Shang looked into Liu Kang's soul, and into Johnny Cage's soul. He knew that Cage could not win, if it came to that. That's why he challenged Cage.

he has a point

hmm, that's true. but if you think about it. in the movie johnny cage became the champion of mortal kombat as soon as he beat goro. so in that case, did johnny cage really die in the second film?

grizzle Wrote: hmm, that's true. but if you think about it. in the movie johnny cage became the champion of mortal kombat as soon as he beat goro. so in that case, did johnny cage really die in the second film?

Well first, I believe Johnny's dead.

Second, that's a good point! Goro was the Champion of Mortal Kombat, until Cage beat him. Now Shang, being a previous champion, had the right to challenge the winner or another of his choosing for final combat. However, there was no specification on whether final combet determined who the champion was. So as far as I'm concerned, Cage defeated Goro to become the champion, therefore Earth Realm won. Even though the deal of Shang fighting the winner the another of his choice was sealed, he didn't state whether or not that fight would determine the champion of Mortal Kombat!

See a case can be made that Cage NOT Liu Kang is the campion of Mortal Kombat. WHOA!!!!!! I just thought of something that my give an indication of why Cage may return in MK3. By rule the winner of Mortal Kombat is granted immortality unitl the next tournament. If that rule holds true in the third movie, then, grizzle you are absolutly right! DAMN!!! Johnny Cage isn't dead!!!

Perhaps the elder gods put go back to the instant replay of Cage's fight with Goro, rewind it a couple times, view it from various angles, then in slow-motion, and finally announce:

"under further review... it was in fact Johnny cage that defeated Goro and since Goro was the champion and was defeated by Cage, thus making Johnny Cage not Lui Kang champion of Mortal Kombat.

By rule the champion of Mortal Kombat is granted immortality until the next tournament and since he was granted immortality, it is not possible for Cage to had died at the hands of Shao Khan.

Though Shang Tsung had the right to challenge the winner of Mortal Kombat, which turned out to be Cage, the winner must accept the challenge wich also requires him to relinquish his status of immortality. Since Cage did not have the opportunity to answer Tsungs' challenge, Cage is granted all rights of champion.

Furthermore, Shang's challenge became mute due to the fact that he himself was challenged by Liu Kang and accepted. And since THAT challenge had no bearing on the status of champion, then Lui Kang has no claim to the tile of champion.

Finally, since Lord Rayden was supposed to have been the expert of all the rules of Mortal Kombat, but let that little rule slip his mind, he is penalyzed 15 yards and loss of down!

Dallas wil not be charged a time out!"

TAKE THAT LIU KANG!!!!

I'm Ghost!

Ghost Dragon, Attorney at Law! LOL!

Cage was indeed killed by Kahn. Now when you say he was granted immortality it means he cannot age, but he can be killed.

As for what KOMBAT said, I agree totally. If Shang and Cage fought all I gotta say is Bye bye to his soul and bye bye to Earth realm.

Subzero_5th Wrote: Cage was indeed killed by Kahn. Now when you say he was granted immortality it means he cannot age, but he can be killed. As for what KOMBAT said, I agree totally. If Shang and Cage fought all I gotta say is Bye bye to his soul and bye bye to Earth realm.

Yeah, Shang would have tore Cage a new one!

And you're right concerning Cage not being able to age. But the fact is Cage died as champion and Lui had no claim to it even after defeating Khan. In some way the elder god's have to account for that. It's not like Khan challenged Cage for there was no Mortal Kombat at the time Khan invaded earth with his band of merry men, and ninjas, and Sheeva and Motaro. If Cage returns, then he has to return as champion since he was the champion at his death. Is there a rule of who succeeds the champion if he were to die in between tournaments?

I'm Ghost!

Ghost Dragon

Great points. Johnny Cage IS actually the champion...

Anyway, I think Tsung would had won, but still, if Cage managed to kill Scorpion and Goro, I believe there are high chances on him killing Tsung. Cage is powerful.

queve Wrote: Great points. Johnny Cage IS actually the champion... Anyway, I think Tsung would had won, but still, if Cage managed to kill Scorpion and Goro, I believe there are high chances on him killing Tsung. Cage is powerful.

