Mortal Kombat 2 will likely feature a tournament, but Mortal Kombat (2021) already ruined the saga’s power levels. Taking many by surprise, the Mortal Kombat reboot decided to skip over the tournament despite telling a traditional Mortal Kombat origin story. Still, thanks to Shang Tsung’s attempt at ending the tournament before it even began, Mortal Kombat featured several fights, one of which made the franchise’s power levels a lot more complicated. Toward the end of Mortal Kombat, Shang Tsung decides to attack each of Earthrealm’s champions separately by pairing them against the Outworld champions, resulting in a “preparatory Mortal Kombat.”
One of the most important and high-stakes fights in Mortal Kombat’s “preparatory tournament” was Goro vs. Cole Young. Goro was sent to kill Cole Young’s family, which Cole prevented by defeating and killing Goro. The problem is that Goro is one of the most powerful characters in the Mortal Kombat universe, one who has won the Mortal Kombat tournament nine times in a row in the Mortal Kombat lore. With Cole Young being able to defeat Goro with relative ease in the first movie, there is not much room for Cole to improve as a fighter. Any struggles Cole might now have, except against Shao Kahn or Shang Tsung, will therefore feel like a regression for the character.
Cole Young Killing Goro In Mortal Kombat Was A Mistake
Goro’s death in Mortal Kombat was a mistake for many reasons. Granted, Mortal Kombat (1995) also saw Goro being defeated by a human, Johnny Cage, yet the fight happened toward the end of the tournament. A Mortal Kombat competition is not complete without Goro, an absence that the potential Mortal Kombat 2 tournament will have to deal with. As one of the strongest Mortal Kombat characters, Goro should have been saved for a more important fight in Mortal Kombat 2, especially because Mortal Kombat skipped the tournament. An extended role for Goro in the Mortal Kombat reboot franchise would have made up for Mortal Kombat (1995)’s mistake, and it would have made this new Mortal Kombat iteration more accurate to the games.
Goro’s Death Was Only One of Mortal Kombat’s Cole Young Problems
Cole Young defeating Goro so easily continued Mortal Kombat’s divisive creative decisions regarding its main character. Instead of focusing on classic Mortal Kombat characters like Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, and Johnny Cage, the last of which was not even in the movie, Mortal Kombat had an original character as its protagonist. Cole Young had just recently found out about Mortal Kombat, magic, and the existence of other worlds, yet he was able to fight both Goro and Sub-Zero without major struggles. The underdog fighter beating a stronger opponent is nothing new for Mortal Kombat, but the Goro vs. Cole Young fight would have held more meaning if it had happened later in the story, such as in Mortal Kombat 2’s potential tournament.
Despite the great visual effects, Mortal Kombat’s Goro was a huge missed opportunity. With the Mortal Kombat tournament yet to happen, the 2021 film should have saved Goro for the sequel. That would have allowed Mortal Kombat 2 to follow the games and have Goro as one of the toughest opponents that a future Mortal Kombat champion could face. Instead, Mortal Kombat made it difficult to understand the franchise’s power levels, essentially dooming the potential Mortal Kombat 2 tournament. With Cole Young easily defeating Goro in Mortal Kombat, it is safe to assume that Cole will win the tournament, or at the very least, reach the finals.
