Johnny Cage
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Johnny Cage is the stage name of John Carlton, a fictional character from the Mortal Kombat series of video games.
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About Johnny Cage
In the eyes of many, Johnny Cage is the typical American movie star: laid back, suntanned, and enough attitude to take on the whole world. Of course, as with many of these stock characters, his attitude is merely a shield to defend himself from his critics, who never leave an opportunity unused to question his fighting skills on the scene. He takes few things seriously in life but himself, but in turn the world seems to do just the opposite. There has always been a subtle love interest between him and Sonya Blade.
In Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, Johnny Cage employs the fighting styles that he uses in his own movies. His fighting styles are Karate (most likely Shorin Ryu, as indicated in the Konquest mode of Mortal Kombat: Deception) and Jeet Kune Do. His weapon style is Nunchaku.
Storyline
Johnny Cage was derided by film critics and the moviegoing public for using special effects and wires to make his fights. Unknown to them, his Shadow Kick and Force Ball were not effects; he actually performed those supernatural feats. To prove it to the world, he entered the Mortal Kombat tournament. Although he did not win, he ended up fighting Goro with Sonya Blade and Kano. After the island crumbled, Raiden dropped him off in the water near a Special Forces boat.
Johnny joined the Earthrealm warriors for Mortal Kombat in Outworld, and used his experiences as a script for a sequel to the Mortal Kombat movie he had been shooting when he was interrupted for the tournament. When Shao Kahn's army invaded Earthrealm, Johnny was one of the first casualties. However, his soul was bounced from the Heavens when Earthrealm and Outworld merged, and he returned to his body to help his friends drive Kahn away. When Shinnok was released, Raiden took Johnny from the Heavens to help fight him. He has remained in Earthrealm and continued to film action movies, but he got locked into a contract to film Mortal Kombat: the Death of Johnny Cage, where he would be repeatedly killed and resurrected. Following the defeat of the Deadly Alliance, Johnny got out of his contract, and financed the product of Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance, a greatly embellished tale of his fight against Shang Tsung and Quan Chi.
Johnny's death in MK3 and resurrection for MK4 were recently retconned by John Vogel into "bad writing," possibly part of the script for The Death of Johnny Cage. Now, Johnny Cage does not die until the opening of Mortal Kombat: Deception, where the Deadly Alliance kills Rayden's warriors (and Onaga resurrects them).
Measurements
- Height: 5ft 8in (173cm) [Claims to be 6'1"! Silly, silly actors...]
- Weight: 171lb (78kg)
Movie appearance
The character of Johnny Cage was portrayed by Linden Ashby in Mortal Kombat. In the movie, he defeated and caused the death of Goro. It was also there that his love interest with Sonya started and was later imported to the games (his ending in Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance seems to be the most indicative of this.) He received a cameo appearance in Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, in which he was killed by Shao Kahn in the opening scenes.
Trivia
In the first game, Johnny Cage was modelled after the Belgian actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.
According to Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and his official biography, Johnny Cage has starred in Ninja Mime (a box office flop in America), Dragon Fist, Dragon Fist 2, Son of Dragon Fist, HWAAAAA!!, Sudden Violence, Aquatic Assault, Exiting the Dragon of Death (opposite Hong Kong action star Channie Jack, spoof of Jackie Chan), 7 Poisons, Cage Match, The Gist of my Fist, 24 Karate Gold, Who's That?, the Wu Shu television series, Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II, and Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance (films which depict him as the hero and champion). Mortal Kombat: the Death of Johnny Cage is unfinished. He also appeared on Celebrity SMASH TV! Cyrax, another fighter in the Mortal Kombat series, purportedly wants his money back for all of them, but especially Ninja Mime (this was mentioned in Deadly Alliance's Konquest mode).
He shares his name with a 20th century American dada artist and musician, John Cage (1912-1992), whose only similarity with the Mortal Kombat character is that they both are performers.