D@MN IT! Now I'm kinda thinkin that Cage would have actually had a chance of beating Shang! I mean now that I think about it; just who did Liu Kang beat? Now let's be critical about this! First, he fought that fighter (Akeem Alston). WOW! What a test of Liu's abilities there! Then he fought Sub Zero. A much better opponent, but the fight was short and we didn't really see what Sub Zero could actually do. Plus, Liu had a helping hand when Rayden left the buckets of water in the room. I mean c'mon! Johnny didn't need any help against Scorpion! No buckets of water. No steel chair! No Brock Lesnar giving Goro an F-5 then leaving. Now I will say that the fight Liu had with Reptile was sweet, but Cages' fight with Scorpion was better AND Reptile wasn't even in the tournament so in terms of overall OFFICIAL victories, Cage had the better record in terms of degree of difficulty. What? I hope no one is counting that silly 'love tap' fest with Kitana! Cause all that sh*t was simply basic wu shu techniques being portrayed as something significant. (Hell, if it was me fighting Liu Kang, after the bowing was done with, I would have opened up with a butterfluy kick to catch that fool off guard, then do a lot of hand trapping just to Fu*k with him for a while)

Cage gets the more difficult draw of opponents, but yet everyone overlooks that he became champ, Liu Kang is proped up as the savior and then Cage gets his neck broken buy Khan in the sequel. Man, it's like Bret Heart and Darth Maul all over again!!! >:O

I'm Ghost... and now pi$$ed off!!!!

Ghost Dragon

Well I think if Cage could beat Scorpion and Goro, that he could easily defeat Shang Tsung.

true, shang tsung actually wanted to fight sonya in the movie because he knew he was going to win. then after knowing that cage liked sonya, which posed a weakness (shang tsung being the rat that he is) would have probably brought sonya into the fight leading to johnny cage's downfall and defeat.

liu kang however prevented that and fought shang tsung witout knowing shang tsung's true intentions of killing the real champion and letting outworld take over earth. i think the reason shang tsung chose to fight liu kang was because he probably wanted to get him out of the way, and shang tsung had to much pride to turn an offer down from a mortal. that was his mistake, so i would not say that liu kang was the true hero, because i think in a way without anyone knowing liu kang is the true hero of the first mortal kombat but NOT the champion.

grizzle Wrote: true, shang tsung actually wanted to fight sonya in the movie because he knew he was going to win. then after knowing that cage liked sonya, which posed a weakness (shang tsung being the rat that he is) would have probably brought sonya into the fight leading to johnny cage's downfall and defeat.

Good theory.

I’m almost 100% sure Cage would had beaten Shang Tsung.

cage is my fav character but i still say, he's no match for tsung... well, then again, i think anyone could win the tournament... it should be that way, if not, then why would people even join it? to die?

Cage defeated Goro, but he didn't use martial arts skills to beat him - he used trickery. He used a cliff to his advantage.

Shang Tsung could not be defeated this way, and when it came down to it, Johnny would not have the skills to defeat him.

]0MBAT Wrote: Cage defeated Goro, but he didn't use martial arts skills to beat him - he used trickery. He used a cliff to his advantage. Shang Tsung could not be defeated this way, and when it came down to it, Johnny would not have the skills to defeat him.

That is why Cage is one of my favorite fighters, I really liked how he killed Goro like that. Remember he had this all planned out too, he went to Shang Tsung and he was underestimated by him. So that should show that Johnny Cage isn't as dumb as many people think. Kombat i'm kind of agreeing with you on this one, Shang Tsung knew of Goro's defeat and Johnny Cage's potential in fighting so if he fought Johnny Cage he woulden't hold back. I also think Shang Tsung would have Sonya get in the way, like threatning to kill Sonya and making Cage loose concentration on his fight, then would use that against him and kill Johnny Cage. I think that was why Shang Tsung kidnapped Sonya in the first place.

