I don't think I have ever seen any concrete, realiable word on exactly what happened with them.

I do know the original Sonya from MK and MK II, Kitana/Jade/Mileena from MK II and MK II Shang Tsung filed a lawsuit against Midway(and lost) and that's why they were all replaced for MK3.


Everyone in MKT was in good relations with Midway at the time. If they weren't they weren't used. That is why there's only 4 classic characters in the PSX, Saturn and PC versions. They are the only people who could be used. And you're right, that is why Cage was played by a new actor(Chris Alexander instead of Daniel Pesina). Raiden and Baraka were played by people still with Midway in MK II so their MK II sprites were just copied and pasted into MKT.

Daniel Pesina (Johnny Cage) was fired from Midway for appearing in that Bloodstorm ad, which pretty much led to his character not being in MK3, but ultimately a new actor was hired for MKT.

The MK team has hinted that they never wanted Cage to die in the first place, that incident just made it harder to explain why he wasn't in certain games.

Sakura Wrote: I do know the original Sonya from MK and MK II, Kitana/Jade/Mileena from MK II and MK II Shang Tsung filed a lawsuit against Midway(and lost) and that's why they were all replaced for MK3.

Why? WHat happened?

*sigh* All because that moron decided to appear on that stupid ad. If it weren't for him, maybe Cage would've never died and got ressurected in a stupid way over and over again.

Why? WHat happened?


They felt they were entitled to more from their contract, likey money and movie roles.

Sakura Wrote: Why? WHat happened? They felt they were entitled to more from their contract, likey money and movie roles.

Oh, Ok. Thanks. :)

i didnt know any of this-interesting indeed.
thanks for the information (and the confirmation of it). it may be trivial but its a welcome change from half the stuff on these forums.

and whats even cooler is that the guy who played raiden from mk1-mkt was (i think this is his name) either greg or gary (or something) pesina, dan "johnny cage" pesinas younger bro. i thought that brotherly love or something would have made raiden guy quit aswell but oh well.

That Raiden guy (Carlos Pesina) did all/most/some of the motion capture for MK:DA. And he is fat now.

Okay, so that IS the same guy?! Wow. I can't believe that's the same guy that was Raiden in MK1 and 2. He looks so different now. Amazing what ten years can do to someone

lol I just thought of something funny

"COMING THIS FALL!"

"MORTAL KOMBAT MYTHOLOGIES: RAIDEN"

*back of Package*
"This Game Represents the Story of Raiden and Why he Let Himself go... To Become the Elder God of the FRIED CHICKEN element!"

"Starring: Carlos Pesina
Some Dude
Some Chick
The Taco Bell Dog
Frosty the Very Yellow Snowman
AND INTRODUCING: KIDD CHICKEN WANG!!!"

I always heard that the guy who played Cage had died and thats why he couldn't return after 2.

@sakura - with the Classic characters from MKT, wouldn't Midway have had got them to sign contracts so that everything they do/capture for the game becomes Midway's property, which means they can use everything??

Daniel is still around my friend that lives in Provo Utah went to Salt Lake City and went to this club and this is 1 in a billion this would happen daniel was there with his girl friend who currently does work for midway she helped out with the design for MK:DA. My friend was a big Jonney Cage fan so he couldn't believe he was looking at daniel in the club so he started talking to daniel. My friend says he is an awesome guy. What Daniel told him was that he did't know much about what MKI was he would go in for about a half an hour to midway and do what ever they had him do and then he would leave for the day and that was it. He never knew what the game was about or anything all he know that it was job and with flex able body and martial art experience midway wanted him to pose as johnney cage. Right now daniel is doing mostly martial arts he travels to china where he trains with this old guy that's a martial arts expert and Danial still lives in chicago with his girl friend and Danial is best friends with HO SUNG(Lui KANG) he is pretty much is also mainly doing martial arts to with Daniel. The guy that played Kano in MKI he is not really doing anything right now is what Daniel says. But this was really exciting to hear this from my friend. My friend evem sent me two pictures of him and daniel and my friends friend with there arms around each other and that is Daniel it's awesome. My friend even got Daniels home# and email so here soon he is planning on going to visit Daniel in Chicago. Hope this helps anybody who wants to know what happened to Daniel and what he's doing now.
sorry if there are any mistakes typed it up fast

megatron187 Wrote: Daniel is still around my friend that lives in Provo Utah went to Salt Lake City and went to this club and this is 1 in a billion this would happen daniel was there with his girl friend who currently does work for midway she helped out with the design for MK:DA. My friend was a big Jonney Cage fan so he couldn't believe he was looking at daniel in the club so he started talking to daniel. My friend says he is an awesome guy. What Daniel told him was that he did't know much about what MKI was he would go in for about a half an hour to midway and do what ever they had him do and then he would leave for the day and that was it. He never knew what the game was about or anything all he know that it was job and with flex able body and martial art experience midway wanted him to pose as johnney cage. Right now daniel is doing mostly martial arts he travels to china where he trains with this old guy that's a martial arts expert and Danial still lives in chicago with his girl friend and Danial is best friends with HO SUNG(Lui KANG) he is pretty much is also mainly doing martial arts to with Daniel. The guy that played Kano in MKI he is not really doing anything right now is what Daniel says. But this was really exciting to hear this from my friend. My friend evem sent me two pictures of him and daniel and my friends friend with there arms around each other and that is Daniel it's awesome. My friend even got Daniels home# and email so here soon he is planning on going to visit Daniel in Chicago. Hope this helps anybody who wants to know what happened to Daniel and what he's doing now. sorry if there are any mistakes typed it up fast

Is there any chance you could post these pictures? It's not that I'm sceptical, but I would love to see a pic or two of an MK actor doing something totally non-MK... Like hanging out with your freind.

this is all very interesting, but its amazing that real life events actually catered into killing a video game character as such johnny cage.

