Well, Midway can do what they want since it's their game obviously, but if you're going buy "iconic" and "most recognizeable", Johnny Cage is deifnitely ahead of Baraka..by far.

Johnny Cage is more recognized on a wider scale. They are equal among MK fans as fas as recognition, but outside? Not even close.

Now, if they were using the "we're matching each side up" arguement, then I can see the problem. No one on the DC side really works with Cage, and this is one of the things I worried about when thinking of whether or not he'd be in.

Oh well, hopefully he's in the adventure mode via Cameo.

The Flash. He and Cage are perfect for one another.

Jack Burton agrees...

Look, I was around from day one, too. I was there as a four year old, playing the very first MK even before I knew my way around a controller. I agree Johnny Cage is an icon, and that he should have been in this game. I admit, I view him as comedy relief and I do enjoy kicking his teeth in with Raiden, Kung Lao, etc, but there really is no disputing he should have been in over the likes of, say, Jax, Baraka, or Kano (although an original himself).

For the record, and for those who are posting to this thread, the history Bloodfang is bringing up is true. The original intention with the first MK game was to base it around martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme, and to have him star in the game as himself. As fate would have it, he was unable to do so, and the team decided to go in the direction of a more Bruce Lee-themed game. I don't think I have to point out all the similarities in storyline from "Enter The Dragon" to that of the first MK game (a tournament, fighters from all over coming to participate, corruption of the tournament, etc.), so I'll spare all the detail. Bottom line is that Liu Kang is based off of Bruce Lee, and since the developers still wanted Jean-Claude as a part of the game, they based the character Johnny Cage off of him.

Hell, the first movie itself draws even MORE from "Enter The Dragon" than the game did (3 main fighter characters {Liu Kang, Johnny Cage, Sonya}, a boatride to a mysterious island, etc.) in terms of plot structure. It's pretty mind-blowing to see all the connections; if you haven't, I highly recommend looking Bruce Lee up and watching "Enter The Dragon," and then watching the first MK movie right afterward. You'll get the sense you almost saw the same thing; I know I did somewhat!

Since I really don't follow Van Damme that closely, I'm sure Bloodfang might be able to direct you to some stuff of his better than I could. About the only thing I know of his is "Bloodsport," and to be honest I don't know if Van Damme's character would even make you think Cage in terms of personality, but the nut punch and other moves from that movie shine through in the character. It's almost as if they just based it on the man himself (much in the same sense as they did Kang off of Lee). It's pretty obvious when they clearly state that he's a Hollywood actor.

I'm sure the whole "comic relief" perception was due in part to the MK team's satirical view on actors, but I think the majority of that can be pinned on fan response to his character. Most view him as sort of arrogant and cocky, and I think from a writer's standpoint it helps to lighten the mood some whenever you see him during a cutscene saying something completely dorky or off the wall. My point is that Johnny Cage has probably had a bigger impact on the MK fans than Kano has, and quite truthfully I think I can safely assume that both have had more impact than Jax or Baraka. I know fully I may be criticized by making a statement like that, but that's just my opinion. Many blame the whole Kano and Cage obsession on nosalgia, but quite truthfully they've just had longer to make their impacts. I'm not quite sure what to make of Kano at this point (his new design looks good to me, yet I still tend to dispute his addition to the roster), but the fact is the MK team missed a big icon in excluding Johnny Cage.

And THAT'S what Jack Burton has to say at this time.

I always thought about either the Flash vs Cage or Booster Gold vs Cage.

I'm still pretty sure that these currently "left out icons of MK" will make some sort of appearance. Right now it looks like:

Kung Lao
Cage
Reptile
Goro
and probably Mileena.

for the DC side, I wouldn't be surprised if we see folks like Lobo or Bane. Of course I don't know for a fact, but I'm not worried about it.

For some reason, when I read Jack Burton's posts, I like to imagine him talking like George W. Bush. Just makes me laugh for some reason.


on topic. Cage would've been a good choice for the game, but it's hard to peg what kind of a spot he could've had among the roster. I guess it depends on if they'd charactarize him as the enlightened man he began to be in armageddon, instead of the hollywood dillweed that he had been made into in Deadly Alliance. Johnny Cage still has room to grow, but for that growth to happen, it has to be an actual mk game, otherwise he's just gonna be turned back in to roster fluff.

An Icon is never roster fluff no matter how stupid their story is.

Marshall Law has had some rediculous storylines in Tekken, but he is one the most iconic characters from the series.


Fluff = kai, rain, tanya..characters like that.

Just my view though. Maybe you see fluff differently.

Also, how does Flash and Cage work well together? Is Flash kind of light hearted and the comic relef in DC? I don't read comics so I don't know.

