Johnny Cage

Johnny Cage is the stage name of Jonathan Carlton, from the Mortal Kombat fighting game series.

About Johnny Cage
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 screen.

Storyline
A martial arts superstar trained by great masters from around the world. Johnny was derided by film critics and the movie-going public for using special effects and wires for 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 didn't die, as so many of the other unnamed participants. He made the movie Mortal Kombat based on his experiences, which revived his then-flailing career.

Johnny followed Liu Kang into Outworld and joined the Earthrealm warriors for Mortal Kombat in Outworld, and used this new adventure as a script for a sequel, Mortal Kombat II, which broke box office records. When Shao Kahn invaded the Earth shortly afterwards, Cage's soul was protected as a Chosen warrior. Johnny Cage did not die in the events of Mortal Kombat 3.

Shinnok's attack on Earthrealm and the Elders was observed by Cage, as was Liu Kang's quest to unite Earth's warriors to aid Raiden. Cage helped the Forces of Light to defeat Shinnok. After Shinnok's defeat, Cage went back to making movies, even winning an award for his latest film, but when he opened his big mouth, all he comically received were boos and a whole bunch of vegetables and bottles thrown at him.

Later on, Johnny Cage went on to film Mortal Kombat: The Death of Johnny Cage, in which he was repeatedly killed and brought back to life. Upset at the way he was being portrayed, believing his own adventures were far more entertaining, he wanted out of the movie but he couldn't due to his contract.

But as luck would have it, he was approached by Raiden, who asked him to help fight the Deadly Alliance. At first, Johnny thought it was the actor who played Raiden, but when he saw the actor eating lunch, he realized it was the real Raiden, who told him to go to Shang Tsung's island for further instructions. He found a loophole in his contract and left the movie. He would then use this new adventure to make his own movie. Arriving on the island by way of parachute, he learned of Liu Kang's tragic death and went to Outworld to help his friends; however, he was killed during the final assault on the Deadly Alliance. Soon afterward, he was resurrected by Onaga and made into his slave. What happens to Johnny Cage after will not be known until the upcoming Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, where he is slated to make a reappearance.

Memorable moves

 *  Shadow Kick: Cage would slide across the floor at a steady speed connecting with a kick to the torso of his opponent. (MK)
 * Green Shadow Kick: Improving on the speed of his Shadow Kick, he would move faster, and leave a green trail. (MKII, MKT, MK4, MK Gold, MK:SM, MKDA)
 * Red Shadow Kick: The fastest version of the move. (MKII, MKT, MK4, MK Gold)
 * Green Bolt: His original fireball travelled straight across the screen. (MK)
 * Low Green Orb: This fireball curved upwards, and would remain Cage's standard projectile. (MKII, MKT, MK4, MK Gold, MKDA, MK:SM)
 * High Green Orb: A higher version of the curved fireball. (MKII, MKT, MK4, MK Gold)
 * Split Punch: One of Cage's most memorable moves where he does the splits and punches the opponent in the groin. This only worked on male fighters. (MK, MKII, MK4, MK Gold, MK:SM)
 * Green Shadow Uppercut: Cage would leap into the air and deliver an uppercut which launched his foe into the air. (MKII, MKT, MK4, MK Gold)
 * Red Shadow Uppercut: A faster version of the move. (MKII, MK4, MK Gold)
 * Johnny Uppercut: A new move given to Cage had him do the splits and rise up in the air delivering an uppercut to the opponent (this may resemble the "Shadow Uppercut" and the "Split Punch" combined). (MKDA)

Fatalities

 * Decapitation: Johnny Cage delivers a savage uppercut that tears his opponent's head off. A glitch allowed the fatality to be performed multiple times in MK. (MK, MKII, MKT, MK4, MK Gold, MK:SM)
 * Torso Rip: Johnny Cage grabs his enemy around the waist, rips their upper body from their lower, and throws it to the ground. (MKII, MK4, MK Gold, MK:SM)
 * Triple Decapitation: A bizarre fatality in which Cage performs his uppercut fatality, only instead of one head, Cage knocks off three. Most likely done in parody of a glitch discovered in the first Mortal Kombat game, where Johnny Cage could knock off multiple heads in his fatality. (MKII, MKT)
 * Torso Kick - Johnny Cage begins to smoke, right before he performs a Shadow Kick that tears the opponent's torso off. The severed head then falls on what remains of the enemy. (MKT)
 * Backbuster: Cage would lift his opponent over his head and then bend them over his shoulders causing the opponent to explode into pieces. (MKT)
 * Brain Rip: Cage thrusts his hand through the enemy's head and pulls out their brain. (MK:DA)
 * Forceful Shadow Kick - Cage Performs a Shadow Kick strong enough for his foot to penetrate the enemy's flesh. (MK[SNES version], MK:SM}
 * Punching Bag: Cage perfoms his groin strike move, only takes it a step further by continuing to assault his opponent's genitals with a series of punches until with one final blow, he punches the enemy in half. (MK:SM)

Other finishers

 * Autographed Picture: As a Friendship, Johnny Cage would sign a photo of himself stating: "To My Greatest Fan! Cage" (MKII), (MKT)
 * Kangaroo: Johnny Cage turns into a kangaroo and kicks his opponent off screen. (MKT)

Movie appearance


Johnny Cage was portrayed by Linden Ashby in the first Mortal Kombat movie. In the movie, he defeated and caused the death of Goro. Before doing so, he fought Scorpion too, and won. The movie also took a page from the MK comics produced during the 1992-1993 years by Malibu by starting his love interest with Sonya, which 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, (played by Chris Conrad) in which he was killed by Shao Kahn in the opening scenes.