Thanks for reading my message I would love to post the pictures I might be able to, but I might not. I don't have the equipment to have pictures put on line. But i will see what I can do. I'll post hear if I can.

@sakura - with the Classic characters from MKT, wouldn't Midway have had got them to sign contracts so that everything they do/capture for the game becomes Midway's property, which means they can use everything??


I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. All I know is that they're not in MKT and that they had a lawsuit against Midway.

Anyone interested in this lawsuit should look it up. Search for it on Google and you can find the actual court documents about it if you look hard enough. It's pretty cool.

Sakura Wrote: @sakura - with the Classic characters from MKT, wouldn't Midway have had got them to sign contracts so that everything they do/capture for the game becomes Midway's property, which means they can use everything?? I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. All I know is that they're not in MKT and that they had a lawsuit against Midway. Anyone interested in this lawsuit should look it up. Search for it on Google and you can find the actual court documents about it if you look hard enough. It's pretty cool.

I looked it up. Aparently the case was called Pesina Vs. Midway. Daniel Pesina got paid to do play the ninjas and Johnny Cage in the arcade versions of Mortal Kombat I and II. When the games got ported to the home systems Pesina thought that he was being cheated out of some royalites because he was only paid to appear in the arcade versions and not the home ports. Ultimatley the court decided that Daniel Pesina did NOT deserve royalites on account that his likeness was not well known enough or something. They had a study and people compared a picture of Daniel Pesina with screens of the game, and people couldn't seem to pick out which charecters he played.

Ok... This kinda makes sense now. After MKII hit home systems Daniel was pissed off at Midway. Since Daniel was certainly not going to be Cage in MK3 I guess him appearing in the Blood Storm ad bashing MK was a little bit of revenge or something?

...I think I've figured out what happened to the guy who played Johnny Cage now

The_Purple_Bunny Wrote: Daniel Pesina (Johnny Cage) was fired from Midway for appearing in that Bloodstorm ad, which pretty much led to his character not being in MK3, but ultimately a new actor was hired for MKT. The MK team has hinted that they never wanted Cage to die in the first place, that incident just made it harder to explain why he wasn't in certain games.

He couldn't free lance? Do you know by any chance an article about this. I never knew this happened.

Irine4 Wrote: The_Purple_Bunny Wrote: Daniel Pesina (Johnny Cage) was fired from Midway for appearing in that Bloodstorm ad, which pretty much led to his character not being in MK3, but ultimately a new actor was hired for MKT. The MK team has hinted that they never wanted Cage to die in the first place, that incident just made it harder to explain why he wasn't in certain games. He couldn't free lance? Do you know by any chance an article about this. I never knew this happened.

The catch of it was that he appeared in the ad in his Johnny Cage outfit, with a caption mentioning how Cage had switched to Bloodstorm. That right there was pretty much a major no-no.

As for Midway using previously-made animations of actors, it all depends on what the contract says. MKT used the MK3 actors since it was a continuation of MK3 anyway. Carlos Pesina (Raiden), John Parrish (Jax), Tony Marquez (Kung Lao), and Rich Divizio (Kano) were the only actors still around from previous games, so their classic characters were added. In all likelyhood, they could not use any other character's animations from past games because they would have to pay those actors money that MKT made. Actors who were no longer with Midway.

The_Purple_Bunny Wrote: Irine4 Wrote: The_Purple_Bunny Wrote: Daniel Pesina (Johnny Cage) was fired from Midway for appearing in that Bloodstorm ad, which pretty much led to his character not being in MK3, but ultimately a new actor was hired for MKT. The MK team has hinted that they never wanted Cage to die in the first place, that incident just made it harder to explain why he wasn't in certain games. He couldn't free lance? Do you know by any chance an article about this. I never knew this happened. The catch of it was that he appeared in the ad in his Johnny Cage outfit, with a caption mentioning how Cage had switched to Bloodstorm. That right there was pretty much a major no-no. As for Midway using previously-made animations of actors, it all depends on what the contract says. MKT used the MK3 actors since it was a continuation of MK3 anyway. Carlos Pesina (Raiden), John Parrish (Jax), Tony Marquez (Kung Lao), and Rich Divizio (Kano) were the only actors still around from previous games, so their classic characters were added. In all likelyhood, they could not use any other character's animations from past games because they would have to pay those actors money that MKT made. Actors who were no longer with Midway.

Thanks for clearing that up. Damn, i didn't realize he was in his Cage outfit. Did midway sue him by any chance or try to since Johny Cage was there product( i am sorry for asking too many questions here.)?

Where can I find a picture of this ad?