I wouldn't worry about characters yet. We'll get a slew of downloads. I'm just hoping for the Dark Knight outfits and I'll be happy.

so johnny cage is definately not in it?

Great Topik, i support it !

I'm 27 yo now, i grew up with Cage too, Ed Boon killed my childhood hero, Ed Boon killed my fanatism for MK...

I'm su disappointed !

Johnny Cage is too AWESOME not to be included. He's MK's Captain Falcon. We need an arrogant bastard who punches superfreaks in the nuts.



And if he's a joke character... That's the point. He's a badass joke anyway. He's the character you love to hate. He's a one note character, but so is Scorpion.

So wait, because he was modeled after someone and was in MK1 but not listed as a joke character, he's ICONIC?

Johnny Cage, Sonya and Liu Kang are the big three heroes of MK. That's why they're iconic.

Also, six out of seven MK1 characters got in. How the hell did Kano get in over Cage? Or Baraka, or friggin jax!

No main MK heroes are Liu Kang Raiden and Sub-Zero IMO JOhnny Cage is just there, never really does anything, Sonya usually has a side story.

Cage is by far a better and more recognizable character than freaking Jax.

You can't really deny his icon status though. He's one of the original seven, and highly infamous, if not popular.

Versatile- Good points. I guess i'm judging more on story importance than actual brand association. To me it's a package deal I guess. But you are correct, story issues aside, Johnny Cage has been there from the beginning, has a huge fan base, and by all rights is a questionable omission from the roster.

I'm thinking charactar development for some reason...God knows this game isn't really going to do anything to develop or further the charactars involved.

hey watsup guys. ive been on these forums since mk5.org. lol and thats still what i type in to get to this website. now i used to be heavy into the mk community and for years i havent posted on one of these forums. but i thought i would make my return for some reason. my opinon on this is that johnny cage definately should have been included in this game. he is one of the three iconic characters. including him sonya and liu kang being the 3 mortal heroes. and of course the three iconic villains being subzero scorpion and shang tsung. if anyone disagrees with this then your not old enough to understand. trust me, i know enough about mk to notice the creators have put more emphasis on these characters than any others. and i know because i own every mk game, all the movies, the complete conquest show, and all defenders of the relams episodes. anyway mortal kombat is the best game series ever.

I usualy do not say much , but I do agree with you.
Though I have not been a fan of Johny Cage for some time he is one of the Iconic characters of the MK univers and honestly I do not see how he managed to get cut from the roster .

Great topic dude yeah Johnny Cage has always been my fav ever since I started playing him I always wanted him to be in every game MKII with him was by far my fav, nothing was like that moment when I did my first fatality with him and punched somebodys head off (if I remeber it was jax lol no offense to jax fans) but you know sure in his storyline he was a hollywood guy I think it was just the fact they screwed up some of his endings and all and yes he can be serious in his fighting if he wants too his just a little flashy but you know everybody always has their own opinions about a character mines is that Johnny Cage is one character who will always be famous in the line of character in the MK universe.

P.S.:
(Should be downloadable like crazy, along with others)

I'm pretty displeased with the final roster. Most, if not all, of my preferred characters didn't the roster, and if Sub-Zero wasn't a shoe-in, there wouldn't be a single character I truly would want to play as.

Concerning Johnny Cage, I like him. It depends on the medium, however. From an iconic stand-point, yes, he's damn iconic. He's one of the original three Earthrealm heroes, the man who defeated Goro, and who still probably has the best "Friendship" finisher of all time.

He was made a "joke" after M:DA, where apparently he lost all his character development and became a dry-humor one-liner spewing imbecile. But I digress; he's a great character, and I'm especially fond of the movie version of him (Linden Ashby's version stole the entire movie.)

Quite frankly, and I know this is still in the end personal preference, I believe he should have been included. When the entire cast of MK1 is included.... except Johnny Cage... it just doesn't feel right. I'd much rather they have omitted Jax, and I think Cage has a much stronger fanbase and iconic status than Kano or Baraka.

In the end, there are all characters we wish were included, such as Mileena, Kung Lao, Quan Chi, Reptile, Goro, but I'm not holding out hope for DLC. Why? Why release DLC when you can throw in those missing characters and call it a brand new game!.... I'm banking that's what Midway will do.

Well we can all hope thats all im saying *sigh* if they do that though thats gonna be a real shocker

Baraka being in the game instead of Cage was a huge shocker to me.

They already have one character who uses knifes as his primary weapon in Kano, why add Baraka?

Cage needs to be in this game in one way or another

More Like why Add Kano? And why make him look like a bionic hobo?
Kano should be replaced by Cage
Baraka should be replaced by Reptile

buddy above me is right