Changing either race or gender just seems pointless to me. It would add nothing and make certain characters unrecognizable. I don't really have a problem with changing skin colours though; It doesn't change a character. I wouldn't mind a dark skinned Shao Kahn or Baraka, but as soon as you're changing the character's actual ethnicity, you're changing the character. I don't see how British Jax or Canadian Sub-Zero would be a good thing.

Gender should never be changed. It's usually pretty vital to a character, and there's simply no good reason to change it.

Well I really don't see the point switching genders on characters like that I.

The characters don't have to be exactly like the games, I wouldn't mind a few liberal changes as long as they're necessary. Raiden in Legacy took it too far, that had nothing to do with Raiden from the games or anywhere else. As an artist you have a duty to respect the source material, you can't mess around with well established characters like that.

I think casting should be easy since everyone is either a monster or masked. Just hire low budget martial artists and just cover everything head to toe with special effects and wardrobe.

I think the general rule of thumb is keep the genders and races the same.
Obviously, there have been certain inconsistencies in the games themselves. Like, whether Sub-Zero is Asian or white. (Afterall, John Turk's FMV footage in Mythologies was the first time ever that Sub-Zero's been in a cutscene, and the first MK movie, he was clearly white. Same with Scorpion in the movie franchise.)

But that was a long time ago, in the 90's, when video game storylines were heavily underdeveloped, and I honestly don't think too many people were all that bothered that Jade was Asian in Annihilation (they were too busy being bothered by all the other reasons.)
But even back then, there are certain characters where Race was a part of who they were. Jax is black, Liu Kang is Asian, Sonya is white.
Shao Kahn is light skinned. Technically, he's not supposed to be black, or Asian or white, he's kind of a creature, but I doubt making him look like Terry Crews would work out too well.
Now, Shao Kahn could still have a darker skin tone, if he was played by like a Simoan or something. I don't think people would care about that too much.

As for genders, the only reason to switch them would be if someone wanted to put an extra twisted spin on the MK universe. And in that case, they'd have to make sure to establish that context.

I don't know why anyone would ever think it acceptable to completely alter the race or gender of a character (whose looks have been long established as 'x')

If they made an MK movie where Sonya had black hair and looked Latina, Stryker was Chinese-American, Kenshi was now a woman, Jax was a buff Englishman, and Liu Kang was played by a dark-haired white guy, I'd be pissed.

It's completely fine if they aren't 'x' race, but they need to actually look somewhat like the character.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to watch a movie where every scene I'm asking myself, "Who is that?!?!"
Genders should never be switched, however.
That's just my two cents...

Here's one reason to cast, say, an Arab, as Shao Kahn: because said Arab actor is talented, and could do wonders with Shao Kahn's character. Basically, it's about talent. Sure, you can find talented actors and actresses of the "appropriate" race to play a MK character, but no one should be excluded from playing certain characters just because of their ethnicities (and sometimes gender).

Notice I said certain characters. There are some who's race and/or gender should not be changed. Nightwolf is a Native American. As long as they do not ignore that, they can make him a woman if they want. A British Jax (as was mentioned earlier) could still be black, but I was talking more about skin colour than nationalities. If we're going to bring them into this discussion, then I'd say him being American is a more important part of Jax's character than him being black. Not that being British would change him that drastically in my opinion.

I feel NRS made Jax black specifically because they thought it suited the personality they had in mind for him. It wouldn't even surprise me at all if they thought the "Gotcha!" line required him to be black. Which I disagree with.

Well, unfortunately, that's the nature of the business. There are hundreds of talented actors out there who won't be considered for many roles, not just because of race, but because of height, body type, and all kinds of seemingly unimportant factors. It's the way it is for original films with original screenplays. So why would Mortal Kombat, a franchise in which the characters are already so well established, be any different?

I dont see the point in gender changing. I mean for the new game I thought the only two they could get away with would be Nightwolf (Sort of Native American name or something that is passed down) and Ermac.

In terms of movies those are the only two I could see having a gender swap.

In terms of race, I think for the Edenian and Outworld characters, Its not as strict. The Earthrealm warriors pretty much have to be how they look in the game.

I think the gender needs to be right for all characters above all else. Race is pretty important for the characters from Earth Realm, but from other realms, it doesn't matter quite as much. Since they're not from a specific region they can pretty much look however the creators want them to look. I still think it would be best to keep them as accurate as possible to their videogame counterparts though.

Recipe for catastrophe. Masks and capabilities as martial artists does not an actor or a role make.



Fairly important. You cannot make a good action movie with zero actor ability. And stunt doubles should be used sparingly, the less we see the actor as the martial artist the less convincing is his role (example: think Seagal when he doubled, in fights he mysteriously lost around 40+ pounds)

That is why Robin Shou and Cary Hiroyugi Takaga were good choices and why Talisa Soto is only eye candy (pretty mediocre actress, and as action scenes go downright dysmal).

I could see a character like johnny Cage being played by someone of another skin pigmentation. the fact that he's been portrayed as a white dude in the past has no baring on his characterization thus far. While liu Kang has always been identified as of asian decent, Cage is just an american....that leaves a lot of room. same with sonya, kabal, kano(he could be a black Australian, they exist).
Jax would be a bit tougher solely because, with him being the first black character to the series, that aspect has been very engrained into who he is. but really, is there anything to his character that ties him to being a black man? the gothcha grab? back breaker? purple arm pit beams?

You just listed 3 things that have nothing to do with his character. A "character" is not defined by the special moves it does in a video game, come on...

Johnny Cage is white. He's the whitest character in MK history.

Mortal Kombat has lots of stereotypes and characters based to a mythology or to another person (Van Damme, Bruce Lee & Ken). Changing the characters' attributes would be like changing their scripts. Liu Kang is based on Bruce Lee and if he was turned into white, then would he be based on Chuck Norris? Johnny Cage is a white trash millionaire, Hsu Hao is Vietnamese and Darrius is stereotypical too. I wouldn't want to see Tarkatans black because that could cause a lot of controversy in the media when someone would once connect their tribes to aboriginal tribes. Look at what Resident Evil 5 caused alone. Otherwise I have nothing against changing a race as long as the change makes sense. Shao Kahn would look pretty rad as a black. Changing a gender would be quite radical, unless we're talking about a cyborg maybe.
What about age?

this post has to be by far the most moronic - would it make a difference if a characters race/gender was changed?=YES you idiot