny Cage’s first design had him wearing black shorts, a red sash, black shoes and gauntlets. This look was quickly ditched what could be his most recognizable look: white shoes and black pants with a blue belt and guards. Mortal Kombat IV kept this design, but finally saw Johnny Cage duking it out with his shades on. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance made a few more changes to his design. While it retained his color scheme, it turned his pants back into shorts and gave him a belt featuring a golden lion head, driving the “champion” theme a little further home.

This post is part of the series: Mortal Kombat Characters

Get the lowdown on your favorite Mortal Kombat characters. Uncover their motivations for participating in the tournament. Know what to expect from their unique fighting abilities. Witness how powerful they’ve become as they develop throughout the series. Get all the gory details here!