Karl Urban has built a career on playing tough, unbreakable characters, but his latest comments about the upcoming Mortal Kombat II suggest he may have finally found a role that pushed him harder than anything that came before it: his take on Johnny Cage. In the process, the actor may have unintentionally thrown a little shade at Billy Butcher, the character he’s spent years embodying on The Boys, which streams with an Amazon Video Prime subscription.
While speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Karl Urban explained how the timing of Mortal Kombat II lined up perfectly with where he was coming off The Boys. But according to the actor, stepping into the world of the video game beat ’em up required a completely different level of physical commitment, one that left him more challenged than satisfied. He explained:
It was my General Hospital season. I didn’t really have much action that season…. I had fuel in the tank. I just wasn’t satiated. Fortuitously, it was about a week later, they sent me the Mortal Kombat script.
The Dredd star is no stranger to screen violence. Between disemboweling Supes and surviving increasingly unhinged action movie sequences on Amazon’s hit series, you’d think his threshold for punishment would be maxed out. Heck, he apparently asked for heavy action movie content. Well, wish granted. He continued:
I asked for a heavy-action content movie, and for my sins, they gave me one. It was the most challenging role that I’ve ever undertaken in my career. It’s the martial arts. The form and the style of martial arts is so specific, and the choreography, at times, is so definitive in its movement, and there’s a precision of execution for it to look good. It was a huge challenge.
The Boys is known for its chaos and brutality, whereas Mortal Kombat II requires a bit of discipline. The fights are apparently structured, stylized and unforgiving when it comes to technique. Urban had to retrain his body to move with precision rather than rage.
The sequel also presents Johnny Cage at a specific point in his life. As described in prior news reports, Cage is introduced as a washed-up Hollywood actor. This former martial arts prodigy made his name in low-budget action movies before fading into convention appearances. That backstory allowed the Lord of the Rings veteran to blend physical comedy with legitimate martial arts skill, especially in key fight sequences like Johnny’s big showdown with Kitana.
The Star Trek alum even compared Johnny’s fighting style to classic Jackie Chan performances, in which humor and physical vulnerability are baked into the choreography. According to director Simon McQuoid, the balance was intentional. Johnny couldn’t look helpless, but he also couldn’t appear fully prepared for what he was being thrown into.
Karl Urban wanted something harder, something that demanded more of him, and Mortal Kombat II delivered. Whether his comments were meant as a playful jab at Billy Butcher, they do highlight that after years of controlled chaos, Karl Urban was ready to “test his might” in a whole new way.
We’ll see the results when Mortal Kombat II hits the 2026 movie calendar in theaters on May 8, 2026.