Learning who the guest fighters are going to be in the nextMortal Kombatgame has become as big a part of the build-up to its release as the reveal of the base roster. Among the guest stars inMortal Kombat 1areJohn Cena’s Peacemaker, Invincible’s Omni-Man, and Homelander from The Boys. Despite the superhero/supervillain theme when it comes to the new Mortal Kombat game’s guests, Ed Boon has revealed the team tried to getJohn Wickon the roster.
“When we were making Mortal Kombat (1992), the whole team was in the midst of Bloodsport, Enter the Dragon, and all the Terminator movies,” Ed Boon toldRolling Stonewhen discussing development of the very first game in the series and where it pulled inspiration from. “I could certainly see the John Wicks of the world… as a matter of fact, that is one of the ones that we tried to get – John Wick – in Mortal Kombat, and we didn’t get it.”
RELATED:Mortal Kombat 1 Review - A Bloody Promising New Timeline
Boon didn’t elaborate on what exactly preventedNethearRealmfrom being able to include Wick as a guest fighter. Odds are it was the studio that owns the Wick IP, Lionsgate, not agreeing to license out the character. It’s also possible Keanu Reeves played a part in putting the kibosh on his character being brutally killed millions of times by the likes of Mileena and Sub-Zero.
Reeves was asked whetherhe would ever like to see Wick, as well as Neo from The Matrix, in Mortal Kombat. “If it was up to me? No. Mortal Kombat is awesome in so many ways, but I think… you know, Neo, John Wick, they’re doing their own thing,” Reeves toldEsquirein 2021. Perhaps Lionsgate asked for his opinion on the matter and that was the answer. It’s even possible NetherRealm had already approached Lionsgate about including Wick in Mortal Kombat 1 by that point as development would have been well underway.
Another reason for Lionsgate not wanting Wick in Mortal Kombat is the studio has been fairly adamant about working on a John Wick game of its own for a while. The studio’s CEO said as much last year,outlining their desire to develop a triple-A John Wick gamein the future. With spinoff show The Continental hitting Peacock this week, and Lionsgate keen to make John Wick 5, the studio is clearly eager to make as much John Wick content as possible.
Had Wick been in Mortal Kombat 1, Boon would have likely wanted Reeves to voice him. The MK creator has revealedhe wanted everyone in the game to be voiced by a famous actor. He got some of the way there as Megan Fox is Nitara, andJean Claude Van Damme is the alternate voice of Johnny Cage.