Trivia

 * The original name for Cage was going to be Michael Grimm. It was changed during preproduction of MK.
 * Cage's "real name" came from Midway game programmer John Carlton, who worked on the popular NBA Jam arcade series.
 * Cage was the last character in the original MK to be given a Fatality. Until a last-minute brainstorm by co-creator John Tobias that later evolved into the Head Punch Fatality, he was simply going to throw his opponent across the screen as a finishing move.
 * In the first game, Cage was modelled after the Belgian actor Jean Claude Van Damme. The creators wanted Van Damme to be Johnny Cage in the first Mortal Kombat, but Van Damme was unable due to his busy movie work. Johnny Cage's clothes in the first Mortal Kombat are almost identical to the clothes Van Damme wore in the last match in the 1988 movie Bloodsport and his split punch is taken directly from a move done by Van Damme in the movie.
 * Cage was the only character in the original MK who did not have a past history with any of the other characters.
 * In early arcade test versions of MKII, the word "Otomix" appeared on Cage's pants (they were worn by actor Daniel Pesina during filming), but was omitted in subsequent chip upgrades. Otomix is an established supplier of martial arts and athletic wear.
 * The Red Shadow Kick, and Red Shadow Uppercut special moves happened randomly in MKII. In MK4, and MK Gold, selecting Player 2's outfit would cause the moves to have red shadow properties, rather than green.
 * Cage was cut from the Game Boy version of MK due to memory constraints. He was also the only character from the first MK game who did not appear in Jeff Rovin's non-canon 1995 novel.
 * Cage was exclusively recreated for Mortal Kombat Trilogy due to the fact that Pesina was fired by Midway after appearing in an ad for the arcade game BloodStorm dressed as Cage, and thus his MK2 sprite wasn't used. He was replaced by Chris Alexander.
 * Originally Brandon Lee was the actor in talks to be Johnny Cage in the first Mortal Kombat movie.
 * Also in the film, after Cage defeats Scorpion, a headshot photo signed 'To my greatest fan' lands in the debris, a nod to his Friendship finishing move in Mortal Kombat II.
 * Some think that Johnny had defeated Goro in the first Mortal Kombat tournament (most likely due to the movie). However in the videogame storyline it was Liu Kang who had defeated Goro in the tournament. In Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks, there is another fight between Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Goro, in which Johnny intervenes and finishes off Goro. This is a homage to the film.
 * According to Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance and his official biography, Johnny Cage has starred in:
 * Ninja Mime (a box office flop in America, but a cult classic in France)
 * 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, a spoof of Jackie Chan)
 * 7 Poisons
 * Cage Match
 * The Gist of my Fist
 * 24 Karate Gold
 * Who's That?
 * Wu Shu (a TV series)
 * Mortal Kombat
 * Mortal Kombat II
 * Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance


 * He also appeared on Celebrity SMASH TV (as a result, Smash TV and the Mortal Kombat series are both portrayed as occurring in the same fictional universe)!
 * Cage is the comic relief character of Mortal Kombat (claimed in a bonus item in the Mortal Kombat: Deception double pack).
 * Though Mortal Kombat is notorious for replacing the letter "c" with "k", Cage is an exception. It's probably more than coincidence that Kage in japanese means shadow and Johnny Cage is the master of many "shadow" move techniques.
 * In Unreal Championship 2, one of Raiden's taunts states that "you fight like Johnny Cage!".
 * Reportedly, John Vogel did not like Cage's storyline in Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Mortal Kombat 4, and Cage's Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance bio can be viewed as retconning this, with Mortal Kombat: The Death of Johnny Cage explaining away - and mocking - his repeated death and revival during Trilogy and MK4. Fan reaction to this intent has been mixed; some like the loss of another "resurrection" storyline, which is becoming increasingly common in the Mortal Kombat story, but others feel the retcon destroys what was perceived as a refreshing change of pace for Cage's otherwise stilted storyline (with Cage's death and subsequent semi-altruistic resurrections portraying him more compassionate and understanding of the gravity of the tournament, instead of simply using them as inspiration for more of his movies). Others do not view this as a retcon at all, as it would directly contradict his story screens in Trilogy and MK4 and cannot therefore be canonical. To these fans, the references to The Death of Johnny Cage movie therefore take on a more satirical aspect.