Well this is pretty cool. Cage's the champion after all.
Now, at first I thought Cage wouldn't stand a chance agaisn't Tsung, but now that I think about it, I do think Cage could beat the sorceror.
First of all, Shang wasn't really all that in his final fight with Liu. Lots of close punches and elbows, but I noticed Cage's speciality was long, distant kicks. This is an advantage, IMO. Not to mention Johnny has some pretty powerful endurance. In his fight with Scorpion, he took one hell of a beating. And Cage really knows how to use his surroundings agaisn't the opponents.
I can imagine him stealing the samurai's sword and cutting Shang with it.
Yeah, he'd have a chance.

As I read more and more replies There is part of me that beleives that Shang could win and another part of me that believes that Cage might have a chance. In other words I'm not completely sure anymore. But many of you have posted good points that it makes me think that there are 2 possibilities.

Kombat? You are absoluetly right. Cage did use trickery to beat Goro. But from the looks of things he used a lot more than that.

Some of you say it will be an easy fight. I don't believe it will be easy for Cage even if he does turn out victorious

Well, in my view, I don't think Cage would've won against Goro in the first place if he hadn't used cheap moves to beat him. From this I'm pretty sure Shang Tsungs would've whooped Cage's ass!

]0MBAT Wrote: Cage defeated Goro, but he didn't use martial arts skills to beat him - he used trickery. He used a cliff to his advantage. Shang Tsung could not be defeated this way, and when it came down to it, Johnny would not have the skills to defeat him.

He did use his skills in the first "punch", and at the end. The kicks that made Goro fall.

Legacy Wrote: Well, in my view, I don't think Cage would've won against Goro in the first place if he hadn't used cheap moves to beat him. From this I'm pretty sure Shang Tsungs would've whooped Cage's ass!

Cheap moves? That kind a makes no sence. Cage won cause he used BRAIN over MUSCLE.

He also used a special move (nut punch) and some kicks in the end.

This is a fight that could go either way really. Cage proved himself when he became the Champion after his victory over Goro . He also beat Scorpion which proves his skill even further. He may have used brains over muscle in defeating Goro, but this shows that he is a more intelligent fighter than most. A little bit of trickery would help against Shang, who happens to use tricks himself. His eagerness to prove himself however, is a weakness.

Shang, as an ex Champion is very capable of kicking Cages ass any day of any week! The souls he has and his trickery and cunning would all serve him well. We know Shang has skill and is a worthy opponent, but his cowardice in the movie was his sign of weakness. He made the msitake of showing this when he picked to fight both Sonya and Cage to fight with. Liu Kang took this chance to fight Shang as it was a weakness exposed that hindered Shang slightly. If he had of fought Cage or Sonya, either of them could have won. Shangs cowardice would have been his fuel for over confidence then and he would've been set up to amke mistakes and possibly lose.

So, as I said, it could go either way. I'd probably lean more towards Shang than Cage but it would be anyones match really.

I don't think Sonya would have won. Remember what Rayden said? He replied "no" when Cage asked him if sonya was capable of beating Tsung.

If Shang looked into their souls and saw that he would loose against Kang and not to Johnny, then why would he have excepted the challenge made by Liu? If I was Shang i would have bolted the hell out of there and found a new plan to win that tournament.

]0MBAT Wrote: Shang looked into Liu Kang's soul, and into Johnny Cage's soul. He knew that Cage could not win, if it came to that. That's why he challenged Cage.

ScorpionsBrother Wrote: If Shang looked into their souls and saw that he would loose against Kang and not to Johnny, then why would he have excepted the challenge made by Liu? If I was Shang i would have bolted the hell out of there and found a new plan to win that tournament. ]0MBAT Wrote: Shang looked into Liu Kang's soul, and into Johnny Cage's soul. He knew that Cage could not win, if it came to that. That's why he challenged Cage.

You have a point.

Very interesting.....

So Cage is actually the champion.

Well, I think any could had won. I go for Cage though.

Well, Shang was forced to choose either Cage or Liu. Cage may or may not be weaker than Liu, but he could still very well be stronger than Shang.

Cage was the champion? Maybe that's why he wasn't resurrected - a champion was responcible for keeping Kahn off? Of course, we have Liu boasting to Nightwolf, that he was the champion. But he was probably just trying to impress Nighty.